What is hypnobirthing?

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I did a wise hypo hypnobirthing course and am currently 34 weeks pregnant. At the last session I did say I felt really unsure how to actually apply "hypnobirthing" in labour and my instructor was a bit like it's all in your subconscious- you will be fine.

Today my husband and I were discussing it and I became really upset saying how I felt I had wasted our money as I had no clue how to "do" hypnobirthing. He and I both felt the course crossed over a lot with the NCT and stuff we already knew/read about.

Prior to doing the course I had read juju sundin and ina may gaskin, watched posative home births on you tube and had an all around good understanding of birth without fear, oxytocin, fight or flight etc. was I just too prepared and posative to pick up
Much from the course? The amount of actual hypnosis seems minimal and I've finished feeling frustrated and Ill equipt.

So tonight I had a look on Amazon as my husband offered to buy me another book but all three samples I downloaded to my kindle feature the same, just a small bit on hypnosis with a few affirmations or whatever and the rest is the posative birth stuff I already knew.

Are my expectations of hypnobirthing totally wrong? What actually is it? How do I apply it in birth and is it as simple as feeling posative and un fearful - I had this before the course so I've definitely wasted our money!

Any insights would be really useful- thanks

I didn't do a course, I used a book and CD. I took it to be a way of coping with the labour through various techniques such as breathing, taking yourself to another place, trusting your body and keeping calm. Hypnotherapy is a state of mind and gives you tools to approach the task at hand.

For me, it kept me focussed and calm. I kept telling myself that each contraction bought me closer to meeting my DD, I breathed heavily through each contraction and used wording from the cd to keep myself calm.

The cd itself helped me feel positive about going into labour rather than fearing it.

I just read the books, but the various visualisation practices were very helpful when dealing with contractions and helping me relax through the pain. I found I was remarkably calm and the breathing and visualization really helped with that. So I actually enjoyed the first 15 hours of labour - other medical stuff meant it was tedious after that, but I'm sure having a range of self-calming techniques helped.

Didn't work so well with dc2 as I had the worst cold ever and breathing exercises didn't work! Luckily medical reasons meant I got an epidural within 15 minutes of getting to hospital.

Have you ever had pain to deal with? I found it was useful having had lots of pain before as labour wasn't bad in comparison, and that reduced the fear factor.

I hope you don't mind me answering this, I came across it researching for advertising and as a wise hippo instructor I couldn't read and run!

I'm sorry you feel like you have wasted your money, it really does sound like you were well equipped for a positive birth before you went, but I promise you there is no need for any more hypnosis than what you have been given. You should be listening to the relax with nature or sea of serenity as often as possible as well as practising the waves of relaxation breathing to slow down and control your breathing during surges. Everything else is working behind the scenes for you, and it truly is an amazing programme, I get to see it's results every day and it honestly works. Please read through the preparation diary at the back of the book for the other things to practise to enhance the experience, but you don't 'do' hypnobirthing, it becomes how you birth. If you listen to the tracks, do the breathing practice and stay positive then you are setting your body and mind up to birth in a calm and relaxed state instead of in an anxious and panicked one. Ensure you know the BRAINS questions to get as much info as possible if you need to make any decisions during labour, and just relax that you know all you need to know.

I birthed once without and twice with, the difference was beyond all i could have hoped so it definitely works.

I hope that helped, and I know for sure that your instructor will be more than happy to talk to you about it if you are struggling, because we are quite a close group and i know we all have one passion - empowering birthing women to have the birth they want.

I hope that helps, as i say i couldn't read and run so please message me if you'd like more help and I'll check back.

It's being able to relax quickly. As in you put the cd on and very quickly you are calm. Labour is a bit intense so if you can relax quickly even though it's intense it's "easier".
Don't worry. You won't know if you have wasted your money until you have given birth. Don't give up. Do you have any preferences in relaxation techniques from the course?
I've done wise hippo and Marie Morgan. I think they are worth it. With my second birth I was really stressed afterwards and used it to help me get to sleep. Also before my driving test and PhD viva.
Good luck!

Also...
Basically I would say have the mp3's on your phone. If you feel calm during labour don't worry. If you feel stressed put them on.

Thanks all. I think I've just gotten really confused about how it works in actual labour but I guess if I stay calm and relaxed then it has worked to some extent. I have experienced pain before (4 wisdom teeth removed prob the worst) and I consider myself ok with pain. I guess I'll just practice and put some faith that it's working and report back !

I didn't do any courses but I got CD's and started reading the book too (didn't finish before I went into labour). I was also very confused as to how it worked and whether it would work, and closer and closer to labour I doubted it would work at all. But when I was actually in labour... I believe that it totally took over. I felt like I was in a trance, but still aware of my body and surroundings. I kept hearing the voice from the CD, even the midwifes voice became the voice from the CD. I'm not entirely sure if it was the hypnosis or the gas and air tbh, bit I do feel hypnosis helped me.
I think you would benefit more if you listened to a CD every night. I did a 30 mins trial course with an instructor and thought it was crap. CD was much better. Trust that it would work, a lot of it is about believing in it.

Really interesting Jenny I will give it a go. I think I need to just trust it a little more.