There I was on Monday night, five weeks into my Bradley Birthing courses and still afraid of the birthing process. That was until I learned about becoming a birth warrior! It began with our Bradley teacher having each of us each hold a chunk of ice in our hands for the length of a contraction. The first time she timed us she said discouraging words like, "Doesn't that hurt?" and "Don't you feel the pain shooting up your arm?" After a quick break she had us pick up the ice again and do some relaxation techniques we had learned. This was a near out of body experience for me! Through breathing I was able to accept the pain and find the rhythm of that pain (if that makes sense). The pain literally disappeared and I felt exhilaration instead.When the "contraction" ended she asked how it went and I couldn't hold in my exuberance! Seeing what a positive experience this was for me she said I might want to be a birth warrior. Essentially what a birth warrior is, is a woman who prepares for labor by learning how to deal with pain. She said that some women will fill a basin with ice water and keep their hands in the water for longer and longer periods of time (up to a couple minutes). These women really get into it playing drum music and even putting on war paint!
While I might pass on the war paint and tribal music I liked the idea of facing the pain of natural birth, not as a scared victim but as a equal adversary. So I am going to begin training like a birth warrior tonight. I am going to put on some of my workout music and learn how to work through pain. Research indicates that pain is so heavily tied to our psychological perception of it, perhaps this is what I needed to "outwit" my fear of labor.
For those of you worried, no I have not gone crazy in either thinking that holding an ice cube is equivalent to child birth or to self infliction of pain. I am simply doing what I, personally, need to do to bring our baby into the world.
