Hypnobirthing Experiences?

[Elmo]

I'm planning on taking a hypnobirthing class in Feb. I've been reading the materials and have to admit that I'm a bit skeptical at this point about whether I can hope for a fairly pain-free labor/delivery using the hypnobirthing methods.

With my first child, I was very cocky about what labor would be like and knew I wanted a drug-free labor. I was VERY caught off-guard by how painful the process ended up being. After reading the hypnobirthing materials, it mentions those who are not (or were not) exposed to pre-conceived notions about labor being painful, and the expectation to take pain medications, experienced a very pain-free and peaceful birth. I guess given that I went into my first labor not expecting pain and feeling that I was more than capable to handle the process, why I didn't have a "pain free" experience? Do my thoughts make sense? The hypnobirthing materials basically says that the pain many women experience in labor is due to their expecting pain. I certainly didn't expect my first labor to be painful, and at the time I felt there was no way I'd have another child. Needless to say, there's no looking back now. LOL!

The hypnobirthing materials also mentions releasing any fears you might have about labor so that the techniques are most effective. Since I had such a painful first experience with labor, especially since I went into it without ANY fears, how can I now release these fears and expect hypnobirthing to be effective?

I guess I'm curious to know if there are any out there who might have a similar experience with their first labor and then tried hypnobirthing? Was their a big difference?

I'm not sure if I'm making sense, but just looking for some re-assurance that I'm going down the right track in achieving a 2nd natural delivery, and hopefully less painful.

:)

TIA!
Kellie

[catkrazy99]

My guess is that it could have been your subconcious. I didn't feel like I had any fears about birth, but then when we did the exercise that helps you "face your fears" I realized that I did have a major fear and I think had I not faced it during this exercise, that my birth experience may not have been so great.

[hedra]

Did your mother have a pain-free labor experience? How about your friends? Do you know people who told you their labors were horrible and they were glad to have drugs?

Those are the expectations that set you up for pain when you encounter an unexpected sensation. Your reaction if you aren't expecting it and you are not completely (even subconsciously) expecting a pain-free experience is to tense up. And as soon as you do, then you get pain. HB maintains your relaxation regardless, and does more than that in helping you manage your endorphins. That you say you were 'cocky' says a lot - it suggests that you thought you could do it in spite of the general expectations. As deep as your conscious expectations were, just your choice of the word cocky implies that there were underlying expectations that somehow you would be different than usual, not that everyone else was unusual in having painful experiences. Which means you did have underlying expectations of what 'most' labors are like, and when you encountered the intensity of the experience, you were launched right back into the underlying expectations. Though more to the point, I suspect your cockiness meant you felt you didn't need special practice or preparation to have that natural pain-free birth. If you were in a world where pain was usually managed by learning to relax through it because there are no pain meds, and where your ability to still yourself in order to hide from predators is essential, you'd have those skills already. But that's not the world we live in anymore. You didn't have the tools necessary at hand, the right support, some effective coping methods, etc. With those, HB or no, labor tends to be much more managable. And with HB, it tends to be a lot more pleasant (and shorter, too).

I was lucky - my mom had 7 kids, and always described labor (all but the first were natural) in joyful terms. No drama, no pain. I expected the same from early childhood - heck, from when my mom had my little brother at home! I had really powerful expectations that labor would be intense, joyful, passionate, powerful, potent... and I had an inkling that it would require me to practice and prepare beforehand for it to be that way.

My first labor was indeed not painful - as long as I stayed entirely and completely relaxed (I used Bradley). That was the trick, though. My mom had practiced relaxation techniques for her labors. I practiced them for mine. PRACTICE is the critical factor. Even with HB, you have to practice. I got the benefit of that practice. If I even tensed the back of my hands, though, OUCH! intensely painful. I also dropped into the same state used in HB on my own, but didn't know how to control it or modify it at need... I prefer HB because they teach you how to modify it, adjust it, deepen or lighten, etc. Gives you more options, and more control.

I had a long labor that time, though, and I wanted better the next time (I did end up with an epidural, but that was after 66 hours of full labor with no meds, and an intense need to sleep). So I opted for HB because of that. The other women in my class chose HB because they feared pain and also feared meds. Some had never had kids before, others had experienced incredibly awful labors.

The woman who had the worst previous experience almost didn't make it to the Birth Center because she knew she couldn't possibly be in real labor. She felt no pain at all, not even crampiness. She gave birth 10 minutes after she arrived, and reported no pain at all, not even at crowning. Another woman I know online ended up staying home and winging it off-script (but using the skills she learned in HB), and had to be transported to the hospital because she started pushing and couldn't get to the car on her own. (she delivered an hour after she started pushing, though - it was her first baby)

And me? I ended up with a pitocin-augmented labor because my water had broken and the nit of a backup OB was being impossible - I forgot that I could refuse, to boot. UGH. Anyway, even with pitocin, I had no pain until crowning. There was a really intense section where it was a lot of mental effort to stay in hypnosis and work with it, but it turns out that I was dilating from 4.5 to 10 in about 40 minutes, and transitioning a kid with a 15.5 inch head, so DUH, that would be intense, regardless. But it didn't hurt, it was just a large amount of mental effort. Birth with HB isn't 'easy' - it takes as much mental effort as without HB - but it sure is nicer! You feel more calm, more able to manage, less freaked out (not being in agony does that, LOL!) I'd take it any day. And I do know that the HB did make the difference with that labor (it isn't 'just a high pain tolerance' or something) because I had set a cue to take me out of hypnosis (touching my knee), and people kept accidentally putting a hand on my knee! OUCH barely begins to describe it.

If I can do a pitocin-augmented labor with no meds, with the loudest noise I made being an "Ohhhh" sound when I first got the urge to push (which was powerful and really cool), where I asked for an epidural during transition because 'I don't think I'm relaxing my back enough' ( :rolleyes: - um, aren't meds used for PAIN, dear, not relaxation? thankfully once I knew I was in transition, I was happy to skip the epi), where the nurses told DH that they felt useless because I didn't need them to 'help' me, all without pain (except briefly during crowning - and I didn't tear, either, BTW), so can you.

RE: the fears thing, they do a fear-release in the class, so you don't have to do that part on your own. It works. Even with my previous experience, and my upbringing, I had picked up some negatives about what my next experience would be like from others that I had new fears about the whole thing. Sigh.

[rkdaug]

I used Hypnobirthing with my first child and I am going to do it again. The fear release works. I was not afraid of the labor, just what other people were thinking of me going natural. Did your friends/family give you a hard time for trying natural?

This time I am going to a birth center that has a hospital 2 minutes away in case of emergency, not that I expect to need it. My daughter was born in a hospital and just that atmosphere combined with the anti-natural mentality of the nurses and doctors invokes fear without you realizing it. For example, my doctor's first words to me were "are you ready for the epidural?" This was said without reading my birth plan, which explicitly stated that absolutely no words about pain and/or epidurals. Then I had a nurse who treated me like I had an epidural, even though I had no drugs - she would not let me leave the bed. Hospital staff treat birth like a medical event and make you stay in bed as if you are an invalid. Birth goes more quickly and painlessly if you are allowed assume many positions.

I agree with Hedra that the transition is the most intense, but very doable with HB. My mom was such a skeptic, but I made her a believer after she saw me after Megan was born. I was elated and happy and Megan was very alert. My sister who had drugs for all her births, seemed distant and did not have any desire to hold any of her babies right away. Even the babies, seem drugged. My mom is so excited to be part of this upcoming birth (I would not let any relative in until after Megan was born - I did not want any negative or skeptic people - the hospital staff was enough). BTW, I was the talk of the hospital after Megan was born - I was the first HB birth at that hospital - something I don't recommend unless you are really prepared.

Other things to think about with a hospital birth are catheters or IVs There is no reason to get them, if you have not had pain meds. Even if you are beta strep, the nurse should heparin lock the IV after the antibiotics have been administered (1 hour max for the antibiotics to go through the IV). Hospitals love to make you stay in bed and will do anything to keep you there - less liability for them.

If you are planning a hospital birth with HB, I would strongly recommend using a doula and/or midwife. She will be your advocate if the hospital staff intervenes against your wishes. Your job is to give birth, not be your own advocate (even the best DHs have a hard time advocating for you - they will never understand what you go through or feel). If your have expressed your wishes to a doula, then you can concentrate on a great fearfree and painfree birth.

Congrats on your choice to use HB! You will be pleasantly surprised!

Becky

[hedra]

Ditto on the Doula advice! Finding one who understands HB is helpful, too (ask your teacher).

My DH was good at making the nurses ZIP IT when they walked in talking as if they were talking over a crowd - the room was very quiet, really. We had two doulas, actually - one hired (she was the HB instructor, actually), and one was the midwife from my birth center, who always comes with if someone transfers to the hospital. Between the three of them, plus one nurse on staff (not assigned to me, but at the desk) who also worked at the Birth Center, we got the nurses well in hand, LOL! (one nurse went to the desk and went off about these weird birth center people, but the senior nurse behind the desk oh-so-pointedly asked 'what weird people, *I* work there, too'... that stopped the commentary, and by the time I left, the nurses thought HB was cool, and were really impressed with the birth center's approach ('they really teach you what you need to know for the first days at home?' 'yes, though it isn't like counting breaths and taking temps and looking at color are rocket science!').

One of these births, hopefully I'll actually have at the birth center. That's two transports for two tries... sigh. But two good births, nonetheless.