Waterbirth without hypno-birthing, can anyone share their experience?

[AFergie]

This is my second baby and I would love to have a water birth.
It seems that every waterbirth story that I have read ( and that is many !!), the women have prepared with hypno-birthing.

Has anyone out there done a waterbirth without hypnobirthing, i.e. just coping, with breathing like they 'could'?

And for the women who used hypno-birthing, how much preparation did you do? Was listening to a CD and practising for 2/3 weeks enough?

Thanks for your help !! xxxxx

I laboured in water, but didn't in the end give birth in the pool - things were taking a long time - but I never did hypnobirthing. I found that focusing everything on a tiny point - a drip of water on the side of the pool helped me with the pain - I have not needed drugs for either dd1's home/water birth or my twins in hospital using this (but maybe I'm just lucky)
Good luck

I had 2 water birth both without hypnobirthing although for the first i did yoga with some meditation. First time around it was very long, 2 days in labour, i was very fit, my birthing partner was great, i was not sure if i can do it but MW was very supportive, baby arrived and i caught her out the water, it was so amazing.
Second time I had no time to prepare or think about it, worked until the day i gave birth, no yoga, nothing. Baby came very fast, he was huge, the pain was crazy, the head was born in water with his hand and he got stuck. There was much buzzing and panic all over, i had to get up, MW freed his hand, he was born and pooped all over. It was such shock, DH said he never heard human scream like that. No hypnobirthing could of help me through that, sorry... but with that said I would spend as much time as you can getting ready and thinking about it because it makes the whole process much more enjoyable I think but be prepared for anything that could happen and be flexible. Good luck!

I had DC2 in the pool last week and didn't hypnobirth - I was fairly lucky though that it was very quick as I got to the hospital at 9.5cm dilated and needed to push immediately on getting into the pool. DD was born 30 intense minutes later - I went into a sort of "zone" where all I could focus on was what my body was doing and while it was bloody painful hard, I could feel her moving down the birth canal with every push. It was a great experience as far as childbirth goes even though she was back to back so not totally straightforward to deliver.

I have no idea what hypnobirthing is! But I had DD by water birth with no additional pain relief, and I am NOT a person who copes well with pain! All I did (or tried to do) was the breathing techniques I learnt in my antenatal classes. I found the whole experience as relaxing as I guess labour can be, the water definitely helped. I must point out that I was very lucky, despite being my first DD didn't hang around, I was only in there for an hour and a half, including placenta!

Thanks for your answers!

It seems that from what I read, women who cope without anything often have very short labours. My first one was 40 hours +, half of which was active labour. Even if its half the amount this time, can one do 10 hours of active labour without any other 'techniques' to support them?

Maybe I just need to stop worrying and just get on with it !!

Also on a completely different note, does perineum massage with oil really help to avoid tearing?

I had a pool birth for ds4 no hypno birthing, lots of gas and air!

My first labour was three days...

My second was seven hours, spent most of the labour in the bath and then got out and delivered kneeling up, again lots of gas and air.

So your second labour may well be much quicker. I never did hypno birthing, I did try and be a the through contractions, orswayed, rocked etc, kept mobile.

And then used gas and air and mooed, mooing helped!

I tried perinneal massage with ds2, not sure if it helped.

Ds4 my water birth was 10lb 13oz no tears etc and he flew out, am sure being in the water helped everything stretch.

My first labour was 2 days, lots of complications, I was v.ill afterwards, horrid.
DCs2,3,4 were a completely different story ! quick labours and v.straightforward.
DC4 was born in his caul in a pool (not hypnobirthing) - used gas and air. TBH thought, got to the hospital 45mins before he was born, in the pool for aboutt 30mins - it was lovely lovely lovely. But, have no experience of labouring for longer in the pool.
Hope it goes okay ! definitely worth trying - it was warmer and more soothing than I expected.

I did do hypnobirthing preparation but to be honest once I was in labour all the 'techniques' went right out of the window (I found yelling through each contraction much more effective...). So I think yes you definitely can do waterbirth without as other posters have said. Though really I think the essence of hypnobirthing is trying to stay relaxed/steady breathing/repeating to yourself that you can do it, so you could do your own DIY method!

In answer to your other question though, two or three weeks is definitely enough time to do some proper hypnobirthing prep - the Maggie Howell CDs are good if you want to try.

BTW I had a 36 hour labour with no pain relief so yes I think it can be done - water really did help with keeping me relaxed and taking my mind off the pain. Good luck! Hope it all goes well.

I hired a pool for use at home,after hearing about them at NHS birthclass. Initially I wanted HB but hadnt considered water birth. It was only £80 though, and think it was worth it. They dropped it off a week before and collected it the day after use. I got in about 90 mins after labour started, felt head engage almost immediately, (I shouted for midwife to come back and look as she was just going to sit in the other room as I got in) and LO was born 21 minutes later - a day early according to the due date I was given. My "active stage" was apparently 21 minutes - the same amount of time I was in the water so think water must have moved things along. I didn't do anything, hence my brackets on the words active stage, LO came out by herself, I lifted her up and she took her first breath in my arms. It was an amazing magical experience. I felt to elated, it;s hard to describe the feeling but I was so high, I couldnt sleep at all that night, even though LO slept all the way through as if she hadnt noticed shed been born! 2nd night it was the opposite though - she would go to sleep at all but that's the next story! Felt fine afterwards, just had that miserable aching in hips and chest of bones knitting back together again over the next week which kept me awake at night and was bit bruised underneath a few days later (bruising didn't come out for the first two days) but was back cycling (90 minute ride exactly 3 weeks to the day since she was born) three weeks later. LO got 9 and 10 on her APGAR scores so it was all very good.

Thank you this is so reassuring !
Im so worried about going through another crazy long journey with a horrendous episiotomy. All these stories are really nice to hear.

Must think positive and try and be as relaxed as possible when DDay comes!

my first water birth was after 2 day labour. i found it much easier and was in control more than in my very fast second birth. things just built up very nice and steady versus second time around when things just exploded, i totally lost it.

I didn't. Did have gas and air though

3 water births, no hypnobirthing

Gas and air is your friend

I had a lovely waterbirth with DD2, and I'm not one for things like hypnobirthing. I just sucked down my gas and air.

For me the best part was being able to move about, because I get a weird kind of paralysis when in labour - I can't stand up, certainly can't walk and can hardly move at all. With DD1 that mean me ending up flat on my back on a bed as I couldn't support myself in any other position.

Being able to float gently around the pool was bliss!!

AFergie, my first labour was over 50 hours, involved an epidural, syntocin for failure to progress quickly enough and ended with ventouse/episiotomy. I was similarly worried what would happen this time but it was totally incomparable to the birth of DD last week in the pool. According to the hospital I was in active labour for 3.5 hours but as I only got to hospital 1.5 hours before DD was born I'm not sure that's right! The whole thing was about 7.5 hours from the first regular contractions to delivery - no pain relief and although I tore, it hurts much less than the episiotomy did. I found it helped to imagine the tide coming in and going out at the beach for every contraction then for the pushing my body really took over.

Bit of an essay sorry but what I'm trying to say is that hopefully your next labour will similarly be totally different to your last one.

I had a water birth with dd. no hypno birthing, what is that?! I just got on with it, no gas and air, just lovely midwives, music and that was it really. Was in labour 13 hours so not quick exactly but manageable. Planning home birth for DC2. Good luck!

I laboured in a pool with Ds in '98 and I had a failure to progress as Ds was facing to the side, so I ended up in theatre with forceps and an horrendous epi too which took a couple of years to heal properly.
In hind sight, I got into the pool too early. I also did not get the urge to push.

In 2006, I laboured mostly on dry land as the (same) midwife wouldn't let me into the pool without a full trace on Dd, which she never did get as I couldn't stay laid on my back through a contraction. So I got into the pool about 20/25 minutes before Dd made her appearance.
No stitches, just a tiny graze. All was good.

During both labours and births, I listened to new age type music and had gas and air. With Ds, I used a TENS machine.

If I'd had a third baby, I would have made sure I was in the pool as soon as possible to make the most of the pain relieving effect, whilst trying not to get in too soon, but apart from that, I would not have changed anything that I did with Dd's birth.
Yes to the perennial oil massage too. Worked a treat the second time, don't know if it would've helped with the first though, even though I used it.

I was in the pool for labour with dd, got out when I started to feel really woozy. The difference in the pain was immense, labouring in water was so much more comfortable. I had gas & air and labour was only 3 hours.

Once I was out of the pool, dd was born within 20 minutes! No tearing, just a bit of grazing.

My second was a water birth and completely unplanned so no prep. I was convinced I wanted another epidural (hideous first birth!) so didn't even contemplate anything else. But when I got to hospital I was too far gone for that. I was taken to a room with a birthing pool so thought I may as well try it in the absence of any other options! I only intended to labour in it but I just didn't get out!

It was lovely. I felt so relaxed and it really helped keep me calm and in control. Complete opposite of first time round!I had gas and air and that was all I needed. DH also said from a spectators point of view it was amazing!

Another water birth with no hypnobirthing technique here too. First baby, seven hours, tons of lovely lovely gas and air. Just used yoga breathing (four count in breath and eight count out breath), nothing fancier than that.

Water birth for DC3, no hypno, no drugs or gas. Was the best experience. Was in the water for about 2 hours, totally minimized the pain for me. Key thing in my opinion is to have a deep pool that comes up to your chest to get the max pain relief. I tried a smaller pool with DC1 and effect was not nearly the same, ended up back on the bed.

Thank you so much, Im actually excited about the whole experience now !

Thanks for the perineal massage advice, was really worried about tearing as my first son was big and had to have an episiotomy.

Bring labour on, Im ready ! ;) xx