Caesarean Fear
Julia contacted me not long after finding out she was pregnant. She was really pleased with the news but unable to relax because of her anxiety about caesarean births. This fear surfaced when her friend needed an emergency caesarean to deliver her baby two years earlier and had experienced a less than optimal recovery.
Julia’s anxiety is very common and it can surface as an underlying fear preventing a woman from conceiving or worry an expectant mother as she thinks forward to the birth of her baby.
In Julia’s case, she had reached her thirties without ever requiring surgery or even a trip to A&E as a child, so the fear of this invasive procedure to deliver a baby felt understandably overwhelming, as did the thought of a hospital stay for the first time in her life. When I asked Julia to describe her most dominant emotion, her fear was not having control over the course of events that might unfold at the birth. So this is where we started with therapy and once these emotions dissolved, we moved to the issue of post operative healing and body image.
Julia worried about scarring, assuming the end result would be a horrendous long scar, akin to that of a tummy tuck. Much of Julia’s fear was linked to this particular issue and based purely on a few comments from her friend and the rest developing from her imagination. Uncomfortable with the idea of researching anything about caesareans to get a more balanced perspective and greater understanding, Julia had built up some pretty vivid imagery of caesarean scars but had never actually seen what a healed scar looked like. This is common in many women I work with who share the same fear. So, after we cleared the emotions associated with this issue, I showed Julia images of caesarean scars healing in the months following surgery. She was both shocked and fascinated at how small the scar could shrink to and how much it faded over time. With this issue dissolved, we had just two more fears to tackle. The first was post operative scar healing and the second was Julia’s perceived expectation of pain following surgery.
Julia described how she had worried about post operative healing and infections because her friend had initially been troubled by this too. She likened her expectations to some of the images she had seen on cosmetic surgery programmes where images of septic flesh were shown with scars failing to heal properly. All of this mental imagery was contributing to Julia’s anxiety and she had some very graphic images causing emotional discomfort. As we worked with these images, clearing down the associated emotions until the images lost their power, Julia was finally starting to detach herself and reflect on these mental images with greater objectivity. The relief on Julia’s face afterwards was proof of just how much this issue had been bothering her.
Finally we worked on Julia's anticipated fear of pain during the post operative healing period. Again, Julia had conjured up some very vivid expectations, so we used these thoughts and associated feelings to keep her focused whilst dissolving her emotional reaction to perceived pain. Once this was resolved, Julia was feeling relieved and calm.
Whilst it is impossible to guarantee how any birth experience will unfold, we can all take steps to become well informed about pregnancy and birth and attend classes to learn the key principles of deep relaxation to aid us through the process of birthing.
Caesarean rates have climbed over the years however, the majority of women do have a far greater ability to turn the tables in their favour and achieve a normal vaginal delivery if they are willing to learn how to achieve emotional calm in labour and to work with their inner resources to remove the extreme discomfort created by mental anxiety. Learning to relax and work with your body with the aid of effective breathing techniques and visualisation can really transform your experience of labour and enable you to birth with a greater sense of control and confidence.
As for Julia, she is now preparing for the birth of her baby feeling calm and objective about what lies ahead. She has attended HypnoBirthing® classes with her husband and they are both much more confident about how to achieve relaxation to facilitate an easier labour and minimise the chances of needing surgical intervention.
If you would like to find out how I can help you clear fears and phobias in pregnancy, visit my Pure Therapy Programme or HypnoBirthing® pages. Alternatively, use the form below to drop me a line or call and speak with me directly on 01276 21386.
Conception & Birth Services
Pure Therapy Programme Brief therapy to dissolve your fears, phobias, anxieties and any emotional trauma. This programme focuses on calming your mind, restoring your confidence and self-esteem, giving you back a sense of control in your life as well as the clarity to make important decisions.
Essential Support Programme Regular, short check-in sessions by phone to keep you calm, relaxed, optimistic and positively focused between significant milestones from conception to birth. The therapeutic toolkit enables sabotaging emotional wobbles to be dissolved in an instant.
HypnoBirthing® Classes The ultimate in birth preparation classes to teach both you and your partner how to use hypnotic relaxation skills, special breathing techniques and endorphin releasing massage to manage the physical demands of labour and feel calm, relaxed and confident during the birth.
Parent Coaching Programme No baby arrives with a manual and few parents have endless hours to devour a ‘how to’ book. Parent coaching is a supportive route to helping you create your own practical solutions to whatever parenting challenges you are facing, in time sensitive short sessions.