HypnoBirthing®: The Mongan Method
Emma Sutherland, Certified HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator
Emma has been specialising in women’s health care for quite a number of years and has played a key role in caring for many mothers to be. She has a great passion for natural birth and believes that calm, serene and empowering birth provides the most solid foundation for the physical and emotional health of mother and child. This belief lead her to seek additional training as a Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner to enable her to empower women and their birthing companions to trust in their natural birthing instincts.
HypnoBirthing® Workshops
Emma Sutherland will be conducting HypnoBirthing® Workshops. Click here to find out more.
What is HypnoBirthing®?
HypnoBirthing® - The Mongan Method is as much a philosophy as it is a technique. The concept of HypnoBirthing is not new, but rather a "rebirth" of the philosophy of birthing as it existed thousands of years ago and as it was recaptured in the work of Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, who, in the 1920s, was one of the first to forward the concept of natural birthing. The method teaches you that, in the absence of fear and tension, or special medical circumstances, severe pain does not have to be an accompaniment of labor.
The HypnoBirthing® Advantage
- Eliminates the Fear-Tension-Pain Syndrome before, during, and after birthing.
- Eliminates or greatly reduces the need for chemical painkillers.
- Shortens the first stage of labour by several hours.
- Eliminates fatigue during labour, enabling you to be fresh and awake with energy for birthing.
- Eliminates risk of hyperventilation from "shallow" breathing methods.
- Promotes bonding of mother, baby, and the birthing companion.
- Fosters more rapid postnatal recovery.
- Returns birthing to the beautiful, peaceful experience that nature intended.
- Creates a more integral role for the birthing companion
What is Hypnosis?
When you have your baby with HypnoBirthing®, you will not be in a trance or a sleep. What you will experience is similar to the daydreaming, or focusing, that occurs when you are engrossed in a book or a movie or staring into a fire. You will be conversant and in good spirits--totally relaxed, but fully in control. Awake throughout, you will be aware of your body's surges and your baby's progress; but because you will have trained yourself to reach complete relaxation, you will be able to determine the degree and the manner in which you will feel the surges. You will experience birthing in an atmosphere of calm relaxation, free of the fear that prevents the muscles of your body from functioning as nature intended them to. In this calm state, your body's natural relaxant, endorphins, replaces the stress hormones that constrict and cause pain.
How does HypnoBirthing® differ from other childbirth preparation methods?
Unlike other childbirth methods that teach you how to cope with and manage pain, HypnoBirthing® is based on the premise that childbirth does not necessarily need to be painful if the mother is properly prepared and relaxed. When women understand that pain is caused by constrictor hormones, created by fear, they learn, instead, to release fear thus creating endorphins—the feel good hormones. They are then able to change their expectations of long, painful labor and are able to replace them with expectations of a more comfortable birthing. Rather than exhausting, shallow breathing and the distraction techniques of typical “prepared childbirth” programs, HypnoBirthing® parents learn deep abdominal breathing and total relaxation, enabling the laboring mother to work in harmony with her body and her baby. This allows her to achieve a shorter and more comfortable labor for herself and baby.
How is the Birth Companion involved?
The Birth Companion of the mother’s choice (e.g. husband, partner, friend) is an integral part of the HypnoBirthing® experience. He or she practices with the mother in helping to prepare for deep relaxation. During labor the Birth Companion guides the laboring mother through hypnosis prompts, relaxation techniques, deepening methods, and visualizations, provides comfort measures, and joins in welcoming the new baby, often by receiving the baby as he emerges.
Will HypnoBirthing® be useful to me if I don’t opt for a natural birth or if circumstances necessitate medical intervention?
Absolutely. The things you will learn in your HypnoBirthing® classes will help you to learn relaxation skills that will be useful to both you and your baby, regardless of your birth experience. In the event that medical intervention of any sort is needed, you will find yourself better able to remain calm and in control. Mothers who have needed scheduled cesareans for medical reasons report that they were totally relaxed before, during and after the procedure. Many report that they needed little or no medication following the birth, and they were able to return to normal functioning in a very short period of time.
What if my doctor/midwife is not familiar with HypnoBirthing®?
More and more care providers are becoming aware of the benefits of HypnoBirthing®. In class, you will learn how to create a plan of Birth Preferences, which will help you to communicate your birthing goals and preferences to your doctor or midwife.
Click here to find out more about our HypnoBirthing® Workshops
