What Is Hypno-Birthing?

What is hypno-birthing? Well, that is the question I asked when an old hippy that I worked with asked if I would be using the techniques during birth. And before people get on their high horse. My wonderful colleague describes herself as an old hippy because technically… she is one. She then proceeded to educate me on hypno-birthing, how it helped her and how it could potentially support me too. In this post I am going to share with you some of the things that I have learnt.

 

 

What is hypno-birthing?

If you slap the question above into Google, it will say that ‘hypno-birthing is a procedure during which a person experiences suggestion changes in sensation, perception, thought and behavior during the birthing experience’. In a nutshell, hypno-birthing is used to help combat some of the anxiety that women have towards birth, in order to provide them with a more relaxed and positive birthing experience.

 

What have I learnt.

So far, with what I have read and studied, it is all about mindset. Positive births happen when the mother is in a good place. It sounds simple to understand, but sometimes things need to be spelt out clearly for the penny to drop. For me, seeing these things made me realise that generally I don’t think about my breathing, my positive thoughts, etc. I just think of how I feel in that moment, etc. But hypno-birthing is about the opposite. It is all about focus.

 

What I plan to implement.

When you take a look at the key themes through hypno-birthing, there are quite a few things to think about. But for myself, I am only planning on taking a few things into my birth plan. For example, I want to work on controlled breathing. Thinking about considered breathing helps me generally with my anxiety, so it will too with my birth. As well as that, I want to implement positive thoughts and words. This will be hard for somebody like me that is instantly negative, but I understand the importance.

 

Am I still planning on having medication.

You can bet your bottom dollar that I am planning on having ALL of the medication that I am offered. Some people that practice hypno-birthing, do so in the hope that they are able to have an unmedicated and natural birth. That life isn’t for me. Why make something more painful than it needs to be? I know there are benefits to a fully natural birth, but now for me. Give me all the drugs and give them to me now.

 

If hypno-birthing doesn’t work.

I don’t want you to read this post and think that my head is in the clouds. I have a very realistic outlook on what birth can look like and I like to think that I’m prepared for that. If I try to implement my hypno-birthing techniques and it doesn’t work, then it will just be a good old-fashioned birth. Just like billions of women have done before. I am trying to ground myself and be ready for as much as possible.

 

This is a whole new thing for me and to be honest, I am feeling more laid back then I thought I would. In a few short months I am going to part with a person, but at the end of the day I simply need to get the job done. Hopefully I can go into birth feeling very calm, Zen and at peace. I certainly know how I want the birth experience to be like, but if things change, I feel ready to take that in my stride. Please leave me a comment below and let me know your experience with hypno-birthing.