The Life Patterns of Birth

Dolly Lefever

 

Raising the consciousness of parents and healthcare providers is necessary to heal our birthing experiences.

Birth experiences form life long patterns.  Every birth creates an impression, an imprint.  If we accept that babies are actually having experiences pre-natally and in birth and these experiences affect their perceptions of life and set patterns of behavior, how would we as parents and health care providers change our own beliefs about birthing and prenatal care?  What different choices would we make?  What do babies want?

 

In 1929, Dr Otto Rank wrote a book entitled The Trauma of Birth.  His belief, based on his experience in psychoanalysis, was not accepted by mainstream medicine, which believed that babies’ brains were too primitive at birth to be affected by birth.  After all, what adult in everyday reality actually remembered birth!  Up until 1985, surgery was done on newborns without anesthesia as it was believed their nervous system was immature and that newborns would not remember the surgery. Without conscious recall, how could the surgery affect the newborn? 

 

Over the past century, many adults in therapy were regressed back to birth (and even pre-birth) to find the source of the emotional/behavioral patterns that affected their adult lives. This often happened spontaneously during psychoanalysis, hypnosis, breath work, meditative states and other altered states of consciousness.  Research over the past 30 years has brought awareness to the lifelong patterns that are connected to one’s birth experience.  All types of birth create imprints and/or traumas. 

 

Currently in the United States (and in a number of other countries as well), there is a rising Cesarean birth rate.  In 2004, 4% of U.S. parents were choosing non-labor Cesarean birth mainly due to fear of labor.  Cesarean birth rate climbed as more parents chose inductions and active management of labor. The United States is 39^th in the world for morbidity and mortality rates, and we have the highest health care cost for pregnancy and delivery care.  In many places, women are no longer allowed to do VBAC’s (vaginal delivery after Cesarean section). This means that a larger portion of babies will be born by Cesarean birth over the next years. 

 

What is known about Cesarean birth behavioral patterns and worldview? 

 

Jane English has spent 20 years of her life exploring what it means to be Cesarean born.  Her work started initially as a way to help herself deal with personal limitations and interpersonal relationships.  It is through her inner journey from a child’s point of view that we have gained a deeper understanding of the dynamics of a different way to be birthed.

 

Jane English lists four major differences she has found in her experience and in the information she has gathered from other non-labor Cesarean people.

 

1. Space and time are different. Vaginal birth takes time and has an ebb and flow, while Cesarean section takes only 2 to 4 minutes.  For some Cesarean people, this gets translated into rapid and full action when one decides to do a project.  There is total involvement with no breaks and a sense that the project needs to be finished ‘now’.  This can be an asset in getting projects finished, but can also create issues around planning, assessing and/or anticipating problem areas.  For other Cesarean-born there is a hanging back, a sense that others must help, that the project cannot be done alone or that help is necessary.  When this is the dominant characteristic, the Cesarean child needs to learn how to push through, while spontaneous vaginal born children learn this during birthing. It’s interesting that assisted vaginal delivered babies (i.e., a forceps delivery) experience similar frustrations and need to learn to push through to complete projects. 

 

2. With the rapid delivery, the Cesarean birth person experiences the ability to transition from point A to point B quickly. This can be seen as not having goals or not working toward a goal.  Vaginally born tend to take transitions slower by looking at all the reasons something can or cannot be done; they are comfortable with longer term planning and then working towards that goal.

 

3. The Cesarean person has less perception of boundaries physically, emotionally and psychologically.  Boundaries need to be learned in order to function socially.  Without boundaries, a person lets too much in.  This is positive in that one feels connected to others, but it is also overwhelming emotionally. Relationship patterns can be abrupt and intense, with an expectation that the relationship does not need to be nourished or that it doesn’t even exist.  There can be continual testing of boundaries and limitations.

 

4. Cesareans view the world differently.  The ability to communicate one’s perspective of life with a vaginally born person can be frustrating. Jane English describes this like fitting a square into a circle. Often, the words of communication are the same but the meanings are different.  It seems that our language leans to the vaginal perspective. It takes deep listening to hear from a different perspective.

 

The Cesarean Experience

 Psychologist Dr. William Emerson is one of the world’s leading authorities on shock/trauma in the Cesarean birth.  After 20 years of clinical and behavioral observation of Cesarean-born children, he knows Cesarean birth causes considerable trauma to babies. These traumas are expressed in excessive crying, feeding problems, sleeping difficulties, colic and tactile defensiveness.

 

Tactile defensiveness is expressed as babies pulling away when held or becoming fussy when touched, and opening up to love only after becoming exhausted.  This often causes the parents to feel inadequate—and this tension reinforces the touch tension. This can later lead to bonding issues.   Body tension patterns are held in the neck from being pulled out by the head and neck.  This tactile defensiveness continues into adult life.  Hugging can make the Cesarean adult withdraw and feel uncomfortable

 

Dr. Emerson also believes that long-term psychological issues occur in rescue complexes, inferiority complexes, poor self-esteem, and other relationship difficulties. Jane English similarly reports her deep sense of wanting to be rescued, of wanting others to help her, yet cites her own inability to ask for help.  She also discusses her intense “murderous” anger at any rescuer who tried to meet the impossible need to be rescued. 

 

Dr. Odent, a French obstetrician best know for introducing water birth into Western culture, has looked at the hormonal connections between mother and baby in different types of birth.  Studies conducted in Scandinavian countries tested levels of oxytocin in both Cesarean and vaginal delivery.  There is a decreased release of oxytocin in Cesarean births, which affects both the ability to breastfeed and the length of breastfeeding.  This may change the bonding between mother and child and set life patterns of behavior.  Dr. Odent also believes that the mixture of hormones within the baby and mother that arise in vaginal birth are important in creating love relationships.  If this is scientifically proven to be true, how will Cesarean sections affect loving relationships?

 

Birth Trauma Release: A Brief Comment

 

Dr Emerson has developed cathartic and empowering techniques to use with babies.  His research with control groups and long-term follow-up provides knowledge on how we can work with the behavior patterns related to Cesarean birth traumas. As the awareness and acceptance of birth trauma increases, there will be more exploration and therapy offered not only to prevent this trauma, but also to soften and heal birth trauma early in life.

 

As Emerson addresses the presenting behavioral problems seen in babies with methods to resolve/heal the traumas early in life, Jane English brings a retrospective view of the struggles she had in healing the personal-interpersonal issues limiting her life. As such, both bring perspectives on healing Cesarean birth trauma and working with these traumas at different levels.   

 

As more people experience Cesarean birth, our worldview will change.  If the shadow patterns are expressed, there is a possibility that violence will increase. I truly believe that raising the consciousness of parents and healthcare providers is necessary to heal our birthing experiences. 

 

For more information, see: Chamberlain, David,(1998). The Mind of Your Newborn Baby. California , NorthAtlantic Books. English, Jane,(1994). Being Born Caesarean: Physical, Psychological and Metaphysical Aspects,  The International Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine, Vol 6, #3, September. Grof, Stanislav,(2000). Psychology of the Future, New York , State University of New York , Albany . Verny, Thomas with John Kelly,(1981).  The Secret Life of the Unborn Child, New York , Dell Publishing, New York .

 

Dolly Lefever, a nurse midwife and clinical hypnotist, has spent much of her 37-year medical career finding ways to blend cultural views, nature, and science into healing modalities. For HypnoBirthing classes, call 223-9927.