Calm Birth

[AndiE]

Hi there,

I did hypnobirthing (same thing as calmbirthing) with DS. There have been a few threads about hb, so maybe do a search on 'hypnobirthing' and you'll find lots of positive posts about it.

As mentioned, hb is essentially focused on self-relaxation techniques. You'll find hb uses a different language - surges, not contractions (for example) and the word pain is never used. Don't let any of this put you off - hb was great. And really, I can't fault the theory that women who fully expect to feel pain prepare themselves for pain, tense up and "fight" it ... and hence can experience more pain. The relaxation techniques I learned (mental AND physical) were worth their weight in gold. And as much as anything, hb was very empowering for myself and my DH. It taught us that we could be in control of our birthing, and that we didn't have to be pushed around by anyone in the medical profession. Our birth = our way. Don't get me wrong, we were also advised to be prepared for our birth plans to not happen as we hoped (ie/ in case of an actual emergency). I wouldn't say the courses were necessarily anti-drugs or anti-c-section - it was about empowering the parents to educate themselves on all options and to make informed choices - not be pushed/scared into anything. Of course, the idea of hb is to assist mum to have a natural, intervention and drug-free birth - but I think the learnings from the classes would assist in all types of deliveries.

There's a bit more to hb than just what I've mentioned - but I wanted to pass on the truly valueable lessons I learned - how to stay as relaxed as possible and not "fight" the birth; and being empowered to birth my way. For the record, I birthed my son in about six hours, drug free and intervention free. Yes, I was lucky it all went according to plan ... but by the same token I was 100pc mentally prepared to birth naturally. Dunno if that was the main factor behind my "easy" birth, but I'm sure it helped.

All the best, Andie