Can Hypnobirthing Be Used For All Types of Births?

Find yourself wondering can hypnobirthing be used for all types of births?

Yes absolutely hypnobirthing can be used for all types of births. Unfortunately sometimes hypnobirthing can be stereotyped as a hippy type course. It’s only for a natural birth with absolutely no pain relief. This really isn’t the case. People have pre-conceptions about it saying oh no that’s not for me when they don’t realise the theory behind it. It’s about understanding the birthing body and the science behind it. If we know how it works the easier we can work with it rather than against it. Keeping our stress hormones down and allowing the Oyxtocin hormone to flow around a calm body. We all know being calm is the best way to be in any given situation.

Hypnobirthing can be used in all birth scenarios. I’ve taught a range of clients who have used their techniques for whatever route their birth takes. Sometimes birth does take a different route to how you’d thought it might. This is where hypnobirthing is fantastic. It allows a women to feel she had control over the birth and was part of the decision making process. The outcome of this? A Mother who was happy with the birth outcome because she consented and understood why birth took this route. Rather than being panicked and anxious therefore agreeing to whatever was offered. The birth stories below all have this outcome. Hopefully they help alleviate any preconceptions you may have around hypnobirthing.

Hypnobirthing for a cesarean

“We had the c-sec on Friday and had a little boy. Bub decided it was a lot more comfortable head up right up to the end 🙂 We went with it and although it was very clinical and my birth plan was sidelined we still had a positive experience and he arrived safe and sound. We had amazing care and bub latched early on which is fab. Feeding has been bit of a challenge but it’s going well and my milk has come in so all in all it’s going swimmingly.

I’m sure because of the hypnobirthing and our attempt to approach it all in a calm and pragmatic wave. Recovery is going well and we’re settling in at home. I’m really mobile which is great and bub is super chilled. Thanks so much for you help and support along the way. You’ve no doubt helped us get off to a good start!”

Hypnobirthing for a home birth

“So turns out I am one of those in the 4% …. Our son arrived last night at 10pm after a pretty speedy labour. He was born at home and my husband just managed to get the pool inflated and filled in time! Our daughter slept through the whole thing and was delighted to wake up and discover her baby brother had arrived! He weighed in at 7lbs 9ounces and we are both doing really well. I know it’s not for everyone, but I would thoroughly recommend a home birth and delighted it worked out so perfectly for us.”

“What an amazing experience already! Baby arrived at 20.53 on Thursday evening. At home – not in the pool but with the most amazing people around me. Having a glass of champagne with the midwives and getting into our own bed that night! We have had visits form the home birth team since. My hypnobirthing breath came in for the early stages the final head push was touch and go but you sure dig deep!! I feel good, mending so quickly.”

Hypnobirthing on a labour ward

“Thank you so much for your help and support throughout. As with most births, it didn’t go quite to script but we still did our best to deploy the hypnobirthing techniques we’d learned with you, I think in particular in helped my husband, which allowed him t help me!

I had a sweep midday Friday (they were inducing on Monday) and I got contractions and broken waters by early evening. I managed to get to 7cm at home on my own before arriving at UCL at 2.30pm desperate for the gas and air and the water pool. I’d found the contractions intense, so much so I’d not kept my fluids up and when I arrived was severely dehydrated and the baby was finding the contractions fast and intense. We were rushed into the labour ward, I got my gas and air, but that’s all I needed and ‘Biscuit’ was born unaided within 2 hours of us arriving! So not the birth plan, but a great result! Thank you so much.”

Hypnobirthing techniques for an ECV (external cephalic version)

“We had a successful ECV last Friday to turn the baby, which wasn’t the most enjoyable thing in the world, but I think was good preparation for going into labour. I used my breathing and visualisation techniques during it, and the doctor was impressed with my pain threshold, which is good confirmation for me that they do work! I found a couple of the other things you said really helpful too, like it is important to stay relaxed to keep the baby relaxed, and that a hospital is an unnatural and unfamiliar environment, which I realised partly explained why I was nervous beforehand.

We have since managed to have a natural birth at the natural birth centre. We were very lucky that the labour itself was relatively straightforward. My waters broke at 1:30am, we then went to hospital at 1:00pm and our son was born at 8:13pm. Attending your classes definitely helped me to feel properly prepared, and to be positive and relatively calm, so thanks again for all your help!”

Hypnobirthing for natural birth

“Our daughter was born at 7.30am on the 31st December with the first contraction at midnight. I had her in the birth centre but things moved pretty fast they didn’t have time to sort the pool for me! It was intense but so glad it went that way as recovery has been quick and we took her home at 3pm that day! We are besotted.”

“I am absolutely convinced that everything we’d learnt and practiced in the months leading up to my son’s birth was forefront in my mind and helped me to get through the whole experience.

My first surges about 10pm I wasn’t quite sure if they were real or not to start with! So I went to bed as normal and at around 2am, they were still going very consistently so I knew this was it! I woke up my husband and got myself in to the bath. At around 6am and a lot of bouncing around on my birthing ball, we phoned the hospital and they told us to come in. It’s amazing how quickly the time has flown by at home and how calm it all was.

At the hospital, I was examined and told I was 2cm dilated. I later found out I was actually 4cm but the midwives could see I’d done so well at home already, they wanted me to carry on being as calm as I was! A few hours later I was in the birthing suite and the pool was being filled ready for me. I suddenly felt the urge to push and turned out I was 9cm!

We had our hypnobirthing playlist on the iPod, I was in the pool with just gas and air and everything was just super chilled. Two amazing midwives (one was a student), my mum and husband. We just seemed to chat lots and I floated about in the pool! Now I’m not saying that I didn’t feel any sensations because I absolutely did, however there wasn’t a part of me at any point that needed to scream and shout and I didn’t ever feel that I needed any more pain relief than the gas and air.

After a good hour or so of pushing, my little boy still wasn’t quite ready to make his appearance so I has to get out of the pool and get back on to the bed. 15 minutes later he was born and the feeling was just incredible. The most surreal moment of my life.

After he was born, both the midwives said what a really lovely experience my birth had been for them because it was so calm, happy and relaxed from start to finish. Funnily enough, when I looked back at my hypnobirthing notes, Alison has asked us both to write a list of what we wanted our birthing experience to be and what we didn’t want it to be. It was pretty much exactly as we’d said we wanted it! Calm, chatting, relaxed, no intervention, water birth (almost!), laughter….My husband even got to tell me the sex of our baby, something else we’d both said we wanted to do.

Alison is still a good friend to us and I know she will be able to help so many more couples to have the positive birth experience that we had. My advice to everyone is to fully embrace it, stay positive and optimistic throughout and be open minded.”

Hypnobirthing for shoulder dystocia

“Labour had started at 6pm the previous day at after arriving at hospital at 6am. After being held in triage it was at this point I requested  an epidural. The gas and air they gave me helped but not enough. As soon as I got the epidural I felt so much better. From then on rested whilst I dilated to 10cm around midday.

The midwife then said I would need to start pushing. We started that but it wasn’t progressing quickly enough and they were worried about the babies heart rate. I then had an episiotomy and a bit of ventouse. Her shoulder was stuck (shoulder dystocia). I was very focused on my pushing and visualisations to notice the rush of people. This is where the hypnobirthing really paid off for me as I was not panicked in anyway at this point. I just really went into my zone of down breathing visualisations even though I was having to push. They managed to get the shoulder free and she was born safely! All was good!

So although it wasn’t what I had imagined and as I expected the epidural lead to more intervention. I still felt in control once I had the epidural. I’d done the safest thing for me and baby as I had felt I had lost control of my body. I still would use it for another birth and hope to be able to manage a labour with it if we have another baby! I had practised the breathing so much and the visualisations.”

Hypnobirthing for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean)

“Thank you for the sessions. They really helped me prepare for the birth and made me feel much more positive and in control.

I had a gorgeous baby boy on 31st May and a successful VBAC birth that I wanted. I ended up being induced after 10 days using the cooks balloon method. After nothing happened they put me on the hormone drip. By this point I felt I lost my positive energy and fear took over again so I opted for the epidural. This was actually amazing for me as I only topped it up once. It calmed me down and allowed me to rest and get back into my hypnobirthing zone. I ended up in theatre at the end with vontuse delivery but this was fine. I felt in control through this. The main thing is that I had my VBAC birth and had a healthy baby. Your sessions really helped me to go through with having a natural birth. It kept me in my zone during the long induction process.”

Still wondering can Hypnobirthing can be used for all types of births?

I wanted to share the success stories of Clients I’ve worked with and the different birth scenarios. Hopefully it will help you make a decision to see how hypnobirthing could help you during pregnancy or your birth.

Hypnobirthing also works amazingly well for women who may have previously suffered a traumatic birth. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching many second time Mum’s. They wanted birth to be a different experience by feeling more in control. Allowing them to let go of the fear.

It works for Dad’s who may be very anxious having never experienced this before. I’ve had many Mum’s say to me how well hypnobirthing helped Dad to be calm and great birth partner.

For expectant parents who have been fertility treatment. With a medicalised approach to birth to begin with it allows them to have a calm approach throughout the pregnancy.

Want to know more about how Hypnobirthing can help you?

I teach private hypnobirthing courses around London and Surrey. Areas include Chertsey, Hampton, Hillingdon, Isleworth, Kingston, Richmond, Sheen, St Margarets, Sunbury, Surbiton, Teddington, Twickenham, Weybridge, Windsor.

For my group courses I’m taking bookings for April course in St Margarets. So to find out more about hypnobirthing or to book your hypnobirthing classes get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

Follow me via my blog,  Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to keep up to date with all workshops and events taking place.

Ali x

Hypnobirthing classes in Twickenham pregnancy yoga can hypnobirthing be used for any birth

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