Questions for those who've done hypnobirthing...

[Wiggy29]

Had a rough time with DC1 (nearly 8 years ago) and felt very out of control. Had no pain relief (beyond gas and air plus I had a TENs machine) and was offered none- not during labour, ventouse (sp?)/ forceps attempts (ds came out on third attempt with ventouse), episiotemy (sp?) or stitches. Nothing. Found the whole ordeal quite traumatic and barbaric.

I'm due to give birth in 5 months at midwife lead centre and want to explore hypobirthing but after reading up on the whole thing, these are my questions/ concerns:

1. Is it worth paying £200 for the course or is a book/ CD as effective?

1. Given my previous experience, I find the concept of 'pain free and satisfying labour' a bit unrealistic- how did those who had difficult previous labours get their head around this?

1. I intend to have a water birth with gas and air, however I want to be open to pain relief if I feel I need it. Does this go against/ defeat the teachings of hypnobirthing or will it still be beneficial even if I do end up having other pain relief.

All thoughts would be gratefully received as I'm really dreading it at the moment and so far my strategy has just been to avoid to avoid thinking about it, although I imagine that will be come more difficult as the time looms closer.

Hello Wiggy. Congratulations on your pregnancy.

There are lots of books and CDs out there but they can only really explain the process rather than affect your mindset, which is what is needed. I feel a full course is what is required, especially since it sounds like you need to debrief you birth experience.

HypnoBirthing is not just for women who have no (negative) experience of birth. A good practitioner will help you to address the fears that are holding you back so that you can move forward towards a positive experience.

HypnoBirthing is not dogmatic about birth being a certain way and is designed to help you to work through the various scenarios that birth presents you with.

There is some useful info here
and a list of practitioners here

Good luck, whatever you choose.

I have maggie Howells book and cd. Not doing a course. But this is my first so I'm not in the same position.

It prepares you for whatever happens. There is a focus on not using other pain relief, but that's in the context of helping with fear etc. They do talk about its use if you end up with interventions.

Although its my first, I've had a very stressful pregnancy, so I do use it in conjunction with other things. So you could see a hypnotherapist alongside the book/cd. The book does talk about that kind of thing too. You don't have to do their course. (I think hynobirthing, the mongan American one is different in that respect but I'm not entirely sure)

Birth&baby- I've looked into it& somebody who livesv.near does it. Thanks for links.

Alice- hope you get on well with it(&pleased don't be put off by my op, my understanding is that most women have a straightforward birth).

You see I'm not put off I think because of the hypnotherapy. Hadn't occurred to me. I'm genuinely not scared

Hope you have a better birth this time.

I'm currently working through the book and it talks about what happens in the workshops. And it sounds like there would be benefit to being there as you get an expert to work on it with you rather than my diy attempts. I was also thinking by the time I've spent 40 on the CDs and 10 in the book, I'm 1/4 of a way towards a course. I think you get those materials as part of the course fee, so cuts the cost iyswim

I found the course invaluable esp in getting oh onboard and starting to try out the various relaxation techniques, most of which I would probly just have laughed at if I'd read them first.

I had dd last year, almost had a home birth but had to transfer as I was knackered and she wasn't coming out (positioning issues) I had no pain relief until it came to sewing up a third degree tear. I thought that would have freaked me out, but hb allowed me to be ridiculously calm.

I'd recommend it. Doing a recap course with same lady for dc2 due in Dec

I did the natal hypnotherapy book and CD, it was brilliant for keeping me calm pre-birth and despite being induced also helped keep me calm without the help of the good birth hormones.

In terms of a pain free birth, I was also sceptical about this and preferred to view it as a technique to help make the pain manageable which made much more sense to me and helped me view the technique feel much more feasible.

I did the course, book and cd. Cost a fortune! I did this for my 3rd child after a natural birth for number 1, but then a traumatic caesarean for number 2 and other anxiety issues I had as my second child eventually died at 11 months. Nothing to do with the birth, I assure you, just a result of a rare genetic condition.
Anyway, I was all prepared and started listening to the cd as labour started. Was fine at first but then the panic engulfed me and after an hour I ditched the cd. I remember my husband telling me to remember the deep breathing from hypnobirthing, to which I shouted f*# hypnobirthing ..... So I have to say that it didn't work for me although I really wanted it to. But maybe I would have been more worried in the runup if I hadn't done it ......

sauvignonismydrug- so sorry to hear about your loss, it's understandable that you'd be especially anxious. I guess there's no magic ball to tell me if it'll work or not and, with every penny being longer off on maternity leave, I wanted to get a range of opinions before shelling out £200.

AliceHurled- yes, £200 includes course, book and CDs.

Still undecided.

Any other good websites?

I used the natal hypnotherapy cd - best £10 I've ever spent on ebay. Didn't think it was effective in the run up, but although it didn't give a pain-free birth, I'm convinced it helped me to 8cm with nothing but a TENS machine (then tried gas and air for delivery, but not sure I was using it properly: didn't make much difference) - i wasn't frightened (very uncomfortable, eventually in a fair bit of pain, but nothing compared to IBS until stage 2 of labour, which felt like passing a tennis ball!) and felt very empowered by the experience, which is what it teaches you on the CD. So much so that although I don't want to go through pregnancy/the newborn stage again (hell no - just starting to get my evenings back!) in a weird way I'd experience childbirth again just for the euphoric feeling.

May not work for everyone, and I was lucky to have a fairly straightforward labour and delivery with just a second degree tear, but for someone who was a sceptic, it worked for me.

Anayorks- which CD was it?

I didn't have a fear of birth but decided to do hypnobirthing on recommendation from my sister who had a great labour and birth with my niece. I read the Marie Mongan hypnobirthing book and listened to the CD for relaxation every evening from about 7 months - I didn't have the option of the course as they don't run them here so just read the book a few times.

If the course had been run I would have definitely gone on it, if only to answer any questions that I had but I didn't feel like I'd missed out on anything.

When I went into labour I was really calm, didn't panic at all but I tried listening to the CD and getting my breathing and visualisation going but found I couldn't concentrate and the music annoyed me. So I switched it off, got in my bath and just concentrated on breathing in slowly through each contraction and then blowing it away and picturing a balloon. It helped keep me focused - I was very lucky that I had a short, easy labour and DS was born in just under 5 hours but in all that time I felt in control of the pain and wasn't scared of it.

I will do it all over again when we plan the next one. GOod luck!

I would highly recommend looking into several different HB practitioners before you decide to book a course - my teacher was a qualified midwife, and I appreciated her non-woo attitude. Friends have had different experiences as their teachers came from different backgrounds.
I guess it depends on your own approach too, I'm practically minded and preferred to be prepared for it not to work, rather than being so invested in it that I'd get a shock if things went wrong. (Good job too as I didn't start practising early enough and DS turned up a month early so it didn't really work for me! I'll do a refresher before dc2 I think...)

Awful to hear about your first experience - I really hope you can have a much better time of it this time, I would think your choice of MLU is a very good idea in your instance.

I am considering getting hypnobirthing CD and possibly book as I find it an interesting concept and I'll entertain anything that will help with the birth! Though baby due any day now so I may be a little late. But I have always had a massive massive fear of childbirth so previously probably would have thrown up reading about your first delivery!!!

But I just finished and NCT antenatal course and I feel so so so much better about everything. It really empowers you as to what you should question and query during birth regarding your care and how the practitioners treat you/your birth etc and is completely 100% supportive of whatever choices you make for your birth plus it gives you masses of unbiased information and a support network of other people having babies within a week or two of you. One of the biggest plusses I found was that DH is now so clued in it makes me feel so much more relaxed that he will know what is going on/what he is doing and when too.

It's obviously not for everyone and very different to a hypnobirthing course though it sounds like there's some overlap but it might help you with dealing with what happened before. Just an alternative if you end up being unsure about hypno etc. I'm really glad I did it as I ummed and ahhed as to whether to and signed up v last minute but I would feel so scared now if I hadn't so was definitely a good thing.

Good luck whatever route you choose!! :)

I got the marie mongon book off ebay. It was brilliant:)

My 1st baby was a painful experience and I was dreading another. My 2nd was actually born very early and didn't make it, which just compounded my negative ideas about birth etc.

My 3rd I did the Hypnobirthing course to relax me in the run up. I was very sceptical about it all, and thought it was a bit airy fairy for me, but the more I read it, the more it made sense and I was actually really excited about going in. I was conviced my baby would come early and it would be so fast I'd have him alone at home, and I felt confident.

As it happened, I was induced at 38 weeks (poss baby medical probs) and it took 2 days to get me going - after the 2nd pessary and lots of examinations, they strongly advised me to have a CS (baby was in no danger - so I refused). After the third and a rather uncomfortable waters being popped, it took 4 hours until first contraction, but it was weird, I coould feel him moving down, and i could feel my muscles working:) It didn't hurt at all at that point, and when I told them he was on his way down, they didn't believe me!

When I had my first uncomfortable (not painful) tightening, they looked at my cervix and I was 7cm dilated. An hour later he was out - no drugs (did have gas and air, but i don't class that as a drug). No stitches, no great pain, just an overwhelming sense of the whole thing. I am a convert!

If I could have afforded the course I would have, as I found it hard to visualise and wished I could have had someone reassure me I was doing the breathing right. As it turned out it all clicked into place when needed. I didn't involve my husband, I knew he would laugh at it, so i decided to just tell him to keep quiet. I didn't do the light touch massage either.

Re pain relief, I would say an epidural may go against it, as it numbs everything - but hypnobirthing is about having tings relaxed and being in tune with it all. Pethadine may make you feel a bit away with the fairies, but gas and air I found worked quite well with it (sorry hardcore HB fans).

At the end of the day, if you feel you really can't cope, you will end up taking the relief anyway, so dont' beat your self up over it. Go into it with a relaxed attitude and take each moment as it comes - dont' plan or expect anything:)

If I had to do it tomorrow all again, I would. Good luck:)

sorry to hear you had such a bad first experience.
i did hypnobirthing, and i would recommend it.
i didn't like our practitioner, and i didn't read the book, but i did listen to the CDs, and i did get in the whole "relax it will be fine" frame of mind
when i went into labour, doing all the stuff i'd learned in hypnobirthing didn't even cross my mind, it all happened so fast... but i think the whole concept gives you an underlying confidence that you can do it, your way, and all will be fine. it stops you fighting the contractions, and you're just so assured your body can do it, you just let your body get on with it.
i know £200 is a lot of money, so maybe get the books and CDs if you can't manage the actual course.
another thing i learned from my birth experience was if you want pain releif, tell them the moment you arrive in hospital that's what you want, and you want it now...it takes them a while to organise an anesthetist that if you ask much later you dont get it.
i didn't ask till right at the end, and they told me it was too later for all that!

I had a painful and traumatic first birth and was scared of doing it again. I did a hypnobirthing mini-course (one day) and did visualisations etc every day. In the end I had a very easy second birth at home, virtually no pain at all. I didn't do any relaxations or visualisations etc during the labour or birth, but I was so unworried by the whole thing that my body did what it needed to do without me intefering, if that makes sense. It was hard work but not painful apart from crowning (DS2 came rushing out) which was over in 2 seconds. I haired a doula, which helped enormously (she was a trainee so I could afford it).

I did a course but I did sign up mostly to help my DH who was terrified by idea of being at birth & he'd never have read the book. He was sceptical at first but after first couple of sessions he admitted it had made a real difference & we were both calm & open-minded in the run-up to birth. We listened to the CD before bed. It was lovely.

I had a very long but calm labour & I'm sure the HB helped me keep calm and relatively relaxed over the days. The hardest bit was transferring to hospital as it was hard to maintain calm when waiting in a corridor to be seen. But I was 6-7cm when I got there & had gas & air which helped.

I didn't go for the full HB birth experience as it was important for me to be v active as well (so my yoga prep helped a lot) but it helped a lot during the pregnancy, early labour & to get my DH on board! The books alone wouldn't have done it for us.

1. Can't speak to the course, but I had a set of CDs which were very effective for me. Couldn't afford a course.

1. I used them for both births, had a horrid time with first one (long induction then forceps) but I know the hypnosis helped me cope, and had simply the most fantastic time with the second one - yes a shorter labour but the hypno helped too. I still use it for medical procedures etc (in fact it got me into trouble once when the dr. misdiagnosed what had happened to me on the basis of 'you would have been in a lot more pain if ...'!)

1. Nothing anti-other-pain-relief in the CDs I had - it worked well for me with other stuff too - I had everything first time round!

It also really helped relax me through pregnancy and helped with anxiety - despite 1st time round being difficult, I felt weirdly un-worried about the second one throughout - so I would definitely recommend it. I used the natal hypnotherapy CDs and I think I got them off eBay.

Really interesting thread and wondering if I could hijack a bit with a couple of questions - hope you don't mind OP.

Am I too late to start using a CD if my baby is imminent? And do you use the CD in the hospital or just the techniques you've learned from it?

With the set I had, you used one CD at home in earlier pregnancy, another which you listened to regularly in the run-up to the birth, and then there was one with just the music on which you could put on during the birth itself as a setting-the-scene type reminder (though we didn't). So I used the techniques with dp reminding me, but not the CDs during the birth itself.