Hypnobabies

[Marinwoo]

I am wondering if any of you 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th :)) time mom's have used hypnobabies self study and felt like it was enough on it's own or if it would be best to do hypnobabies and also take a class (hypno-birthing, bradley, etc). 

I was thinking about getting the hypnobabies self study kit and then sign up for birth classes at my birth center (partially just to meet other momma's :)

Any thoughts?

[Devaskyla]

I did hypnobabies with my last pregnancy but I didn't really do the childbirth class part. Even with ds1 (when I took a live childbirth class), I already knew more than the teacher did in some areas, so I really didn't see the point. I skimmed through some of it and it seemed incredibly basic to me. It would probably be a good introduction if you don't already know a lot of childbirth, though.

I think taking another class would be a good idea, just make sure it's not the standard 'how to be a good patient' hospital classes. :)

[AfricanQueen99]

I didn't do the hypnobabies, but I had the old man sit through a Birthing From Within knock-off with me for two months (before my first child).  Like Devaskyla, I knew enough about birthing and going natural to not need it, but it was *awesome* to have my partner learn my expectations and know how to be helpful during labor and delivery.  Honestly, a self-study wouldn't have worked for us as I needed HIM to know this stuff, if that makes sense.

Edited by AfricanQueen99 - 6/28/11 at 8:50am

[Marinwoo]

Thanks for the info!

@African Queen- I absolutely know what you mean about needing your partner to know the birthing stuff.  That's actually why I was considering the self study because I know I'll be going to classes by myself sometimes due to his schedule.   I'm pretty sure there is a self study guide for him though (at least that was my first impression).

[Devaskyla]

Yeah, they do want your partner to participate in the self study as well if I remember correctly. I actually borrowed it from someone, so I don't have it anymore to check for you.

The Birth Partner is a great book for spouses/partners too.

[EngineeringMama]

I've had 2 births, both with HypnoBabies homestudy.

It is enough, and I recommend highly against other classes, particularly Bradley.

The program is designed to be a stand alone program, even the homestudy.  In fact the program recommends strongly that you don't attend other birth classes. The idea is that HB is a full program, you learn the basics of pregnancy, nutrition, signs of labor, stages of labor, typical interventions, post partum issues etc.  It is, in my opinion a full course. They recommend staying away from other birthing classes, particularly the hospital based classes because HB uses a specific vocabulary and imagery meant to teach you to have a calm and relaxed (but aware and educated) birth, and having been through my hospital class and been through the Bradley book, and a great number of other natural child birth sources, I agree the constant discussion in Bradley in particular that pain is necessary and important part of birth is completely contradictory to the HB methodology.   If you are planning on birthing in a hospital or birth center, I recommend going for a tour, it was very helpful to be able to visualize the place and helped during my birthing time to know where I was going and have some knowledge of the place.

Your partners participation is actually very easy, very little for partner to do, they need to use the vocab and learn two specific cues, nothing intense, nothing like specific pressure techniques. There is a cheat sheet in the book that I had DH read and I talked with him a couple of times about what I would need from him.

All of that said, if you can honestly believe and give your mind and heart over to the use of hypnosis and HB, it's quite easy to filter out the scary, negative crap from other classes. But you have to actively be able to push aside that crap, forget that crap and believe that HB will work for you. yeah I know that some women experience pain during childbirth, but honestly believe that I don't. I didn't feel pain, didn't scream and yell at DH.HB works, it isn't that hard, really doesn't take a lot of effort and really really doesn't require a lot from your partner.

[thinkpositive]

Hi Engineering Mama,  I've never posted on this site before. I wish I had used it when I had my first 2 kiddos. 

Can you please share where you got the HypnoBabies home study.  It sounds great!  Thank you!

[bentlaj11]

Originally Posted by thinkpositive 

Hi Engineering Mama,  I've never posted on this site before. I wish I had used it when I had my first 2 kiddos. 

Can you please share where you got the HypnoBabies home study.  It sounds great!  Thank you!

I've been looking into it.. I really want to do it, and they don't have a class in my state. They sell it on their website and on amazon, but the cheapest is actually on their facebook page. I've never bought anything of off FB, so I dont' know how that works (maybe paypal?). I thought I saw it listed used on craigslist, but when I went back the listing was gone :(
 

[AfricanQueen99]

I've seen a lot of the kits for sale used on diaperswappers.  That might be an avenue for a reduced fee one.

[mtchen79]

I am currently pregnant with #3. I didn't do any kind of research for natural childbirth with #1 (didn't know my options, had the standard hospital birth) but did opt to go for a natural childbirth with #2. Besides reading a lot of books for self-education, I did do the self-study course for Hypnobabies because I felt that was one tool or technique I could apply during the actual childbirth. There weren't any classes offered in my area at the time (although there is now) and like a previous poster said, it is its own stand alone course and you should not do any other type of class along with it. I had a doula who I gave the partner self-study guide to but don't think she really looked at it much and neither did DH. Basically, I could still do it without them and I did have a successful birth but it was intense (not painless like some HB moms testify too) yet totally bearable and not intolerable and I am looking forward to doing it again. The CDs are actually quite relaxing so if anything, besides getting you into a meditative like state, it allows you to hopefully get some good quality rest afterwards if you are listening to them at night (with my insomnia, that was kind of a bonus). I was about as relaxed as I could be during birth or at least up until the very last part. I got my course from Diaperswappers, but there is a Yahoo! group too that I think people will sell their courses on there too.

[Psmythe]

Originally Posted by EngineeringMama 

All of that said, if you can honestly believe and give your mind and heart over to the use of hypnosis and HB, it's quite easy to filter out the scary, negative crap from other classes. But you have to actively be able to push aside that crap, forget that crap and believe that HB will work for you. yeah I know that some women experience pain during childbirth, but honestly believe that I don't. I didn't feel pain, didn't scream and yell at DH.HB works, it isn't that hard, really doesn't take a lot of effort and really really doesn't require a lot from your partner.

This was our experience too, though I would add that the effort from my partner was fantastic, not so much during the actual birth but in the weeks leading up to it.  We saw a local hypnotherapist who gave us some pointers and encouragement.  She sent us home with a few exercises to listen to, and let us know what a normal class is like.  We were already doing a lot of the things she recommended, one of the best things was ignoring the 'helpful' horror stories that family, co-workers, friends and random internet people try to share with you.  You can be realistic and informed without reading about every possible complication or birth defect, and if you do happen to expose yourself to too many negative stories it is important to actively exorcise them from your thoughts.

We weren't expecting a pain free birth, we just thought it would be helpful to be able to relax fully and get some rest in between contractions.  Pain free is what we got, and even though we had complications that lead to a prolonged active labor with a vacuum assist we were calm and reasoned enough to avoid the dreaded (and ultimately unnecessary) c-section that was offered.  I can imagine being frightened into agreeing to almost anything based on the sounds coming from the rooms next to ours, and was surprised to learn that we were the only natural birth of all 14 babies on the floor that night.  (Hard work? Yes!  I felt like I'd been engaging in some sort of endurance athletics competition.  Painful?  Not at all.)