Blue Monday: Mental Images

Tonight is our first birthing class, and despite the fact that I have a wicked cold, I'm still really, really excited about it. The birthing technique we are learning is called Hypnobirthing. Have you heard of it? I cannot say enough positive things about it. Calling it a technique is really inaccurate because it's really more of a birthing philosophy. Once you read the book and learn the history and the benefits of having a hypnobirth you are a complete convert. You're like, "Yes! That's right! My body was designed to do this! Why am I scared? I should be excited!"

I learned about Hypnobirthing a number of years ago because bff Molly is a midwife and Hypnobirthing coach (actually she's a full-time mom now, but she is still a crusader for natural labor and women's health in general). She gave me all the Hypno materials two years ago, and last fall as the date for our in vitro got closer and closer, I decided to read the book and start listening to the meditation cd to help lower my stress level and prepare me--both mentally and physically--for the two procedures.

I found the Hypno techniques came in particularly handy the day of our embryo transfer. Although the doctors had prescribed Valium because I was really jumpy during our trial transfer (as you can imagine, it's super important that you remain really relaxed and still as they are injecting the microscopic embryos into your uterus), I really didn't want to take it. So instead, I spent the entire car ride from Ithaca to Rochester listening to the Hypno cd and focusing all my energy on relaxing my abdomenal muscles--in particularly my cervix, and centering my thoughts on having an easy, successful transfer (which we did...x2!).

Anyway...all of that is a very round-about way to get to saying that I've been trying to come up with a few mental images to focus on during labor. Since there is absolutely no place I am happier or more relaxed than the beach, I figure that is where I should focus my attention. In particular, I always have this image of Nauset Beach, on Cape Cod, that I just love....walking up the sandy path through the dunes to get out to the beach, you get almost to the top of the dune and can see a sliver of the Atlantic that is all gold and shimmery like this:

Sigh...I can totally hear the waves crashing, the rustle of the wind through the dune grass, feel the hot sun on my back, and smell the onion rings cooking at Liam's. If that doesn't get me through labor, I don't know what will!