{"id":17534,"date":"2016-03-10T16:16:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T06:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/?p=17534"},"modified":"2025-03-11T09:47:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T23:47:03","slug":"birth-power-confidence-story-childbirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/birth-power-confidence-story-childbirth\/","title":{"rendered":"How to birth with power and confidence – Your story of childbirth"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Guest Blogger Emily Young<\/span><\/h4>\n

I don\u2019t know about you but since I was a little girl in knee-high socks and found out that \u201cthe baby comes out of there<\/em>?\u201d, I got the strong message that giving birth to a baby was scary, difficult and painful. The culprits to my warped understanding were far-flung and numerous. From members of my own family to ridiculous Hollywood movies portraying the scene of a\u00a0woman laying down on hospital bed scream-swearing at loved ones and hospital staff.<\/p>\n

One of my life missions is to pull apart these beliefs and shine light on them\u2026exposing them for the mischievous little imps that they are.<\/p>\n

I now think that with a little practice and a smattering of education, it\u2019s possible to enter into the world of childbirth empowered and powerful. Let me share why\u2026<\/p>\n

First of all we need to shatter those pesky limiting beliefs. A growing body of research (1)<\/a> supports the notion that our beliefs about pain have a powerful influence over our birth experiences.<\/p>\n

\"pregnant<\/a>A typical scenario for how these beliefs might come about is this\u2026let\u2019s say an authority figure in childhood (parent, teacher, Hollywood) portrays birth as difficult and painful, which primes us to see evidence of this in our world. This is how the brain works\u2026it looks for patterns. And then as we grow up and think about having children, it\u2019s always in the back of our minds that we somehow have to \u201cget through\u201d childbirth. So we find a partner, get pregnant and are now on a road of no return. Our fears about our own abilities during birth are often fuelled by the medical establishment who in various ways reinforce our beliefs, both during pregnancy and on arrival at the labour ward. I am reminded of a quote by my fave psychiatrist, Kelly Brogan MD (2)<\/a>, who states<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the donning of a hospital gown on arrival puts a woman in the role of a sick patient rather than a conduit for life\u2019s most transcendent contact with creation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And typically friends, family members and random people on the street will put their 2 cents worth in about their own births or stories they heard yada yada yada ad infinitum<\/em>. Sound familiar? So this hypothetical woman goes into labour with the firm belief that this is gonna hurt\u2026big time\u2026and that she should just think herself fortunate if her baby comes out healthy. That\u2019s the main thing, right?<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019d like to propose the possibility that women can hope for (and get) more than a healthy baby \u2026that is, a positive and empowering experience of birth. Let\u2019s chip away at the \u201cpain\/difficult\/scary\u201d belief\u2026<\/p>\n

Grantly Dick-Read MD (love that name), in his ground-breaking book (3) \u201cChildbirth Without Fear\u201d<\/a> told the story of a woman, living in a slum tenement in London during World War I, who had refused anaesthesia during\"G<\/a> labour. When asked why, she replied \u201cIt didn\u2019t hurt. It wasn\u2019t meant to, was it, Doctor?\u201d I found this story ASTONISHING\u2026how could this be?<\/p>\n

And this placed the first seed of doubt in my mind that childbirth is, by default and without question, painful. Dick-Read explained this phenomenon with a concept called the Fear-Tension-Pain Syndrome. Meaning that preconceived beliefs and attitudes cause anxiety before labour and subsequent fear during labour. Fear and anxiety, in their turn, cause muscular tension which leads to less than optimal physical conditions for birth; for example, slow and delayed dilation, leading to pain.<\/p>\n

So how on Earth do we magically \u201cun-scare\u201d ourselves? \u201cIt\u2019s too late!\u201d I hear you cry. \u201cWe already KNOW that it\u2019s painful!\u201d Ignorance appeared blissful for this WW1 lady\u2026but we are not ignorant.<\/p>\n

Let me introduce another, more contemporary player in my narrative to help us with this conundrum\u2026(4) Mr Tony Robbins<\/a>. Love him or roll your eyes at the big, white, perfect teeth and square jawline, his authority on the subject of peak human performance, from relationships to business success, is indisputable. He\u2019s dedicated his working life to this very subject and learned from the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of psychological science. Myself and my family owe a lot to this bloke\u2026 not least his strategies for getting what you want in life.<\/p>\n

However, I don\u2019t recall him coaching pregnant women for childbirth\u2026so what does Mr Robbins know about all this? Bear with me\u2026(pardon the pun)\u2026according to Tony, there are (5)<\/a> 3 main things you need for success (for our purposes – an empowered and positive birth experience)<\/p>\n