Birth preparation classes: Sophrologie

Despite the fact that I feel that my tummy is getting bigger and bigger, it appears that by French standards, I am small. When I tell people that the due date is mid-November, they all look suprised--some even double-checking with the remark "you mean, this coming November?" (what do you think, November 2009? Duh!).

As the due date approaches, I have begun to read up on the process of birth itself.

Back in April, when my gynaecologist urged me to find a hospital to give birth ASAP, I managed to register myself at Notre Dame de Bon Secours, a well-reputed hospital within walking distance from home. I did, however, spend more than five hours on the internet searching for alternative options, especially facilities that are more conducive to natural births, only to find that the only birthing centre in Paris had recently been closed down. Thus, I had to give up any thoughts of having a natural birth in Paris (as a first-time mother I did not consider home birth as an option). This is a bit of a shame in a country where innovative natural-birth advocates such as Drs Lamaze and Leboyer originated.

It was therefore with much delight when I found out that Hopital Notre Dame de Bon Secours offered, in addition to conventional birth preparation classes, sophrology (or sophrologie in French).

According to the "Energy Centre", Sophrology is:

a structured method created to produce optimal health and well-being. It consists of a series of easy to do physical and mental exercises that, when practised regularly, lead to a healthy, relaxed body and a calm, alert mind. The exercises are called dynamic relaxation (relaxation in movement).

As it applies to preparation of birth, preparation consists of exercises that visualise "your body and the baby’s place within your body, whilst relaxing and breathing in and out slowly and rhythmically", which are supposed to help ease the pain of giving birth.

Believing that this was the one opportunity for me to get as close to natural birth as possible, I registered myself for the course, despite the fact that sophrology was more expensive than the conventional birth-preparation classes. I have been relatively happy with with the classes, the "hands-on" type of intimate relationship the class shared with the midwife who is in charge of the classes, and the visualization exercises with which we finish each class. Therefore, I was quite taken aback recently to find that out of ten pregnant women in my class, I was the only one even considering birth without an epidural.

Furthermore, when I asked the midwife whether we would be watching a video of birth(s) in order to better prepare ourselves, she told me no, because "the image would be too much for some women".

I find it quite unfortunate that the process of birth has become over-medicated and institutionalized in the West, and that women seem to be distancing themselves from what should be a natural and normal process of life. Or, should we be happy that painless births are perhaps one of the numerous factors contributing to the baby boom in France, making France the country with the highest fertility rate in the EU?