Laura Turner writes about a new childbirth method touted for the Times. Actually, it’s not really a new method, it’s been around for quite some time but as a lot of folks just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a woman doesn’t actually have to suffer during childbirth, it seems new.

Asia Carrera, former adult film star and now current mom, just had her first child and reports that she spent quite a bit of time in labor and in pain . . . she went into labor on March 1st and finally gave birth on March 4th . . . after a solid sixty-two hours in hard labor . . . see her report and photos here (you may have to search for the 3/11 entry as she doesn’t use permalink systems in her online diary (precursor to the blog).

While it’s wonderful that Asia has had her child – healthy and happy – it kind of sucks that she felt the need to suffer, locked in as so many women are with the idea that giving birth has to be about going into hard labor . . . having to work and suffer . . . childbirth can simply be about contractions and letting things happen.

Recently, our family watched an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine in which Kira gives birth to the O’Brien baby and we learn that Bajoran women need to be completely relaxed to have their babies. For them it is an expectation and realization. For humans, it can be the same way. It does not have to be about the pain, anyone who tells you differently is just plain wrong. Period.

Screaming, pain, agony, ordeal. These aren’t words describing the latest popular horror movie. They are images many Americans relate to birth. Pekin Hospital recently hosted a clinic that offers a more positive approach to bringing a baby into the world. "Women have been taught to believe that birth must be painful. It doesn’t have to be that way," said Cindy Grgurich, certified hypnotist and HypnoBirth counselor. Grgurich spoke Saturday at Pekin Hospital to about 18 local nurses and doulas (persons trained to give support and guidance to birthing mothers) on HypnoBirth, an alternative birth method that uses relaxation and imagery to bring desired results. It asserts if you believe birth can be painless, it will. "HypnoBirth is a rewarding, relaxing, stress-free method of birthing. It returns women to an art of birthing that allows her to summon her natural birthing instinct," Grgurich said. In addition, HypnoBirthing can reduce the need for chemical anesthesia and bring about more rapid and easier postnatal care. By imagining birth positively beforehand, it can help eliminate the fear/tension/pain cycle that often accompanies birth. "HypnoBirthing helps the mother be relaxed so she can have a more pleasurable birth. It can be a very enjoyable bonding experience for couples," Grgurich said. Pekin Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology nursing director Bonnie Cox says it’s another tool in giving women the birth they want. "It empowers women to have the birth of their dreams," she said. Julie Carlton of Washington knows first-hand the benefits of HypnoBirth. After a long, painful labor with her first child, she wanted a different way of doing things with her second pregnancy. A friend told her about HypnoBirth. "It was like the difference between night and day," Carlton said. "I focused on a gentle labor, and that’s what I got. I was more in control." HypnoBirthing also helped Carlton eliminate almost all birth pain. "I felt contractions. They were not painful, but intense during active labor. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. Easier, more natural." Crowning did hurt, she said, but attributes the pain to coming out of her hypnosis at that point and delivering an 11-pound baby. She said it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. "I’ll take 5 minutes of ‘ow" over 24 hours of ‘owâ’" she said. Carlton "was so amazed" by her HypnoBirth experience she now teaches it. In addition to being a doula and holding two master’s degrees in counseling and public health, she is a HypnoBirth certified educator. Pekin Hospital is currently undergoing a $1.4 million renovation of the birthing wing, adding three new labor and recovery suites and a hydrotherapy tub for relaxation and pain relieve during labor, according to hospital marketing director Melodie Mendenhall. Training staff in HypnoBirth is another step toward a goal to be the area leader in birth options. "Pekin Hospital is going to be a Mecca for women who want alternatives and support in feeling they have power during birth," Cox said. The hospital is working towards "Baby Friendly" status, a designation conferred by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Only 42 hospitals in the United States have Baby Friendly status, said Cox, with St. John’s Hospital in Springfield the area’s closest. There are 10 steps to certification, including on-site inspections. Cox, a nursing PHD and certified midwife since 1987, has made it her mission to make Pekin Hospital No. 1 when it comes to childbirth. "I think Pekin Hospital has one of the best OB departments in the country. I have dedicated myself to raising the standards," she said.

This is not rocket science, it’s painfree and easy to learn. With appropriate coaching and support, most women can learn the skills and get them up to speed to enter into a hypnotic state or simple focused trance to the degree that the birth process is no longer something to fear but something to be embraced and celebrated.

One reason many women experience pain is because they fear it. Fear creates expectations and that expectation creates anticipatory stress and intensifies actual pain. By learning to relax and enjoy the experience, women cut down on the associated pain by a large margin. However, hypnotic birthing is more than that. Much more. Women learn to dissipate or dispel any of the negative and false beliefs they encounter regarding birth and replace those with positive mindsets. They also learn how to relax and let the process go it’s natural way.

Hypnotic and focused trance birthing also changes our vocabulary and how we think about birthing. We no longer say, labor . . . we say contractions. We no longer say pain, we say pressure or slight discomfort. This helps put a new frame or a reframe on how we experience the process.

This really does work! There is a lot of quantifiable data out there that proves it works . . . this is one of the areas where hypnosis, focused trance, and guided imagery work quite exceptionally to produce very reliable results. Even in the very few rare cases where something does actually go wrong in the birthing process, the training helps minimize stress and discomfort and maximize positive results.

This is very good stuff. Very very good.

Feel free to see my webpages at http://www.briandavidphillips.com for more information. If you’re in Taipei, you can email me at phillips@nccu.edu.tw