“When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change.”
Marie Mongan

3885801Importance of Endoprhins During Labor

Imagine driving along, and suddenly out of nowhere, another driver nearly side swipes your car. As you swerve to avoid collision, your heart races and your fists clinch. Adrenaline creates a sudden burst of energy in order to help you escape the dangerous situation. Unfortunately in this scenario, the drivers are trapped and their control of the situation is compromised.

Fortunately, a safe and calm environment for a laboring woman gives her some measure of control. She still must eliminate adrenaline or her labor will progress very slowly, or not at all. Every member of her birth team needs to treat her like the goddess that she is. Allowing labor to start on its own, intermittent monitoring (and therefore increased mobility), allowing her to eat and drink to her preference, and a very long list of additional comfort measures, all help to create endorphins.

Endorphins are produced in your brain, while adrenaline is produced in a gland just above your kidney. Because endorphins are produced in the brain, I’d venture to say that while being physically fit helps, labor is largely a head game.

If a pregnant mother is empowered with knowledge, relaxation tools, and a birth team who fully supports her preferences and her autonomy, she minimizes or eliminates fear from the equation of birth.

When she eliminates the fear that normally leads to tension, the two opposing muscle groups in her uterus (one which contracts so the baby can be born and another designed to stop labor if mother is in danger), can work in total harmony instead of pulling against each other. Plenty of endorphins and deep mind/body relaxation work to minimize or even eliminate pain during labor. Ah ha!

We hope you consider preparing at Vinings Massage Therapy with regular massage and prenatal yoga for your changing pregnant body, and Hypnobabies hypnosis for childbirth classes for your incredibly powerful mind. These offerings complement each other beautifully as you prepare to head into your birth with confidence.

-Jenny Bennet, Certfied Hypnobabies Instructor

Click here for more information on Hypnobabies and the many benefits this childbirth method can provide!

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