Hypnobirthing - any thoughts?

[pollypocket31]

Me and my husband are currently looking into the possibility of hypnobirthing. Has anyone had any experience (good or bad) of this? I'm very anxious and frightened and think this could help??? TIA

Hi Polly, I've got a natal hypnotherapy cd I'm using, I'm not sure if its exactly the same thing as yours but if you look in the childbirth section I started a thread there recently asking for people's experiences and got lots of good stories which might help you....

Thanks so much, will do that now....x

It's fantastic. I breathed DS2 out without any other pain relief or fear or real pain tbh.

I am preparing hypno with this baby too.

Good luck x

I used some CDs, read a book about it (the Marie Mongan one) & tried to practise as much as I could last time. It definitely helped, to a point. Gave me something to focus on & I got through 36 ish hours of contractions coming 3 in 10 with nothing but the hypnobirthing techniques.

Unfortunately the rest of my labour didn't go as I hoped & I ended up with an emcs but I will be trying hypnobirthing again this time.

Made such a vast difference between birth 1 (without) and birth 2 (with) - you have nothing to loose by trying it and lots to gain. Good luck

I am using the CD and have read the Mary mongan book - have had friends use it with good success and I do find it very relaxing listening to the CD. I just wish the music wasn't so godawful!

I used hypnobirthing in combination with my TENS machine and gas and air. It really helped me keep calm and focused and I got to 7cms dilated with just that and my TENS. I'm definitely intending to try it again this time. I used the Mary Mongan book and CD too.

Yes- I used hypnobirthing with my first and will do again with this one. I didn't have any pain relief as was 'away with the fairies' as DH put it... If you are the sort of person who can visualise/ meditate then it is perfect.. The birth experience was not what I had planned: was overdue and had to have constant monitoring as waters had broken over 24 hours before established labour etc- but it didn't matter to me as was just in my own world, focusing on breathing and visualising the baby coming down.

It confounded the staff who were apparently anticipating a really long hawl and assisted delivery. 5 hours established labour - mind over matter I say. Best of luck x

Margaret Howell's CDs and books are great. Really easy to use, not at all annoying and realistic.
Personally I didn't like Mongan method. I found it a bit rigid and the expectations a bit unrealistic, but that's just my opinion.
It definitely won't do you any harm and will give you strategies to stay relaxed and overcome your anxiety which can slow labour. Good luck!

I'm being lazy asking this on someone elses thread -sorry OP, but when would people recommend using the CDs etc?

Should I be starting early (im 18w) to get the practice in?!

I didn't do a class or use a cd but did my own hypno practice as I have done hypnotherapy before. I felt it definitely helped me to pull I together and stay calm during a sudden and intense labour. I managed with this, dh, gas and air and tens machine until I needed c section. Oh and active birth positions too. I would def. recommend some sort of hypno or other technique to help you through labour. I heard the consultant be surprised that I wasn't on drugs saying, 'really? These are very intense contraction.'

Used the book and cd to practise breathing techniques for the home birth of ds. Found it really useful to control the pain of contractions and managed to stay beautifully calm throughout - the mw even commented at one point that she didn't know when I was having a contraction so I was pretty pleased with how it helped me to cope! I wouldn't say I 'breathed the baby out' as found the pushing equally tough as I had for dd 3 years before, but I would highly recommend it.

I listened to a cd form 30weeks daily and can safely say it was a waist of time! My labour was quite hard going, however I have friends that use it and had great labours.

One tip, don't be too upset if things don't go how you planned in labour I wanted a water birth and only gas and air, turns out I couldn't due to needing monitoring.