Hypnobirthing

After the luck of getting tickets to see "The Business of Being Born," at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ricki Lake / Abby Epstein's documentary on birthing in America, my openness to birth related information has led me to really fascinating new ideas. The film brings to light the industrial style of pregnancy that most women in this country experience, unknowing of the alternatives. As has been widely reported, the film includes the homebirth of Ms. Lake's second child. She felt strongly after her first that she had "missed something" birthing in a hospital. She set out to learn as much as possible about midwives, doulas, homebirths, the history of obstetrics eventually training and becoming a doula herself. To me, the medical doctors in the film came off arrogant and in some cases inept, but totally unwilling to approach the mystical nature of child birth and the enormous influence the birth experience can make on humanity. That part of the experience seems to be lost in the fear based information given to women by the medical community once they become pregnant. When you have an opportunity to see the film, it is recommended for those with children, thinking of having children or simply the thoughtful individual.

While childbirth preparation classes are not really explored in the film, I have done a bit of reading on Lamaze versus Bradley, etc. I recently met a woman who is a hypnobirthing consultant. It is a method that empowers women and their partners for a gentle, meaningful birth. We are more and more leaning towards a homebirth as I read about women's experiences in our local hospitals and those facilities' "birthing centers." I will definitely be asking more about this method and finding a local practitioner once I'm pregnant. I am settling into the idea that I have all the power inside me to have a child in the comfort of my home. And, I'm open to learning new ways to move through the process consciously and with ease.