For someone who believes in the intimate connection between mind and body, labor, for me, was a time of their strong separation. Labor was all body. My mind was elsewhere, unaware of time or the physical sensations experienced. I let my body go and do what it naturally knows how to do. But, it took work to get to this place of surrendering my mind to the natural skills of my body.

It is commonly expected that labor is painful, agonizing and needs to be numbed. I have no issue with a woman choosing to have an epidural. My issue is with the expectation that labor needs to be painful and medicated. That’s because with this expectation causes fear and fear can turn bodily sensations into painful experiences.

Taking a natural childbirth class and studying hypnobirthing gave me the tools to trust my body and experience a calm, joyous, pain-free (not “pressure-free”) labor. From the first class, it was suggested that “pain” and “contractions” need not be part of my labor vocabulary. My childbirth teacher, Glyol Pannbechi, encouraged us to view labor contractions as “surges of love” and Michelle Leclaire O’Neill (developer of the Leclaire Hypnobirthing Method-the original hypnobirthing method) suggested that contractions be experienced as “rhythmic risings”. It took work to change the “painful labor discourse” to my own script. As I approached term, I felt prepared. I was ready. And when those “rhythmic risings” started, I smiled and the rest is really a blur. I knew each sensation brought me closer to holding my daughter.  My body felt pressure, but it moved and breathed in ways that were natural and organic. Seven hours later my daughter slipped out of my body and into my arms.