Hypnobirthing - how can I learn without shelling out for a course?

[pregnabrain]

Anyone got any book / CD / DVD recommendations to learn hypnobirthing techniques?

Or do I really, really need to go on an expensive course?

(please say no)

Many thanks in advance

I wanted to do the course but couldn't get to one, so I got the Mongan book. Both dh and I read it cover to cover and also watched some of the DVDs they show in Hypnobirthing courses (one about water births and another one showing a home birth).

Then I got dh to write me a relaxation visualisation and read it to me once a week from about 30ish weeks (while giving me a foot rub, very relaxing!). We talked about it lots as well.

The birth was perfect, I did seem to go into a trance and dh's voice was all I could hear (he had to tell me what the midwife was saying, lol). Don't see how it could have been better if we'd done the course, but then dh was very very willing to do everything he could to help.

Hi all you lovely pregnant ladies! Hope your all looking agter yourselves? I am also a HypnoBirthing Practitioner and i would be happy to answer any of your questions (if i can, if not i'll find the answer)
Look forward to hearing from you all

Hello hypnosis

Thanks for your offer of advice.

I have a question.

There is a very strong possibility that i will have to have a second early induction of labour (37/38 weeks) with this pregnancy. I suffered from obstetric cholestasis with my first and, apparently, have a 70 - 80% chance of getting this again.

Last time - two days of pessaries, ARM, constant fetal monitoring, oxytocin drip, epidural, flat on back for 2.5 hours of pushing, 2nd degree tear, permanent stress incontinence probs.

sigh.

If i have to undergo another highly medicalised birth (as seems likely), is it at all possible to be helped by hypnobirthing? Most of all, I am keen to avoid an epidural as it was prolonged pushing with anasthesia that is likely to have caused my bladder problems. Can hypnobirthing really control the kind of pain that comes with a chemically induced labour?

Many thanks for any advice you can give. Am still in two minds about whether to spend £200+ on a course when, because of my situation, I'm not sure how helpful it would be.

Hi Pregnabrain,
You poor thing going through all of that, i personally feel that HypnoBirthing will help you, it is a way of life and you do need to change a few things. I can't garantee you will have no pain, but hypnosis is a wonderful tool, you won't get everything you need to know from just the book i'm afraid, but it is a wonderful read and you will learn lots, but there is so much more to learn from the course, one particular part of the course would help you to deal with your experience from your last birth. I hope i have been some help feel free to ask me anything else.
Hypnosis

pregnabrain,

I had an induction with my first. 24 hours from start to finish, like you lying in a bed the whole time, pitocin drip, constant monitoring, second degree tear, and to be honest I slept through most of it. I didn't have any pain relief other than hypnobirthing, and although my pushing phase was 2 hours I was only conscious for 15 minutes of it. DH tells me I would wake up and push, then zone out again, then wake up and zone out.

Good luck to you.

pregnabrain, it is of even more help when dealing with medicalised birth. ds1 was induced (misdiagnosed high bp, muppets) went on for days, managed to avoid ventouse and forceps etc through sheer force of will. HB helped ++ with siting of epidural, and dealing with endless stream of people (22 in 48 hours then we stopped counting). there are specific techniques on shutting out the rubbish and being aware of stuff you care about.

ooh thank you, these are all interesting comments.

glad to hear from women who've found it useful in induced labour.

hypnosis - i totally see your point about learning a skill that can help in life in other ways. i'm hoping it might be of help with general anxiety problems as well.

Interesting thread. What about if you did a course & tried it during the birth but still had a negative birth experience... is it likely that you would feel like a failure cos you hadn't been able to use the techniques & would that contribute to post-birth stress feelings? How would you go about getting over that?

i'd just think 'them's the breaks' and maybe write it off as not for me. woulnd't beat myself up about anything.

We all have bad experiences in life and we just deal with them HypnoBirth teachs you how to deal with them, elvisgirl you cannot just try HypnoBirthing it becomes a part of your pregnant life, and aftewards. I have found with some of my Dads that they have found the techniques i've taught them to help them during thier busy lives at work as well as the birthing of thier baby!

I've been watching this thread with interest as I'm part way through the Mongan Hypnobirthing course. Everything I've learned so far, through the book and classes (taught by a midwife) make total sense to me. Even my very sceptical and scientific DH is a convert. It also fits in really well with pregnancy yoga. The course has also helped to make sense of my last birth.
I found the lady's voice on the CD a little too 'American' at first, but I've got used to it and even fell asleep to it a couple of times. I was having terrible insomnia in the first few weeks of this pregnancy, but the relaxation techniques now help me switch off in no time. Anyway, I am rambling but so far I would recommend the course.
Sorry to hijack thread slightly, but I would love any recommendations for other relaxation CDs/downloads so I can have a break from the American lady ?? Would particularly like to try the sound of waves on a beach (which I used to listen to in a yoga class) but I've no idea where I can get this and it's not an easy thing to search for on google/amazon!

windupbird (great name!) the natal hypnotherapy 'effective birth prep' CD has a whole beach visualistion on it.

How did you train to become a hypnobirther (is that even the right name for it)?@hynobirthingmummy? Sounds really interesting.

I've got a CD you can have for free if you want pregnabrain. I didn't even listen to it as I had DS2 early!!!
It's called "Hypnosis to help in Childbirth" by Charles Vald.
I'll keep checking this thread, just shout if you want me to post it you

Windup Bird- our teacher told us the official CD she had to give us was american-and loads of her parents hated the voice- but she had recorded ( i suspect slightly not as legal) a copy of it all herself- not professionally, and she didn't charge us for it. So we never had to listen to the american one but listened to our teacher instead. I would suggest getting your partner to record it for you (I keep thinking I should get Dh to do it for me) so I'm used to his voice for labour- we're not very good at doing our weekly practices, but I do the daily stuff no problem.
She also told us two websites for background noise- www.sonosync.com but can't find where I wrote down the other one.The other websites se gave us were www.aims.org.uk and www.birthpoolinabox.com- not really related but now I've found my bit of paper I can copy and paste them from here into my favourites and actually look at them!
Good luck
mumofk

Thanks for the tips Merryberry and mumofk! I'm the same, I'm doing the daily relaxation fine, but haven't got round to doing the weekly things.

hello again

elvisgirl - I know exactly what you mean about setting yourself up for a fall. I'm really wary of doing that, but I think I have fairly realistic expectations of what labour's going to be like this time round. I just found that, last time, i was doing certain hypnobirthing things out of instinct - zoning out using yoga breathing, visualising myself opening up like a flower (there was a big poster of a flower on the wall in front of me and i was totally fixated on that). I'd really like to try to train myself to do more as the techniques did seem to work for me. I'm not expecting a pain-free birth out of it, just some strategies to help me feel more relaxed.

fatzak - thank you so much for your kind offer, but i have just received a CD i won on ebay. It's a Maggie Howell one. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet (I'm sensing that actually dedicating myself to the practice is going to be my big problem with all this ). But thanks again, anyway.

I spoke to a really nice hypnobirthing practioner on the phone, and she's provisionally booked us in for a course in March. so, i feel like i've sort of taken the decision...hooray.

welcome to the world of HypnoBirthing Pregnabrain!!
If you visit the website www.HypnoBirthing.co.uk there is loads of info, birthstories,training, your local practitioners etc pay it a visit.