08/10/2019
Laughter worked for this HypnoBirthing mum!
This was the night I went into labor one year ago, at 42 weeks and 1 day pregnant.
In the last week of pregnancy, I only exposed myself to comedy. I had tried to avoid violent and disturbing media throughout my pregnancy because it felt necessary for my emotional stabilization. In the end, I would only digest laughter.
A friend who had just given birth to her second child said that laughter got her through her labor. She fake laughed through her contractions, letting out big puffs of “ha ha ha” like a choral breath warm-up. It inspired me.
Lloyd and I started watching “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” every day, and we soaked up the laughter medicine. We slapped our sides and let the jokes be funnier than they really were. We steeped our consciousness in joy and levity. I let the fear roll off of me. I let the tension chuckle out of me. I let my whole body loosen into joy.
We were like middle school kids in an uproariously rowdy classroom, having the time of our lives no matter any statistical concerns of post-term pregnancy. I was monitoring baby regularly. We were being safe. No switch flipped in me the day I passed 42 weeks that made my baby all of a sudden unsafe, based on a “due date” that is merely a calculation of an average for women. Besides, I was pretty confident I had ovulated later than the doctor’s due date formula assumes, so I had a few days’ wiggle room in my calendar.
The comedy was key. It spilled over into how my husband and I moved through our house in those days, and our demeanor with each other shifted. A lightness entered. We started spinning jokes and being crazily playful. We didn’t know it, but the funnies would carry into our early weeks as new parents of two, as well. It would be our saving grace.
And by the time I went into labor, I was already over 4 cm dilated. I swear that the laughter helped relax my tissues. This baby was shaken to this earth with the gravity of laughter. No wonder he is so joyful.
We took a little hike on my last day of pregnancy, and the marker on this trail sign was too perfect: “Along the way, you may experience the wonderment of discovery. Allow enough time for the magic to work”. Yes, indeed.
✨🕸✨What did you do in the final days of pregnancy while you waited to be called to the threshold of birth?
