Birth Essentials

THE BIRTH MOVEMENT
IS ABOUT CONSCIOUS CHILDBIRTH

Let us go back to essentials

THOUGHTS ON CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION

By Pilar Farnsworth

Childbirth education is education on life: EDUCATION INTO WOMAN- HOOD, growth toward the FULL EXPRESSION of the DIVINE FEMININE ON EARTH.

• It cannot be based on a materialistic worldview.
• It is not merely about scientific and biological principles, although that is a starting point.
• Childbirth education must before anything else strive to impart the mystique, depth, power and beauty of the miracle of birth.

It very much involves our emotional nature.

So in order to look into the future of birth education I want to consider three central premises upon which the modern Natural Childbirth Movement was built. I list these principles in order of importance:

1. Removal of fear
2. Relaxation
3. Breath

Besides these three premises we will also speak of other things required for a full, conscious and ecstatic experience of the act of birth and the bonding of love?

Removal of Fear

In my opinion this is the undeniable foundation of all The Natural Childbirth Movement.

“Childbirth Without Fear” the inspired work of grandly Dick-Reed in England more than half a century ago, was sufficient to bring forth the Natural childbirth Movement; to build the bases for a totally new experience of birth for modern cultivated Western women, freeing them from many shackles of the past; from cultural beliefs of punishment and pain.

Remember that fated apple? For eating it Adam was punished “to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow” and Eve to suffer pain at childbirth.

Very unquestionable dogmas.

Natural Childbirth’s main emphasis (as originally conceived by Grantly Dick-Reed) was the removal of fear.

New methods then evolved, like the Psycho-Prophylactic Method developed in France, generally known as The Lamaze Method, which in addition to the removal of fear taught the “de-conditioning of wrong reflexes.” Dr. Lamaze adapted to childbirth education some basic principles from the Russian work on “Conditioned Reflexes” discovered through Pavlov’s experiments of the salivating dogs. A classic book in the Lamaze Method is Pierre Valley’s “Childbirth with Confidence.” The meaning of this title holds great significance, as it infers that to be in command of her birthing experience, a woman must arrive at a place of confidence.

I believe the removal of fear is essential and the single most important element for successful childbirth.

We must approach birth with trust, with faith and hope, without fear: with confidence.

Childbirth is a normal function of a woman’s body.

I once saw in print, in a Los Angeles newspaper, some famous doctor speaking of childbirth as a “surgical procedure.” What absurdity! Yet one that goes unnoticed by many people.

I believe the removal of fear as well as the bringing of a positive expectancy, full of confidence and joy, are essential for the perfect outcome of a Natural Childbirth.

Only when fear is removed can confidence be born in us.

The reclaiming of our full feminine identity requires this.

I felt very moved by the historic beauty of how the Natural childbirth movement was born:

In a humble dwelling in London a woman, already mother to many children, during her final stages of labor was offered ether by Dr Dick-Reed. She refused the ether and confronting him eye-to-eye with great human strength asked: “Does it have to hurt?”

This woman had birthed before and would birth again like God’s creatures in the fields, or the stars in the heavens. During Birth she would sings the glory of Life.

She gave birth in awe, in reverence, in full consciousness.

She –a poor woman on a humble makeshift home under a bridge of the River Thames- knew how to give birth better than the Queen in her palace. She was aware/awake.

She is the one who truly brought natural childbirth back to our “civilized world.” I am glad doctor Grantly Dick-Reed was present at her birthing and was humble enough to receive the sublime message of that anonymous real woman.

Summary

The pioneering work of Birth Education is not only the removal of fear; it is also the imparting of a mystique, a spirit. Removal of fear is not enough or even possible unless it is replaced by confidence, by the reclaiming of our feminine power. When we are not afraid, a proper human attitude toward the act of Birth is the natural result. This is our birthright.

Conscious Childbirth is the next step in the development of the Natural Childbirth Movement. It is coming of age as the consciousness of women awakens.

I believe that in a not to far distant future, human birth will take place in specialized Birthing Centers full of beauty and water (with the assistance of cetacean helpers). These modalities are already in existence on Earth. Birth will not routinely take place in maternity wards of general hospitals, but in Birthing Spaces, well-equipped places of beauty and comfort; and in many instances, also at home, with Home Delivery-Units, which will bring the benefits of modern science to the house.

More regarding the removal of fear and the building of confidence:

Ultimately it is up to each individual woman to examine any wrong assumptions regarding the physical act of giving birth she inherited, culturally or psychologically.

It is from our own mother that at a biological level we “inherit” mothering. Here I am referring to subconscious (even what I would label “instinctual” ways.)

If we fully examine life and resolve pending issues in the relationship to our own biological mother, before we become mothers ourselves, we will be much better parents.
We need to become “Trans-parent” — to go beyond our parents!

This is what true maturity requires. This is the journey of life, of growth, of healing.

Someone once paraphrased Freud by saying: “We become free; when after hating our parents we forgive them.”

Of course I do not mean it is necessary to “hate” our parents, but what I mean is: we need to accept and understand them in their own time and place, to “karma-clean” our personal relationship with them; if we are to arrive at maturity.

Childbirth is an initiatory period in a woman’s life, a sensitive and vulnerable stage of life that affords rich opportunities for growth. We can choose a pro-active attitude of going into our hearts to heal the primary relationship to our own parents, as part of our personal Preparation for Birth.

It is also each woman’s responsibility to search, in the depth of soul, the spiritual attitude that will transform her into a MOTHER.

All these considerations are part of childbirth education.

Relaxation

The second cornerstone of childbirth is Relaxation, to better allow the body to accomplish its work.

Very often people misunderstand the meaning of relaxation and equate it with a very passive state.

True relaxation is very active and alert.

It is not about becoming a will-less blob; quite contrary, it is about a refined state of wellness and willingness, of non-resistance, of inner peace; its true scope is Cosmic Consciousness. Relaxation is the doorway to higher consciousness, a path to higher meditative states.

There are incredible vistas opening today for conscious childbirth and human growth, through the exploration of systems of guided imagery, kinesthetic, sound and other sensory approaches.

When we relax, our brainwaves calm down, combing themselves first into alpha rhythms, and cyclically later into other harmonious creative inner states, where Theta and Delta waves weave patterns of intriguing possibilities: Dream-awake states are sprinkled with integrative REM like rhythms. To learn to remain awake through these altered states is the aim of all meditation trainings.

Some people can remain aware and awake even through deep slow Delta waves to consciously undergo experiences of cosmic communion.

At our little group of the BIRTH MOVEMENT in Washington DC and surrounding areas in the early seventies, I was very fortunate to work with Win Wenger, developer of Psychogenesis Learning Systems. His Psychogenic deep relaxation training adapted beautifully to childbirth education. I do not know where Win is now or how he has further developed his extraordinary “learning systems” that were originally inspired by the pioneering imagistic work of Lozonov in Hungary. I met Win almost thirty years ago. I have heard he is still very active in his “learning” workshops.

Today there are enormous advances in that type of “inner” education. Jean Houston’s work for instance is one that comes to my mind concerning in this type of educational revolution.

Many alternative educational systems need to be incorporated into childbirth preparation courses. Also the understanding of the human gestation process must be fully illustrated in modern “sex education” courses for all growing adolescents, with the grandeur and dignity it calls forth.

BREATHING TECHNIQUES

Third in importance, among the premises of childbirth preparation is the breathing techniques. They are a compliment and a helpful tool.

Pregnant women are trained to distinguish between three main forms of breathing:

1. Abdominal deep breathing, which induces and deepens relaxation and contributes to good oxygenation of both mother and child during the process of birth.
2. Upper chest breathing.- When the muscles of the abdomen are busy during the childbirth contractions, upper-chest breathing is a good response, which frees the abdominal muscles to accomplish their work more efficiently.
3. Panting or very light upper chest breathing, at the level of the clavicle.- In nature this is an emergency breathing that I have often found to be over emphasized in childbirth. Panting is only to be used “if needed” at the “crest of the wave”, the height of the contraction.

The breathing techniques help women remember to “concentrate on breathing” during contractions (an effect of fear is to hold the breath;) breathing-techniques teach us to consciously work with the breath: to synchronize breath and movement, breath and effort, breath and release; thus helping us keep our body and the baby properly oxygenated during the important and effortful process of labor that leads to birth. The breathing-techniques can help us regain our physical energy; and psychically center ourselves.

During strenuous physical work people use these different modes of breathing consciously or unconsciously.

Labor and delivery are arduous work. Labor is labor.

Try not to overuse these breathing techniques though, or to focus your faith mainly on the techniques. There is much more to childbirth than technique. Fully engage your emotional muscles! And also your spiritual ones.

Learning to breath properly is a great adventure. You might consider developing a serious yoga practice not only for childbirth but also for the rest of your life.

I feel that beyond these three basic premises, new vistas on the psychological importance of birthing and bonding are now exploding in the consciousness of the human race.

The philosophical implications of Dr. Frederick Le Boyer’s book “Birth Without Violence” published in the early seventies came out of an inner, personal, psychological experience he had, and many other people are being able to have: the re-experiencing of his own birth.

All disciplines that touch upon the inner world hold extraordinary perspectives in a woman’s preparation for childbirth. I believe there is a birthing attitude that must be present in every woman to enable her to actively surrender to the birthing process with confidence, awareness and joy. Body awareness and personhood are logical requirements of Natural Childbirth. Pregnancy is the natural school for childbirth. Gigantic changes happen in a woman’s body as she progresses toward motherhood. The whole of pregnancy is part of the process of birth, its built-in natural preparation.

THE PROCESS OF BIRTH ITSELF

The contractions of labor and delivery are magnification of the cyclic, rhythmic, biological nature of the uterus itself; they simply are added intensity to a process that is inherent in the very nature of our womb.

The periodic, cyclic, contracting and expanding –later, expelling— movements of the womb have been there in attenuated form even before conception, in the “cycle” of menstruation.

During labor contractions are magnified and intensified, reaching their maximum strength during delivery.

But they are not new to the uterus.

The uterus is never inert, it is a pulsing muscular body that contracts and expands cyclically. Let’s reflect on how for nine month the uterus has painlessly grown through the action of these muscular pulses.

Toward the end of pregnancy, during the early evenings, “Braxton-Hicks” contractions are experienced. –The name for these contractions is the last name of the man that scientifically isolated them. They are the final lesson in the natural school of birth: “is labor starting?” the woman would wander and wait, feel and sense, listening to her body. No they are not labor yet, just preparation for it.

At the end of pregnancy Nature teaches us women to connect to our bodies through these preparatory contractions. We shall learn to receive them in a non-tense state, and become conscious of our breathing while responding without fear to the physiological workings of our body.

These contractions assure us our body is getting ready for the work ahead; they are inviting us to Labor and Delivery. They must be welcomed.

These contractions will simply magnify in intensity to enable the act of birthing. Yet they do not need to be interpreted as pain.

Contractions are a sensation strange and strong, mounting in intensity. If we are not afraid, we will be able to welcome these sensations, receive them with openness, “sail through the contraction to the crest of the wave” and not translate it into pain. If we do not try to run away from the contractions (which of course is impossible) we will not distort and displace their wise effective force.

Meet the contractions with an attitude of giving yourself onto them, release toward that force in your body, it is the hand of nature giving birth through you, actively surrender to the force of life, become a witness to the cosmic miracle of birth.

Naturally the birthing contractions are uncomfortable, but they need not become unbearable.

You do not need to translate them into the old childbirth dogma of unbearable pain.

You might discover instead that they become “round” which is the word a friend I was coaching during childbirth found, to express how she experienced the contractions.

She experienced a tremendous satisfaction in meeting each contraction openly, without any fear or resistance, but with joyous anticipation that blessed her conscious birth.

I was present at that birth.

I think this is the proper attitude birth demands, plus the added nobility of human love that each of us brings to the act of birth. For birth is a truly spiritual experience.

A growing awareness and a feminine mystique for the importance and meaning of the moment of birth is blossoming in our society: conscious homebirth, breastfeeding and better childrearing ways are a growing trend. Detoxification; sound nutrition; fitness preparation before pregnancy and other practices for purification of the body before conception are in the awareness of the present generation. I believe spiritual practice for conscious conception is the new frontier, which can be rediscovered in the ancient teachings of many traditions and shall be updated to the mentality of our times.

Today women are reclaiming birth, from hospitals that have distorted and jailed it with anesthesia and with many other depersonalized and sterile unnecessary interventions. Modern medicine by interfering with the natural process of birth has created the very complications they try to cure. We are coming out of the dark ages –when unhygienic conditions converted childbirth into the specter of death.

Hospitals are changing. I know we do need maternity wards for the exceptional cases when surgical procedures are required at birth, like in the case of needed cesarean sections. However, complications like that are the exceptions, not the norm. This is the most important thing I want women to fully know.

When pregnant a woman shall expect perfect Healthy normal Natural childbirth.

Assertive Conscious Childbirth is our feminine right.

Here lies the arrowhead of evolution.

Birth is the beginning of life.

Let us women help bring forth the fulfillment of promises of future peace and perfection in the human world through Conscious Childbirth.