Anyone using hypnobirth?

[VioletMommy]

I had read a little about hypnobirth before becoming pg, and it sounded great to me. So I was psyched to have been able to have several one-on-one sessions with a practitioner at no cost to me (it's covered through medi-cal). But my sessions didn't seem very similar to accounts I've read of other women who have done it. I know that hypnotherapy is similar to meditation, but that's all the sessions seemed to me. You know, "close your eyes, relax, release all the tension from your feet to your head..." It was pretty much just learning to breathe deeply and relax-like we're supposed to be doing anyway. I've done group meditations before, and it was all the same stuff. I expected to learn some sort of tool, like focusing on 'blowing up balloons,' which is one tactic I read that is used with hypnobirth. Does anyone know more about this stuff? Did I miss out on something, or am I just not getting it?

[ccohenou]

I've been doing the Hypnobabies home study course..a lot of it is "just relaxation," learning to relax immediately and enter self-hypnosis. Then the tapes also include a lot of suggestions that you're going to have a comfortable birth, that you feel calm and confident, that your body works perfectly, and that you will have comfort and anesthesia in your middle body - sort of reprogramming your mind to expect good things rather than bad. It also gives you some cues -words to say to yourself or for someone else to say to you - to help create anesthesia and increase your relaxation.

So yes I guess there are some tools involved, but just being able to relax is great too. I don't have a "success story" yet, but it has been really nice just to relax and listen to the tapes/practice self-hypnosis for 30 mins a day. I know there are different hypnobirthing programs so that's just the one I'm familiar with.

[mmgarda]

Took Hypnobirthing (R)

Hypnobirthing (R) is the the Marie Mongan method that is based on the "Childbirth Without Fear" study and publication from decades ago. (The book is now out of print.)

My DH and I took a 4-week class (since we offer it at the store I manage, I got to do it for free) and it definitely is all about deep relaxation. Basically, as it was explained to us, hypnosis is nothing more than a state of deep relaxation. Any other description of hypnosis is supposedly false. Some people are more suggestible than others in such a state, but it's still just a state of relaxation.

The book that comes with the course (titled: Hypnobirthing, the Marie Mongan Methond) is full of a variety of relaxation techniques from different breathing styles to visualizations to actual guided meditations for a partner to use on you.

DH and I haven't been practicing since the class ended. But I have listened to the CD a few times and that has helped. Basically, I think the best thing that it did for me was give me a few other tools and ways of thinking about my "surges" so that I don't feel so out of control with this labor. (My first was "precipitous" and I went from 3 - 10 cm in an hour. It was very intense.)

Guess I'll have to tell you what I think after the baby is born!

[orangebird]

I am doing the hypnobabies home study course. Yeah, you are right, it really seems to me just being able to get into a very deep state of relaxation. There are the affirmations, but I won't know how effective they will actually be until labor. And then there is the anesthesia that I am supposed to be training my body to send through my body, which is another thing I have no idea if it is really working, they are things I think you just have to have faith in. So I don't know what to tell you. I listen to my CDs every night, and it feels soooo good! I seriously love it. I can tell I am getting so much better at relaxing my body. I feel almost high when I do it.

I have no idea what it's going to be like for labor. I am expecting the best, I have heard great stories and I don't think it works so well when you don't believe in it so I am trying real hard to totally believe in it. It is easy to have faith in it since I already fully believe that stress is one of the things that makes labors hurt more than they should.

I have read the marie mongan hypnobirthing book and I have some other random hypnobirthing stuff passed on to me from another mama. They all seem sorta the same while at the same time each a little different.

I'll report back after the baby is born!

[VioletMommy]

Thanks for the responses-I guess there may not be certain 'tricks' to it or anything. I nearly fall asleep when listening to my tape. I'm hoping I can get that relaxed when I'm in labor, too. The lady who taught me said that this shouldn't be difficult, since while in labor you automatically go into a trance state. Perhaps it just seemed so easy that I thought I was missing out on something...

[mmgarda]

You've got it!

I can tell I am getting so much better at relaxing my body. I feel almost high when I do it.

Then that's it!! The natural anesthesia that they are talking about is your body's own endorphins. If you get a rush from going through the relaxation, then you are well on your way! Nice work!!