The positive birth company

[Kaylabobs101]

I am currently pregnant with my first baby, I have always been quite an anxious person & prone to worrying, I am very apprehensive about childbirth and I am worried that if things don't go according to plan (which I know the don't often do) or the pain is too much that I will find it difficult to cope & get myself all worked up. I do have a positive mindset I just need to exercise it... Just wondering what your experiences are of the online pack from positive birth company as im thinking of trying it out?

I thoroughly recommend it. A great resource that talks you through the physicality of birth. I was worried it would be too hippy dippy, but was pleasantly surprised!

I found it really lessened my fear of childbirth and I was in a very positive mindset. Couldn't wait for labour to start... but then nothing went as planned or as described in the videos and I felt completely out of control and terrified. I had a forceps delivery, which the videos encourage you to refuse/delay, and my baby became distressed and was born not breathing and with an infection due to prolonged labour.

Also felt like a failure for not managing to have the birth they encouraged. They are quite anti hospital and anti intervention.

All the positive birth stories made me feel like I'd failed and you're not allowed to post anything negative on their Facebook group.

So I wouldn't personally recommend it. I would be in a better place had I not done it, but that's just me. The only useful thing I got from it is the breathing technique - in for 4 seconds, out for 6/8. That helped manage the pain a little.

Best of luck!

PS. My advice is to just get an epidural if you can't manage the pain. It doesn't hurt and it is honestly brilliant. There's no reason to be in great pain in today's day and age.

It's amazing! Haven't used it just yet I'm only 27 weeks. But it is so informative and actually quite scientific, I would definitely recommend. The best £35 I have spent so far.

I'm a bit gutted it wasn't around for my first birth because I think it would have gone a lot differently. As a first time mum I think it would be very useful for you, even if you don't follow it to the letter, there are very good relaxation techniques in there.

When I say I've not used it yet, I mean I've watched all the videos etc but actually given birth yet 😂

Thoroughly reccomend it. Used it 3 mths ago with my second and attribute how well my birth went, with a lot of the techniques and advice in the digital pack - particularly the breathing. Keep an eye out on their FB or Instagram page as there is often offers available

Highly recommend it. Used it for second birth and had a dream labour. Obviously still painful but managed to remove all fear and just got on with it. In fact i left it so long to go to the hospital as I didn't think my contractions were strong enough that I nearly had the baby at home. Luckily hospital only 10 mins away.
Only thing I will say is just be careful not to build too much of an expectation of your birth from it. First births can be a little tricky as your body has never done it before and sometimes it doesn't go to plan. Obviously hypnobirthing is a great tool but if the birth doesn't go that way please don't feel like any sort of failure. Good luck!

Thanks so much for all your feedback! I think I will give it a go for the breathing techniques alone and see how I get on, I 100% intend to have an epidural if I feel its too much.

I found it useful, especially the information about the different stages and the breathing, which got me through the whole birth without any pain relief (no gas and air available!). There are some good relaxation techniques too.

But, while I think it's a useful tool for your kit, I personally think it's good to balance it with other approaches/ realistic information. I was induced, and though she talks about positive induction, I felt like the main advice was to delay it, which isn't always possible or wise. So many births, especially first time births, will involve epidurals/ inductions/ forceps/ c-section etc and though hypnobirthing can help by relaxing you, it's really just luck of the draw, and not having a wonderful positive experience doesn't mean you failed in any way.

It's amazing just to learn what your body is actually doing and just for the relaxation techniques. I ended up having gas and air, epidural, then taken to theatre at 10cm after 23hrs of labour for attempted forceps, ended up with spinal and csection. The positive birth company still helped me throughout and my labour wasn't good at all. I'd defo reccomend. Even helped me take big enough breaths of gas and air Haha x

I have mixed views. I followed the course and found the science videos really helpful. I practiced all the up breathing etc. As other PP say, it is quite anti-induction which I feel is rather irresponsible as there are good reasons to be induced.
I was induced (and thank goodness I was as it was quickly discovered that my baby's heartbeat was not good) and whilst the breathing techniques were helpful to begin with, once I was on the drip I needed an epidural which was amazing. I ended up with assisted delivery and a few weeks later I felt that I had failed somehow. Now I feel ok about it, but I am not sure really the hypnobirthing helped that much.

I am pleased that people feel it helped them with their second births but...can I just be a bit controversial and say that second births are often easier anyway??

Also the facebook group doesn't let you use the word 'pain' in the birth stories. I feel this is totally ridiculous. Birth is painful and to pretend otherwise just sets you up for failure. It is one thing to feel positive about labour beforehand, it is another to be completely unprepared for how difficult it can be.

So...mixed feelings! The science section was good though.

I didn't do the course but my midwife recommended the positive birth book by milli hill and I read the whole thing cover to cover and left me and my partner more informed than any midwife or NCT class.
It breaks down every element of your delivery, how to compile a birth plan, things you would never even think of.
In the end my birth plan went out of the window due to emergency c-section but I knew what my choices were, why it was happening because of that book.

I am pleased that people feel it helped them with their second births but...can I just be a bit controversial and say that second births are often easier anyway??

I don’t think this is a controversial thing to say. I’m a first timer and I’ve definitely noticed that positive reviews of hypnobirthing courses often follow a pattern - ‘I had a really traumatic birth with my first baby but did hypnobirthing for my second/third and had a dream birth’. I’m obviously glad that these women had a better time second/third time round but as you say that’s not exactly uncommon. I’ve found it much harder to find positive stories from women using hypnobirthing for their first babies.

I bought the course and it is good in many ways but I have mixed views about hypnobirthing in general.

I bought the course when it was reduced to £12. I had a difficult first birth and I think I definitely panicked at points, and breathing exercises will help with that. I do think it's heavily biased against any sort of intervention, which is not balanced, and could influence people against making certain decisions, or contribute to feelings of failure. There's a lot of talk of it being evidence based, but it's certainly filtered through Siobhan's thoughts, and knowledgeable as she may be, she's not an obstrectic professional. I also don't like the general hypnobirthing philosophy that labour doesn't hurt. If you are a first timer and start off with awful back labour as I did, all the breathing and positive thinking in the world isn't going to convince you that's not real physical pain.
That said, it'll probably wouldn't hurt to throw yourself in and think positively, as long as you educate yourself around other potential issues.