[PD] First hypnobirthing class

"My body is a temple of joy because you are in it. I love you, dear little baby."

Yeah. So, yesterday was our first birthing class. JW tore himself away from his Election Day eve activities to attend. The class was three hours and consisted of lots of talking, a few visualization and guided relaxation exercises, a sort of hilarious demonstration with a fake knitted uterus that birthed a plastic baby, and two birth videos.

The basic idea of hypnobirthing is this:

1. Childbirth does not inherently involve pain.
2. We expect pain, which makes us frightened. The fear leads to tension at a time when we need to be relaxed and open, which leads to pain, which creates more fear. We need to avoid this cycle and stop associating birth with pain and fear.
3. Birth is a natural process; it's what our bodies were designed to do. Birth is about bringing our baby into the world and into our family.

Watching the videos highlighted this approach. The women were calm and relaxed, and they pushed their babies out with concentration and focus when they felt it was time. The instructor joked afterwards, "Did the videos blow your mind?" But they didn't; I felt like that's what birth should be like, not machines beeping and people yelling at you while you scream your head off.

One thing that resonated with me was when the instructor asked how we felt when we got pulled over by the police. The minute you see those flashing lights, she said, you experience a physical reaction: you tense up, your pupils dilate, your blood pressure goes up, your heart pounds. Somebody else in the class pointed out, "But what if you called them because you're witnessing a crime? Then it's the opposite -- you feel completely relieved." I realized that my vision of how labor starts comes from TV, where the reaction is panic -- oh my god, I'm having a contraction, take me to the hospital! But a contraction, or a surge as it's called in hypnobirthing, is a sign that your baby is getting ready to come out, and isn't that the point of this whole process? The idea of actually being happy that labor is starting had just never occurred to me before.

There was only one thing in the class I really didn't like, which I started this post with -- the "birth affirmations" at the end, where we were supposed to say certain things to our unborn baby. I didn't like being told what to say to my baby. I don't talk like that and the affirmation was about someone else's standard of what makes a good parent. It felt a little like taking an oath that you don't agree with.

I expected JW to be skeptical, but he seemed pretty open to the approach -- even though at the first break after we talked about "hypnobirthing terminology," he turned to me and said, "Are you worried that your pre-labor warm-ups will cause you sensations?" I laughed, but said, "Give it a chance." And he did.

I expected to be a little skeptical myself, but it's time to put that aside. A big part of this is believing it's true. Besides, I grew up hearing about yogic powers. I believe that the mind can achieve incredible things through meditation and focus. If a yogi can sit on top of a snowy mountain and not feel cold, I can have this baby.