3 Things About Birth to Help You Feel Powerful- The Science of Hypnobirthing and How Your Body Works in Labour
Ok, so if you’ve discovered hypnobirthing you’re probably understanding that feeling more positive towards your birth is going to help your birth process along, you probably feel like you’ve got a few tips up your sleeve to make that happen, as well as things to keep you chill on the day (if that’s not you yet, then it sounds like you need our Digital Hypnobirthing Pack.
However, we want to help you start building your trust in your body and your knowledge of how it works. We don’t just want you to blindly trust that all will be swell! We want you to know exactly how your body is set up to smash this whole birth thing.
Now we have not got the time to explain to you the full process of birth, the stages of labour, cervical dilation, the foetal ejection reflex, birthing the placenta and all that jazz. However, we can explain a few key points that will help you start to feel more confident and like your body is pretty fucking amazing!
First, let’s start with that badass uterus of yours!
Now if you didn’t already know, your uterus is a muscle. It’s made up of two layers of muscles. One horizontal and one vertical. They each do a different job and one relaxes as the other contracts. The calming tools used in hypnobirthing can aid oxygenating the muscles of the uterus as well as helping the horizontal muscles to stay nice and relaxed so that the vertical muscles can draw them up with ease.
Here’s a video about the uterus taken from our digital pack to help show you some more info.
Now that you have a better idea of how your uterus works and what it’s doing to basically, run this show. Hopefully you can now better imagine the way the breathing techniques and being nice and relaxed can help it to function more efficiently and more comfortably.
Next, let’s look at the hormones of birth
Our hormones impact EVERYTHING we do. Whilst we may be used to hearing that our hormones are ‘to blame’ for a lot of the feelings that we have during pregnancy or during our menstrual cycle, they’re actually at work all the rest of the time too, for ALL of us. Our hormones control our appetite, our digestion, our sleep, our moods and SO much more!
When it comes to birth, our hormones are our bodies inbuilt toolkit! Each one that’s involved has a job to do. Whether that’s acting as a pain reliever, causing the contractions of the uterus themselves or helping our bodies and our babies to become flexible and stretchy!
You see, by the time we’re in labour, our hormone, relaxin, has been cracking on and doing it’s thing to get our pelvis and perineal tissues ready for our baby to pass through.
Throughout early labour, our lovely endorphins are building up and being banked to be used as pain relief later on as well as being soothing and making the birther feel like they are in control.
Throughout the whole process, Oxytocin is causing uterine surges, creating a sense of calm, helping to birth the placenta and facilitate bonding and breastfeeding once the baby has arrived.
Melatonin works by boosting oxytocin, only when our environment is dark and private, saving us the hassle of beginning labour in the middle of the supermarket!
It’s all very fucking clever isn’t it? You can learn more about the role of your hormones and the conditions that they like by doing our digital pack! We also have some more hormone info for you if you click the button below.
Lastly, the actual birth bit
So whilst you know how your uterus is set to bring your baby closer and how your hormones are there to help you through the whole process, it can sometimes be hard to imagine that you can actually get the baby out when it’s time! So let’s point you in the direction of some information you can take in to help improve your confidence and knowledge on that side of things.
You may have heard people mention ‘breathing the baby out’ and thought ‘what the fuck is that all about?’ Well in essence it simply going with the body’s natural impulse to expel the baby and aiding it a little with the breath. While we’re used to seeing people lying on their backs being told to “PUSH!! PUSH!!’ on the TV. In real life, that’s not the most effective way to get the baby out! In reality, letting your body do the whole thing for you is going to be fastest, least exhausting and the safest for your precious vulva!
If this little bit of science has started to help you feel prepared and you wanna know more about all the tools you can use to make your birth feel better, go smoother and end up a positive experience, get started on our Digital Hypnobirthing Pack. We created an incredible course all ready to work through to give you everything you need. The feedback we’re getting on a daily basis is fantastic!
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Check out what Xanthe had to say-
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for your hypnobirthing course. I just had an unexpectedly huge baby (my first at an impressive 10lb 6oz) but I managed to avoid an induction and have him naturally with gas and air and stick to my birth plan which I’m not sure I would have been so confident in without you guys. The course is brilliant and it definitely made my birth (and me!) much calmer and made me trust in my body’s ability to do it’s thing!”
