Hypnobirthing

I was browsing through my to-do list that I wrote about a month ago of things that I wanted to do before the baby gets here.  This to-do list did not include things like:

1. Get oil changed
2. Go grocery shopping
3. Call insurance company

I have that to-do list, but it is the daily mundane one.  The to-do list I made was more of fun things or pregnancy/birth/labor related things to help pass the time for the rest of the pregnancy.  If I don’t get everything done, I won’t really feel like a failure.  Some of the things on the list:

1. Read two books for fun: Lineage of Grace and ________.
2. Go on at least two dates before baby comes:  October 27th and November 17th.
3. Go Christmas shopping
4. Make Thanksgiving plans
5. Finish Reading Hypnobirthing
6. Write and record a hypnobirthing script
7. Practice hypnobirthing at least 3x per week

…and there are about 10 other things on the list.

I finally accomplished item number 6 a few days ago.

For this labor and delivery, like my last one, I plan on using the technique of hypnobirthing.  I had always thought hypnotists to be crazy people that get other stupid people to do ridiculous things (there are a lot of negative adjectives in that sentence!).  I do not claim to be

My Labor Bible

very knowledgeable about hypnosis, but I did read the wonderful book Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method and it literally changed everything I thought about labor and prepared me wonderfully for a beautiful birth.

As I mentioned above, I am not some hypnosis guru.  I read the book, mentally prepared, and because I got an ebook and not a hard copy (which comes with a CD), I didn’t even get recordings to practice with.  So, when I was pregnant with Hadassah, I found a script online and there was a script that I recorded in the book.  I used GarageBand and then put some relaxing music in the background.  One of the recordings was adapted from this script.  I changed it a bit.

While the two scripts I recorded for my previous pregnancy were very helpful, after having gone through birth, there were some extra things I wanted to include in the scripts.  I realized when I started listening to them again I was thinking, “oh, I wish I had said this.” or “I wish I had spent more time relaxing every part of my body, ” or “I wish I didn’t read that part so fast.”  So, I wrote my own script and recorded it just the other day.  I am pretty happy with it.  It isn’t perfect and still isn’t my ideal.  If I had more than two and a half weeks to go, I would spend time writing another script, but I realized that I can either spend time writing a script, or spend time practicing hypnobirthing!  The latter is definitely more important since I am down to the wire on time.

I thought I would share the script and hope people can get some use out of it.  For the music I put in the background, for the online script I found, I used the song Water Night and Sleep by Eric Whitacre.  For the script I used from the hypnobirthing book I used the work Gymnopedie No. 1 by Eric Satie.  For my script that I wrote myself, I used a song my husband composed.  It is called Zan Yehuan and will be available in iTunes in 2013.  ***Update!*** Here is a link to Fernando’s music.  You will also be able to search for it in iTunes the second week of March 2013, I believe.

I had a hard time finding scripts online.  I am sure if someone decides to take a hypnobirthing class they will be fully equipped, but I had neither the money nor the time for that.  So here is a free hypnobirthing script, for those on a budget.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Hypnobirthing Script

Breath in and breath out.

Feel your the air expand your lungs.

Keep breathing.  Feel your chest fill to maximum capacity.  Feel the ease of your breath.

If you are carrying any tension in your shoulders, breathe in, and when you exhale, let the tension go with your breath.  Breathe in once more, exhale and the tension is leaving.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.

Imagine there is a fuzzy numbing and hazy cloud above you.  It is nice and warm.  It wraps around the top of your head.  It is slowly descending and barely touches the top of your head.  When it touches your head, you feel the top of your head vibrating pleasantly.  It slowly comes lower and touches your forehead.  As it touches your forehead, your forehead feels numb and relaxed.  The tension in your forehead is leaving.  Wiggle the tension out of your eyebrows as your eyebrows relax.

The cloud touches your face and opens up your nasal passages wide and allows you to breathe even more deeply.  Feel your sinus cavities opening up wider and wider.

The cloud touches the back of your head and your ears.  It releases tension and numbs any uncomfortable feelings in your head.  The cloud moves to your cheeks and your mouth and jaw.  Feel it touch your face and pull the tension out.

The cloud moves to your neck and releases the tension.  Any tension in your shoulders is leaving.  Breathe in and breathe out.  Feel the release.

The cloud moves down your back touching each vertebrae, removing the tension one by one from each one.  It moves down your back again, this time leaving a warm and healing sensation.  It feels so warm and takes away any pain.  Feel it move move. Move down.  It is now at your lower back and wraps around your body and hugs your back and stomach.  It circles around and around, gently touching your abdomen and leaving a buzzing, numbing feeling.
It moves down to your hips and circles around them.  As you breathe, feel it circle around.  It enters both sides of your hips and scoops out any pain in your hips.  Watch it dump the pain in two piles next to you.  It reaches in again and massages you from the inside out.  It circles your hips and your buttox and your lower back and as it gently touches you, it leaves your hips, buttox and lower back pleasantly numb.

The cloud reaches and circles your thighs.  It relaxes your womb and your birth canal.  You are relaxing so much and it is opening you so easily and wide for the baby to fit through.  It relaxes and opens and opens.  The cloud touches your calfs and massages the tension out.  It then grows bigger and bigger and you are laying on the cloud, so relaxed, and you feel the little molecules of the cloud vibrating and buzzing quickly, numbing any inch of you that needs it.  You are now utterly and totally relaxed and are ready for an easy and pleasant birth.