32 weeks... Too late to start hypnobirthing? Please help!

[Sunshine511]

Hi everyone,

I'm 32 weeks and my anxiety about labour is keeping me awake at night! I feel like I'm getting an awful feeling of dread the closer my due date gets! I just wish I could freeze time, as awful as that sounds.

I had a great labour last time, until the very latter stages where it all went completely pear shaped. Having got to 8cm at home on my own before going to the hospital with nothing more than paracetamol, I felt like it was going to be smooth sailing but unfortunately things took a bit of a dramatic twist and the pain was just unbearable at the end. I remember thinking to myself that I didn't want the memory of how awful it was to fade because I didn't think I could ever put my body through that again.

Well here I am, 32 weeks pregnant, and I need to do something to help with this anxiety and I think hypnobirthing would be a good place to start.

Can anyone give me more information? Do I still have enough time to go down this route? Which book/cd is best?

All advice is much appreciated.

Thank you all x

Certainly not too late! Sorry to hear you had such a hard and frightening time last labour.

I have given birth just the once and was very very scared as I was going to induced at 39 weeks (which everyone told me makes labour extremely painful) and my baby was purported to be a whopper on every scan i had. I did hypnobirthing at home with a book and a down loaded MP3 track (Katherine graves) which I listened to slept through every night for about 4 weeks and sporadically practised some of the visualisations. As a result I felt really calm about giving birth and would even go as far as to say was looking forward to it.

I managed to stay calm throughout the induced w labour with a tens machine, gas and air and breathing/visualisations (14 hours) and it was absolutely fine until the end bit which like yours got a bit dramatic and needed a forceps delivery/episiotomy but I was still very calm which really helped. I mean it was still painful but I didn't panic or get distressed by it - just seemed to be able to ride through it somehow and I am not known for being stoical in the face of pain. He turned out to be the whopper they predicted as well!

So I would say you have plenty of time and the earlier you start, the better you will start to feel about the birth. There is no reason why your second birth should be like your first - there is every chance it will be a whole lot easier (as my current midwife keeps telling me)!

Wishing you all the best

I have the mp3 for hospital birth that I will happily send to you, PM me and I'll sort it. I'm only 12 weeks on 1st pregnancy so can't offer any advice I'm afraid but I'm sure the tracks are advertised as suitable from '32 weeks to birth' so I'm sure you're not too late!

I started listening to the Maggie Howell hypnobirthing CD and reading the book at 34 weeks, really helped me, in labour and leading up to it.

I used Maggie Howell from about 34 weeks too. Found it very helpful. Even a few months after the birth I could still 'turn down' pain. Definitely not too late!

yeah not too late at all, just start listening to the CDs before bed

I've also downloaded Maggie Howell natal hypnobirthing, is this the one other people are using? Just wondering if I also need to get the cd for labour and birth?

Op I downloaded mine from here or you can have a CD/book sent by post instead
www.natalhypnotherapy.co.uk