If you’re considering using hypnobirthing you might be wondering “did hypnobirthing work for you?” I know everybody has their own experience but I’m going to tell you if hypnobirthing worked for me.
Did hypnobirthing work for you?
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Why I Decided to Try Hypnobirthing
It wasn’t until my 3rd pregnancy that I first learned about hypnobirthing. When I got pregnant with my first child I was 22 and everything about babies, children, and pregnancy was completely foreign to me.
So just learning the basics and researching book after book about pregnancy and babies with as far as I got. I didn’t delve into alternative birth methods or anything like that.
Man I wish I did!
My second pregnancy I was able to be a bit more prepared. I wanted to do things a bit more naturally and all in all had a much better experience.
Almost a decade after my first pregnancy, I found myself ready to have my last child and really wanted to try to do a natural labor and childbirth again. After having an epidural the first time and going all natural the second time I knew that was absolutely the route that I wanted to take.
In addition, I wanted to try a water birth and decided to have my baby at a birth center. My first time visiting the birth center they showed me they have a giant library of books that you can borrow. I was really excited to see a book about hypnobirthing!
I’ve been blogging and the searching and reading about parenting things online in detail for about 4 years. I’ve seen hypnobirthing mentioned on Pinterest I have read articles about hypnobirthing and I was really intrigued by the concept.
So when I saw that book sitting on the shelf I knew I had to take it home.
Hypnobirthing hesitation? Definitely!
When I first heard the term “hypnobirthing” I was a bit hesitant, “I don’t want to be hypnotized while I’m in labor I want to be pretty present” was what I had thought.
I’m happy to tell you this is not actually hypnosis in any sense. What you are doing during hypnobirthing is bringing yourself to such a calm and relaxed state that you do not feel or interpret the pain that comes along with childbirth as pain.
You’re training your mind to relax.
You’re training your body muscles to release.
You are actually helping your baby to descend down the birth canal faster with each contraction that you take.
It’s really quite amazing and it’s a lot of mind over matter.
Soon I’ll be putting together a post about exactly what hypnobirthing is and I’ll link that in here in case you have any further questions about it. Also here’s the book that I used and read a couple times through and practiced from that made a world of difference in my childbirth experience.
My Hypnobirthing Experience
I started reading about hypnobirthing from this book by Marie Mongan right at the beginning of my third trimester. Which is really a perfect time to begin. It’s recommended that you start practicing I hypnobirthing methods from about the 30 week point.
And I practiced this stuff religiously. Relaxing, being calm, and meditating are not my strong points. But practice makes perfect right?
I read the book at least twice through. It has tons of different meditations that it walks you directly through. The reason that it’s not just one specific thing you do is because not everything works for everyone. All of our minds are different and the meditations that are going to relax each of us is individual to ourselves.
For instance there’s one that is where you picture your lady bits as like a flower and with each contraction they are opening to make way for the baby. That is not an idea I found relaxing at all so that’s not one that I utilize.
I did find two amazing meditations that worked very well for me after trying them all and then I just focused on practicing those. Which is so ok when utilizing hypnobirthing methods!
One focused on utilizing the power of your contractions and breathing in a way that enhances how effective they are. Using your breaths, your mind, etc to allow the body to more efficiently open the cervix. and this was the “blue ribbons technique.”
The other was to help you learn to go deeper and deeper into relaxing your mind and body. This was the “rainbow fog technique.”
There are special breathing techniques that I looked up videos on YouTube and was able to practice those as well. I practiced almost every day. With two little kids that’s not the easiest thing to do but since I was suffering from severe sciatica pain taking a hot bath at some point of the day was really something that I needed to get through the day so I would use that time to practice my hypnobirthing meditations and breathing.
Here’s one technique I remember and mastered: J breathing.
There are lots of other great videos you can find for free on there as well!
Powerful Tricks for Hypnobirthing Success
1. What I found extremely powerful was learning how to relax my face muscles. A lot of people, myself included, hold a lot of tension their face. They are very small muscles and if you can learn to fully relax your face and keep it that way it paves the way for relaxing the rest of your body.
2. Another trick that I learned that was a huge help in making my hypnobirthing successful was learning to relax my hands and being cognizant of if my hands tightened at all. When you’re in pain at all like during contractions you naturally clench your jaw and clench your fists. This creates tension which in turn creates more pain so by learning to keep those two places relaxed you’re easier able to relax the rest of your body as well.
3. Practice, practice, practice! Practice when you’re taking a bath, when falling asleep at night, practice every day. You might feel silly and out of place. You will get better and you want to practice until you feel confident!
Did Hypnobirthing Work For You?
I have to say all in all my hypnobirthing experience was phenomenal. My hypnobirthing labor and delivery was absolutely my favorite and best of all my childbirth experiences.
I’m done having kids, but if I were to have any more I would do it the exact same way:
using hypnobirthing and water birth out of hospital.
My labor was oddly long for a third baby. I was actually in labor for two full days before my baby was born. I was in labor for for one evening and then labor stalled overnight which gave me a chance to get a few hours of sleep before starting up again the next morning and my baby was born at 11:30 that night.
Having these hypnobirthing techniques and being able to relax, being able to interpret the sensations I was feeling as discomfort, and being mentally prepared, knowing that each contraction was just bringing my baby closer, and visualizing my cervix opening to make way for the baby put my mind in a completely different place. A wonderful confident place with little to no pain.
I was able to handle two full days of labor.
What Did the Intense Part of Labor Feel Like with Hypnobirthing?
I was able to handle them so well that my midwife didn’t even want me to come in when talking with her on the phone and I told her that I absolutely needed to! This is my body and third baby and I know how I feel during labor and I’m pretty sure the baby’s about to come, I told her. Plus it was 9 at night so it was now or never for getting there with a tired 5 year old.
After the half hour drive after I spoke with my midwife on the phone she was astounded to find that I was already six and a half centimeters dilated!
About a half hour later I was talking with my midwife while I walked around and held up my finger to pause her so I could have a contraction. I leaned one hand on the wall close my eyes and practice my hypnobirthing techniques for a few breaths. Then I resumed conversation.
Her jaw dropped knowing that I was just about to enter transition and so she asked, “is that normal for you?” and I said, “yeah until my water breaks I’m pretty much fine. Plus I’ve been using hypnobirthing this time.”
I’m not going to lie, transition was still uncomfortable, but not bad at all. Remember, I have two previous childbirths to compare this to… one all natural (though truth be told I begged for drugs during transition that time! It just happened too fast.) AND I had been in labor for 2 days at that point.
Instead of what you are used to seeing in movies, I walked around a dimly lit room singing, and leaned onto an exercise ball rocking out to Sublime through transition.
I got into the tub just in time for my baby to come into the world with one push!
Wrapping Up: Did Hypnobirthing Work for You?
I highly recommend trying hypnobirthing for your birthing experience.
I have nothing negative to say about hypnobirthing and you are wondering did hypnobirthing work for you? My answer is, “Absolutely!”
I highly recommend either taking a hypnobirthing course, getting a hypnobirthing book, and or watching videos about hypnobirthing on youtube. Or maybe all of the above.
It worked for me and it can work for you too.
If you’re planning on going through labor and delivery without any pain medication hypnobirthing is something that you absolutely want to learn more about! Feel free to reach out in the comments below with any questions you have about my hypnobirthing experience.
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