Do They Deliver?

When HypnoBirthing instructor Laura Marks told us to picture "a warm kitchen with happy memories," all I could visualize was the house in which I grew up; in my mental image, I sat on the floor crying while my parents fought about what kind of linoleum to put down. How such thoughts would ease me through labor eluded me.

HypnoBirthing is a natural childbirth method that emphasizes what its practitioners call "the Fear-Tension-Pain syndrome." Learn to control the first response, the idea goes, and you can minimize the last. The key to breaking the cycle, according to HypnoBirthers? Self-hypnosis.

Twelve hours of classes with a certified instructor, in conjunction with home self-hypnosis exercises, teach women techniques that, according to devotees, eliminate the fears prompted by the pain of labor. Studies out of Harvard and elsewhere have suggested that self-hypnosis may alleviate pain and stress.

Marks described HypnoBirthing as a philosophy that "relies on the physical, mental and spiritual preparation of both the expectant mother and her partner."

During the class I attended, Marks also introduced us to the language of HypnoBirthing, which covers nearly every aspect of labor. A contraction is a wave, or a surge of power. A coach is a companion. A baby is not delivered; he or she is birthed. Water does not break; rather, membranes are released. And, most important, pain is not really pain, but merely pressure .

The mind-over-matter approach is similar to that used by athletes who suffer injuries in the middle of an important game or competition. Given my lack of stoicism on the playing field along with my seeming inability to mentally transport myself, I decided that HypnoBirthing was unlikely to work for me. That said, in following months I encountered several women who swore by it.

4

The "Natural" Route:

Lamaze

For many people, childbirth classes are virtually synonymous with Lamaze, a technique that gained wide popularity in the 1960s.

Controlled breathing, meant to help women concentrate during labor and distract them from their pain, is the Lamaze method's presumed trademark. But according to certified Lamaze instructor Sarah Sragg, Lamaze puts greater emphasis on activity -- such as walking and changing position during childbirth. Lamaze also incorporates massage, hydrotherapy and the use of heat and cold to relieve painful contractions -- and seeks to equip husbands or partners with an array of methods to make them feel (and be) useful during the birth process.

Procrastinator that I am, I didn't get around to sampling Lamaze until I was pregnant with my second child. Pity, as I felt at once comforted by Sragg's approach when I met her in her Silver Spring home, where she sometimes conducts private lessons.