Hypnobabies and Unassisted Birth

[wombjuice]

Hi Ladies!  Can those of you who have experience with Hypnobabies talk to me about how it may or may not work for unassisted childbirth?  I am specifically thinking about the home study course.  The few mamas I know who have used Hypnobabies had great experiences, but they gave birth in the hospital or at a birth center.  I have heard that the home study course is a full childbirth education course, which is not really necessary for me because I already teach childbirth classes, but it may be useful for my husband.  Anyway, I can take what I want and leave the rest, but if the entire course is more geared toward hospital birth and everything that comes with it, I don't really want to waste the almost $200 and not get anything out of it, ya know?  I feel that self-hypnosis for labor and birth could be really good for me, but there's not a way to get just the hypnosis part of the course without the whole package... 

So basically, just wondering if any of you have experience with Hypnobabies and UC and what you can tell me about it.  Thanks so much, mamas!!

[Earthy Birthy]

BUMP 

I'm interested in hearing hypnobirthing UC stories too. 

[Right of Passage]

ME! Mostly. I did hypnobabies from about 28 weeks on. I loved it, it did a lots of fear clearing in a way I had no idea. I was planning a midwife assisted birth but we knew very much that her making it to the birth was unlikely. I wanted to UC anyway but needed the mental support of a midwife during pregnancy. My birth was amazing, and painless!

ETA: I didn't use hypnobabies during my birth. But I believe the hypnobabies changed how I coped with birth. I was definetly more focused, more relaxed, and had no fear. Even just prenatally it's worth every dime.

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1207626/unplanned-ubac-waterbirth-painless-pics 

I'm 11 weeks and change now. I've already started doing hypnobabies. I love the me time I get, I love the bonding time I get with the baby in my belly. Plus I drift off to sleep so easily.

Edited by Right of Passage - 7/21/11 at 11:05am

[Earthy Birthy]

Thanks for sharing your story. Did you attend a class or just use the cds?

[jancea]

AmAaaAaaZing! this is the kind of birth story i like to hear the most <3 thank you for sharing. i'm about 17 weeks along. i also read the hypnobirthing book and have been listening to rainbow relaxation and 1 positive affirmations track. i don't know if it's enough but i've been listening to it nightly and there are times when it relaxes me more than others. sometimes, i'll zonk out and fall right asleep until the tracks stop and sometimes, i'll zone out and my thoughts will go into different directions. there are some tracks on Amazon for about a buck or 2 each and i'm likely going to DL those as well to put on my ipod. i was a bit disappointed in the hypnobirthing book, however, i was hoping for more of an in depth how-to, especially on breathing. i simply can't afford classes.

what was your breathing like throughout the labor? or rather, what techniques did you use?

[Devaskyla]

I used Hypnobirthing with ds3. Kind of. lol

I was lucky enough to be able to borrow it from someone and I looked at the childbirth education part but honestly, for me it was pretty basic stuff. I'd been studying birth, including self-study to become a midwife, for over 7 years at that point. If you don't know anything or have only had a biased hospital class, it's probably really informative.

I did use the coping techniques early in labour and it did help some, but I had a fast, intense labour with ds3 and the whole finger drop thing just wasn't helping. I don't know, it might have been more useful if I could have actually listened to the First Stage part while I was in labour, but I barely even considered it since I spent a lot of time in water & part of the rest of the time setting up my birth pool and I had no idea how to manage it.

I keep meaning to get the tracks on my ipod & start doing it again this time around. Maybe with more time, it being the second time etc it will work better this time. I'm also surprisingly difficult to hypnotize, despite  supposedly being a great candidate, so that might have contributed.

[Right of Passage]

I used the self study cds. I really LOVE hypnobabies and I'm excited to use it again.

[Right of Passage]

I want to tocuh on the childbirth education bit. I read over each "class" and took what I could, like bubble of peach, the light switch technique and left the rest. It was also very basic for me, fantastic course for a mama birthing in the hospital or who is otherwise not as knowledgable about childbirth. The partner script didn't get used much, but DH was very calm and quite (which I needed!).

[amandasemele]

I am not sure if I should post this but my hubby downloaded the tracks off of all the cds from the internet somewhere, Totally free. I am 24 weeks started about 3 weeks ago. Really like them so far!

[kittywitty]

I used hypnobabies with my UC. It was priceless. If you want to try one out, you can get on their website and download a free track of some sort, and purchase affirmations, etc.

[wombjuice]

I just wanted to update this thread and say that I recently started the Hypnobabies Home Study Course (note: this is an entirely different program than Hypnobirthing), and so far, I absolutely love it!  I will keep this thread updated as I continue, and will update after the birth, as well.

[HappyMonkey]

I used it too. It's definitely NOT hospital birth focused and is all about how you deal with the birth process.. and lots of keeping positive and happy while pregnant too. The book is full of all kinds of studies and information to support a focus on natural birth too. I love it! I can honestly say it was FABULOUS my first birth. I forgot about it until part way through, and when I started really focusing on it things really changed for the better.