First Hypnobirth Class - Building A Positive Expectancy

Alhamdulillah, I managed to drag MNI to the class and ensure that we commit our every Sunday in Deccember for this class. Sounds very tough isn't it. But I want to have a natural birth with informed choice. So there is no reason not to learn and gain as much knowledge as I can.

I already enrolled for this class as early as at ~20ish pregnant. But the only time we have to commit our weekends is only in December. Read : Malas period, appraisal is over, MNI takde pergi outstation etc. But yah.. which means no end of year vacation for us. But herm that's fine lah.

I chose Nadine Ghows as the hypnobirth instructor.Mainly because she is the only one who offers classes in December and she is the only Muslim practitioner in Malaysia for this Mongan Method hypnobirthing. I thought oh yes it must be better if the instructor can relate with the words in Quran for every kejadian and sebab-sebab yg berlaku during birth.

The class was held at Nadine's house. It was a very small group of 4 couples. So just nice lah the house and we felt cosy and relax because rasa macam tgh lepak lepak kat rumah sahaja. And oh, the classes are in series of 5 or 6 (depends on the duration of each class). And it costs us RM780 per couple (kacinggg!). Quite expensive lah kot kalau dengar. But that amount could not be traded with the knowledge that we wanna have. And with that fee, you will get a copy of The Hypnobirthing-The Mongan Method book, and the Rainbow CD (that is a relaxation CD which you will use to put yourselves in deep relaxation)

In that first class, the objective is more to dig in on what hypnobirth is, the history, why is the current birthing environment is so mechanical etc.

When MNI was asked what makes him to support me to have a gentle/natural birth. His answer was " when she delivered or first baby, I could see how she struggled so hard until my shirt almost terkoyak. So for this second one, I hope she can birth our baby calmly and hopefully painless for her and me'

Heeeheee...

The full class outline :

UNIT #1: Building A Positive Expectancy*Introduction
*HypnoBirthing®
*Rationale for comfortable birth
*How the Uterus Works
*What's Wrong with Labor?
*How Fear Affects Labor
*Origin of Pain Concept
*Hypnosis and Deep Relaxation/Creating Positive Birth Outcomes
*HypnoBirthing® videos of labor & birth

UNIT #2: Falling in Love with Your Baby/Preparing Mind & Body
*HypnoBirthing® Stories - 3 and 4
*Prenatal Bonding Techniques
*Relaxation and Visualization for birthing
*Rapid and instant relaxation techniques
*Breathing techniques for birthing
*Progressive, Instant, and Deepening Techniques
*Hypnotic Relaxation and Visualizations

UNIT #3: Getting Ready to Welcome your Baby
*Looking at your estimated due date
*Making hospital, home or birthing center plans
*Preparing the Body for Birthing
*Light touch birthing massage
*Birth Stories Videos 5 and 6
*Preparing your birth preferences sheets
*When Baby is Ready
*Avoiding Artificial Induction of Labor
*Your Body Working for You And with You
*Releasing Negative Emotions, Fears and Limiting Thoughts
UNIT #4: Overview of Childbirth--A Labor of Love*Birth Stories Video 7 and 8
*Onset of Labor--Thinning and Opening Phase
*Arriving at the Hospital
*As Labor Moves along|
*Birth Companion's Role
*If Labor rests or slows
*Protecting the Natural Birthing Experience
*As Birthing advances--Nearing Completion
*Birth Rehearsal Imagery

UNIT# 5: Birthing--Breathing Love, Bringing Life
*Birthing Video
*Mother Nears Completion--thinning and opening phase ends
*Birth Explained Simply
*Breathing Baby Down
*Birth of the placenta
*Bonding with your baby
*Forest Fantasy Metaphor

And these point below are some of the things which Nadine shared with us, which I still remember.

1) Hypnobirth is not necessary pain-less. It is how you avoid fear and automatically the pain will be gone.

2) If we bring fear to labour, it will translate to tense, and then the pain will definitely there. This cycle repeats and that's why people take drugs to kill the pain.

3) Our body produces our own pain-killer. Oxytocin it is ! It is the love hormone or the 'shy' hormone in which will be produced particularly when making love. So treat your labour & birth just the same as making love - privacy, dim light, at the most comfortable position, of course perut jgn terlalu lapa, full of energy, jotful and fun !

4) So in order for natural birth to work, it is our responsibility to create the environment so this hormone can be produced. Be it at home or at the hospital. And of course kalau kat hospital, kenalah mendapat doctor & nurse who really can cooperate with your wishes.

5) Everyday kena imagine and visualise the birth that you want - location, at what position, when etc. Believe in the power of your mind!

6) Hypnobirth is not about against the hospitals, doctors and whatnots. It is about mothers to have an informed choice, no unnecessary medical intervention, and let the mother and baby work together during birthing coz they know what is needed.

7) How our uterus muscles work perfectly in harmony. It was written in the Quran that the uterus has 3 difefrent layers (mentioned lapisan demi lapisan dan lapisan). And each layer has its own function. Mothers job is to relax and control themselves in order for these muscles to work perfectly. And baby will come out dengan sendirinya without even mothers need to push. Subhanallah ! (Nadine showed the example with blue ribbon. I hope I can visualise this during birth. InshaAllah Amin)

8) Go to the hospital as late as possible. kalau boleh, sampai hospital trus beranak je. Because the best place to equip ourselves with the love hormone, and other necessary hormones are at the comfort of our house. So make sure body is properly ready, dah produce natural pain-killer then baru pegi hospital. If we go menyerah diri terlalu awal, itu yang dtg cerita -induce, dilation is so slow, baby distress yada..yada..yada. And end up with c-sect (which may not be necessary). There is no rush to birth the baby. Baby knows when to come out that is when they are ready. So kalau tak perlu, jgn lah dipaksa-paksa kelahiran itu.

9) We had to practise the relaxation and visualization techniqes. But both MNI and I terpinga-pinga sebab tak dapat masuk into that phase pun. Hahah. Its ok. Still lot more to learn :)

I m pretty sure there are a lot more to share here. But ini je yang saya igt buat masa ini. Will tambah tambah if I ingat lagi ok !

P/S Alhamdulillah tomorrow is our 4th anniversary. Hoih how time flies kan?