There won't be any "hee-hee-hooooing" when Becky Ell gives birth to her first child, and she's aiming for the whole experience to be free of pain and drugs.
Ms. Ell and her husband, John, plan to have their baby using HypnoBirthing - a method that focuses on relaxation and is not "hocus pocus," experts say.
"It just takes you through the steps to gently close your eyes and then let the muscles relax," said Ms. Ell, whose baby is due next month.
"It takes you through from your head to your toes and, by the time they go through that, you're just totally calmed and relaxed."
The HypnoBirthing method, which started in the United States in 1990, teaches a woman to use self-hypnosis, imagery and special breathing to make birth more comfortable, whether it's at home or in hospital. The HypnoBirthing Institute in New Hampshire trains and certifies practitioners in the method.
Birth partners repeat relaxing phrases or gently touch to encourage a deeper focus.
"I think it actually makes me more involved in the whole birth of the baby," Mr. Ell said.
"I feel more a part of it instead of just standing there scared in a corner."
Classes are offered in five 2½-hour sessions for anywhere from $250 to $400.
The Ells are among three couples taking the course in Saskatchewan, where it's being offered for the first time by certified HypnoBirth practitioner Marie Berwald.
Ms. Berwald said the technique is about conditioning and repeated exposure to relaxation.
"What happens is that most women get caught in a bit of a fear-tension cycle and they aren't able to get endorphins flowing," Ms. Berwald said.
A lot of the pain that people experience in childbirth isn't from the uterus, she said, it's from tension in the muscles surrounding the uterus and in the birth path.
"So when you get into a really, really relaxed state, the body can work and it's not fighting itself," Ms. Berwald said.
Lorne Campbell, one of the foremost experts on HypnoBirthing, admits that eyebrows are often raised - even among fellow physicians - when he says that birthing can be pain-free. Dr. Campbell, who teaches at the Atlanta Medical Center in Georgia, has attended more than 300 births since he began following the HypnoBirthing method in the early 1990s.
HypnoBirths tend to be shorter in duration than other births, and not one of the women wanted an epidural, he said. His percentage of cesarean births also dropped from 25 per cent to just three.
"There's no hocus pocus involved. All we're doing is teaching women how to relax," Dr. Campbell said.
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, which also represents midwives, said it backs natural childbirth.
But Kelly Nolan, director of communications and public education, said it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on HypnoBirthing because the group hasn't specifically studied the technique.
"There's no clinical guideline on this," Ms. Nolan said. "It's not something that we've looked at at all, so it would be interesting to learn more about it. ...
"We support natural childbirth. Our goal is to have healthy moms and healthy babies."
There are nearly four dozen certified HypnoBirthing practitioners across the country, mainly in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
