hypnobirthing Classes - any recommendations?

[Gamechanger2019]

Hi Ladies

I’m facing facts that this baby needs to come out, I would like to avoid a c-section because of the recovery time but I do feel very anxious. It’s partly control thing (I’m super organised) and I’ve heard so many horror stories for vaginal births but I appreciate everyone is different.

I’ve been thinking of signing up to some hypnobirthing classes, and I wondered if anyone had any recommendations?

I’m currently looking at positive birth company or honestmidwife (let’s talk birth & baby) ones?

Any thoughts?

Save your money and either download a digital course, read a book or listen to a load of hypno birthing tracks/podcasts. I say this as someone who paid £250 for face to face classes 6 years ago which were essentially useless. For my most recent birth 3 months ago i focussed on breathing techniques I’d read about, and got myself into a good place to birth in - just used gas and air and delivered in under 7 hours very calmly.

Thanks for coming back, yeah the ones I’m looking at are just online

I did the positive birth company and would definitely recommend. I didn't for first child and there was a massive difference to.how I managed. For the birth of my second child (11months ago), I really implemented the breathing techniques and when I went to hospital I thought I'd be sent home as not been far enough along as I wasn't in too much pain but I was 7cm dilated so they brought me straight to the Labour ward! I did also get an epidural which I would also recommend, but it was how I managed the first part that made all the difference. I also still use some of the breathing techniques when I'm feeling stressed or in pain.

Sorry to jump in. I've left it a bit late (35 weeks!) but just wondering if anyone has any specific hypno birthing tracks/podcasts recommendations.
I'd rather not read another book as I've read a lot about pregancy/ birth/ the first year and feel listening to something and practicing might be more help.

@RueRue thanks, for £39 I think I’ll get it a go you’re the second person who has said it was good.

@JuneySunshine if you do find out any good ones please do share

I’m half way through the positive birth company one now as it was recommended by at least 5 people I know who’ve recently had babies and overall good births! It’s good, a few little irks e.g. quite instant births isn’t supposed to be painful more like a tough work out 🤔 and calling contractions ‘surges’ which I can’t get on board with but the science and breathing is all useful!

@JuneySunshine the positive birth company one is in video format and can easily be listened to like a podcast but some parts are visual

@Oti22 Thank you :)
I've just been on their website. I've done NCT and read a lot so felt the whole course wouldn't be good value for me. I did sign up for a cheeky free affirmations MP3 though.

Would you recommend NCT @JuneySunshine? There’s not one very local (and I really wanted it to meet other parents) orI’d probably have already signed up!

There’s some breathing visuals/videos similar to the ones on the positive birth company for free on YouTube too.

@Oti22 Hmm, yes and no. It's expensive and a lot of the information is generally available. Main benefits for me were the social side as you say. And also giving my partner a basic level of knowledge so he could get involved with the birth plan etc. as he didn't have the background knowledge I'd picked up from reading/ female friends.

Also enjoyed the positive birth company one. It is their anniversary sometime in Feb and they usually do an offer so it's about £10.

For the PBC pack- the anniversary is 19th March and it is usually £12. They seem to run the offer every year.

The honest midwife free online class was good, and the one from the baby academy was good to. Maybe not for second time around but for first time they were worth a watch

I just did a search on the podcast store for all with hypnobirthing in the title and downloaded a few. A couple of nights I fell asleep to tracks on YouTube and practised the breathing (four in 8 out).

Also you can Google positive birth stories. I really don’t know why people are so anxious to tell pregnant women their (/their cousin’s/next door neighbour’s/daughter’s friend from school’s) horrible birth stories! I had a vaginal birth (induced) and it was absolutely fine - obviously people can and do have bad experiences but there are also plenty of people who have good experiences. I did hypnobirthing and I think it did help.

@Fleur405 I find it the other way around, people are quick to tell the horror stories but not so quick to share the positives

[quote Gamechanger2019]@Fleur405 I find it the other way around, people are quick to tell the horror stories but not so quick to share the positives[/quote]
That’s what I meant!

@Fleur405 gotacha! Suppose it’s human nature isn’t it sadly people focus on negatives not positives…not on our watch 🙌🏼🙌🏼

Just adding another voice to say go for an online course. I did both an in person and the PBC last time (three years ago) and the online was so much better. In hindsight the hypnobirthing teacher locally was giving a lot of inaccurate and potentially harmful advice (I did interject occasionally at some really batshit moments) which I don't see from PBC.

You'll see a lot of dismissive opinions about hypnobirthing on Mumsnet but when you break it down, it's a bit of biological information, some advice on how to advocate for yourself and some CBT..... it's just some teachers fall too far down the woo rabbit hole and give it a bad rep.