hypnobirthing & gas and air

[Bumpontherun]

Hi ladies I've been lurking in here reading all the positive homebirth and natural birth stories and feeling quite inspired for my next labour

With my first baby I had a 72 hr hesitant labour, I managed to stay at home for 56 hrs of contractions until 6 cm and I think I dealt pretty well with the pain. After a few hours in hospital I had morphine and things then slowed down, I ended up on syntocin with my amazing midwife practically fighting off the over keen obstetrican who wanted to give me an epidural and get in there with the forceps.

I'm not unhappy with my birth experience but I am certain I don't want to have morphine again. One of my friends did the full hypnobirthing course and was really enthusiastic about it. Sadly she ended up having an emergency section but she still felt that the hypnobirthing helped her throughout the whole process. I'm seriously considering trying it this time - I just have a few questions from anyone who has used it. Has anyone used the techniques through a really long labour? I wonder how hard it would be to stay foccused when you are sleep deprived. Would using gas and air (which I found very helpful) stop you from being able to use the hypnobirthing techniques since it makes you a bit out of it? I'm really keen to hear how people have got on with it as it's a big commitment financially and time wise. Thanks for any help

 

[Gen79]

I'm planning on hypnobirthing and gas and air is the only thing I'm willing to try. I'm not sure that it would bother the deep relaxation at all. I sometimes feel light and airy during a relaxation session, as I imagine the gas and air feels too. To me, its not so much a deep focused concentration as it is just letting go into yourself. But I'm introverted and find that kind of thing easy so I dunno.

 

[crazydiamond]

I found gas and air really helped with the breathing techniques used in hypnobirthing. In the second stage I used quite a lot of gas and air and in order not to feel too out of it my OH gave me cold flannels with lavender oil. I found smelling the lavender in between each puff of gas & air really helped to keep me more alert.

 

[Aunty E]

Gas and air totally zonked me out of it. TBH, I only found hypnobirthing actually helped with the pain when I was at home, but it did help me maintain a positive attitude during and after my delivery, even though I ended up with an instrumental delivery. I was never really worried about the baby at any point, which I think was because of all the affirmations I had done. On the other hand, I haven't bothered with a refresher with this one, I've bought a tens machine to use at home instead. I think I've got all of the benefits from hypno birthing that I'm going to get already, so I spent my money on an NCT course instead so I could meet some people.

 

[Mervs Mum]

I think G&A can actually help focus the breath if you get to a point where you are finding focusing more challenging. I used it for parts of my labour using HBing techniques and found it useful.

 

[Bumpontherun]

Thanks everyone, that sounds really positive I liked the gas and air a lot and actually having it helped me to regulate my breathing as I knew I had to breathe effectively to get the benifit from it. I did get scared and panicky towards the end though - not so much from the pain but because I felt that things were slipping out of my control. I know I can cope with the pain next time but I need to be able to cope with my fear and I really hope hypnobirthing can help with that.

 

[Mervs Mum]

I'm sure it will and feeling panicy towards the end is often just the natural reaction to transition. If you are aware of it you can view it as a good thing because it means your baby is almost with you! x