HypnoBirthing Teaches Women to Let Go of Fears

HypnoBirthing made labor so easy for Melanie Cochrill that she almost missed it altogether.

"Our baby was born five minutes after I got to the hospital. I was in labor at home, but I didn't realize it because I only felt pressure; I didn't feel pain," said New Haven, Mich., resident Cochrill, who took a course in the self-hypnosis birth practice through Henry Ford Macomb Hospital - Clinton in Clinton Township.

Four- to five-week classes in HypnoBirthing are taught to one or two couples at a time at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital. Classes are arranged as requested. The cost is $199.95 per couple, which includes the book "HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method" by Marie Mongan, the founder of HypnoBirthing, and her CD, "Rainbow Relaxation." For more information, call 586-263-2410.

Meanwhile, Beaumont Hospitals are sponsoring a five-session HypnoBirthing class from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, April 14 through May 12, in the community education classroom of the National City Center, 755 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy. The cost is $210 per couple and also includes the Mongan book and relaxation CD. Call 800-633-7377 to register or for more information.

Cochrill and her husband, Nathan Cochrill, spent the last two months of her pregnancy falling asleep to compact discs every night that combined relaxation scripts and affirmative birth messages telling her to believe in her body's ability to give birth, a natural process that women have done for millennia.

The couple had packed a birth kit with relaxation CDs, the HypnoBirthing CD, essential oils and a reed diffuser, a birthing ball, and a written birth plan instructing hospital personnel about their wishes. These included a drug-free birth, no intravenous tube in her arm unless necessary, and only intermittent fetal monitoring. The couple wanted a natural birth, but they were open to interventions if they became medically necessary.

"The nurses found the birth plan half an hour after the baby was born," said Cochrill, whose daughter Annabella will be 1 year old on April 27.

Women Learn to Trust Their Bodies

The philosophy behind HypnoBirthing is that childbirth is a natural process and need not be painful if women learn to trust their bodies and let go of fears about giving birth, explained Maribeth Baker, a maternal child health educator and certified HypnoBirthing instructor with Beaumont Hospitals, where 209 couples have learned the technique since September 2006.

Most women have heard many negative stories about other women's birth experiences, and they've been conditioned to believe labor brings excruciating pain. Unfortunately, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when fear makes the body tense up during childbirth, according to "HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method."

"In HypnoBirthing class, we're teaching women our bodies are capable of giving birth," said Baker. "It's not necessarily pain-free, but labor and birth are normal. This is how you can work with your body."

In the class, women learn how to relax throughout their pregnancies, said Debbie Burns, a certified HypnoBirthing instructor, childbirth educator and manager of Wellspring Services, Henry Ford Macomb Hospital - Clinton.

Women and their partners learn about what happens to the body during childbirth. They also receive instruction about parental bonding, healthy eating, and releasing fears about childbirth and parenting. They can take the class any time during their pregnancies, but most women take it during their last trimesters, said Burns.

Women Hypnotize Themselves

To recondition themselves to believe that childbirth is natural and need not be painful, women hypnotize themselves by repeatedly listening to the "Rainbow Relaxation" CD, which combines a relaxation script and birthing affirmations. In this way, the positive ideas about childbirth are lodged into the subconscious mind.

HypnoBirthing originated in 1989 when founder Mongan wrote "HypnoBirthing - A Celebration of Life." Today, the HypnoBirthing Institute in Epsom, N.H., provides practitioner certification in 34 countries.

Only 15.5 percent of mothers who use HypnoBirthing had cesarean section births and 30 percent who delivered vaginally required anesthesia, according to reports of 1,059 births sent to the HypnoBirthing Institute between October 2005 and January 2008. In contrast, 32 percent of all births are delivered by cesarean section and 71 percent of vaginal births include an epidural or spinal anesthesia, according to "Listening to Mothers II: Report of the Second National U.S. Survey of Women's Childbearing Experiences," which was conducted in 2006 by Harris Interactive, New York, N.Y., in partnership with Lamaze International, Washington, D.C., for Childbirth Connection, New York, N.Y.