HOW DOES HYPNOBIRTHING WORK?
What will I learn on a hypnobirthing course?
I really do wish hypnobirthing was given another name. I imagine that when someone says 'hypnobirthing', it brings up the idea of everyone sat bare foot, humming with incense burning in the corner, the teacher swinging a clock at your vagina, hypnotising you all to dance around like a chicken. It's nothing like that at all. It's simple really and I like to split it easily in to 5 parts:
1) Getting informed - it's a full antenatal course, getting you as informed as possible with all the important stuff you need to know about labour, birth and postpartum.
2) Positive mindset - working on getting rid of the fear and anxiety around birth to help your nervous system with birth.
3) Decision making - you make all the decisions with your birth so we give you the tools to know how to make the right ones for you.
4) Hypnobirthing tools - giving you realistic and practical tools that have been proven to help in birth.
5) Postpartum prep - helping you prepare for the transition in to parenthood and infant feeding
Birth is a big day so hypnobirthing allows you to approach birth with confidence.
How does hypnobirthing work?
It comes down to the basic science of the survival instinct - fight or flight!
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When we fear something, our body automatically either sets off our fight or flight response. It's a built in safety mechanism to keep up away from danger. Once it's set off, we get a massive rush of adrenaline which sends all of our oxygenated blood to our arms or legs to get us away from the danger. You can see how this would be super helpful in the situation of a bear suddenly appearing (which if you've been to America or Canada, it can be more common that you expect!), but in birth, all that oxygenated blood is being diverted away from the utertus.
What your body is doing is actually clever - it knows that you're scared of something, feeling unsafe, worried, so it kicks off fight or flight in order to stop labour.
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Our fears of birth set us in to that fight or flight safety mechanism, which interferes with the birthing process, slows or stops labour, makes it more painful and causes more interventions. Have you ever heard of the term 'failure to progress' in birth? That's the fight or flight response.
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Hypnobirthing works to change your mindset around birth so that you don't have that fear and you have a positive and safe mindset for birth. It gives you tools to minimise adrenaline and increase your security in birth by going in to it feeling calm, confident and in control. It just makes sense.
When is the best time to do a hypnobirthing course?
The ideal time to do a course is between 20-30 weeks pregnant to give your brain the time to change its thoughts on birth to positive and give you time to implement the techniques and learning. However, it really isn't too early or too late to do hypnobirthing. I've had clients come to me at 39 weeks pregnant before. You can do it for your first, second, however many pregnancies, it's not just for first pregnancy and many do it for subsequent births - the stuff we don't know, eve if we've given birth before, is insane!
Will hypnobirthing give me a pain free birth?
Nope. And anyone who tells you it will is lying! I have no feelings on the matter of pain relief in labour, and if you want an epidural, go for it! Whilst hypnobirthing isn't technically pain relief, the tools it gives you can help with pain management as well as if you aren't perceiving birth to be something to fear. So experiencing a painful birth with hypnobirthing isn't a failure of hypnobirthing - it's just birth
Can hypnobirthing help with an induction and c-section?
Hypnobirthing isn't just for those birth centre or home births with a pool, it's for all types of birth. A huge part of doing a course is ensuring you are informed, so you can make the right choices for you and feel in control. It can be a whole different birth if you end up having an induction turn in to emergency c-section and you did hypnobirthing in pregnancy, compared to if you didn't. Without it, you can feel out of control and not knowing what is happening. The techniques involved are helpful in all birth scenarios and it prepares you for your birth, regardless of your choices and how it goes.
Should my birth partner come?
In some pregnancy and antenatal classes, I hear of the birth partner being told to only attend a certain part of the session. In my hypnobirthing, that isn't the case. The role of the birth partner is heavily paid attention to in all the discussions around birth and they are a vital role in the birth experience. Whoever is your birth partner or in your birth team if you have more than one, they're actively encouraged to come along and they'll always be included, rather than an after thought
"As a birth partner, I've taken so much from the classes, and really had my eyes opened and I can honestly say that I never expected that to happen. The classes were so easy to follow and really informative. We both can't thank you enough, completing your hypnobirthing course is hands down, the best thing we ever could have done to prepare. Thank you!"
~Jen and Derek, January 2024