Hypnobirthing - did anyone do it and not like it?

[BeautyAndTheBump1]

I've been looking into it - and I'm really unsure whether its 'for me'.

I'm feel like I cant be persuaded into the whole 'breath your baby out, this is pressure not pain' etc my brain just refuses to believe it. The same with candles etc I just cant imagine myself in a hospital bed with dimly lit lights and candles and music.

Did anyone do it with the same mind frame then come out the other side glad they did it? Or did anyone try it and just couldn't get the hang of it?

I think it's the sort of thing that's pretty impossible to plan. In my experience, you don't know how you're going to cope in labour, or what you'll want to do, until you're in it.

With DC1 I planned for a hypnobirth and was completely bought in, but DS had other ideas.

So with DC2 I was planning on having drugs at the first available opportunity... but instead ended up having no pain relief and, instead, using the hypnobirth techniques that had very much failed a few years previously.

I practised it and tbh it came in handy when it all went tits up. Dd 2 was back to back and the pain was beyond words - as in I could speak!

I was able to focus on the most relaxing place I’d practiced ( a beach in Cuba we’d been to)

Sorry sounds completely bonkers but by doing that I was able to not lose control because if I could have got of the bed and thrown myself out of a window I would have

Couldn’t speak *

I can’t offer too much insight I’m afraid as I’m only 38 weeks pregnant with my first so haven’t actually put any of it into practice yet in terms of getting the baby out.
But what I will say is that my previous beliefs about hypnobirthing have been very pleasantly dismissed thus far. I always had in my mind that it was ‘a load of hippie nonsense’ frankly but faced with the imminent prospect of actually having to push a tiny human out of my body, I figured it didn’t hurt to just read up about it a bit more. I was genuinely surprised my the science behind it and the basic concept is very straightforward.... yes labour is painful but this is why, anatomically, this is what your body is doing, this is what you’re feeling and in order to support your labouring body you need as much of this hormone and as little of that hormone as possible. Its then entirely up to individuals how much further into hypnobirthing they choose to go because of course once you have grasped that concept, its then purely about finding ways to keep your body relaxed during labour and honestly, for me, I’m not interested in that section because then it can get a little too ‘zen’ for my liking and I already know what personally I like to use to relax so I haven’t explored it further. But I am appreciative of the understanding around labour and delivery which I think it does do a better job of instilling people with then other sources of information out there.

totally agree with Woodlandwalks. In my first pregnancy I dismissed it as hippie nonsense, and laughed at my NCT friends who were following it. Then I pushed a baby out, and had a whole new perspective on the level of pain and panic. Pregnant now with second baby (30 weeks) and have just completed the Positive Birth Company course. (Bought half price on Black Friday so a tiny outlay compared to a face to face course.) I really appreciate learning the science behind it - oxytocin vs adrenalin etc, and how the uterus as a muscle needs a good supply of oxygen to take away the lactic acid and reduce pain. I have gone from being dead set on another hospital birth to now seriously considering a home birth, due to the reduced stress associated. However, if anyone tries to stroke me, or read me a positive affirmation, I remain certain I will want to punch them. That side of it still makes my skin crawl - frankly if labour hurts, I want to acknowledge that, and I bloody want my birth partner to understand and acknowledge that, not try to tell me to breathe through it. Luckily I think DH will know better than to try to coach me through labour, and will hopefully just sit there silently while I do my own thing.

I loved it. It helped so much in my third trimester and I credit it to how happy and relaxed I felt even when 'overdue'

However my birth had other plans so used it only up to the point of a slightly more traumatic/ intense birth than I started with (started in water in long labour) and I loved every minute of the beginning.

The preparation relaxed me and my husband, and I would recommend to anyone. We used the audio to relax and fall asleep to for months, and during the birth!

However I would seek your teacher out carefully. We were 'taught' by someone very woowoo and I didn't agree with all of her values or her scathing views of any medical interventions. Ultimately these interventions got my baby out safely and I always had an open mind to the fact things can go 'off plan' despite wanting a natural birth.

My personal opinion is that you go with a midwife led course (usually Katherine Graves) as they are more balanced.

X

I'm interested to hear people's views of this. I've looking into hypnobirthing and the obfuscating language gets my back up. "Surges" instead of "contractions". WTF. Contraction is a technical/medical term. Why do we need to be all twee and shy? All sounds a bit wanky to me.

Yes Bezalelle that's my take on it too. I will be writing 'hypnobirthing light' on my birth plan and have no intention of referring to surges and comfort levels rather than contractions and pain.

I highly recommend the Katherine Graves book/downloads. It's the same course as my local hospital uses and was recommended by my midwives first time round. I planned a home birth and read my favourite exercises with my husband every night from about 27/8 weeks, listened to the music when I remembered which wasn't very often! I didn't feel I was very good at it to be honest, it was all very relaxing but I never felt like I was disconnected enough if that makes sense.

I went into labour at 37+5, had some back aches that I just breathed through until I rang the midwives and asked them to come over about 9pm. The woman was lovely but insisted I couldn't be very far on as I was having a conversation with her, it took my husband telling her that I was having contractions about a minute apart (I was out of it, just breathing!) to persuade her to pop over. Turns out I was 8cm dilated which made her laugh... Apparently the breathing exercises worked well! I had a water birth with a bit of gas and air, had my baby about 3.5 hours after the midwife arrived. The key thing is that although I felt the most tremendous pressure, and almost overwhelmed from the lack of control as my body took over, I never felt any pain. Which seems incredible to me now and even then I kept telling my husband in case I didn't believe myself later on 😂 it was insane and the most intense experience of my life... I didn't listen to any of the music or stories that I'd been practising during my labour, but I think something of the overall practice much have sunk in.

As someone mentioned above I'm also doing the positive birth company download and I'm finding the science part of it really interesting as no-one tells you what's actually happening when you give birth.

Obviously haven't put this into use yet but wouldn't rule out looking further into it and something like a download version means you're not having to find a class/instructor.

@Bezalelle I have just come my hypnobirthing course a few weeks ago and this is my 2nd pregnancy and calling it a surge instead of contractions is so much more positive this is my 2nd baby so more aware of what was negative during my first labour and word contractions was one of those things also am not finding out how many cm dilated I am as this to can have a negative effect if ypu have been in labour for hours but are only 4 orv5 cm not sure if you have laboured before but if not you might change your mind in the future on the words differnt methods

I didnt do hypnobirthing 1st time and after doing the course really wish I had I gained so much more than just breathing techniques from it and do worth it xx