We're going to be taking Birthing from Within, starting in early November. It's a little earlier than I'd like, but the mentor is having a baby herself in January, so this is her last session before my little babe will be born. I'm looking forward to it, though, because from what I understand, it's really helpful in working through past birth trauma.
I didn't take any classes during my pregnancy with DD, but we did read Bradley books, which were really informative. I also did the Hybnobabies homestudy course, which I loved and will be doing again this time.
How bout y'all? What course will you be taking and what do you hope to get out of it?
ill be having a natural birth in a birth center (i hope!). would hypno babies be something that would help with this? lol. i dont have a lot of extra time right now, and something that i could do from home would be awesome. i have heard good things about hypno babies in the past as well. are there any other home courses out there that i should know about ? my last birth was medicated (although they didnt "get around" to giving me my epidural until i was alread 10 cm @@)- anyway i feel like i should have some tool to help me through it! i went through a good deal of the labor by myself and did fine though, so im not too stressed over it.
Originally Posted by inky leeuhhh
ill be having a natural birth in a birth center (i hope!). would hypno babies be something that would help with this? lol. i dont have a lot of extra time right now, and something that i could do from home would be awesome..
I think it would definitely help, but you have to have the time to commit to it. You don't start listening to the CDs until around week 32, but then you really do need to listen every day for 30 minutes a day. But for me, it really did make a big difference and I think this time around, it will help even more. Here's their website.
As prenatal class drop-outs last time, we won't be taking classes this time.
We might spend the $ that prenatal classes would cost on a romantic getaway together to connect and prepare. I think the most valuable part of our preparation wasn't the book knowledge, but in our ability to trust each other- him trusting my ability to give birth; me trusting both his faith in me and his ability to read and respond to my cues and coping and support me in helpful ways in labour and birth. The best "birth prep" that we have done is our years spent together and learning how each other respond to stress/pain, etc. We spent time talking about our experiences together over the years and one that resonated for both of us was a very cold and scary night that we spent lost in the woods together. We were able to draw on our coping and co-operation then to imagine how we might respond in labour.
This is a long and rambling post because I start thinking about birth prep in my first trimester, but I know from experience that it takes my husband a while to start thinking about the birth. That's why I stressed about it and signed us up for prenatal classes last time, but by the time we got there we were in a different place and the classes weren't what we needed.
There a sibling class offered by some local doulas that do some art with the kids and general birth/baby prep, so we might to do that for my daughter. We'll see...
I'll do hypnobabies home course again.
Last year I started after I got it at christmas. This time I have a toddler so will be starting sooner so i can spend even more time concentrating, and because i know i'll not be able to spend time doing it each night like i could before having a 2 1/2 year old
I'll be doing a "Centering Pregnancy" course at my midwifery/birth center. The offer it as a group check-up/class combined....I'm not sure what approach they use. I might look into something else, as well. My cousin who is a midwife said that one of the most helpful things for women in labor is having done yoga while pregnant. I definitely want to do that. I've been doing it from home, and the stretching/breathing exercises are already helping.
Nothing, I've never taken any classes with any child. When I was pg with DD1, I studied a combo of Birthing From Within and Bradley myself. I really liked the Birthing From Within, but when labor hit I did my own thing, and it worked really well for me. It turns out that I like to be alone, Dh annoys me while in labor or really anyone for that matter. I just relax, deep breathe, and I LOVE the water.
With my last pregnancy I read the book Supernatural Childbirth and meditated on the Word of God. I also found my mom's childbirth lamaze handbook and read through that. I figured they probably knew more about handling birth 30 years ago than they know now. It helprf me think about relaxation a bit more, but mostly I relied on God, and my husband. We had an amazing birth! I'm doing the same thing this time around.
We took bradley classes last time...I still have the binder and book. I'll review that, otherwise I'm confident in the knowledge I still have and the knowledge of our Doula. I'm excited this time to have a more vocal Christian doula who is willing to speak scripture and prayer to me through it all.
We will take DD to the child class...she will have fun with it!
We took a birthing from within class when I was pg with dd. I won't say that I love it because it forced me to work through some things I didn't want to but I really liked the results of that. Overall
We won't be doing any classes this time. This is my 3rd pg in 4 years and my 4th total and if I haven't figured it out by now..............
I took a great birthing class last time (not one specific "method" but with a teacher highly recommended by my midwife and focused on natural childbirth) that I loved, but I'm not planning to take one this time. I'll be having this baby less than 2 years after my last one, and feel like I know what to expect this time. Plus, my teacher from that last class is now my home birth midwife - I feel like I can ask her anything I still have questions about
.
One thing I'm curious about related to birthing classes - how did those of you who took Bradley like it? It seems like people either love them or are pretty down on them. I assumed last time that's what we'd take, and almost all the classes I researched were Bradley, but then my midwife really steered me away from it, saying she liked it in theory, but in her experience her clients who did Bradley seemed far more likely to end up needing interventions - she wasn't sure exactly why, but she felt like maybe there was too much of a focus on a specific way of doing things, and some women started to feel pressure and a sense of "failure" when things weren't going exactly the way they planned. She felt it depended somewhat on the instructor, but in general had seen women have better success with natural birthing classes that didn't teach one "method."
OTOH, I've heard some women swear by them and absolutely love them. I don't think we'll do another childbirth course this time regardless, but I'm just curious what your experiences have been, since so many people on MDC seem to go with Bradley.
Still contemplating on taking a class. Last time I did Hypnobirthing and while I learned some good techniques it did not prepare me all that well. I am reading Birthing From Within and I may try to find a class or at least a professional who can help me through some issues from my first birth. I will probably also read the Bradley book.
By the way, I'm technically not in your DDC but I am due May 1, so I could go early...
I'm glad to hear so many of you are using hypnobabies again. I just ordered my home study kit and I'm looking forward to it. At what point in your pregnancy did you begin?
Originally Posted by jkg
I'm glad to hear so many of you are using hypnobabies again. I just ordered my home study kit and I'm looking forward to it. At what point in your pregnancy did you begin?
I think I started around 30 weeks, which was definitely plenty of time. But if you have it sooner than that, I would recommend listening to the positive affirmations as soon as you get it. I'm excited to get mine back and start retraining myself.
i used hypnobirthing-the mongan method and had the best birth ever! i didnt even feel my surges (contractions) from 6-10 cm and then i was ready to breathe down the baby. i didnt do any pushing and no tears! it was awesome, i def would recommend it to everyone. i practiced a lot, 30 mins every night since 4 months pregnant and went to yoga 3 days a week. awesome! def worth the investment-usually around $300.
We took natural childbirth classes and I'm so glad we did. It really set us up to be prepared and know what to expect and trust in me, and we had a wonderful non dramatic birth at home in water...I always recommend my classes to future parents
I read Spiritual Midwifery and Birthing From Within.
No classes this time around unless its about sibling preparedness or something.
I'm going to re-read Birthing From Within though.
I haven't decided yet. I am thinking about taking a Hypnobabies class. I have the homestudy course from my last pregnancy, but I would like to be more successful. I did have a natural, drug-free (well, I had a touch of pit to get me from 9.5cm to 10) birth, but I think I could have been a lot more relaxed about it.
Originally Posted by JamieM
i used hypnobirthing-the mongan method and had the best birth ever! i didnt even feel my surges (contractions) from 6-10 cm and then i was ready to breathe down the baby. i didnt do any pushing and no tears! it was awesome, i def would recommend it to everyone. i practiced a lot, 30 mins every night since 4 months pregnant and went to yoga 3 days a week. awesome! def worth the investment-usually around $300.
This is what I did also and I felt surprised and unprepared for how painful my birth was. I practiced a lot and pre birth I felt 'ready' . I feel like this method completely skipped over the fact that no matter what some women will have a painful birth and difficult birth. Because I was unprepared for the pain I didn't leave my mind open to different possibilities of how the birth would go. I'm glad to hear that it worked for someone! I don't deny that the techniques are good, I use them frequently!
Originally Posted by Nolansmum
This is what I did also and I felt surprised and unprepared for how painful my birth was. I practiced a lot and pre birth I felt 'ready' . I feel like this method completely skipped over the fact that no matter what some women will have a painful birth and difficult birth. Because I was unprepared for the pain I didn't leave my mind open to different possibilities of how the birth would go. I'm glad to hear that it worked for someone! I don't deny that the techniques are good, I use them frequently!
I worked as a L&D nurse for almost seven years, and had really mixed experiences with hypnobabies/hynobirthing (I lump the methods together because I usually didn't specifically know which method a woman was using). I've seen a couple of AWESOME births with hypnosis, and a few where the woman was really freaked out by the amount of pain that she felt. I think that hypnobirthing might best be "backed-up" by other prep- like birthing from within or Bradley so that you have other strategies for dealing with any pain that might arise. I've been at a couple of births where pushing was very challenging- where the woman was very relaxed through all of the contractions and where making the shift to more active "doing" was difficult or even just different positions was challenging for the woman.
I also met one woman who used hypnobirthing because she was terrified of labour pain. In this case I certainly wouldn't fault the method, but she had convinced herself that she had found an easy way out, and all of her fear came to the surface in labour when she *could* feel something.
We are signed up to take a natural childbirth class from Penny Simkin (who has written several books on childbrith) and who offers 2 different series of classes-- 1 for those who are planning to birth at a hospital and 1 for those planning to birth at home or in a free-standing birthcenter. Otherwise, I plan to do hypnobabies (home study course) and maybe even will take a birthing class based on Birthing from Within. Maybe it's overkill, but I figure the more tools I have to help me cope during labor and delivery, the better. I figure the second time around I'll have a better idea of what works for me and what doesn't.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mothering Forum
16.5M posts
285.1K members
Since 1996
A forum community dedicated to all mothers and inclusive family living enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about nurturing, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!