Hypnobirthers, what did you actually do in labour that worked?

[HardCheese]

I'm a week away from my due date, still listening to my affirmations and rainbow relaxation, and (less frequently, admittedly) having my partner do the 'deepening' techniques and light tissue massage. Can I ask anyone who found hypnobirthing techniques useful to any extent when in labour what it was you actually did that helped?

Did you play the rainbow relaxation - occasionally, or all through? The affirmations? Do the 'deepening' stuff? Just breathe?

Just panicking slightly that I'll in in the MLU wondering how to put my theory into practice! Thanks in advance.

I just did breathing. I needed silence. I used TENS too until the pool. I used gas and air for the 2nd stage to help relax into it.

Birth was bloody great. All of it.

That's lovely to hear, Starlight. I'm currently sort of swinging between feeling 'Bring it on, this is going to be interesting, and we get to meet our baby!' and 'Oh God, can I cancel this whole experience?' because I have the horrors at 3 am!'

i had a planned home birth.
in typical hypnobirth style i didnt realise i was in proper labour....

i knew something was happening, so i went up to my bedroom and listened to my natal hypnotherapy cd, by myself in the pitch black and silence with my TENS machine.
i did lots of "breathing"

midwife came just to see how i was..... i was hoping to be perhaps 2 or 3cm.... I was 7cm ....

Fwiw that was my second birth. I didn't do any hypno stuff with my first and suffered (and still suffer) from PTSD from the pain and fear I had.

I'm not telling you to frighten you. I'm telling you so that you don't think I'm just some lucky sod who has a high pain threshold. I really don't.

And I believe whole-heartedly that if I had prepared for birth one and used the techniques I did fir no.2, it would have been very different.

I had the cds (both of them) on repeat the whole time. Which probably got a bit annoying for everyone else except me... I found that sticking to the relaxing breathing (was it called sleep breathing?) worked much better for me than balloon breaths. I laboured at home until I felt like it was time to go in to the birth centre, got talked into an internal and was already 8cms and felt fine.

Irritatingly, things ground to a halt later and I chose to have a syncotin (sp?) drip and the combination of the cd, keeping my breathing calm and a bit of gas and air got me through about 4 hours of stage two (breathing the baby down did not work for me).

For DS2 it was all a bit quick so no time for playing cds etc, but I did try to keep to a rhythm of breathing and really focus on relaxing my body between contractions etc.

Things that did not work for me were light touch massage, or any breathing technique other than sleep breathing. A heatpack for my back was wonderful in Stage 1. There was talk of taking it away from me when I got moved from the birth centre to the normal labour ward, but there was no way I was going to give it up.

The most useful thing that your partner can do is to understand what you want and help you with it - which might include asking for lights to be switched off/turned down and for people to let you do your own thing.

Best of luck with everything! I think that the great thing about hypnobirthing is that even if things don't go as planned, the techniques can help you cope with whatever comes up.

Can I ask which is the best hypnobirth cd to go for?

I used the Maggie Howell natal hypnotherapy CD. This is not the same as hypnobirthing, which is a bit more full on and involves a course in my experience. I recommend the hypnotherapy CD highly, for relaxation in pg if nothing else.
In labour, what worked for me was the breathing and the "going to a special place" in my head. Also to use the time between contractions to regroup rather than panic. Affirmations were subconscious rather than explicit; I found myself saying "that's it, wonderful" like on the CD but not meaning to. I didn't use the turning down th pain dials visualisation nor the massage- too much hassle.
FWIW I had two quick easy labours and am convinced the natal hypnotherapy strongly contributed to these. Good luck OP, it will be wonderful to meet your baby at last.

It was all about the breathing for me. I was the worst prepared hynobirther ever. With three weeks to go I was reliving the trauma of the first time and decided I had nothing to loose. But breathing through the contractions and imagining my 'golden light' made all the difference. I felt it put me in control. All the positive affirmations must have had a subconscious effect too. When I closed my eyes I heard a voice in my head saying 'you can do this' I was a surprisingly positive experience.

Google 'with hypnobirthing nothing works'. I'm on my iPod so can't link to it. It's a transcript of a talk given by Marie/mickey mongon and answers your question and last minute panic! Good luck!

I had the CD on repeat and did the breathing. I felt that I wanted to be mobile, so I walked the whole time (couldn't sit or lie down at all and had to go to hospital on all fours on the back seat of the car, to DH's horror).

Had a very quick and comfortable labour, was 9cm dilated on admission to hospital. Ended up with crash section which was a shame, but felt totally fine and not scared/in pain/panicked at all. Would recommend Hypnobirthing to anyone and will use it again if we have another baby (as we hope to).

I didn't really put the practise in (DS was a month early), so didn't get the full benefit of Hypnobirthing, but I kept trying to use my visualisations throughout labour, and I do think they helped keep me focused on my breathing. I used the image of apple blossom falling with gusts of wind, it chilled me out too!
Only had gas&air, so maybe it did help after all.

I laboured standing up, lying down was painful as he was back to back. I only spoke to DH, as I was so busy concentrating on what I was doing, I couldn't focus on anyone else long enough to talk to them! DH relayed anything important.

If there's a next time, I'll be starting my Hypnobirthing practise straight away, I did regret not putting the effort in earlier, I had just assumed I'd have time before he arrived!

Good luck OP.

I did the Marie Mongen method back last September and I remember starting to listen to the CD on my ipod but only getting about 5 minutes into it once labour started, as I just couldn't get into the zone, but that's because I had my earphones in and found it a strain. It probably would have been better being on in the background on repeat so I could concentrate on it when I wanted to.

I was pretty relaxed all the way through labour though and remember using the deep slow breathing the most when I got into the bath. I think I visualised blowing the surge away in a big balloon (whilst mooing like a cow) to the count of 20. My doula and husband repeated some affirmations for me but I seem to remember saying them to myself a lot which helped with focus.

It worked though, I stayed calm all the way through and had a fantastic labour - hand on heart, I'd do it all again in a second and not change a thing.

If it helps, my husband didn't read the book and we didn't do the rainbow relaxation or any light touch massage - we practised the light touch but just didn't find any need to use it.

The very best of luck with the impending arrival, let us know how you get on!!

I'm hoping to use hypnobirthing for DC2 later in the year. Does anyone have experience of breathing out the baby instead of pushing? The urge to push with DD was overwhelming last time - I just didn't have the strength to resist it, even though the mw told me not to push as she was about to perform an episiotomy. I'm hoping for a less violent delivery this time, so breathing the baby out would be great. I'm just not sure how realistic it is.

i used natal hypnotherapy, and i never pushed...

i maintain i dont know what its like to push a baby out, or what that urge feels like.... i just breathed and she shot out (straight onto the sofa, no-one caught her!!!!!)

I could feel her coming, but i certainly wasnt trying to make her move, i feel like she knew how to move herself and did it (not me)

(but then i did 7cm - mummy in

I had a labour which was full on right from the beginning so no time to build up slowly. I used balloon breathing (my DH counted for me, we did in to 10 and out to 10) and I visualised riding the contractions like waves and my cervix opening. That was it, really. Like a pp I wanted quiet so I didn't listen to anything (except DH counting!)
I used a TENS and the pool and I honestly felt the worst bit was the beginning when I felt out of control because it had all kicked in so suddenly, once I'd got relaxed (thanks to DH) it was all manageable. It was overnight and at home so I sat in the dark with candles lit and had just fairy lights on around the pool (MW had a torch and turned the lights on after DD was born to check her colour).

The balloon breathing for me too. In for 20 and out for 20 as slowly as possible. I imagined different colours and patterns on the balloons each time, this helped me stay focused. I also used TENS both times but nothing else (wasn't allowed in the pool unfortunately...).