Hypnobirthing resources

[BubsMom17]

Hi ladies! I had a natural hospital birth with my son 3 years ago and am planning on the same for #2. It was very painful and overwhelming and would like some better techniques and tools this time.
I was wondering if anyone has had experience with hypnobirthing, and what resources would you recommend? I was researching some books and CD's, and most of them get mixed reviews.
I am not planning on taking classes as I have no time/funds for that right now. But like I said, any books/CDs you have to recommend would be very helpful! Thank you!

 

[berniegroves]

Hi,
Witt my first I listened to a cd once a day for a few weeks before I have birth.
It was called 'effective birth preparation' and was in a purple case. I bought it on amazon.
It's basically a self-hypnosis cd and I did used to fall asleep about 10 minutes into it each time and wake up just as it was finishing.
I also read a book called 'birth skills' which explained how different things could help your body whilst in labour.

It all really helped me to stay calm and quiet whilst in labour. I would close my eyes and breathe through each contraction. I was in labour for 15 hours and had gas and air for 3 of those. The rest I just used breathing and relaxation. I was do calm the midwives didn't believe I was in labour!
I say all of this, but it wasn't pain free. It hurt like hell. But I think I had enough information about why it was hurting and that the calmer I stayed the quicker it would progress etc.

I'm 9 weeks pregnant now and will be using the cd and book again this time.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would definitely recommend looking into something you can self-teach at home. I used Natal Hypnotherapy (which probably isn't as readily available in the U.S. as it's a British method, but if you don't mind the accent and can get it there, I highly recommend it) but it was incredibly helpful. I wouldn't describe my labour as painful at all and in fact, the only real pain I remember feeling was during the vaginal exam (never doing that again!) and during delivery of the placenta and getting stitches. The actual labour was intense and hard work, but not especially painful. I had my daughter at home with no pain relief and didn't even realize I'd gone through transition, but was fully dilated when the midwives arrived!

I'm not sure about methods you can do in the U.S. (I'm American btw, used to live in San Francisco, I see you're in LA, I miss California!). But I know with NH, I definitely would have benefited just as much from reading the book and practicing on my own. We did take the class, but it was pretty much just a re-hashing of what was in the book. It was helpful to have the review, but I think I would have been fine just doing it on my own. I think any sort of relaxation and mindfulness practice is better than none. And it isn't something you need an expert to teach you if you're willing to put in the practice. I did it nearly every day (3-6 times a week) from 28 weeks. I also created some positive affirmations ('I believe in my body's ability to calmly and safely birth my baby', 'During birth, I will feel calm, relaxed and peaceful') and stuck them up around the house on post-it notes so that I would read them every day. That was so helpful and I found myself repeating these during my labour.