HypnoBirthing® - Fact or Fiction?

by Simone

If you ask the majority of people to describe childbirth you will hear things like¸ intense pain¸ drugs¸ and other things that conjure up images of fear in any mother-to-be´s mind. This is how I imagined childbirth would be and I was pleasantly surprised by my actual experiences.

When you hear someone say “HypnoBirthing®” – you probably start thinking of the Paul McKenna style of hypnosis with people walking around the room clucking like a chicken. Thankfully I can vouch for the fact that it is nothing like that!

I was working at Canary Wharf when I first heard about HypnoBirthing®. I had fallen pregnant with my first child and the parents network where I was working ran a lunchtime information session on natural childbirth.

At the start of the session everyone was asked to describe how they expected childbirth to be. They showed a very short video of a typical media portrayed birth - the type of thing you see on any tv soap every day of the week. They then showed a short video of a mother who had done HypnoBirth® training, it could not have been more of a contrast - calm, happy and the complete opposite of anything I had expected.

I was still skeptical at this point but thought I would read more about it. The book I read was very helpful and after reading it and doing some research online, I made the decision to find a local HypnoBirthing® practitioner.

I booked onto a two day training course with other parents-to-be from my local area. My husband and I went into it with open minds but fully expecting to walk into a room full of hippies. We were pleasantly surprised that it was a broad spectrum of people from many different walks of life.

The training course was very practical and interactive so it made it easy to get into things. I also did the antenatal course at my local hospital and the two courses had a very different feel. The HypnoBirthing® course involved a lot of relaxation exercises which helped you to properly get to grips with the breathing techniques.

People have asked me "What it is like to do the HypnoBirthing® exercises?". The best way I can described it would be, getting yourself to that sunday afternoon post dinner snooze state, where you are just about awake but not enough to participate in a conversation.

The biggest tips I took away from the training were relaxation, massage and breathing techniques that were absolutely invaluable (and not just for childbirth) and a removal of the fear of what childbirth would be like.

Between doing the training course and my first child arriving I listened to the CD and music that were provided on the course and practiced the massage and breathing as often as I could. When the time came for my first child to make an appearance I was very calm about everything and was actually really looking forward to meeting the little person I had been having conversations with for so many months.

Everyone always talks about first babies taking hours to deliver. When the time came, I stayed calm, used the breathing techniques and spent some time in the bath. My first baby was born, just 17 minutes after arriving at hospital, after an active labour of between three and four hours in a calm and peaceful way. I hadn't needed any pain relief and, the biggest plus was, I didn't need any stitches despite delivering a 9lb2 baby! Over the next few days I ached a little, like I had done a big workout in the gym rather than I had just given birth to my first child!

With what could only be described as the perfect first labour, having a second child did leave me with fears that "it could have just been a fluke" and that things would be different this time. I did a refresher course to deal with the issues that concerned me and they taught me techniques to help me overcome my fears.

The time came for my second child to arrive and this was an even speedier arrival, 2 hours and 50 minutes from first signs, which was waters breaking, to arrival and again no pain relief, no stitches needed. Due to some minor complications I had to be in the labour ward, so that the baby could be on continuous monitoring, but I was able to use an exercise ball. Second babies being (in many cases) bigger than first, meant my bundle of joy arrived at a whopping 9lb 3 but again it was a calm and swift experience and one that I would put down to the techniques I learnt through the HypnoBirthing® training.

I did my training in London (where I lived at the time) but there are also some great hypnotherapists locally. If you are interested in finding out more about the techniques take a look at some of the links below.

I had two very positive experiences using HypnoBirthing® techniques and it worked for me!

Useful Resources:

	Visit the HypnoBirthing® UK website
	There are various books on the topic I read this one “Hypnobirthing: The Breakthrough to Safer, Easier, More Comfortable Childbirth” by Marie Mongan (Click on the Amazon link below to find out more)
	Linda Hinshelwood www.hypnosisinmind.co.uk