HypnoBirthing

[greenlizard]

Is is worth it? I am considering going to a local class which runs for 4 weeks and includes a CD etc but it outrageously expensive (£260 ) and I don't know if is worth it or whether I should get a CD/online course instead.

Any experiences you can share with me?

Thanks

If you are seriously considering it you should do the face to face rather than online course, you'll get much more out of it.
It works for some, not for others. I think it's got some useful points, but feel uncomfortable with some of the claims it makes.

I suspect it's a bit of a fad to be honest. Gas and air was pretty effective at making me feel relaxed during childbirth!

I think how much it helps depends on how your labour/delivery goes.
We did the course and I did the practice CD every day for months but it made fuck all difference to me during a three day labour followed by crash CS! if I had had a more straightforward labour and delivery it might have helped - I don't know.

I did the CD. It helped a lot for the first 12 hours, plus my sweep was totally painless because I put myself in another place. It might have worked for longer but a brutal internal exam threw me out of the zone and I couldn't get it back. I know someone who did it face to face; she ended up with a water birth and a very positive birth experience.

Great for me, I was going for an elective CS. Midwives were pretty sceptical went from 1cm -9cm in 4 hrs, they were surprised.

I used it, loved it, but live overseas so only used the Marie Mongan book, didn't do any classes. I was very lucky that baby was in the optimal position for labor and delivery and all that, but I found the relaxation process very helpful.

I found it very good if you can ignore the "women have been coughing babies out in fields with no pain relief for years" stupidity and just use it as a guide to help you rid yourself of fear, it's a great tool.

I did it face to face. Was petrified of childbirth before and had a zen type pool birth with gas and air. Amazing! Midwife didn't think I was in labour when I got to the hospital although I was 7cms... Kept talking about how I was likely to be sent home and was a bit gobsmacked I was so calm.

Plus I use the techniques for the dentist. Definitely recommend it, but you need to throw yourself into it and be prepared for 'homework'

I did it face to face with personalised recordings. Love it. Sadly have to have csection now but I've been using it for injections and to lower heart rate. Yesterday I was on monitor and quite stressed with a heart rate of 125. Did two minutes of getting myself into the zone and got to 89bpm. I plan to use it for the spinal block injection and when breast feeding is tricky.

I just brought a book and CD. I didn't want to fork out hundreds if I decided I didn't like it. Some of the claims in the book are a bit far fetched for me, but the music is lovely and relaxing and I enjoy feeling like I can control my anxieties more because of it.
I gave birth last Sunday and it was very peaceful and quick (water birth). I don't think if I would have paid £250 for a course my birth would have been better!

I just had a book and CD's and while I didn't have the true 'hypnobirthing' experience I really do think it helped me to stay calm and focused. G&A does nothing for me so I needed something else; I managed using hypnobirthing techniques and a tens machine.

I've been using cds off eBay and enjoying them in preparation for birth. It's really helped me feel positive, relaxed and like I'm taking some time for myself to bond with baby.

I am due today so waiting to see if it will help atall in birth, but it has certainly helped me go to sleep on enough restless nights that it's worth it just for that.

However I did have an attempted sweep today and they had to stop as I found it too painful dispite not being atall nervous before and doing my best to breathe and relax. My inability to cope with that makes me more concerned for childbirth. :(

I did it in London with Katharine Graves. I highly recommend. I had a difficult birth, and I was very, very calm throughout. Home birth which turned into hospital with forceps etc. Checked myself into emergency reception, filled in admission forms at 9cms dilated, walked to the birthing suite unaided etc. Very hard to maintain focus with the chaos surrounding me once there, but was amazed how helpful it was. Mine and baby's heart rate very steady throughout the 'emergency' part of the birth too, and I'm positive this was due to my breathing and visualisations. So while I didn't get my home waterbirth, I did get an amazingly relaxed emergency forceps delivery! Great for pain management too.

Silverfish, the only parts of my labour which I struggled to maintain hypno focus were the human intervention parts. I had two internals and one stretch, and these were by far the worst aspects of the birth. They felt nothing like my contractions, which were waaaaaay more bearable!

Well worth it. Hypnobirthed during longish back to back labour. Midwives struggle with it so ensure they are aware of what you are planning.

I had a vbac, the first hospital refused to allow. Second facilitated and had a water birth.

I found it really useful. It helped reduce anxiety relating to the thought of childbirth and helped me feel I could 'work' through the labour. I ended up having a traumatic birth experience but did not realise that until afterwards, and am convinced the hypnobirthing helped me manage and keep calm throughout. Thought it was well worth it, but could take or leave some of the advice.

I had terrible Birth Fear so when I got pg I decided to give hypnobirthing a go. I didn't go to a class though, I had one to one sessions with a hypnotherapist (a friend, so got mates' rates). She also gave me a CD to listen to every night, which I did - it mostly sent me to sleep :)

I felt massively better after the first session! It was a series of 4 sessions; but when I went overdue, I started to get stressed again, so booked an extra one at about 41w. I found that, when push came to shove, I didn't use it so much for pain relief (my brain shuts down when I'm in pain, not helpful!) but it did remind me to allow my body to do what it needed to do and not to fight it.

I was induced, no drip required, but it took a while to get going; and then only half an hour stage 2, with no MW in attendance (emergencies, they didn't think I'd be ready for a while) - DH had to go and fetch one when I felt DS1 move down - and then he was born 1 push later.
I really think it helped me to just let things happen as they did, without me fighting it.
I do recommend it.

Doesn't really affect pain (I think ftm expecting it to are often disappointed or upset) but it helped me stay calm and not mind the pain. It helped me trust the mw and go with the flow, nor panic.

I used natal hypnotherapy CDS. There's crossover with yoga.
I would say yoga helped me with the physical side. Birth is like a marathon but unlike anything you can train for. Yoga kept me feelinG strong and flexible as I writhed round hooting and helped my many many many stitches and torn muscles afterwards.

...also don't have any thar only helps with contractions not sweeps or internals.
my contractions were super intense, but I found internals and sweeps fine.
I rejected any birth prep that suggested avoiding intervention simply because you never know what will happen. I didn't want something that only worked on a perfect birth or which influenced me re intervention : the whole point to me was clarity of mind!

It didn't work for me and in hindsight I wish I'd not spent what was really quite a lot of money on the classes. I've read lots of people saying it really helped them, but I notice that this is often when people use it for second or subsequent births (where you'd at least know a bit more about what birth is like). As a counterpoint to the success stories, I found it impossible to make use of the techniques once the birth really got going, and the whole birth was so frightening to me that any attempt at hypnobirthing went out the window rather (I remember shouting in the delivery room "This is nothing like all the f*ing hypnobirthing films!" to the great hilarity of the midwives...)

I did have to have quite an intervention-heavy birth though (for various unforeseen reasons), and I have a hunch that I'm not very susceptible to hypnotism anyway. I do think it might work very well for the right kind of person having, say, a home birth for second baby, or who has a reasonably straightforward waterbirth for example. But I didn't find I was able to make any use of it really in the end (and I do know of a couple of others who had the same experience and didn't find it that helpful). So I wouldn't regard it as something that always works amazingly for everyone, though I'm sure it does for some - and the problem I guess is that you can't know in advance the kind of birth you'll have and whether the techniques will be useful to you.

I thought it would be a bit of a waste of time, I'm very cynical and not susceptible to hypnosis. I got the Marie Mongan book and CD anyway, anything to help right!
I listened to the CD 2/3 times a week for about 3 months, mainly at bedtime. I don't think I ever heard the whole thing, I always fell asleep often before the second track. Made DH read the book. I imagined listening to the tracks during labour to see if it'd help me stay calm.
I also read Juju Sundin's Birth Skills.
The best thing for me throughout labour was DH counting my breathing (4 in, 6 out), marching on the spot right up to the birth itself, and the visualisation techniques from MM and Birth Skills book.
I had no pain relief other than Tens machine and I took 2 paracetamol about 4 hrs before birth. We'd planned a waterbirth at home, but didn't have time to fill the pool. Gave birth standing up leaning against the sofa! Also didn't want any music or any noise to distract me from counting. DH must have counted to thousands!

Well worth it for me. As people have said it of course can't stop people needing a cesarean but I know several hypnobirthing mums who used it during their c-sections.

My DS is now 6 and I paid £250ish for a hypnobirthing course during my pregnancy. I felt what I assumed were Brixton hicks on the day I went into labour as they weren't painful enough / I managed them well with hypnobirthing techniques.

Then my waters broke so I went to midwife unit. They sent me home as didn't see the point in checking me because I obviously wasn't in 'full labour'.

3 hours later I had to go back as I knew there was too much pressure below and when I got there the midwife looked extremely shocked when she realised the head was on its way out.

I never did get any pain relief or gas & air although I admit I would have liked some at the end.

For me I look back on hypnobirthing as very rewarding and now I am 20 weeks pg with dc2 I am doing a refresher session just to help me remember the techniques etc.

I didn't do the course, just book and CD. I didn't conciously use any of the techniques in labour, however, I was pretty far along by the time I realised I was in labur (iyswim): Midwife saw me at 11am (at home as waters had broken), no noticable contractions, nothing doing. Called her back at 1pm , was told me to take a parcetamol and a hot shower, I explained (calmly) that I really was about to have a baby and asked her to do an internal exam (which she did mostly to humour me, I think!), I was fully dilated and baby was born pretty soon after.

It's difficult to know with your first I think. I feel like the hypnobirthing made me able to cope and very calm, but who knows what I would have been like if I hadn't done it?

I did a course and would highly recommend it. I had a great home water vbac. The midwife didn't believe I was in full labour as I opened the door to her when she arrived and was silent and very calm throughout. I'd chosen not to have any internals done so ve no idea how far along I was at that point but dd was born a few hours later in the pool. It was amazing and I do it again tomorrow. I didn't feel much pain, just a lot of pressure. I didn't actively push at all, and just zoned out and let my body get on with it. Best money I spent!