Hypnobirthing and Fear of Childbirth

With the return of One Born Every Minute being announced, I have been thinking about how our narratives of childbirth are shaped by what we hear about others’ stories. This TV show was likely the first time many people witnessed childbirth and it likely correlated with the stories they had been told, however brief. Watching a TV show about childbirth without the prospect of giving birth soon may feel like entertainment, especially when it’s feathered with heartwarming moments, outpouring of emotion and even humour in places! But often it’s the more subtle aspects about childbirth from these stories and media formats that stick in your head and they’re often the more powerful patterns.

Fear of childbirth is normalised by many, but can hypnobirthing help? Dramatic stories hook us in through emotions and sometimes morbid curiosities. If you plan to give birth, the mystery around such a unique experience can have such a gravitational pull when someone is offering their birth story on a platter (or on a major TV channel!). But when the details are things such as pain, blood, tearing, loss of control, exhaustion, hospitals… no wonder fear becomes so prominent! If you weren’t scared of birth after this exposure, you’d be accused of being naïve, which also adds to the fear. Feeling scared is not wrong, but fear can lead to the exact things that create these dramatic stories.

When humans feel fear or threat, our body’s fight or flight response is activated. This causes a surge of adrenaline, increased heart rate, blood rushing to muscles causing tension and blood directed away from the uterus where it is needed. All of this is working against normal birth physiology. Adrenaline inhibits oxytocin release, which is the hormone that causes the uterus to contract and birth your baby. Your muscles being tense takes up the space your baby needs to move out of your body and also means pain is felt more intensely. You may find that you fear or anticipate this pain more acutely, not allowing your body to relax and feeling that intensity more and more. But what if you had the tools to break this cycle, reduce the fear of childbirth and experience birth more positively?

The fight or flight response is activated by our sympathetic nervous system. It’s our body’s primal way of working to keep us safe when faced with threat and fear. Our parasympathetic system works in the opposite way, bringing the body into it’s rest and digest state, to calm our nervous system and regulate our bodies. This is the state where oxytocin can be more readily available to promote birth physiology. Adrenaline and oxytocin cannot exist at the same time! Your muscles can relax and create space for your baby, blood can flow to the uterus again for it to work efficiently and you will find it easier to manage the sensations of birth. Techniques in hypnobirthing work to help your parasympathetic nervous system be engaged with more ease, quickly and effectively so that you can allow birth to happen.

Back to One Born Every Minute for a second… You will likely see many people tell the birthing person to ‘Breathe… Breathe… Breathe….’ during birth. Whilst ‘breathing’ is good advice, it’s often at a point where the person is in a lot of pain, a position that maybe doesn’t feel great, possibly feeling scared and also a little panicked. Breathing can be an effective tool to calm the nervous system and relax throughout labour rather than just in the pushing phase and it's even more effective when you have practiced before birth! Being in a hospital itself is indicative that ‘something is wrong’ to many people and not understanding the birth process or how your environment can influence your psychology can leave people feeling quite ill-equipped and underprepared for birth. It’s easy to get swept up in the intensity of birth and feel blind-sided by it when it (often very quickly) starts to match all the narratives you had to begin with!

Birth CAN be different if you want it to be. Hypnobirthing can impact fear of childbirth in accessible ways. Learning about normal birth, normal physiology, techniques that work on your psychology and the interplay between all of these can mean that fear is reduced enough for you to move through birth with a little more confidence and ease. My partner described both of my births as ‘boring’, so I wouldn’t have made the cut for One Born, I am sure. But what I AM sure of is that the techniques I learned in hypnobirthing are what made my births special, positive and… boring (apparently!).

What techniques does hypnobirthing teach?

·         How to use your breath to manage your calm

·         Visualisations to use throughout your labour

·         How to understand and let go of your previous birth narratives to make space for new ones

·         Relaxation skills to use throughout pregnancy

·         Self-talk and belief starting in pregnancy

·         How to create affirmations that are meaningful and powerful for you

·         How your partner can influence your birth and support you

Your desire for a positive birth is strong and requires your full attention as opposed to a little curiosity. Feeling prepared for birth isn’t about going in and expecting the worst, it’s about education, inner work and believing that you deserve trust, respect and personalised care. When you’re ready to explore your options and learn how to work towards your positive birth, I am ready to support you.

I am a doula and hypnobirthing teacher in Chester and Wirral with a background in psychology and perinatal mental health. Get in touch to chat about the support you need.