Sunday 10 November 2013

Welcome back to my blog. This month I have been exploring how the maternal pelvis facilitates childbirth and what an amazing design nature has given us!

Pelvic Movement During Pregnancy and Labour To Facilitate Birthing

Movement and mobility of the maternal pelvis has been an age-old debate over the centuries. The question of how a baby can fit through a small bony pelvis has been a question, which can be traced back to Hippocrates who believed that the pubic bones separated during a woman’s first labour.

Since then many studies have been carried out and the general consensus is that there is some pelvic movement in the sacrum and sacro-iliac joints during the latter part of pregnancy and labour. In conjunction with this is the effect of a woman’s position during labour, and it is likely that pelvic enlargement is enhanced if a birthing position is adopted that allows your sacrum to be free!

How does movement and positioning in labour help?
Movement and positioning in labour can work magic to help a slow labour. Movement may also enhance comfort by stimulating the receptors in the brain that decrease pain perception. Ultimately, your movement in response to your contractions may decrease pain and facilitate labour – a win-win situation! Movement also helps the baby move down through the pelvis, and some positions may help to enlarge pelvic diameters.

The good news is that you can start the process during the second trimester of pregnancy to optimize fetal positioning, which can also assist with the movements of birthing. All fours, crawling and stretching, and kneeling over a birthing ball, are similar positions that actually assist the baby with the movements of birth. Making your belly the perfect hammock can help prepare your baby’s position for childbirth, and make progress for your birth.

In most cases this works a treat, but sometimes a posterior position can be persistent, as my own daughter found during her pregnancy and labour! When this happens other techniques such as Rebozo sifting (a Mexican method using a large shawl) can be employed with some assistance required from your partner in most cases to achieve a change in fetal positioning.

Pelvic Tilts (cat position) and Crawling
Hands and knees position with pelvic tilts (cat-cow) and crawling are useful exercises for both strengthening and relaxing the pelvis.

The abdomen becomes a hammock for the baby, and because the baby’s spine is the heaviest part it rotates with gravity round to the front of your abdomen. Crawling adds movement to the joints of the pelvis.

The pelvic tilt, performed on hands-and-knees, is good to relax and release the lower back after a long day. This gentle rocking exercise keeps the pelvic joints loose, too.

When to do the pelvic tilt?

• Any time during pregnancy for maternal positioning with gravity and movement.
• After a long day working to release tension.
• For a baby in the posterior position, especially when the baby is active.
• For any fetal position because its comforting for you.

Any time after 34 weeks, get into position for the pelvic tilt when baby is actively kicking and moving around. Do a few minutes of pelvic tilts. When your baby is active there is a chance his or her intention is to find a better, more comfortable fit with the brim of the pelvis.

How to do a pelvic tilt
To do a pelvic tilt on hands and knees, lift your lower back up towards the ceiling. Imagine that a rope helps you lift your lower back. Don't arch your shoulders. That's not the part that counts. Then straighten your back.

Don't dip your lower back like a sway back horse. That might strain your muscles in pregnancy. Switch from curling your lower back to straightening it rhythmically. Put music on if you like. Do 10 movements of each to start with and build up to 40 or so. When you have finished your cat stretches, get up slowly so you don't get a head rush.

When not to do a pelvic tilt
If your wrists are too sore, or knees hurt, see if you can support yourself by leaning over an exercise ball, or the back of a couch, for your wrists, or pillow under your knees. You could try this while side lying, standing, and even, with subtle movements, on your back slightly tilted to the left and with your knees bent.

In summary, working with your body and tuning in to the changes necessary to facilitate childbirth may help women to relieve backache during pregnancy and achieve their desire for a very natural birth experience.



Thursday 25 July 2013

Welcome to my latest blog about using affirmations in pregnancy, which follows on very nicely from my last one on creative visualization. As always your feedback is much appreciated.

Why Use Affirmations During Pregnancy And To Prepare For Childbirth?

How do you stop your fears, negative thoughts and beliefs from impacting on your physical and emotional wellbeing during pregnancy, birth and beyond? I would like to explain what affirmations are and how they can help to reduce stress and anxiety during pregnancy and childbirth.

What are affirmations?
Affirmations are positive statements made in the present tense, which you repeat to yourself daily. The short sentences help you to feel positive about a particular subject.

A French physician called Emile Coue made the concept of affirmations famous. His most famous affirmation was ‘every day in every way, I am getting better and better.’ Culturally, we are programmed to focus on the negative in our lives and bemoan about the things we don’t want!

How do affirmations work?
Affirmations can program the subconscious mind into thinking positively and in doing so, can attract success and improve your life. It is often underestimated how much impact our emotions have on our bodies. If you are feeling negative, this is reflected in your behaviour and your interpretation of your life.

Our beliefs, thoughts, and the way we think, create our feelings. One very effective way to change the way you think is through the use of affirmations. If we think and speak in a positive way in the present tense we can release our negativity and allow positive healing from a cellular level.

Stress is known as one of the most common causes for complications during labour and birth. Using affirmations can help you to reduce or eliminate stress and negativity and prepare for a happy, healthy and safe birth.

Affirmations for pregnancy and birth
The following affirmations are examples of positive statements that if used repeatedly will help you to feel positive and confident about your baby’s birth:

• Birth is safe for me, and my baby.
• My baby will be born at the perfect time.
• My body knows how and when to give birth.

The best way to achieve maximum effect is to say them out loud whilst you are in a relaxed frame of mind. Looking at yourself in a mirror focuses your mind even more. Don’t worry if you feel self-conscious staring at yourself in the mirror as you repeat your affirmations, you will soon get used to it and feel comfortable and more confident as time goes by. This allows your suggestions to pave the route for positive change. Repetition is the secret to success! Try saying your affirmations whenever you have a spare moment.

Write your own affirmations
Tell yourself how great a mum you will be, how strong an individual you are or how you are an empowered conscientious mum. The greater the positivity, the more you will feel confident and ready to tackle motherhood.
As you await the arrival of your baby, think of the things you feel negative about and turn these positive by affirming them. Here are some tips to point you in the right direction.

Amanda’s tips for creating your own positive affirmations:

• Affirmations must always be in the present tense.
• Affirmations should always be a positive statement.
• Wording is important. Replace ‘I want’ with ‘I am’.
• Start with small believable affirmations. As you become more confident increase your goals.
• Repetition is the secret to success. Try saying your affirmations whenever you have a spare moment.
• Looking in a mirror as you repeat your affirmation focuses your mind and enhances the effect.

Whilst affirmations are powerful and simple to use, wherever and whenever you wish, the effects of using more than one powerful technique such as visualizations at the same time may enhance the outcome. For example, imagine walking in nature as your repeat your affirmation ‘I choose a healthy lifestyle that enhances my health and wellbeing during my pregnancy.’

Finally, remember these famous words
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” (Napoleon Hill).

Sunday 14 July 2013

Creative Visualization to help achieve the birth you desire

Welcome back to my blog after another slight lapse! I am passionate about teaching women how to visualize their forthcoming birth so that is the topic of todays blog. Enjoy, and your comments are much appreciated.

For me, visualization is the premier technique for harnessing your mind’s power to shape your life and move you towards your desire for a natural, and easy birth. Used in conjunction with affirmations on a daily basis to enhance your experience, and outcome of your visualizations.

It all starts with your imagination. Imagination is your ability to create a vision or an image of how you wish your birthing experience to unfold. Whatever your goal is the technique is basically the same.

This involves visualizing the end result of your goal or desire while you are in deep relaxation (alpha state) during your self-hypnosis practice. Just like affirmations your visualization should be imagined in the ‘present tense’. For example, you are looking to buy a brand new car. You want to imagine yourself in the car, and feel the moment as if it is actually happening right now and not in the future. In other words feel the joy in owning the car, the feel of the steering wheel etc.

Amanda’s tips for effective visualizations
• Take yourself into deep physical relaxation with breathing and progressive relaxation (relaxation response)
• Take yourself to your safe haven, your retreat
• Create a mental screen in front of you like a cinema or large TV screen
• Place it in front of you, raise it slightly, and about 6 feet in front of you
• When you perform creative visualization you project images onto this screen
• Use all of your senses to see, hear, touch and feel the joy of holding your newborn baby in your arms
• Remember the more realistic the visualization process, the better the results

Troubleshooting
If you have any difficulty visualizing you can use a technique called streaming. With streaming you mentally describe what you are seeing. Make the description as detailed as possible. As you describe the image in detail you will find that the image also takes on more detail. This in turn adds to more things to mentally describe, and your image becomes more vivid.

This is not just some alternative hippy idea! There is strong scientific evidence that visualization can be used to dramatically improve your results in sports, public speaking, or anything else, which involves practice. Most athletes today use these techniques with great success. In one study, a
group of healthy five year old children were told a story about a magic microscope that showed how the immune cells in the body fight against germs; they were also shown a film with glove puppets acting out the roles of different cells as policemen fighting off the germs. Saliva samples were collected before and after the story for analysis. The results showed that the saliva samples taken after the story were full of immune substances at levels found when fighting an infection (Shapiro, 2008). Therefore it is an ideal way to practice for your ‘labour of love’ before the actual event.

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”

(Albert Einstein)

It can be confusing when there are many terms bandied about such as visualization, guided imagery, and mental rehearsal. These are three terms, which are often integrated under the one umbrella described as ‘visualizations’. However, I use them to describe three slightly different things.

• Visualization – using your imagination to create a vision of a goal or desire you wish to achieve such as a natural calm birth
• Guided Imagery – is a directed visualization script guiding you on a path towards attaining the natural birth you desire. You can read it until you are familiar with it, record it, or ask your partner to read to you during your self-hypnosis sessions.
• Mental Rehearsal – Mental rehearsal refers to using our mind to ‘replicate’ the experience of actually giving birth easily and calmly. In your mind you rehearse the whole labour and birth process exactly as you wish to think, feel and behave during your labour.

You can combine your affirmations with your creative visualization to create a more powerful effect. As you are imagining your goal, simply repeat your affirmation mentally, as many times as you feel it is necessary.

Do not be discouraged if your do not feel you have mastered the technique initially, give it time, and keep practicing. Remember, you did not master driving your car straight away or any other skill, which requires some practice. Creative visualization can be such a powerful tool when used during your self-hypnosis sessions that just five minutes a day practice can undo years of negative thinking.

Ref:
Shapiro, D. (2008) Your body speaks you

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Bonding with your unborn baby - simple steps

Apologies to my blog followers for the long delay in writing my blog. My life has become really busy and sadly things slide even when you really enjoy them, like writing my blog and sharing information. So, the good news is I am back on track and here is my first blog since last year! It is on a subject close to my heart and a big part of my hypnobirthing practice.

Bonding with your unborn baby

Birth is not the beginning of bonding with your baby; it is a continuation of a relationship, which began at the moment of conception! We now know that babies in utero are more aware of how you are feeling, can hear your voice, and touch much earlier than was previously thought. Your baby is already an important member of your family from the early weeks developing and growing within your uterus, just as he is once he has been born.

Babies need to be loved and nurtured, acknowledged by you, your partner, and any siblings. The good news is that it is not rocket science, but very simple every-day techniques. Listed below are several examples of how to bond with your baby on a daily basis, enhancing your relationship with your baby, and your family.

• Massage your abdomen with cream or oil, not only will your skin benefit, but your baby will feel your soothing touch too
• Play games with your baby by responding to his kicks with a gentle tap back, or sway to your favourite music
• Singing songs to your baby and playing soothing music with a slow beat, relaxes both you and your baby. He will remember the music at a subconscious level even after birth
• Talk to your baby about your day, affirming your love and chatting about events in your life (babies have rudimentary hearing from approximately 16 weeks gestation)
• Storytelling is a wonderful way for you, your partner, and all the family to bond with your unborn baby. A bedtime story helps you and your baby to prepare for a good nights sleep
• Keep a journal with all your thoughts, feelings, and pregnancy changes and share them with your baby now and in the future
• Spend time every day in deep relaxation and visualise your baby within your uterus, and communicate at a deep level within, knowing your baby can sense, and respond to your loving message
• Remain positive with daily affirmations written and spoken in the present tense
• Incorporate gentle exercise daily such as walking, yoga and swimming to benefit both your wellbeing and your baby’s too.

Since your baby is aware of everything you feel during pregnancy, this is an opportunity to prepare your baby for a gentle birth and a wonderful life. There is no need to try for perfection, or beat yourself up if you are having an off day. Just remember it’s about love, sharing, and recognizing his or her presence. It’s also about honesty. You can’t hide your feelings from your baby, so just acknowledge that they are there, let your baby know that it’s your “stuff,” not his, and give your baby permission to be a baby, enjoying life within a nurturing environment.