Hypnobirthing

[womaninthewildsofwales]

Right, I'm on baby no4. Having done childbirth 3 times I know what to expect... it hurts, not just "oooch" but I remember asking dh to shot me last time this time I am having a home birth I have the pool, a tens machine every hypnobirthing app and a few tracks of affirmations.

Sooooo, does it work, will I be transformed from screaming banshee into calm and tranquil or am I delusional?

Anyone with experience?

Should I spend more hard earned cash on a proper cd course?? No local classes as here in mid-wales it's all a bit hippyish; if the ewes can give birth to twins on the side of a mountain the locals are not likely to pay to listen to someone telling them to breathe through their 'surges'

I'm paying for a 1:1 hypnobirthing tutor and a doula as I'm terrified - first birth. I'd be really interested to hear what people think of hypnobirthing. I realistically expect the whole thing to be fricking awful but if the hypnobirthing can stop me from completely creaking out every time I wake up at night (which I am doing now) then that's got to help a bit.

Don't be terrified! If it was that bad we'd never had more than one :-D it hurts, yes, I can't lie about that, but once baby arrives you forget all that I'd just like to be less screamy as DMil is going to be there and will never shut up if I lose it

I did it will a CD and it was amazing, I laboured for 2 days without any pain relief apart from breathing. I would suggest practising loads though, I've been doing self hypnosis for 20 years so I'm probably fairly susceptible to this kind of relaxation technique.

That said after two days I then threw in the towel and took every pain relief going

We're you calm and relaxed though queen? I have quick but excruciating labours (last one was precipitate 37 minute job but the noise was unbelievable; I went all bovine mooing for a while ) I want nice, quiet, ignore the world and let Mil sit in absolute amazement while DP (this is our first together so is clueless) makes tea for midwives and wonders what all the fuss on one born is all about... Unlikely I know but I can hope

Sometimes sound is involuntary. My second birth didn't hurt much at all, and I breathed the baby out, never pushing, but there was still a guttural sound I couldn't stop.

I did a course (the Marie Mongan method) and it was amazing

I ended up having an emcs for various reasons, but up until that point I managed drug and pain free for 8 hours. I literally just breathed through the contractions and they were completely manageable. I could hear someone in another labour room screaming and couldn't believe that I didn't feel the need to do the same! The other couple that we did the course with had a 10lb boy without any pain relief, in the pool. I'll definitely be using it again.

I have used it twice. I did a course with a teacher who was (and still is!) an experienced midwife when I was pregnant with DD1. I had a calm, manageable labour at home and arrived at hospital at 9cm. I then had an emcs due to severe foetal distress.

I did a second course when expecting DD2 as my local midwifery service offer free Hypnobirthing classes now. This course wasn't as good (IMO) as there were about 8 couples in the class and it was much shorter, but I used the CD they gave me (rather than the original Marie Mongan CD I had first time around - just for a change of voice really) and I had a lovely, easy, relatively quick (6 hours from start to finish) home birth with gas & air. No tears or stitches. I didn't use a pool purely through personal choice - I like to be mobile in labour and I was too lazy to fill it anyway (although I had one up in my dining room).

I used the CDs. While in labour I wasn't sure they had helped at all, trying to keep the adrenalin at bay was so difficult - I certainly wasn't imagining myself in my happy place sunbathing on a beach! Saying that, I just used the tens machine at home and got to the hospital fully dilated and had a chilled out pushing session without pain relief. So I'm really not sure whether my the CDs helped subconsciously, or if I was just lucky!

I plan to do hypnobirthing, I'm 20weeks, and have a few books and have been given some CDs, not sure if I want to spend £200 on the local course though...

I know birth will be bloody painful, but I want to know that I'm calm enough to deal with pain, as opposed to panicking and stressing out, a lot of friends have recommended it really highly!

I planned to do hypno birthing but unfortunately circumstances didn't allow for it. This time I'm not getting my hopes up for any particular kind of birth as I was extremely disappointed and ended up depressed because I didn't get the birth I wanted last time - I don't want that again.

Your MIL's going to be there? You are a very strange and brave woman. I salute you.

I'd recommend it. DS (DC2) was born 1.5 weeks ago at home after about 2 hours of active labour. The midwife just turned up in the nick of time so there was no time for any drugs, not that I felt I needed them at all.

The Tens machine was also brilliant and, call me an old hippy, but the pregnancy yoga definitely helped, both with breathing and with making me aware of where in my body I was holding tension. The pool was heavenly when I got in, although I suspect I was already fully dilated at that point. My body started pushing soon afterwards. It was a completely involuntary action - couldn't stop it - although I did try to slow it down as the midwife wasn't there yet!

I pretty much breathed him out, but again I did make some guttural noises just as he was coming out . Nothing that would have woken the neighbours though

Go for it, OP. It may all sound a bit woo, but there is plenty of evidence that these things can make a real difference.

Awsomer; I don't seem to have a choice, I can either let her in or she'll be camping in the barn from 35 weeks, I've promised to ring her when things start desperately hopes for a shorter labour than MIL's 1hour drive :-/

Thank all,
Have downloaded lots of tracks- don't seem to have made it past the sleep/ relaxation ones yet

Can't you forget to call her, or drop your phone down the loo during a contraction or summat?

I didn't do a course or a cd but read a book (the Maggie Howell one). I didn't use visualisations or self hypnosis but did find some of the suggested techniques eg counting very helpful.

I also liked the explanation of how labour physically works ie the uterus muscle contracting from top to bottom etc - if anything that was what I visualised. Plus the reminders that tension/fear makes pain worse and so the encouragement to believe you can do it and more physically to. relax your face and shoulders.

if you have very quick painful labours I'd say focus on the aspects you think will help you deal with the pain rather than the whole self hypnosis shebang as I doubt you'll have time!