Hynobirthing mummies - did you also use a tens and gas&air?

[devotion]

hello

due third baby in jan and i have been practicing hypnpbirthing since about five months by myself through reading and cd's.

i'm all geared up for this birth and really excited about it. i am planning a home waterbirth.

from the zillion youtube videos i have been watching with people using hypnobirthing techniques i have seen none use g&a or a tens.

my previous 2 births were in hospital, both natural with tens and g&a.

I know of course you can not use tens with a water birth but did you use it up to the point before you got in the water? plus when did you decide to get in the water? my reading suggests not knowing how far dilated you are so if you did this then when do you know its the right time to get in?

you hear about water slowing things down too early on so i dont want that to happen.

i know the tens should not interfer with your bodies natural responses to labour but does gas&air? will it effect the right chemicals being released?

thank you.

hiya - i did natal hypnotherapy cd and didnt use the g&a or have a tens machine. i really did not feel any pain, save for just after waters broke, but luckily ds arrived 3 min later . i was very much in a zone, cant imagine having broken out of that to use tens or g&A.

swottybetty - thats what I was thinking.

especially with the tens you are using your active brain iykwim to choose the setting you need etc.

i used natal hypnotherapy for most of my last labour but had not practiced it enough and so could not stay in the zone long enough but i know when i was my eyes were closed and i was somewhere else.

so do you know if the g&a would have a negative effect? its just that gas and air was my best friend during my last two labours so can not imagine not having it.

I used the natal hypnotheraphy CD and TENS, but nothing else. I found that TENS really helped me. It was like a toy and it distracted me.

For tens to be effective you need to start using it very early in labour. I also think you need to keep an open mind and not rule out any kind of pain relief. I doult that gas and air would have a negative affect.

We are all different and some of us get on well with TENS and some of us don't. I absoluted hated gas and air with my first.

I used tens and natal hypnotherapy alone quite effectively for most of my last labour - got to 9cm on that, then suddenly remembered I could have gas and air too!! Used that with positive effect with my tens for a short while then off with the tens and into the birthing pool still using gas and air - had a bit of an "I can't do this" wobble just as waters broke then out came DD a very short time after that. Not so sure I was really using the hypnotherapy at the end to be honest, but just visualising the fact that this was nearly done and just getting through it I would manage. I'm glad I had the tens especially and the gas and air too for later on.

Nope, didn't need anything. Was painfree.

Thanks!

I loved my tens and g&a with last two pregnancies but just worried the tens would distract me by concentrating on the settings rather then letting go and going into myself.

But it sounds like a couple of you found it ok with the hypnobirthing. Last two labours I put it on after the first few contractions.... so maybe I should hire it in and see how I go. I guess if I find it a distraction I can take it off.

So can you just clarify for me that g&a does not effect your bodies natural responses or interfer with the essential chemicals being released?

Thanks... love to hear about all these hypnobirths. The mums who said it was pain free or not much pain, were your previous labours painful?

thanks x

I used both, and whilst HB definitely helped me to have fantastic labours it was not the pain free experience I was expecting. very quick and comparatively easy, however.

Used tens and G&A during first labour and had a miserable time. Used only hypnobirthing during second labour and it was a breeze - very calm and controlled with little pain.

I'm not sure whether G&A blocks your brain releasing oxytocin but I wouldn't have thought so. I was told that the main blocker of oxytocin was adrenalin when you are scared or being asked too many questions!

I decided to get into the pool at home when I'd had enough of watching TV and bouncing about non my labour ball. I didn't know how dilated I was - it just felt like the right time. Stayed in there from 3am til bubs was born at 9am - wrinkled like a prune!

girlynut - i love hearing these stories. my friends and family laugh and shake their heads when i tell them about what i plan to do. they think i have lost the plot and dont understand it... so i hope to be able to prove them wrong

devotion i think you have hit the bail on the head re how much you need to listen to the cd. i listened to mine almost 40times (two weeks overdue ) and i do think that made loads of difference.

my tips would be

* burn the same oil mix when listening to the cd. i used a premix from boots (time to rebalance). i put that on a flannel and breathed it in throughout each contraction. it was very powerful and evocative of the hypnotic state i'd got into when listening to cd. also i used to put the same oil in the bath when reading positive drug-free birth stories (like ina may gaskin's books),

* dont try to do the funny breathing during the contractions, do it between them. i got into the most blissed out state between contractions. when a contraction started i would just be really annoyed i would have to leave my little trance and be reeeaallly looking forward to getting back there at the end of the contraction. even during transition, the pauses between contractions felt wonderfully relaxing (and at 8cm i was making small talk with MWs - "so, do you do many homebirths?" )

* what i did do during contractions was repeat the same three words from the cd over and again. cd leaflet advices you to listen to cd once at kitchen table (eg and not go into trance) and write down key phrases. i really clung to contractions as "warmth, power, pressure" and chanted that throughout each one. at start of contraction i just knew all i had to do was keep saying that and i would be ok. and i was.

really, i am not a troll or on the pay roll of maggie howell, but my god that natal hypnotherapy was ace. i have a very very low pain threshold, am a natural born moaner but i did it and it was ok (and so much better (and less painful) than dd's birth with epidural.

(obv am really lucky no complications, not back to back, short-ish (6 hrs from start to baby) great MWs etc etc etc.)

good luck! listen to it loads and loads

swottybetty

great advice thank you very much!!!!

i am listening to the same one as you and also the mongan method one too. need to get that ina may book!

i was thinking of getting an oil like lavendar, not heard of premix but will have a look tomorrow.

thanks

x

devotion DS was my first. Am knocked up again and am definitely 100% doing hypnobirthing again. Didn't even consider not doing so.

DS's birth was an excellent experience for both of us. Such power!

I found the most effective way for me to do the contractions was to view them as surges and to almost "ride" them up. Was fab.

I used Natal Hypnotherapy which I thought was fantastic.
Used TENS in 1st stage at home, arrived at the hospital fully dilated and had gas and air in 2nd stage.

Felt pretty in control throughout and would recommend all 3 options highly (and gas and air for the super high feeling

Good luck

lovely!

i hope i am as great as all of you!

Can I ask roughly how much it costs?

Also how do you get into the zone? I went for a hypnotherapy session for another issue and was completely open minded but just couldn't let go. It was a complete waste of money.

TIA

I have not been going to classes just reading and listening to cd's. The classes are just too expensive where I live about £300.

I started reading and practicing the techniques at five months pregnant before that I could not talk about birth without crying because I had two scary ones.

The relaxation cds have helped me so much and I am actually excited when i think about giving birth now. I have no fear about birth anymore.

Now I can bring myself into deep relaxtion and within a minute or two my hands and feet tingle and i feel so heavy and chilled. I love it.

I actually had a filling using just the techniques I have learnt as pain relief last month and I was fine. Still felt the pain but I managed it.

Thanks I will try and get hold of a cd and books. The classes are too expensive for me.

Well done on having a filling with no pain relief. I hate having it done with the injection. I have no chance!

I was fine just with hypnobirthing but after pushing for 6hrs and a transfer to hospital, I gave in and had a spinal block for the episiotomy/ventouse/em cs.

pushing for 6hrs - ????

wow - you must have looked like a blueberry

that is proof that the baby will come when they are ready and mw's shouting at you to push for hours really does not help things along.

thedollshouse - this is the book i am using, it comes with a cd:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0757302661/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=&sr=& seller=&colid=&condition=used

also i use this cd:

www.amazon.co.uk/Effective-Birth-Preparation-Hospital-Centre/dp/1905220502/ref=pd_sim_b_2

I looked an utter state. I burst all the blood vessels around and in my eyes! It is a good lesson actually because I'd been in control previously but knew when it came to the 2nd stage that something wasn't quite right. I had no urge to push and I knew the baby wasn't descending. I let myself be harangued into directed pushing. It did nothing. Well it moulded dd's head against my pelvis and tore a couple of my muscles but it didn't make dd appear. The em cs forced that issue.