HypnoBirthing®: A relaxing way to birth

Local woman offers a new means for women to deal with the stress and pain often feared with childbirth MILFORD — Ask a woman about her birthing experience and you might hear many tales of pain, misery, and fatigue. Why do so many women experience childbirth as a painful experience? According to Milford resident Maya Lazarus, a certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner, many women are caught in a fear-tension-pain cycle. “By the time they are ready to deliver their baby, women have heard so many negative stories from well-meaning friends and family members that their subconscious minds are in a state of fear. The expectant mother doesn’t know what to expect since each birthing experience is unique. Going into labor with fear in the subconscious part of her mind causes her muscles to tense and makes delivery more difficult. Tense muscles create the experience of pain, and soon the laboring mother is locked in a vicious cycle. Breaking this fear-tension-pain cycle through relaxation is one of the techniques we teach expectant parents through a five-week course in HypnoBirthing®.” This childbirth method was first introduced by Marie Mongan through her widely acclaimed book, “Hypnobirthing®: The Mongan Method,” the same book that is used in the HypnoBirthing® classes. Later, she trademarked the name and began training others in her methods. Presently there are certified HypnoBirthing practitioners all over the world. Expectant parents who attend these classes learn: how to nurture and birth their baby with ease and comfort; natural ways to bring the mother’s body into labor without artificial chemical induction; how the body creates its own natural relaxant; and gentle birthing techniques that breathe the baby into this world without hard pushing. Mothers and their birth companions learn techniques for safe and satisfying birthing through guided imagery, visualization, and special breathing. Emphasis is placed on pregnancy and childbirth, as well as on pre-birth parenting and the consciousness of the pre-born baby. The success of the HypnoBirthing® method is evident when one reads through the information gathered on its Web site (www.hypnobirthing.com) under statistics. HypnoBirthing® mothers experienced surgical births at a much lower rate and had fewer interventions (e.g., pain medication) during labor than those mothers reported by Center for Disease Control or Listening to Mothers II reports - www.maternitywise.org/listeningtomothers/. Even though the HypnoBirthing® method was not in existence when Maya Lazarus had her two children, she says she instinctively knew to listen to her body and follow whatever it was guiding her to do. Consequently, she never had the experience of pain with either of her births. For more information on private or group HypnoBirthing® classes, contact Maya Lazarus, certified hypnotherapist and certified HypnoBirthing® practitioner, at deblazarus@yahoo.com or 570-296-4159. Classes begin in Milford, Oct. 16, and run for five weeks.