Could Hypnobirthing Help Me Have a Positive Birth?
Many will shy away from hypnobirthing.
The majority of expectant parents will consider birth as something that they simply must endure in order to meet their baby. The prospect of birth being a pleasant and enjoyable experience is something that they are hugely sceptical about.
The name ‘Hypnobirthing’ sounds a little strange. Considered by many, as a technique only for those who are aspiring for a home birth in a birth pool, free from all pain and intervention. Many feel that hypnobirthing just isn’t for them.
Hypnobirthing doesn’t promise a perfect birth and doesn’t even strive for it.
As my career as an antenatal teacher continues, I can say with a high degree of certainty that whatever twists and turns your birth takes, good quality, positive birth preparation will always help.
Having worked with many parents, each with their own unique story to tell, I feel so proud that spending some time talking and working with me has enabled them to have the best experience they could, no matter what.
I have worked with:
First Time Parents
Subsequent Pregnancies
IVF Pregnancies
Tocophobia
Elective C-Sections
Birth Trauma (for both Mum & Dad)
Pandemic Births
Emergency C-Sections
Placenta Previa
Gestational Diabetes
Post Partum Haemorrhage
Home Births, Hospital Births & Birth Centre Births
I have had birth reports that encapsulate what would be considered the typical ‘perfect hypnobirthing birth’ but I have also heard stories of everything else in between. In every scenario, parents will always comment that hypnobirthing helped……….enormously.
Hypnobirthing for subsequent pregnancies
With this blog, I want to focus in on my experience working with parents having their second babies.
Birth Trauma is real.
Sadly, it is a taboo subject and parents often don’t allow themselves to explore ways to heal from their birth experience. Too often parents are left hanging with comments such as:
“Well, at least baby is healthy………that’s all that matters….”
“I expect you’ll just go straight for an elective c-section next time……”
“Birth is awful for most women……..you just need to forget about it…….”
These comments aren't helpful and certainly aren’t healing.
I often say how much I enjoy supporting dads during my hypnobirthing courses. Dads get forgotten about in so many aspects of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. It is so important to me that they get fully involved in the whole process. It will not only support the mother’s positive experience of creating new life but also theirs.
Dads are rarely considered when a birth has been traumatic. In some situations, I have had mums explain to me that they feel their shared traumatic experience was probably worse for their birth partner. These closed off emotions and feelings can weigh heavy on a new dad. The prospect of a second birth experience can be extremely daunting.
How can Hypnobirthing help with birth trauma?
In order to show how hypnobirthing can help with a subsequent birth following a traumatic experience I am going to use some testimonials and birth stories. I feel there is nothing quite like hearing about true experiences and people’s real emotions.
Hypnobirthing will help even if you are opting to have an Elective C-Section. Caesarean birth can be absolutely amazing. Investing in some preparation will help to ensure you know how to personalise and indulge in this incredible event.
I worked with a couple who’s first baby was born via C-Section under general anaesthetic. A truly harrowing emergency scenario that certainly impacted both the mother and father emotionally.
My role was to support them in having the most positive elective possible. It was an absolute pleasure delving into this subject with them. This is what they had to say:
Another couple I worked with had experienced a ventouse delivery of their first baby. On discussion it wasn’t considered hugely traumatic but the language of a ‘loss of control’ was used frequently. This couple reached for hypnobirthing to enable them to learn techniques to ensure they could keep control, and fully take ownership of their second birthing scenario. They wanted to work together to be as prepared as possible.
You can imagine my joy to hear that they succeeded in having a homebirth and described the birth as ‘Intense, Quick and Incredible’.
Another story that I would like to share is how I supported a friend to prepare for the birth of her second daughter. I am happy to talk about birth to anyone who will listen, so I was a compassionate listening ear to a friend in need. We share children of a similar age having met through an NCT antenatal class. I was aware that her first birth experience had resulted in a C-Section but quickly realised as we chatted, that how her birth experience had made her feel emotionally, had been very tightly locked away. It was very apparent that in locking everything away the anticipation of a second birth was quickly becoming very overwhelming. I didn’t do a huge amount here, but in signposting and suggesting sources of support, this mother very much helped herself.
A final testimonial I’d like to share is one where I feel the birth partner took a huge emotional burden from the experience of the birth of their first child. It was a story once again where there was a sense of ‘lost control’. As a labour begins to deviate away from the norm, and becomes a highly medicalised scenario it is very easy for a birth partner to feel hopeless, helpless and as they often describe themselves, ‘useless’. Although this is rarely the case the feelings are real and valid. Hypnobirthing can help birth partners to work through these emotions and enables them to establish a strong and supportive role.
It was such a buzz to get a message to say that this mum’s labour had begun the very same evening as we had worked together on Zoom. It was that same evening that I noted the father’s intuitive suspicion that something might have already started. It still makes me smile now!
Here are some of their comments following the birth:
Teaching hypnobirthing is very easily the most rewarding job I have ever had. The reward isn’t the reason I do it though. I wholeheartedly feel that every parent deserves to have a positive birth experience, however their birth plays out.
So, if you’re reading this and have always thought hypnobirthing isn’t for you, perhaps you might take a little time to explore it.