I have taken both and by a mile (a million miles) the HypnoBirthing course was
MUCH better for teaching me how to relax effectively. I was so relaxed, my 18-20 hour labor was painFREE.
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Originally Posted by ksjhwkr
What I like so far about hypnobirthing is that it actually TEACHES you how to relax. Bradley told me to relax, but I never really knew how.
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That's exactly how I felt. A lot of Bradley moms end up going for HypnoBirthing the next time. I was lucky to do both the first time.
I took
Marie Mongan's HypnoBirthing class with an excellent local practioner. She teaches the course to others in the So.Cal/Nevada area to people who want to become practioners.
You can read my long birth story in this thread:
Tell Me More About HypnoBirthingMy experience with HypnoBirthing
I did feel pain for the first “surges” when I was home, as I scrunched my eyeballs, went into the fetal position and tensed my entire body. My stomach began to hurt h-o-r-r-i-b-l-y. In my head I screamed "NO!!! WHAT DID TERESA SAY TO DO!!!! RELAX E-V-E-R-Y MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY AND BREATHE. GO LIMP LIKE A RAG DOLL!!!!! (as I learned to do by listening to the Rainbow Relaxation tape every day for a month prior to my due date) I did and just kept breathing as deeply as I could to provide oxygen for my uterus. It worked. The pain stopped. I was happy to feel what most women feel during labor, but I was thrilled not to have to feel it again.
Any time I felt a surge, I stopped what I was doing, leaned over, relaxed and breathed deeply. I never asked for or needed an epidural. At times, I also felt endorphins which the book claims is the bodies “natural anesthesia.” My son’s labor (our first baby) was a wonderful, transformative, spiritual experience and I cannot wait to go through labor and give birth again.
My labor was comfortable and wonderful! (If I relied on Bradley alone, I doubt I’d be able to say that. Only 1 mom in our class of 8/10 succeeded in going epidural free – but she was in a lot of pain. Everybody else opted for the pain meds at the hospital.) I always felt in control and I got up to pee frequently. I never needed my husband or any one else “coaching” me or supporting me through surges (HypnoBirthing word for contractions.) Many other women taught by my instructor either had pain-free labors or very comfortable labors (with some tension) that they could handle well on their own.
While my hospital labor was GREAT, the pushing part was not.
I ended up on Pitocin and the thread of a Csec hanging over my head. Read my birth story for the rest of the story.
BRADLEY
Bradley also is based on the theory (which is very true) that tension in the muscles is the CAUSE of pain… therefore, if you learn how to relax (the key is daily practice so you get used to the feeling of relaxation and bring it on when you need it) your uterine muscles are not fighting each other.
Problem with Bradley, IMO, is that it does a very poor job (typically) of teaching a woman how to relax. So many Bradley moms are having painful contractions, but get through it thanks to good labor support (spouse, doula, etc…) but others can’t deal. Therefore, a lot of Bradley moms (at least the ones who took the class from my awesome instructor) end up getting (asking for) the Epidural, which can lead to more meds or interventions.
LABOR PAIN
Tension + Fear = Pain. The degree to which a woman can relax during her contractions, means that she will feel less and less of the painful contraction. Many women loved their
water birth and claim it helped them to cope with the pain. Some women say it helped a lot (eliminate it almost entirely) some women it helped a little. What is the secret of water? Nothing by itself, other than women will intuitively RELEASE THE TENSION IN THEIR BODY and start relaxing as soon as they get in. Get it? So the degree to which a mom can relax, will determine the degree to which she will not feel the painful contractions.
Bradley class has 12 sessions, but only the last 10-15 minutes of the class was a relaxation exercise. I found them to be irritating (I could never relax deeply with 9 other couples in the room) and hardly relaxation inducing.
http://www.bradleybirth.com/
Even my Bradley instructor admitted that there wasn’t enough time at the end of each class to focus on relaxation.
Worse of all, the relaxation sessions were very superficial and you were expected to go home to practice. I didn’t even bother practicing the relaxation exercises at home, because I felt so lost. The instructions were not detailed enough.
(Contrast that to HypnoBirthing – where the instruction ARE detailed.)
Bradley focuses on encouraging the husband to be the coach… to support the woman during labor. Well, he did not want the job and as I said, the exercises were not well explained or thorough enough. My husband joked that he was a “Bradley-failure.”
Each Bradley classes deals with one aspect of labor/delivery (nutrition, importance of changing position/movement during labor, labor stages, getting Breastfeeding off to a right start, another on what a C-section is like, positions to help (baby descend) during labor, rold of labor couch (husband) etc…)
I really enjoyed my Bradley course and I recommend it to everyone. It’s very comprehensive and a great introduction to the concept of “natural childbirth.”
However, while all of the information is important and helpful, the mother will probably experience pain if she is tensing her muscles. And… the majority of women (as least here in the US) do tense up during labor. Then they feel pain. So as they feel another surge, they tense up again… and it snowballs, getting worse and worse.
Many Bradley couples and say the same thing – they were under the impression that the Bradley techniques for moving labor along helps labor more comfortable. (Bradley encourages frequent position changes during labor: walking, squatting, leaning over on partner’s shoulders to hang and breathe, etc…) It does not.
Why? Because these women were still tensing up because they never learned how to relax deeply enough.
But... all that encouraged movement IS good for labor, mother and baby... if mom isn't tensing up from the pain.
Here is the Bradley class outline:
http://www.bradleybirth.com/cc.htm
Since my husband did not feel comfortable being the coach, I knew I needed a
Doula so I hired one to help me deal with the pain. (I ended up firing my Doula – long story.)
Now, contrast Bradley to the HypnoBirthing course (4 sessions, 2-2.5 hours each, limited to a class of 4-5 couples) which is
PRIMARILY a relaxation course which teaches you many ways to relax so you are ready to “let go” and give birth.
HypnoBirthing focuses on teaching the mother
1.to believe in her bodies ability to give birth naturally,
2.to practice specific daily relaxation exercises either alone or with her partner
3.to acknowledge and release all fears regarding giving birth.
4.if the body is in a state of deep relaxation, then there will not be pain (unless there really is a reason for pain, like placenta previa or back labor, etc…) because normal uterine contractions (like the normal muscle contractions you do every day) should not hurt. Tension in the muscles (tensing your face, shoulders, eyeballs, wincing, going into the fetal position, grabbing onto things or people, etc…) is what causes pain in a normal (problem-free) labor.
Here is the HypnoBirthing class outline:
http://www.hypnobirthing.com/classes1.htm
With HypnoBirthing, the husband’s job (or any supportive person) is to provide relaxation prompts to the laboring women (in case she tenses up and panics. I did that in the beginning, but I calmed down on my own.) The videos of moms using HypnoBirthing all have moms relaxed in bed, chatting between surges. Dad is just talking softly. If the mother has practiced, then she’s fine.
(After I was done taking my HypnoBirthing course, I KNEW I could do this on my own, without anyone being my coach or labor support person. I fired my Doula.)
During labor, anytime I had a surge (contraction) I just stopped what I was doing (if I was walking to the bathroom) leaned on something, relaxed deeply and breathed and let it pass. It did not hurt. Then I resumed what I was doing.
Even the HypnoBirthing website says that the course is not meant to replace a childbirth class (like the Bradley class.) So take them both if you can (you can actually do the Bradley course on your own – by reading LOTS of books - don’t have any links though) and I guarantee your labor/delivery will be much easier than the moms who took Bradley alone.
A great birth story of a woman who took the at-home-study course (how I first heard of this 4.5 years ago):
http://www.thelaboroflove.com/birthstories/47.htmlI love this story of a mom who ended up with a Csection and how she used the relaxation techniques to deal with postpartum pain:http://www.belliestobabies.com/hypnobirthing.htm
Having to choose between the 2? That’s pretty impossible for even me to do. I can’t. They are both good, but very different.
If at all possible, take both classes!
Now I understand why some HypnoBirthing practioners include more class sessions for their students (the HypnoBirthing institute hates that). It seems moms can’t afford to pay for another childbirth class.
“I doubt my ability to hypnotize myself. With hypnobirth do you hypnotize yourself or is their a professional with you that helps?”
It’s basically a self-relaxtion course. In the class, the practioner does some self-hypnosis exercises with the couples… and it really is easy to relax with someone leading you through it. Don’t worry about it at all. Then you get home and practice daily with the 2 tapes. That’s how you learn to deeply relax – practice. In time (very short time) you won’t need anybody leading you through it, you can do it on your own.
This being my first labor and not knowing what to expect, I hired Teresa to be present at my labor “just in case” I ran into trouble (additional fee). Well, she started to talk to me, but I was doing very well on my own… and I found her talking to me annoying and distracting.
You can try the HypnoBirthing study-at-home approach, but you need to realized that THAT the course was not meant to be a study-on-your-own. You get the most out of it from a class. The
Hypnobabies website sells additional course materials, which should help the study-at-home mom. Or just buy their stuff.
MY MISTAKE:
In the HypnoBirthing class, the laboring moms were in bed most of the time, having painless contractions. I thought “great! I can stay in bed and not have to do all that Bradley-encouraged walking, squatting, moving.”
WRONG. My labor (actually reaching 10 cm) was 18 hours long. (Many of the first-time HypnoBirthing mothers of my practioner had first time 6 hour labors.) The Bradley-encouraged walking, squatting, being upright and active… would have helped me along. Next time I’ll be more active during labor.
PRICE
In 2000, I paid $150 for my Bradley class and $250 for my HypnoBirthing course. I think my practioner charges $350 now. Some HB practioners (sadly) charge $500.
If you can, you should still sign up. It is so worth it. (Women in the Los Angeles area pay $500-$1,500 for a labor Doula.... the HypnoBirthing class is still better IMO!) Taking the course is the best way… because you hear TRUE stories of other women who succeeded and see their videos (and that really helps boost your confidence.)
