Toronto HypnoBirthing News

Toronto, ON April 2008

Toronto
HypnoBirthing News

published by Jennifer Elliott, HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator
www.lifesjourney.ca 416-462-1938

Do you know a doula who would like to know more about HypnoBirthing??

Tell her about this upcoming workshop!

HypnoBirthing® Support Techniques
For Doulas

Sat. May 31, 2008
9 AM - 5:30 PM

Bond Place Hotel
65 Dundas St E
Toronto

Instructor: Jennifer Elliott

Join a growing number of doulas supporting couples trained in HypnoBirthing®.

For more information:
www.lifesjourney.ca

Please note that this course enables doulas to support HypnoBirthing® couples but does not train individuals to teach the HypnoBirthing® course.

Next available 5 week series begins:

Thurs. April 10

Tues April 15
Mon. May 26
Thurs May 29

Learn more:

www.lifesjourney.ca

Having another baby?

Take your second HypnoBirthing class for half price! Attend as many classes as you like!

2008 HypnoBirthing Stats

births: 14

unmedicated:11

home births: 8

intact perineums: 1

(not everyone reported)

Congratulations to all!

Please send in your

Birth Reports so that your birth is included in these stats!

And remember to announce your births to your classmates.

They are waiting to hear your news!

Watch your thoughts,
they become words.

Watch your words,
they become actions.

Watch your actions,
they become habits.

Watch your habits,
they become character.

Watch your character,
it becomes destiny.

Anonymous

Pre-natal Yoga

Yoga and pregnancy go wonderfully well together. And it doesn't matter if you've been doing Yoga for a long time or you've never been to a Yoga class. Pre-natal Yoga classes focus on creating more awareness of the pelvic muscles, and on stretching and strengthening this area.

Pregnant women are naturally focused on their bodies because of the radical changes taking place. Pre-natal Yoga classes employ poses that release tension in the lower body, improve whole body alignment and provide a solid hour and a half of weekly practice where you are committed to your body, your baby and your feelings as you go through this magical and challenging time.

We begin with a period of relaxation in a pose that reflects your stage of pregnancy. When lying back is not feasible, side-lying or sitting supported at the wall are options.

This ten minute relaxation figuratively shuts the door on the usual concerns of family, work and busy-ness and allows you to focus inwardly, feeling particular muscles or getting in touch with feelings related to being pregnant. I talk about different parts of the body and so the process of relaxing involves focusing on and releasing parts of the body sequentially.

Two things help you stay in touch with the body: awareness of breath and baby. As you come up off the floor to move into poses, you may find that it feels natural to maintain that inner awareness even as you grow accustomed again to the room and the other women around you.

Stretching the lower back, hip joints and legs is the next stage of the class. Sitting and squatting positions are best for this. Now that there is stretching, the element of intensity is introduced and this is important for pregnancy. Feeling an intense stretch in a Yoga pose and learning to be right there with it is a good preparation for the intensity of labour.

In Yoga, deep stretches and deep breathing also improve energy flow; even if you come to class tired, you may be surprised at the energy that you've regained as you prepare to leave.

During the second trimester, women are often full of energy; if so, this is a good time to build strength and endurance. Yoga standing poses, called Warrior poses, are perfect allies for this time.

Women in their first or third trimesters can pace themselves by alternating standing poses with resting poses, like Child's. The Warrior poses are rooted stances with arms raised and can be done safely at any time of pregnancy so long as attention is paid to good alignment.

In these poses you allow the back muscles to find structural integrity through an awareness of the sacrum, tail-bone and pelvic floor. By feeling your feet on the floor and focusing on your breath, in the centre of the body, you create a strong, flexible and stable pose.

Then, depending on the particular pose, you either stay in position, or bend, stretch or twist. These poses help you build confidence in your body, in your ability to surrender into the intensity of the moment, rather than shying away from it. The gravitational aspect of the poses also helps you release the pelvic floor muscles, a good preparation for labour and delivery.

I also teach Sun Salutation, a series of poses that alternate between gentle back bends and forward bends. There is a lovely movement in this series that mimics the transitioning movement that baby makes as she/he travels through the birth canal, and into the world.

Towards the end of the class, we come back to still poses and perhaps some energy work. We focus on the internal - organs, breath, energy flow - using another ancient healing practice called Qigong. Using visualisations, colours and sound we connect to and honour the body which is working very hard to create an environment that both nourishes and protects baby.

Quiet, focused time also allows mothers to initiate a relationship with their babies based on baby's movements, and subtler feelings and intuitions, to create a feeling of trust in a process that at times can be quite overwhelming.

Pre-natal Yoga classes create community for women at a very special time of life, while providing them with tools for the experience of giving birth.

Vivian Stollmeyer trained in pre-natal Yoga with Esther Myers and Monica Voss. She practiced Yoga during her pregnancies and is the mother of 2 teenage daughters. For several years she taught prenatal classes at the Riverdale Commmunity Midwives.

Vayu Yoga Centre is located at 348 Danforth Avenue, Ste 211. Pre-natal Yoga class is Saturdays at 2pm Vayi also offers post-natal Yoga classes for Moms and Babies.
For more information about these and other classes: 416-463-4094 or www.vayuyoga.ca.

HYPNOSIS HELPS!

Private hypnosis sessions to
enhance fertility,

cope with medical conditions,
connect with her baby,
turn a breech baby,
release fears, and
let go of disappointing birth memories.

To book an appointment
contact Jennifer at 416-462-1938 or jennifer@lifesjourney.ca

Purchase a CD for yourself or a friend:

Birth with Calm and Confidence

Calm and Confidence for the New Mother

Destination Graduation

a great gift for your favourite university student.

These CDs are written

and recorded by Certified Hypnotist Jennifer Elliott

at Zoo Music

in Toronto

Available from
www.lifesjourney.ca

Greetings!

Attachment Parenting

My husband and I are planning a boat trip on the Peruvian Amazon in May. (It was his adventurous parents who got us to join them.)

I'm very excited, and have been reading all kinds of books to become more aware of where I'm heading. I'm fascinated by the shamanistic practices in Peru, intrigued by the aboriginal people living traditionally from the land, amazed by the crazy adventures westerners undertake there - climbing the Andes to the source of the Amazon or rafting down in the other direction. And, of course, I can hardly wait to feast my eyes on parrots and monkeys and (maybe) manatees.

Planning this trip reminded me of a book I read a long time ago about an American woman's time living with the Yequana Indians in the rainforest of Venezuela. Jean Liedloff noticed how happy these people were and began to observe their approach to life. She noticed their great acceptance and pleasure in activity, not differentiating between work and other activity. And she became aware of the strong, healthy attachments between adults and children. From her observations she wrote the book, The Continuum Concept, which became the foundation for the parenting philosophy, Attachment Parenting (affectionately known as AP). Her website (continuum concept)advises that optimal infant and child development is supported by

* constant physical contact with his mother (or another familiar caregiver as needed) from birth;
* sleeping in his parents' bed, in constant physical contact, until he leaves of his own volition (often about two years);
* breastfeeding "on cue" - nursing in response to his own body's signals;
* being constantly carried in arms or otherwise in contact with someone, usually his mother, and allowed to observe (or nurse, or sleep) while the person carrying him goes about his or her business - until the infant begins creeping, then crawling on his own impulse, usually at six to eight months;
* having caregivers immediately respond to his signals (squirming, crying, etc.), without judgment, displeasure, or invalidation of his needs, yet showing no undue concern nor making him the constant center of attention;
* sensing (and fulfilling) his elders' expectations that he is innately social and cooperative and has strong self-preservation instincts, and that he is welcome and worthy.

Leidloff's work led American pediatrician William Sears (Dr Sears) to write on and promote Attachment Parenting extensively, suggesting that mother and baby should be in harmony with each other. By responding to a baby's needs we are building a trusting, secure relationship with our child.

Following Sears's promotion has come Attachment Parenting International (Attachment Parenting) with at least one support group in Ontario and many more parents connected online. This group believes attitude - our approach to parenting - is more important than certain behaviours, but offers the following principles to build strong, loving connections between parents and child:
*Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
*Feed with Love and Respect (Breastfeeding is optimal.)
*Respond with Sensitivity
*Use Nurturing Touch
*Engage in Nighttime Parenting
*Provide Consistent and Loving Care
*Practice Positive Discipline
*Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life

Of course many more groups and products have since further promoted bonding. La Leche League, the breastfeeding support group, (la leche league) is one example.

Some groups have looked at bonding even before the baby is born. Like the HypnoBirthing Institute, the group who produced the movie, What Babies Want, which we watch in our classes, has recognized the importance of prenatal bonding, largely supported by research done by members of the Association For Pre- & Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) For more information on this research see APPPAH

The burgeoning industry of slings and baby carriers is a result of AP. Many postpartum programs for parents and babies such as those offered by early years centres (Ont early years) are available to promote the parent-child bond. Infant massage, music programs, baby signing, and mum & baby fitness can all offer more support for strong attachments between parent and child.

As you grow as a parent you will no doubt hear more about Attachment Parenting and bonding. Keep in mind an underlying principle: trust your intuition and deep connection with your child to guide you in raising a very special human being.

Wishing you happy, confident parenting.

Jennifer

HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator

View past newsletters in our archives through the HypnoBirthing page of Life's Journey

Unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.

Usually this newsletter shares a birth from one of my clients. This month is an exception. Darcy, a HypnoBirthing colleague in Ontario, just gave birth to her third child. She has beautifully incorporated the HypnoBirthing affirmations into the telling of her birth story.

Clark arrived Thursday March 20^th at 1:45am at the time of the Spring Vernal Equinox and was received into the hands of his mother and father. Clark was 7.2lbs and 19" long.

The Birth of Clark

Fully expecting to carry our baby beyond 40 weeks Todd and I were both very surprised when my membranes released at 11:45pm on the evening of March 19^th.

I am prepared to calmly meet whatever turn my birthing may take...

I had found out earlier that day that I had tested positive for Group B Strep but did not have the antibiotics from my Doctor for the midwife to administer. At midnight we decided to call my midwife and let her know that my membranes had released but surges had not yet begun. We planned that once my sister arrived we would call her back and she could come and check things out since surges began while we were talking. If my labour was progressing slowly we would go to the hospital for antibiotics and if things were moving along I preferred to stay home and forgo the antibiotics.

I am relaxed and happy that my baby is finally coming to me...

We were overjoyed to realize that we would be meeting our baby in a few hours (throughout my pregnancy I had focused on a labour of about 4 hours).

Todd went downstairs to begin preparing the birthing pool and I decided to relax in bed listening to the Affirmations while I waited for my sister to arrive.

I breath up slowly with each surge of my body...

As I lay in bed relaxing, our 3 year old Julia woke up and climbed into bed with me. It felt so good to have her snuggled up to my body as I relaxed.

What an amazing feeling to know that each surge was bringing her new sibling closer to us.

It hardly seemed an hour had passed when my sister arrived; she found Julia and me in the bathroom.

I determine how my birth energy is experienced...

On the way from the bathroom to the bedroom I had 3 surges yet it didn't occur to me that things were really moving along as I was talking easily, only to pause and go within my birthing body during each surge. It felt so good to sway my hips and rock my baby through the surges as it moved the energy through my entire body.

Renee and Julia went downstairs to help Todd.

I release my birthing to my baby and my body...

It was now about 1:20am and the surges were feeling stronger with more pressure. I was still very relaxed but felt it was time to get in the water. Much to my disappointment when I went downstairs I found the tub only half full. I trudged to the bathroom thinking "Great, now I have to wait to go in the water, what will I do with myself in the meantime?" Luckily my baby and body had other plans. As I sat on the toilet I felt that amazing shift in my surges and an involuntary grunt escaped my lips. I smiled because I knew my baby must have also thought, "Why wait for the tub now?"

I am confident; I am safe; I am secure...

I returned to the family room to tell Todd that I felt the urge to breathe down was coming and that he should call the midwife. He then helped me upstairs to our bed as I told him, "Our baby is coming out now!"

I trust my baby and my body to know what to do...

In light of the realization that the midwives would not get there in time, I trusted that this was my baby's choice and my baby must know what he was doing!

I lay down on the bed in a lateral position and breathed deeply while Todd ran downstairs to get the birth supplies.

I put all fear aside as I prepare for the birth of my baby...

Throughout this pregnancy I focused on having an intact perineum and knew that in order to do that I had to believe in my body and allow it to gently open. The fear momentarily set in but I recalled Nancy Wainer telling me at the HypnoBirthing® Conclave to give birth in a lateral position and give lots of support to my perineum. (Thank you Nancy!)

My baby gently moves through the birth path in its journey...

I could feel the baby moving down and asked Todd to tell me what he saw during the next surge and he said "the head". I then asked him to support my perineum and be prepared to support the baby's head as I thought it would emerge with the next surge. I worked very hard to detach my mind from my birthing body and allow only the reflex of my body to move my baby down and out. I was in absolute awe at the strength of my birthing muscles as with the next surge I felt my baby's head emerge when Todd applied some pressure to my perineum. Todd asked me what to do next and I asked him to continue to support the head and guide and support the shoulders as they would come out with the next surge. As he did this I took over supporting my perineum and as he supported our baby's head and shoulders, a sweet little bottom dropped into my hand!

I welcome my baby with happiness and joy...

This affirmation obviously really struck me as I was so overjoyed at seeing our baby, I began to gush warm welcomes to our little boy with so much excitement I woke Olivia up! Olivia ran down the hall and Julia ran up the stairs and both jumped on the bed to meet our baby. For the first 20 minutes of Clarks' life he was surrounded by his parents and sisters. We all told him how happy we were he was here and how much we loved him. This was the most magical moment I have ever experienced with my family. There was no one there but us to just melt together as a family. It was pure bliss. So much so, that as my sister looked on she noticed that Clark, although only moments old appeared to be grinning as he drank in the outpouring of love being given to him.

My baby emerges; my blood vessels close to the appropriate degree...

When the midwives arrived 20 minutes later they were amazed at how calm we were. Our baby was perfect. They could not get over that his head had no molding and I told them that I allowed him to emerge on his own. They were in a bit of a hurry to get the placenta out and I was apparently being "resistant" but I did not want cord traction. I wondered what the hurry was; it was then that the back up midwife checked to find almost no bleeding. They relaxed a bit and told me I could "try" to birth the placenta on my own. I decided to get up and squat at the side of the bed to do this. The placenta birthed with only 4 drops of blood and they were both amazed...I told them about the affirmation.

So after only an hour and half of surges we had the most incredible birthing experience ever! We had planned on our photographer being there to film it and take pictures for the HypnoBirthing® Institute but everything happened so fast that got missed!

I feel so lucky to have had three awesome HypnoBirths and each so different. One calm gentle hospital birth with a 6.5 hour labour, one induced hospital birth in 3.5 hours that really tested my HypnoBirthing® techniques, and finally a beautiful homebirth surrounded by only those I love most in the world!

Darcy Arthur is an Ontario HypnoBirthing Instructor offering classes to people from Northumberland, Quinte, and the Kawarthas. She expects to resume teaching classes in May while wearing Clark happily in the sling.

Lying-in Womb's Room

Bridget Lynch's prescription for lying-in has evolved over a long career in midwifery. What I learned from her were the basics, as they related to my experience. She recommends that new mothers sequester themselves for 15 days post-birth for 5 days in the bed, 5 days on the bed and 5 days "around" the bed. I think of it as a gradual progression toward stepping out as a rested, centred new mother. But those are just the bare bones of it. The magic lies in the what happens in the room.

I've called it a sacred space; I've heard it referred to as a womb-room. It's the space we created in our bedroom after our children were born. It was quiet or quietly interactive, at times light and sometimes dark, filled with love and laughter, wonder and joy. Here, we ate, slept, changed diapers, snuggled, sniffed, caresses, bathed, listened with ears and hearts, watched and wept.

It sounds crazy to any modern, active woman. Lying-in bed for 15 days with newborn? Why would you need to sequester yourself and the baby instead of getting outside, visiting with family or just living outside the bedroom?

Part of the magic of the lying-in experience is in creating the sacred space. In that space, focus is only on the baby and the new Mom. The new family does nothing but experience one another, for all their foibles, eccentricities, and personal nuisances. They are naked to one another, literally and figuratively. The babe gets her milk as freely as the air she breathes because it is available to her on demand, unencumbered by coverings. Mom and Dad use their primitive tactile senses to get to know the contours and crevices of the baby. (My husband would caution not to use your finger as a diaper dip stick!)

The baby receives personal security by being close to Mom and Dad every minute after she is born for 15 days. Imagine the trust built by that effort alone? Coming from the 24 hour, water encapsulated buffet of the womb, there could be cause for concern about all the new noise, where the next meal is coming from and how strenuously one must work to get it. There must be discomfort with the cumbersome new diapers and clothes which shift about on the new skin! Then there's the blurred vision to grapple with. Lying-in gives physical reassurances with every loving act of care for the basic human needs of this new life.

The room also isolates Mom from the macerations of her daily responsibilities as they were before the birth. She doesn't have to make a grocery list, she can just ask for what she wants to be added to it. She does not have to deal with the bills, walking the dog, the noisy neighbours or the on-going dramas in her social life. She does not have to be friend, daughter, cleaner or baker. Her only responsibilities are to provide for the needs of her new baby, and in doing so form the intuitive dyad of the mother-child relationship. That synergy will ease the transition to new motherhood and day-to-day life for the baby.

This dyad will know when it's time to return to resting because one person is over-tired, too stimulated or feeling overwhelmed. Mom will recognize colicky behaviour as a likely cue to rest, and respond with quiet consoling. They will hear when the volume of life is way too high and immediate retreat is called for.

The womb-room allows the senses to have a slow awakening. No TV, no music, no bright lights or jarring activity. Just calm, happy voices, little siblings climbing on the bed to sneak a peak or snuggle in.

When my second child was born, my daughter came in and out between her activities and enjoyed the baby without being immediately burdened by the reality that competition had arrived. She was told that he was getting the same, loving care she had received. And off she went to resume her 21 month old active life.

I never imaged being able to enjoy 15 days so completely inactive. But I experienced the very common sense of it, in part because I took opportunities to very briefly re-visit the world when I needed to get moving. We took a brief walk down the block with Michael when we felt the need to get fresh air, then returned to lying-in. I walked alone 5 days after Kate was born. There I enjoyed the wonder at what I'd experienced reflected in the motion of the nearby water, before returning to lying-in. We also emerged into the house for a couple of very brief visits with near and dear family - and again returned to lying-in. Everything in moderation, seemed to be a good rule.

It wasn't fanfare and trumpets or ringing of bells - but it was a slow crescendo lasting 15 days until the wider world opened to the babes. That was music to our lives.

Katherine Gyles is the mother of 2 pre-schoolers. Her midwife, Bridget Lynch, introduced her to lying-in when her children were born. Katherine blogs on parenting.