Mummies who have given birth using Hypnobirthing

[Jen3704]

I am feeling really confused. I have done a course of Hypnobirthing and Natal Hypnotherapy and on these courses, they say that pushing when birthing your baby is completely unecessary!! and doesnt need to be done!! They encourage you to breathe your baby out with minimal pushing etc. Because your body can expel your baby naturally and women in comas have been known to birth their babys undetected!! So pushing is not necessary and little, gentle pushes will do the job!!

Basically....follow your bodies lead and do what your body tells you to do! and if your body tells you to push...then push. But if your body tells you pushing isnt essential....then dont force pushing.

I am feeling really confused, as this is my first baby and I dont know what to expect!! I am definately going to try and listen to my body and follow its lead!!

Right here are my questions lol

I just wanted to ask what Hypnobirthing mummies did when giving birth whilst following Hypnobirthing etc?? Did you push?? Did you let your body do its thing?? Did you ignore the midwife when they try to get you to force pushing?? I know your body just takes over when you get that urge to push which uncontrollable, but.....did you just do little pushes?? What did everyone end up doing??

So confused lol

Thanks girls!!

 

[MrsR]

I did natal hypnotherapy and I listened to my body. I pushed as my body was telling me too. My experience was slightly different as my son was in distress (ended up arriving blue and not breathing as cord was around his neck) so it was essential I push him out however I found that the techniques I'd learnt doing natal hypnotherapy kept me calm and tuned in to my body.

 

[MrsR]

Basically what I was trying to say was listen to your body but take on board what the midwives are saying as well xx

 

[CARNAT22]

I used the Maggie Howell book and CD's. Not sure how much use they were to me when the day came as I didn't put any of the exercises into practice?

However I did get to 5cm at home on my own without even using a TENS machine (my early labour lasted 36 hours)

I started off in the Birthing Centre of the hospital and was using just G&A, but after several hours my body stalled (I was so tired and had hardly eaten for days so I stopped dilating ) I was transferred to labour ward and hooked up to the Syntocinon drip, I also had my waters broken..

At that point I begged for Diamorphine, which surprised me as I it was the one thing I was really against. The Dr's kept trying to persuade me to have an epidural but I didn't want to. I did however need some respite and I opted for the shorter lasting pain relief - which didn't work for long at all!!

The MW's were very surprised how quickly the drip worked for me and within in a few hours of being on it they had to slow my dosage down and I was pushing within 3 hours (they'd expected me to take at the very least 4 hours to get to 10 cm)

They do what they call 'assisted pushing' and this is when they tell you when to push. I totally and utterly disagree with this, I didn't have an EPI so I didn't need to be told when to push.

They did this with me for 30 minutes, then let me have an hour of pushing when I wanted. This worked much better for me and I liked this method. However exhaustion had really set in by this point and I had to go back to assisted pushing. I also had to use stirrups.

After almost 2 hours of pushing baby was born (50 hour labour in total) but he was delivered naturally without any intervention and I didn't cut or tear.

I am not sure I'll bother with the CD's if we have another. They did help me relax but I never fully got into the 'zone'. However I love the theory behind Maggie Howell's work - we know our bodies better than anyone and we can birth a baby with minimum intervention. The book I will def read if we have number 2!!

I think on some level the CD's maybe did help, I got to 5cm on no pain relief at all and I managed a 100% natural delivery with no tears, grazes or stitches BUT the last thing on my mind when I was in labour was breathing through my surges! It hurt like Hell and at the time I'd have knawed my own leg off to make the pain stop...

It's just one part of the whole experience though and it wasn't that bad! I can't wait to do it again

xxxxxxxxxx

 

[TaffyRose]

I also had the Maggie Howell CD, which I downloaded onto my ipod and fell asleep everytime I listened to it I listened to my body the whole way through my labour and I definitely felt the need to push. At one point the hospital tried to send me home saying I was only 2cm, which is when I grabbed my OH and told him we weren't leaving as my body was telling me to push. Thankfully senior midwife checked me and found I was actually fully dilated! She was happy for me to follow my body's lead and I didn't have any tears or stitches. I felt very calm and in control the whole way through xxx