Hypnobabies questions

[Smokering]

1. Can any of you ladies who've done Hypnobabies honestly say you couldn't move your hand, open your eyes etc when you were in deep hypnosis (light-switch off)? I'm doing those CDs this week, and every time she tells me to test my eyelids or try to move my hand... my eyelids open and I move my hand. I just can't make them not work! Once or twice I've been feeling so relaxed I haven't bothered trying, but that's not really the aim; at least, it's not how she phrases it. Does it matter?

2. If it does matter, should I keep doing those CDs until I get it, before moving on to the next CDs? I'm on Week 2 and I'm only 25 weeks, so I have plenty of time before the birth.

3. SIL just used Hypnobabies for her birth, and found it helped greatly during the first stage. However, once complete she didn't feel a pushing urge for a few hours - they tried lots of different positions, played upbeat/angry music on her iPod, and even considered transferring to the hospital at one point. Eventually she started pushing half-heartedly, then properly, and the baby was born just fine. I ran into the midwife today and she believes the Hypnobabies chilled SIL out too much and hindered the pushing process.

I'm skeptical about this, for several reasons:

-I've never read about a similar phenomenon in any of dozens of Hypnobabies birth stories I've read

-Hypnobabies comes with a track specifically for pushing!

-I don't see why being relaxed would interfere with the fetal ejection reflex

-I know not wanting to push is a fairly common occurrence (complication?); I don't know what causes it, or if anyone knows what causes it, but it certainly happens to non-hypnotised mothers; so maybe it happened with SIL for the same reason?

Now, even if it's true, I don't see that it's a problem necessarily; a mother could use Hypnobabies for the first stage, then "snap out of it" for the second and be more "present" if necessary. But I'm just curious to hear if anyone has any thoughts on this. It was the midwife's first hypnobirth, and I'm wondering if she's just blaming Hypnobabies for the weird second stage because it's an unknown quantity for her. (FTR, SIL has said she couldn't have done the birth unmedicated without Hypnobabies, and the MW said she was the most relaxed mother she had ever seen - which is impressive, because "relaxed" is not a word I would normally associate with SIL at any time! So SIL isn't unhappy with the experience or anything. It was just a bit of a strange labour.)

4. WHY must the woman on the CD keep saying "deeper relax"? It's ungrammatical! It disrupts my calm every time I hear it, because I keep wanting to correct her to "Relax deeply" or "deeply relax". Like a splinter in my mind, driving me mad...

5. Is there any way to tell the difference between hypnotic anmesia and actually falling asleep? I've been so tired lately... I think I prepare to sleep as soon as the CD starts, which probably isn't ideal.

[super mamabug]

I have used Hypnobabies for 2 births.

1. It is YOUR hypnosis.  You always have a choice.  The suggestions are less that you can't move and more that you CHOOSE to be in such deep hypnosis that you don't WANT to move.

2. Keep going, re-read reminder #1 and keep going.

3. That is not a bi-product of Hypnobabies.  I had very different pushing experiences with my two Hypnobabies births and of the many, many women using it that isn't the norm.  There are many reasons for pushing not to start right away and since I'm not a doc/mw I can't say what happened there - but it isn't caused by being relaxed.  :)

4. I believe she says, "deeper relaxed" not "deeper relax".  But in general some of the things said on there are not grammatically correct but are repetitions of key phrases that cue your hypnosis and need to be consistent throughout the program.

5.  I wouldn't worry about it.  There are so many stories of people who "slept" through the program.  Try it at a different time of day or fast forward through the induction in the beginning to make sure you hear each one consciously at least once.

It works!  Choose to use it, trust that it's working for you and it will.  It's totally worth it.

Oh and check out the Yahoo group:

groups.yahoo.com/group/Hypnobabies

:)

[slippy]

I got my CDs second hand- and have no book to go along with them. I've been listening to them every night, I'm sure not "doing it right", I've been listening to them for a several weeks, going through the first 3 cds. I find that i usually fall asleep, I usually wake up enough to turn the player off, but then konk back out. I know that when i do hear one that I've slept through previously, it is familiar to me. I think that when i get a bit farther along, I'll try listening to them in the day...

I agree with supermama bug- I see the "tests" as an opportunity to surrender to the hypnosis- to choose to not want to be able to open my eyes. I could do it- but i won't.

It's not uncommon in undisturbed labours for there  to be a break between active labour and pushing- it's not always stall, sometimes it's a rest 

and the "deeper relax" bothers me too. some times it is deeply relax and variations, and i get the reasons why. I just try to not be critical of some of the little things that bug me, because i tend to do that, and I'm trying to let it go.

[broodymama]

I used Hypnobabies with all of my births.  As for being able to move my hands or eyelids, I honestly didn't worry about it.  I never really tried to test it that much and figured if I moved my eyelids or moved my hands to scratch or something then that was fine, because the itch would be more distracting than the moving would be.

I experienced the fetal ejection reflex for my last 3 births and Hypnobabies did not interfere with that at ALL.  There was no slowing down, no "breathing down" the baby, once my body decided it was time then *poof* out went the babies.  With DS2, DH barely had time to make it down half a flight of stairs from crowning to out in the tub.  Up until that point I was just hanging out relaxing in the tub, had no idea I was even that close.

[lahancock27]

I definetly had the urge to push while using Hypnobabies.  In fact, the pushing script came on and I told my husband that I wasn't ready to push yet so please turn off the c.d. However within about two minutes of him turning it off, I had an undeniable urge to push and the baby was out within about two pushes.  Midwife didn't even make it in time, it all went so quickly. 

As for the tests, I would keep going through with the program. I knew that I could open my eyes if I wanted to, but I felt so nice and relaxed I just didn't want to. 

I slept through almost every script because I work full time and had a toddler at home.  The program worked great for me and I still felt everything.  The birth was quick and intense barely giving me anytime to really use my hypnosis techniques, but I know that they worked because I kept telling myself, "open, open, open" and my husband did the relax and peace cues with me and I was able to stay calm during the birth. 

[Sudonk]

Hey, Smokering!  Super Mamabug did a good job answering your questions, but I just wanted to "second" what she said. 

1.  The CDs are helping you to teach your subconscious mind what you want it to believe and experience with respect to birth. Everyone is capable of opening their eyes or moving their hand if they want to, but it is still beneficial to follow the suggestion that you can't.  It doesn't matter if you keep your eyes closed because they really feel so heavy you can't open them or if you simply choose to keep them closed.  Either way, you help your subconscious mind learn that you have chosen to accept the suggestions you're hearing on the CDs, and that is what you want!

2.  As long as you have heard a CD 3 or 4 times over about a week, you are ready to move on.  Each of the skills is reinforced in later scripts, so you don't have to feel like it is your only shot at "getting" that skill.  You will continue to improve your skills even if you don't "feel" like you've gotten really good at practicing one particular skill.

3.  Your SIL's experience is just a variation of birth, not anything to do with Hypnobabies.  I did go about 3 hours between full dilation and feeling the urge to push during one of my births.  But there were physical reasons that we understood later (baby high, some stool blocking his descent, nuchal hand, membranes of steel that didn't want to rupture, etc.)  With my second Hypnobabies birth, I felt my body bearing down before thing got anywhere near intense enough for me to wonder if I was near full dilation.  I had two waves where I felt my body moving the baby down, then experienced the urge to push for 30 seconds, and was holding my baby. 

4.  The scripts are written for your subconscious mind, and the point is hypnotic compounding of suggestions, not proper grammar.  Much of what is said and how it is said are specifically designed to be easily absorbed by the subconscious.  It's fine if your conscious mind is a little "bugged" by some of what she says and how she says it.  The words Relaxed and Deeper are used routinely throughout the scripts as cues. "More deeply" isn't a hypnotic cue, and would not strengthen the suggestions being given.  If it helps, you can think of them separately.  Imagine them with more of a pause or a period in between them.  Deeper.  Relaxed.  But it doesn't really matter, as long as you keep listening.  Your subconscious understands it, and is absorbing it perfectly.

5. It really doesn't matter if you're in a state of hypnotic amnesia or fast asleep.  Either way, your subconscious mind is alert and listening to the script.  You should listen to each one without going into hypnosis by fast-forwarding through the relaxation part and doing some kind of busy work while you listen to the rest.  That way you are familiar with what each script teaches you, and can sleep through it without guilt!

Also, I wanted to let you know that there are some FAQs at http://www.enjoybirth.com/faq-links.html you might find helpful.

[Smokering]

Thanks people!

You know what my current nemesis is? Flies. I know that you don't have to actually "feel" the anaesthesia during the scripts where it's mentioned, but it really breaks the illusion for me when I suddenly feel a fly crawling on my leg. :p And then I either reflexively jerk to get rid of it (thus breaking the "lightswitch off" rule), or try to "hypnotise" the sensation away... always without success. Sometimes I remember to flip my lightswitch back on (haven't learned centre-switch yet), brush away the fly and flip it off again, but even that breaks the flow of things to some degree. I hate summer. :p

Yes, I didn't think Hypnobabies was related to the delay in pushing: I just couldn't see how that would work. What annoys me is that SIL's midwife seems convinced of it (I ran into her the other day), and will now probably "warn" mothers against the program, simply because this was her first and only experience with it. Oh well...

[mkmoro311]

I played the CD's during my entire 12 hr labor and it was very helpfull to listen to the reassuring messages.  My husband was super sick and he just got done working a 12 shift when I started labor so he was usless to me for being my coach so if you have the CD's available during labor I highly reccommend it.  I had made my own peaceful mix tape to listen to but I never got around to putting it on, the Hypnobirthing CD's were all I needed.