HypnoBirthing and the Pelvic Floor: My Experience As a First Time Mom Doing a Homebirth
“WE DID IT! WE DID IT!” These were the first words I cried out as I held our newborn to my chest and smiled up at my husband. In a little less than 5 hours, I had gone from watching “Deadpool” to holding our baby girl in the comfort of our home. It was wild!
As a pelvic PT myself, I was adamant about preparing my body and more importantly, my mind, for birth. I spent months preparing and when the time came, I used a combination of HypnoBirthing and hands-on techniques to manage my own unmedicated home birth. I remember those moments after our baby arrived, sitting in the bathtub, absolutely in awe of what my body had just done, but also in shock with how smoothly (and quickly) things progressed. I was so thankful for the way I had prepared and couldn’t wait to tell my positive birth story!
So, here are my biggest takeaways from birth and how HypnoBirthing and my pelvic PT training helped me have the birth of my dreams as a first time mom.
Practice like an athlete. Caroline mentions in her HypnoBirthing class that we should be preparing for birth like an athlete prepares for a competition. We have to practice consistently so that our body and our mind knows what to do when the big event comes. For me, I practiced the HypnoBirthing tracks with my pelvic floor mobility exercises. I used my breath with every movement and focused on intentionally relaxing the muscles surrounding my pelvis. When I went into labor and my husband started the tracks, my brain and my body knew what to do, which gave me comfort as things started to intensify.
Use counter-pressure to manage surges. Between HypnoBirthing and my pelvic PT background, I made sure my husband knew all about counterpressure. My husband, doula, and birth team took turns applying pressure to my pelvis to help me manage surges through the various stages of labor. My team applied counterpressure whether I was on the ground, in the bathtub, or in the bed. Having that physical support to manage my surges helped me to stay calm and relaxed and allowed my labor to progress.
Your body will find the position it needs. When I look back at the photos from my labor, you can tell where I was in labor based on the position that I found myself in. I had practiced and recommended these positions numerous times with my patients and found myself accessing those same positions in my own birth. When labor started to progress, I felt confident following where my body needed to go, and with the guidance of my birth team, things went smoothly as I moved through active labor, transition, and into pushing. I never even did a cervical check!
Breathing your baby out. After moving from the tub to the toilet to the bed, I started having intense surges that ended in a feeling of uncontrollable pushing. I knew that I was feeling the fetal ejection reflex (FER) and it meant we were SO CLOSE to meeting our baby. I eventually made my way back to the tub where I kept telling myself, “pushing will feel so good”. My mantra. I calmly started breathing during my surges, focusing my breath down and out my pelvis. I felt my pelvic floor stretching and relaxing with each breath and took my time to allow the baby to descend down and out. It was gentle, calm, and efficient and I have never felt more connected with my core and pelvic floor than in that moment. Within a few minutes, our baby was here!
Having heard so many positive birth experiences, I knew that what I wanted was possible. My birth experience left me feeling so empowered as a woman and absolutely in love with the birthing process. Looking back, I truly believe that HypnoBirthing and pelvic floor PT helped me prepare for the birth of my dreams. It helped me develop my mind-body connection, find strategies for coping with discomfort, and taught me how to allow my body to do what it does best.
If you’re interested in learning more about birth and how you can improve your experience, I highly recommend taking a birth class like HypnoBirthing and working with a pelvic health physical therapist. There’s a magical combination when the two come together that can really change your birth for the better!
Written by Dr. Lindsay Durand Massumi