To ask if anyone had a bad birth experience despite using hypnobirthing techniques?

[Movingsoon21]

I'm due to have my first child in a few weeks and I've been reading a lot of confusing/conflicting papers and statistics when trying to work out the best options for my birth preferences. None seem to reference specific factors of vaginal deliveries that lead to forceps delivery, which I really want to avoid.

I'm lucky to have a low risk pregnancy, am early 30s and generally fit and healthy. This profile leads the midwives to guide me to a vaginal delivery in an MLU, which sounds like it can be a great experience, especially when coupled with hypnobirthing techniques (e.g. using the BRAIN system for decision-making, using up/down breathing for coping with contractions and pushing, focusing on things that will increase oxytocin and reduce adrenalin etc). I have some friends who have had brilliant experiences in these circumstances.

However, I also have a number of friends who have ended up with traumatic vaginal deliveries, ending with forceps/EMCS and lasting internal damage. I haven't asked them whether they tried to use hypnobirthing techniques as I don't want to pry or potentially upset them, but I'm pretty sure at least some of them didn't.

I was therefore just wondering, as I can't find any studies on this, how much the hypnobirthing techniques actually help to move you into the "good outcome" vaginal delivery group (assuming you are otherwise low risk), or whether it's really all down to luck?

Did anyone on here with a low risk pregnancy follow hypnobirthing and still end up with a bad birth experience/bad post-natal recovery outcomes such as third/fourth degree tears or incontinence? TIA.

I spent time preparing with hypnobirthing, doing yoga, trying to be my best self despite HG… then my mum suddenly died four weeks before my due date. I stopped thinking completely about birth and focused on the funeral. I shook (adrenaline? Stress? Fear?) from the moment I was admitted to labour ward at 1cm for decreasing heart beat to the moment I was stitched back up in theatre 12 hours later after a failed epidural 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would advise pregnancy yoga as it helped me understand what exactly my body was going to go through when the baby was being delivered.

The breathing techniques etc really helped with my delivery.

I was also low risk, maternity led and in my 30's. Tbf if I was to go through it again I would have a doula with me and always be consultant led.

I had to be transferred in the midst of the birth due to a emergency and it was easy because it was across a hallway.

With the benefit of hindsight my Lo was too big for me to delivery vaginally safely and I will always wonder if they had picked up on that if i had been consultant led.

As well I also wonder if the staff in the hospital had known my name would they have come quicker, the delay in them coming to the room caused some issues.

I understand from my maternity classes at the hospital that 30 % of all 1st births require intervention.

You can't plan for what will happen. But the more relaxed and able to focus you are will help in any situation.

I would also really recommend the tens machine. My hospital allowed me to take one. This made a huge difference to how I coped with the pain.

All the very best of luck

In the same way I would recommend people stop watching One Born, Call the Midwife etc etc. at this point in their pregnancy, I probably don't think inviting hypnobirth gone wrong stories is the best idea, either!

Your labour will be what it is, that's the most important thing to focus on.

You have to accept that a huge amount of this is outside of your control.

This is so important. I know quite a few women who were really upset and blamed themselves because their birth experience wasn't what they planned. I think some (not all!) private ante-natal classes can add to this, as some promote drug-free birth that is as "natural" and "non-medicalised" as possible to such an extent that anything else is seen as being a failure. With my first I thought that a "good birth" had to be drug free, intervention free, everything going completely to plan. With my second I took the view that as long as I felt safe and able to cope, and baby arrived safe and well that was a "good birth", however it happened.

Whether people have had issues despite hypnobirthing techniques is neither here nor there, I would guess that people have not ended up with emcs or forceps BECAUSE of hypnobirth techniques. The main issue might be feelings of disappointment as they did not get the birth they hoped for, but i think as long as you go in understanding the process, understanding what can happen and why those decisions are made etc and that a large amount is out of your control then these techniques can help, even if you end up with interventions.

The mantra that interventions are wrong full stop is what I do disagree with, and can lead to people refusing appropriate, treatment or feeling disappointment, but as far as keeping me calm etc I found the techniques did help me. But I am generally a pragmatic type.

Did hypnobirthing, helped brilliantly with contractions. Used ENRAN too.

As others have said didn't stop a back to
Back Labour that didn't progress, induction, forceps, haemorrhage or the grade 2 tear and episiotomy.

Oh and the tens machine is ace, after 4 days I could not feel a thing (back to back labour, long and tiring)

Hello, another midwife here. With respect, I think you might be over analysing and trying to predict the impossible.

Hypnobirthing can be wonderful as a tool for relaxation and pain relief, and can help to prevent the fear-tension-pain cycle that can inhibit the hormones of labour, but it doesn’t stop mechanical issues such as malpositioned babies or shoulder dystocia. It won’t stop your baby being overdue or becoming stressed.

I used hypnobirthing with my first. He was 8 days ‘overdue’ and back to back with a deflexed head (despite doing all the ‘right’ things to aid his positioning - I was also mid 20s, with a healthy BMI for reference). I ended up having all the drugs, and eventually a cesarean. Not for lack of trying.

Number two was a quick, easy VBAC. I laboured in the pool with just a few sucks of gas and air in the early stages, and delivered on a birthing stool on dry land. No significant tearing. No hynobirthing.

I didn't exactly study hypnobirthing but I managed my labour and birth quite well naturally, hardly had pain relief, stayed calm etc. However I needed to be induced and after pushing for 5 hours they realised he was back to back so I had emergency episiotomy and forceps delivery. I wouldn't call it a bad birth, we needed these things for his survival and luckily I have no lasting damage. It always helps to stay calm so if you're interested you can practice it but ultimately won't make much difference to how your baby is born.

Yes

@maddening i had a tens machine too and found it worked well esp for a long labour.

Youll probably attract all the reaponses from people who had bad experiences and i dont think thatll help.
Do you follow the Positive Birth Community FB group? lots of positive birth stories that are not all breathing your baby out at home.
I ended up with a section that I loved, I used BRAIN and got that before carrying on with an induction that wasnt working and could have ended up as one that more of an emergency, or forceps etc.
I think its when you feel out of control that you can feel negetive about your birth, so hopefully hypnobirthing will help you in that regard no matter how your birth ends up.

@neverbeenskiing

You have to accept that a huge amount of this is outside of your control.

This is so important. I know quite a few women who were really upset and blamed themselves because their birth experience wasn't what they planned. I think some (not all!) private ante-natal classes can add to this, as some promote drug-free birth that is as "natural" and "non-medicalised" as possible to such an extent that anything else is seen as being a failure. With my first I thought that a "good birth" had to be drug free, intervention free, everything going completely to plan. With my second I took the view that as long as I felt safe and able to cope, and baby arrived safe and well that was a "good birth", however it happened.

Completely agree with this. Both my births were amazing despite being at totally opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of pain relief and interventions because I felt informed and in control. What is important is that you understand what is going on and feel empowered to speak up, make informed decisions, and ask questions. Maternity care should always be a partnership with women (and their families). Respect, trust, and understanding needs to work both ways. No one is doing interventions for fun - they are largely massively inconvenient and involve way too much paperwork so explore what is being offered and the rationale for it.

As others have said, it's very difficult to control the outcome of a birth. None of mine went to plan. The problem I had with hypnobirthing was that I found it difficult to get anyone to believe I was in labour as I was "too calm"! It's a great technique for staying calm and I still using it now if I need to, usually at the dentist.

I hypnobirthed like an absolute boss but still ended up with an emergency section!

I think that hypnobirthing courses and books need to be more realistic and include examples of how it also helps when things go a bit tits up. The book I read was full of case studies about women breathing a baby out in 5 mins. That really wasn't helpful to me 3 days in with a back to back baby with an erratic heartbeat!

I hate all the self congratulatory stuff as if you can be successful at having a baby

What it should say is breathing techniques will give you something to focus on when it feels like your body is being pulled in two.

I did hypnobirthing and it really helped me especially as I couldn’t get pain relief as everything went a bit too quickly. It’s worth doing in my opinion but it’s not magic! My baby had shoulder dystocia and delivery ended in an episiotomy and then alarms going off and about 8 people required to get her out. I’d say the hypnobirthing techniques helped me get through the contractions etc and I’m glad I used it but in my particular case I don’t think it made any difference to the outcome.

We did the whole hypnobirthing training but then everything went sideways - preeclampsia, reduced fetal movements, induction, 42 hour labour, mostly without an epidural, baby in distress, forceps. We nearly lost baby.

I kept trying to do the hypnobirthing breathing and the midwives kept tell yelling (it was urgent) to stop and push like I was taking a shit!

In hindsight, it was my first pregnancy so I thought it was going to be all rosey but I would definitely not bother again. Waste of time and energy.

Hypnobirthing techniques will give you something to focus on and perhaps make you feel some control over your pain especially in early labour, but ultimately it won't guarantee a straight forward birth.

So give it a go, but also go with the flow and don't be too disappointed if it doesn't give you the full birth experience you want, the midwives will be there to support you through it.

As above. Hypnobirthing might help you with the pain and how gruelling labour is, but it won't prevent any medical complications.

I did try it with my second but I was induced and he was born less than an hour after my waters broke - contractions were so intense and so fast I didn't really have an opportunity to put the technique into practice. With a longer labour, I can see how it might be helpful

For me hypnobirthing went out the window after 4 days of slow labour and being so tired I could barely keep my eyes open but the contractions kept me awake, ended in episiotomy and forceps in theatre, I really didn’t manage with the pain well at all, I had such a positive outlook before birth, knowing my body would know what to do and was excited but alas you can’t control how labour goes. 😅

I hate how many first time mothers aren’t told how common intervention actually is, I was made to believe it was very rare.

With kindness you are overthinking this. And imho people who go into it with very foxes ideas of how it will all go end up "disappointed".

It helped brilliantly with DD1 - textbook birth, I didn’t need any pain relief. It was a lovely experience. I was probably an insufferable smug twat about it (at least in my own head).

DC2 was a precipitous labour, born 45 minutes after the first contraction. It was the worst pain of my life and although I tried my best, hypnobirthing didn’t even take the edge off. I’m not sure what would have apart from opiates and sadly I didn’t have access to those.

Experience taught me that I got lucky with DC1 that’s all. Hypnobirthing made me feel more in control but it was all in my head. If anything had gone wrong , hypnobirthing would have gone out the window. There’s only so much preparation you can do. Birth is not a test you can revise for.

Oh I fell for all that bull before my miscarriages and dc. Now, I just see it as victim blaming money making scheme. Thinking positive/breathing will not prevent whatever is going to happen from happening.

Knowing what I know now? I would go straight for elective c-section, no hesitation. Had one for dc2 and it was everything I ever dreamed, calm, relaxed, felt totally safe and looked after the whole time, fast recovery etc. I’d been led to feel it was the final, worst option before dc 1.

Dc1’s birth was…not pleasant. I’m not going to tell horror stories because I remember how it feels to be anxious and pregnant! But if you want a calm birth, c-section is your best bet.

Some really good responses here. I think it's important to remember that a lot of it is out of your control. I did hypnobirthing and read all the positive birth story books and then was absolutely blindsided when I had a long, painful birth with an epidural and episiotomy. It was so far from what I had imagined... Mostly thanks to the books basically saying that any medical intervention was unnatural!

I think it's really important to go into birth feeling positive and prepared and Hypnobirthing will help you with that. But equally keep an open mind - there is just no predicting how your birth will go.