HypnoBirthing: The Reprogram

Approaching my 38th week and being large (really large) with child, I struggle to roll to one side so I can sit upright. A thought pops in my head.  I turn to Chris and say,

"I think we should name this baby Rocky."

His eyebrows raise.

"Because being born early is Apollo Creed and all this baby wants to do is go the distance."

I pause for a big laugh.  Or a slight chuckle.  Or the corners of his mouth to raise in a friendly, "we both really love Rocky references" smile.  Nothing.

So my joke meter is a little off.  But my tangent scale is as on point as ever.  Which leads me to the point of this post:

Reprogramming Your Brain in HypnoBirthing

That title is one I made up.  Nothing official about it.  In my last post about this subject I talked about how our western culture is kind of pre-programmed to fear child birth.  The book I read even suggests how we think about being pregnant as a medical ailment that needs treatment.  So part of preparing for a hypnobirth is retraining your brain to think positive, natural thoughts about giving birth.  

The first thing it asks of you is to replace words commonly associated with childbirth.  The idea is that these softer words will help with the mental shift needed to approach giving birth without fear.  For example:

Don't say contraction, say surge.

It's not a coach, it a birth companion.

Your water doesn't break, your membranes release.

You aren't dialating, you're opening.

The baby doesn't come down the birth canal, it eases through the birth path.

There aren't complications, only special circumstances.  The list goes on.

Don't you already feel more relaxed about this baby coming?  Just turn on some harp music and I'm ready. Speaking of soothing music, the other part of the brain train are daily affirmations.  Think Stuart Smalley saying he's good enough, smart enough and doggonnit, people like him -- only for having babies.   

Every day I listen to 20 minutes of positive birthing affirmations.  (I know this got weird a long time ago for some of you reading this.  Just go with it at this point, you're already invested in how I'm doing this, right?  Read on gentle reader!  Read on!)

Here are a few of the affirmations I've been implanting in my head for the last 15 weeks:

I put all fear aside as I prepare for the birth of my baby.

I am relaxed and happy that my baby is coming to me.

I am focused on a smooth, easy birth.

I trust my body, and I follow it's lead.

My mind is relaxed; my body is relaxed.

I feel confident; I feel safe; I feel secure.

My body and my baby know how to work together in harmony.

I don't look in the mirror and say these, although I should, while gently brushing my hair in a pink, high collar, silk robe.  I just pop in my earbuds and listen to these on my ipod.  

So there is another piece of my hypnobirthing puzzle.  Next time I'll go over the relaxation practice.  It's my favorite part.

I should cite where I am getting all this info.  The book I mentioned is this one.    The classes and instructor we went to is this one.  

And the Rocky reference?  If you don't know it, your life is not yet complete.  I included it. (You're welcome!) I hope all of you will watch the entirety.  But his "go the distance" speech starts around 3:30.

And really, don't draw too close a parallel to my joke and his comments here. Because I could also make a close connection with my trio all being little Rockys, the underdog preemies fighting the big bad world that is being born pre-mature.  You're not so bad NICU! You're not so bad!

Or the time when there were so many dishes to do, it felt like a giant Russian boxer was beating me to the ground, but I finished those dishes.  If I can do the dishes, then YOU can do the dishes, we can ALL do the dishes!  

I might have a slight Rocky obsession.  I'm comfortable with it though.