Birth is Natural, Normal, Healthy and Safe

I recently gave birth to my second baby and thanks to my Hypnobabies studies, this became my mantra during my pregnancy. At the time, I decided to accept this as true without really analyzing it but recently, it’s come to the forefront again. This western culture that we live in professes to be so advanced and yet we lead the industrialized nations in maternal and fetal deaths. We are also at the top of the charts for interventions, medical assisted births and c-sections and I have to ask myself why we as a nation do not believe that birth is natural, normal, healthy and safe. Birth has become a huge production in which a doctor and his or her team must deliver us from this horrible thing called child birth. We as women can’t possibly be able to handle such pain and everything and anything must be done to help the inferior gender carry on the legacy of the human race. Well, I may exaggerate a bit, but there is a note of truth. The medical community and our society as a whole thought “bigger is better” right? If one person can do it right, 10 can do it better and if 10 people can do it, a machine can do it better still and thus began the industrial revolution. I believe all medicine has a place and is valuable beyond measure. The thing that should set up apart is knowing when to use the tools.
Enough history though, what does this have to do with birth? It was the industrial revolution that began the downward spiral of our maternity care in the US. People stopped trusting people and started trusting machines. This was very apparent in the medical industry where doctors stopped looking at moms and instead, focused on what the machines were telling them was going on because it was measureable and chartable. In this day and age when everyone wants to blame someone else, doctors and nurses have to have something in writing and they are constantly asking, “Could I do more?” Things have definitely gotten better in the last 20 years but we still have a long way to go. There was a time that a laboring woman was strapped to a bed and left in a room alone until she was far enough along for the doctors to come in and “deliver” the baby from her. Now, women are respected for the most part and there is at least some attempt to respect the wishes of the family. Dads are usually included and in most hospitals and doulas are usually a welcome addition. However, most hospital staff relies too heavily on technology and most doctors and nurses don’t even see a natural birth during their training. When one nurse was asked if a mom had a natural birth, she replied, “Yep, she only got an epidural.”
It seems to me that women have been having babies long before there were fetal monitors and ultrasounds. Don’t get me wrong, the advances in medicine are amazing and do save lives when they are needed and obstetrics is one of the few fields where the advances are needed less that they are sctually used. Childbirth is a natural and normal state of being for a women and a women’s body knows exactly how to birth a baby. If you have ever seen a laboring mom that is left alone to follow her body, you will become an instant believer. There are so many little things that work together to create this amazing event like the nesting instinct. Shortly before a mom goes into labor, she will usually get a burst of energy to get things finished and ready for her baby. When in labor, if a mom listens to her body, she will move and change positions to allow the baby the chance to do the same. It is such a perfect an intricate dance. During pregnancy, many moms get cravings for foods they would not normally eat like pickles and ice cream. Stop and think for a moment what is in pickles and ice cream: vinegar and milk/dairy. Dairy contains calcium which is needed to grow healthy bones for a growing baby and vinegar helps minimize heartburn which many pregnant moms complain of. The female body is designed to grow babies, so how could it be anything but healthy and safe. If it weren’t, the human race would probably not have survived as long as it has.
The biggest thing that gets in the way of a natural birth for most women is their mind. We are trained (here in the US) that the safest place to have a baby is in the hospital and to attempt anything different is either brave or stupid. We’ve all heard the horror stories from our well meaning relatives and seen the productions on TV and in the movies. When you are pregnant, you become a magnet for “those stories”. When a women does get pregnant, she wants to do what she believes is best for herself and her baby. For 20+ years, she has been told that giving birth in a hospital with a doctor is what is best. It sounds great, except doctors are trained to do something, whatever it is. So, what if we lived in a society that believed in the strength and commitment of women? What if we were surrounded by “I can” instead of “I can’t”? What if we were to trust in the perfect design of the human body? What if we all believed that birth is normal, natural, healthy and safe?
The best thing we can do to support parents-to-be is to encourage education and believe in the awesome-ness of the human body.

Our new Hypnobaby!

After a few extra days, our precious little girl is here. Lillianna Marie Banguilan was born at 6:53 am on 10/23/09 in our home. She weighs 9 lbs 9 oz and is 20.5" long. At the moment, she is sleeping peacefully in her swing and Nanay and Jaiden are at the Taste of Suwanee Festival (so it's a little quiet). I thought I would take this moment and write down some details before I forget so here is my version. (Anna's to come.)

I have to admit, I was getting a little anxious about the new arrival seeing that Jaiden was born right on his due date but... I was trying to practice what I preach in that 'babies are born on their birth date and not on their due date' so, we waited. My mom came up on Saturday so we walked every day together. Thursday night I decided to give the myth about eggplant a try so we went to Athens Greek Restaurant. There had been no "signs" of anything so I figured it couldn't hurt and it tasted pretty good.
Thursday night we went to bed as usual and Friday morning, I woke up as usual with the need to pee. (A brief side note. Wednesday night, Anna accidentally flushed the toilet paper holder so at about 11:00 pm, Anna and I tore out the potty to retrieve the lost paper holder. Anna joked that this was #32 on the list of ways to induce labor. :) ) So, as usual, I went pee at about 4:00 then went to lay back down. I noticed a pretty good pressure wave so I woke anna up. I think I lay there for a few min and told anna to time a few. They were about 4 min apart and 45 seconds long. After that, I didn't feel comfortable laying down so I went to my rocking chair to listen to a script. I knew that this could be something or it could be nothing. I was listening to my Easy First Stage cd which is about 50 min long but after about 30 min, I felt like I wanted to get up and walk. I could tell that this was my birthing time because the pressure waves were getting more intense but still fine and still 4 mins apart. I got Anna and told her to call our midwife Debbie, just to give her a 'heads up' call since things weren't stopping. Anna called Debbie at about 4:45 while I was eating some toast and Debbie said just piddle about and check back in about 30 min. After that, we went back upstairs and I lay in the bed while Anna gave me birth prompts. (To those who are not familiar with Hypnobabies, these are verbal and physical cues that we practiced to get and keep me relaxed.) She did a great job and things were getting very intense for me. Somewhere in there, Anna called Debbie again and told her what was going on and that she needed to come. I remember saying "I need my Debbie." She was about an hour away so is was time for her so head our way. Somewhere around 6:00 I told Anna I needed to get in the tub. She called Debbie again and asked if I could get in and she said I better wait so we didn't slow things down. I said if I can't get in the tub, I'm getting in the shower. Things were very intense for me now and I remember saying something's not right, I can't do this much longer. I could hear my noises changing from aahhhs to uuhhhs and thinking I have to push. My doula brain was saying this is ok, it's just transition and my me brain was saying it's too soon. It had only been 2.5 hours since things started. I think Anna just kept Debbie on the phone while I got in the shower. I started on my hands and knees and just let the water hit my back and run down onto my belly. After 1 or 2 waves, I decided to plug up the tub so I could soak. (good plan...) The shower was still on and Anna had Debbie on speaker. They were both so wonderful in talking to me saying what a great job I was doing and Debbie kept saying things sounded great. I remember thinking I feel like I'm screaming but it was more like letting the power go through me. Debbie talked to anna and told her to check if the baby was coming out. She couldn't see so I checked. I could feel her head but it was still about an inch in. While I was pushing in the tub, I think my water broke. Debbie asked if there was anything in the water and anna said no. I still had the sense to notice that there was no mercomium even thought it wasn't until later that I remember that fact. At some point, I sat up on my legs and let the water cover my bottom to relieve some pressure. That felt good and things were still really intense. I think I spent 2 waves like that then rolled over on my back. Then, Anna could get a better view and the babies head was right there. Debbie was still talking to Anna and I reached down and felt the babies head. I think Anna decided 'screw it, I'm getting in too.' She climbed in the tub and with the next push, Lillianna's head was born. Debbie had her check for a cord and there was none. With one more push, one shoulder slid out, then the other, then her whole body slid right into anna's arms. She put the baby right on my chest. By then, my mom had woken up and had gotten a few things ready. She handed anna a few blankets and managed to take a few pictures. We covered her up so she wouldn't get too cold but we had to check if it was a girl or a boy. Anna and I looked at the same time and said, "it's a girl." We were so amazed by what just happened.
Debbie was still on the phone and continued to give us praises as well as the necessary midwife stuff. Lillianna was a little blue still so I needed the reassurance from Debbie that everything was ok. It was and in just a few seconds, she started making those wonderful baby noises. Babies born in the water are much calmer so they usually don't cry right away. Debbie walked us through delivering the placenta and a few minutes after that, my mom helped me into bed. Anna was so great; she had the baby in one hand and a bowl of placenta in the other. This is the same person that wouldn't even look at Jaiden's placenta.
A few minutes after I got into bed, Debbie came in. Anna did give me back the baby so I could try to nurse her a bit more. She is an excellent nurser!. After that, the people started coming in; Anna called in some reinforcements at some point but alas, they were all a bit late.
All in all, it was a wonderful and very FAST birth. 3 hours from start to finish. Jaiden is doing GREAT too. He loves his little sister and is very helpful. He is getting plenty of attention and lots of play time with all of the friends that are stopping by.

The happy big brother.


Day 2: Lilli's first bath.

Hypnosis for Childbirth on 20/20

Last Friday, 20/20 aired a segment about childbirth. This is based on the new film "Orgasmic Birth". I got the chance to review the movie before it was released to the public and it's amazing and true. (Don't get me wrong, it won't "just happen" for most women. You need to do a little planning and preparation but it is possible for all women.) Here is just a little part of the show...

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6569030

Stephanie's Birth Story

As I mentioned earlier, here is my birth story from the birth of my wonderful son, Jaiden. I just wanted to clarify that I was using Hypnobirthing and not the method that I currently teach: Hypnobabies. (I wanted to use Hypnobabies but there were no instructors in the area which is why I am now a Hypnobabies teacher.) Enjoy!

My birth story

I started have contractions on Friday morning (3/24/06). By Friday afternoon I realized that they were coming pretty regularly so we went about our day but I starting timing them. Friday night about midnight we (me, Anna, and my mom decided that it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions were still about 5 min apart and I knew we were going a little too soon but the midwife said to go ahead and I wanted to get to the hospital to "settle in". I just wanted to keep everything low key and calm. So we all loaded in the car including Toby (our dog) and headed over to Deb and Kendall house to pick up Martina and drop off Toby. When we got to the hospital, I was about 3.5 cm dilated so we waited and we did our hypnobirthing and we walked and sometime on Saturday afternoon, the midwife checked me again and wow, I was 4 cm. So we waited and we did our hypnobirthing and we walked and we waited some more. At some point the midwife suggested that I take a bath because I was having a lot of pain in my back. The bath must have worked because my contractions got a lot easier to handle. (We were doing some good relaxing.) :) Cathy, my sister, got there about 3 or 4:00 and I am so glad she decided to come. I think it was at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday night that the midwife came in again to check me. I think I was a little over 4 cm but not much so we discussed our option. She said that I still wasn't in "active labor" and that it was totally up to me as to what to do. Her only concern was that I was going to get too tired because this could go on for a while longer but she new we wanted to go naturally and she totally supported that. I asked her how long “active labor” usually lasted for first time moms and she said about 12-14 hours. Anna and I talked about it and we decided that we were ready to have a baby so they broke my water, started me on pitocin and gave me an epidural. (My water had already broken a bit but not completely which was probably why things were going so slow.) Cathy was wonderful. She suggested that they give me “a little something” for pain now until they came to give me the epidural. They did and I don't think I've slept that well in a long time. I didn’t feel a thing for a good 2 hours. After that I could feel the lower part of my legs and I could move a bit but I didn’t feel any pain. The midwife came back in at about 10:00 p.m. and I was 8-9cm. (I think we were all relieved. My sister said she didn’t want to hear anything except that I was fully dilated. Suzie jokingly said “Well... what if I said she’s 8-9...) She said to call here when things started to "feel different". I don't think it was half an hour later when things started feeling different. My sister went to get the midwife and by the time she got back into the room, I needed to push. The midwife didn't even have time to get her gown on and 45 min later, we had a beautiful baby boy. He was born as 12:12 am on Sunday (his due date by the way) at 8 lbs. 14 oz. I think he when into a bit of distress at the very end so I didn't get to see him much before they took him to check him out. (I think the only distress was that my blood pressure and temp went up but he was fine.) But after they got me stitched up and him situated, I nursed him and he latched right on. It was really one of the most amazing experiences in my life. No mater what anyone tells you, words will never come close to that amazing experience.

Welcome to Atlanta Hypnobabies

Hello all, As a sign of the times, I've decided that it's time for my business to have a blog too. I LOVE teaching Hypnobabies and education families so they can have the best birth possible so I thought I would share some of my successes (and anything else that's note worthy.) Here is a little bit about our classes:

This is a six-week complete childbirth education course that teaches the same hypno-anesthesia techniques used by people who undergo surgery with hypnosis as their only anesthesia. Materials included with this course: 7 CDs for mom, 1 CD for partner, workbook, handouts, 7 scripts, quick reference and more.

In the next post, I'll share with you my birth story of when my beautiful son was born almost 3 years ago. Please check back regularly. I'll be posting wonderful birth stories from our students and the all important baby pictures.

Truly and peacefully,
Stephanie