Hypnobirthing??

[lexilooski]

I'm doing some research on different birthing methods and hypnobirthing looks very interesting to me. I practice mindfulness and meditation and I know that no two births are alike but has anybody here ever had a good or bad experience with this?

 

[tuesdaysbaby]

I haven't had a baby yet but a friend said it really helped! I hope to practise hypnobirthing when it's my turn, I think I will help for sure, I'm willing to give it a go!

 

[lexilooski]

Yeah me too. Unfortunately, my husband thinks it's a bunch of baloney. I guess I'll be learning it myself.

 

[angiepie]

I haven't it done it but I'm a doula and know a bit about it. I would recommend it. But I would also recommend that you don't put all your eggs in one basket! Many women rely solely on hypnobirthing to be their cureall for labour, and if they find it's not working or something disrupts them from their 'hypnosis' they freak out or have labour issues because they have no other coping mechanism ready to go (they really need to be practised and fine tuned before labour).

So I would look at hypnobirthing AND other pain coping techniques. The fact that you already know how to meditate puts you miles ahead of others. Wish I could be better at meditating, I'm crap. You can do non focussed awareness (NFA) in line with that, too.

 

[CrunchyGal]

I'm planning to become a Hypnobirthing instructor. I've had many friends use it and swear it was the reason they successfully achieved an unmedicated delivery.

 

[lexilooski]

Thank you for the advice! I am definitely not putting all of my eggs in one basket because as I've found out with my anxiety attacks, sometime one technique may not help me for that specific episode. I'll switch from taking a walk to laying in bed and practicing the art of letting go or just scribbling any thought on paper. I firmly believe in living life on life's terms. However, that last technique of non focused awareness, can you explain that to me please? Thanks!

I haven't it done it but I'm a doula and know a bit about it. I would recommend it. But I would also recommend that you don't put all your eggs in one basket! Many women rely solely on hypnobirthing to be their cureall for labour, and if they find it's not working or something disrupts them from their 'hypnosis' they freak out or have labour issues because they have no other coping mechanism ready to go (they really need to be practised and fine tuned before labour).

So I would look at hypnobirthing AND other pain coping techniques. The fact that you already know how to meditate puts you miles ahead of others. Wish I could be better at meditating, I'm crap. You can do non focussed awareness (NFA) in line with that, too.

 

[diggory77]

I did Hypnobirthing my husband was a true sceptic but by the end of our course he was way more into it than me! I ended up being induced as my waters broke and contractions didn't start.... I'm sure you may have heard syntocin induced births have contractions which are longer, stronger and harder than normal births. The whole time I was in control. It wasn't pain free, but I'd definitely say it was more pressure than anything. Plus I'd been in labour for three days but didn't feel the need to use pain relief as it was totally manageable. My husband was a total rock star and far from the scared bloke in the corner not knowing what he was doing , which he would have been without the course.

Within the course there are complete antenatal classes too which I stuck to rather than go to the nhs ones.

It is quite pricey but well worth it at £250.

Like with anything it only works if you really absorb the way of thinking of Hypnobirthing and I practiced at least twice a day from 30 weeks onwards xxx

 

[shelleyanddan]

I did "Calmbirth" classes, which is basically the Australian equivalent to Hypnobirthing, and it was absolutely brilliant!!! I would definitely recommend to anyone! As a result, I was able to give birth after being induced with only the gas. I learned a lot about my body and breathing techniques etc. I think if you are into meditation etc already (i had no experience with it at all) then it will be right up your alley! Good luck!!

 

[angiepie]

It's a type of meditation, I guess. I read about it in birthing from within. It's where you notice all the things around you and say what you see, hear, smell etc (either aloud or in your head) and just observe and don't necessarily try to do anything about it. For example the beeping of a monitor, you might think 'I hear the beeping monitor, it is loud' and return to focusing on relaxing/breathing, as opposed to 'gee that's annoying, I wish it'd shut up'.

 

[sasha2014]

I considered hypnobirthing for the birth of my daughter but after careful consideration decided against it. I spoke to several mums who felt that they failed in their pregnancy because they weren't able to stick to the rules of hypnobirthing (as they saw them).
They said that because they did experience pain and because they screamed at points that they hadn't done it right and had quite a lot of guilt and remorse.
Because of this I went for a Lazy Daisy practitioner as this method seemed more my style. It was very calming and relaxing but left things a lot more open ended and flexible so that whatever birth I had and where ever I chose to give birth it would have been an appropriate technique.
On my class there were people having home births, water births in a midwife lead section of the hospital, voluntary c-sections and everything in between.

 

[lexilooski]

Yeah my husband thinks I'm being ridiculous. But of course, he's not the one that will be giving birth so of course he's not as scared as I am. But he's also not the type of person that will try meditation or anything and thinks it's hippy dippy stuff but hey I'm much calmer to be around now that I practice! Maybe he'll start caring if I stop meditating and become a stressed out wife lol

I did Hypnobirthing my husband was a true sceptic but by the end of our course he was way more into it than me! I ended up being induced as my waters broke and contractions didn't start.... I'm sure you may have heard syntocin induced births have contractions which are longer, stronger and harder than normal births. The whole time I was in control. It wasn't pain free, but I'd definitely say it was more pressure than anything. Plus I'd been in labour for three days but didn't feel the need to use pain relief as it was totally manageable. My husband was a total rock star and far from the scared bloke in the corner not knowing what he was doing , which he would have been without the course.

Within the course there are complete antenatal classes too which I stuck to rather than go to the nhs ones.

It is quite pricey but well worth it at £250.

Like with anything it only works if you really absorb the way of thinking of Hypnobirthing and I practiced at least twice a day from 30 weeks onwards xxx

 

[diggory77]

Yeah i know it's hard to get them on board! Richard attended the classes with me but didn't really do any meditation or anything. All the practice involved for me was listening to birth affirmations everyday and a hypnotic script before sleeping. Richards main roll was having key phrases which he would say to me known as 'anchors' so if I started to doubt myself I would quickly slip back into a relaxed state and that would allow my body to get on with birth rather than fight the process!
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