Preparation is key when it comes to having a successful, intervention free birth. I’ve heard it said that people spend more time researching and preparing to buy a new car than they do for the birth of their first child. It’s an overwhelming process, with lots of decisions to be made and lots of potential outcomes. Your best defense is a good offense in this case.
If you’re a first time parent, you have no idea where to begin or what to expect. If you’re like me, you don’t even know what you don’t know! I devoured every bit of information that I could. We started by joining the Family Circle run by our midwives group. This gave us basic pregnancy and birth information that you would find in any hospital class. But knowing we wanted to have as “natural” a birth as possible, free from unnecessary interventions, we sought out other classes to teach us about the process, the potential problems and natural pain relief/management techniques.
In the end, I chose Hypnobabies and was very pleased with the whole class. During my research, I had read that Hypnobabies was created by a former Bradley Method instructor who took the curriculum of Bradley and merged it with the proven pain relief techniques of hypnosis.
Hypnobabies was a six week, 3 hour a week class (course syllabus) that covers everything from nutrition and exercise in pregnancy to the birth process, in addition to teaching you hypnosis with their patented scripts and tracks. The information contained in this class focuses on positivity rather than fear, which really resonated with me. The content is meant to empower you towards your intervention free birth, rather than make you fearful, listing off negative statistic after statistic.
The class also gave my husband and I the opportunity to really bond over the process and work together through the lessons. You can also do the whole program at home in a self-study, but we really enjoyed going to the classes and working one-on-one with the instructor and other expectant parents.
The class includes more than a dozen hypnosis tracks on CD, which I put on my iPhone and listened to nightly. That alone was a great benefit, as they made me completely relaxed in the process. Part of the class is also reading hypnosis scripts with your partner (or rather your partner reads them to you, the pregnant woman). This added to the bonding experience of the program.
When delivery day came, listening to the scripts on my headphones got me in the zone from the start. I was able to stay relaxed and confident all the way to the hospital. While the intake process at the hospital, I’ll admit, really took me out of the zone, I do believe everything I learned in Hypnobabies kept me calm and confident throughout my labor and delivery. I never felt fearful and I never felt like I didn’t understand what was happening during the process. Ultimately, I didn’t have any interventions, just like I desired, and labor was only six hours of true contractions that I could feel, so I deemed it a success!
The biggest misconception about hypnosis for childbirth is that you’ll somehow be “out of it” or in a trance. Rather, it’s about centering your focus and finding a true state of calm so your body can do the work to birth your baby. You are awake and aware of everything that’s happening, but very relaxed. Hypnobabies also teaches you “mind over matter” and that childbirth does not have to be painful. We used words like “discomfort” or “pressure” instead of “pain” to help disassociate the feeling from the words.
HypnoBirthing is the “original” hypnosis for childbirth class. It’s 5-weeks long, with 2.5 hour lessons (course syllabus) According to Kelsie Thelander, certified HypnoBirthing instructor with Fearless Mamas, “we teach various techniques and methods of breathing, relaxation, visualization, and deepening. We also teach how the muscles in the uterus work and how we can work with those muscles to have a gentler, easier, sometimes shorter labor. We show birthing videos in class and take couples through lots of relaxation scripts and exercises.”
While I don’t have experience with HypnoBirthing specifically, it sounds very similar to Hypnobabies, but to clear up confusion, Hypnobabies has a page on their website explaining the actual difference in the methods.
Kelsie goes on to explain, “I have also gone to a mom’s house to take her through a session to help turn her breech baby. It worked! I used it with both of my babies and thought it was very helpful.”
The Bradley Method® is another popular natural childbirth prep class, often referred to as “husband coached childbirth” because the birth partner plays a central role. Krystyna Bowman, certified Bradley instructor with Sweet Pea Births, says, “our goal is to prepare families to have a natural birth by teaching a mom and her loving coach to labor together.”
The Bradley Method® is a twelve week long course (course syllabus) with an extensive curriculum aimed at teaching couples ways to stay low risk. While labor is an unpredictable process, there are things you can do to stay healthy and low risk, which ultimately gives you more choices and lessens the likelihood for interventions.
According to their website, “relaxation is the key to The Bradley Method® during labor. It is the safest and most effective way to reduce unnecessary pain and to handle any pain that you do experience. While other methods seek to control the sensations of labor (emphasizing distraction as their Primary labor control technique), The Bradley Method® encourages mothers to trust their bodies (emphasizing relaxed abdominal breathing and relaxation throughout labor).
In researching these two techniques, Hypnobabies and Bradley, the difference appeared to be, to me, that Bradley teaches you how to control the pain through relaxation, while Hypnobabies teaches you that there doesn’t have to be pain in childbirth by using hypnosis. It’s all about mind over matter with Hypnobabies. Because of that, it is recommended that you choose one of these methods to study and not both. The goal of Hypnobabies is to reteach your brain to not feel “pain” but rather just “pressure” and “sensations” when you’re under hypnosis.
“The mind is such a powerful tool,” says Kelsie, HypnoBirthing instructor. “I had a homebirth with my second baby. When I tell people that I was walking around my patio and eating breakfast when I was dilated to a 9, most are a little taken aback. I loved the fact that I wasn’t afraid of labor and birth.”
Another option is breathwork. Cherise Sant offers a complete childbirth prep course (course syllabus) or you can take “Breathwork and Comfort Measures” a la cart. It’s a 2.5 hour class that dives further into how the body makes effective work of labor and how to enhance those abilities. It, too, seems to have a hypnosis twist to it. “We discuss and practice different breathing techniques and hand out scripts that can be used during labor,” she says. “We demonstrate different positions that can be helpful at different times during birth. We also touch on other tools for comfort including hypnosis, guided imagery, relaxation routines and conditioned response.”
Most of these classes are perfect for the first time mom, or a mom who desires a different birth from a previous one. If you’re a mom preparing for a natural, vaginal delivery after a caesarian section (VBAC) you may run into a whole different set of challenges. More than just a birth prep course, you need information on how to navigate this process with your medical professional and care givers.
The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc. (ICAN) of Phoenix is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve maternal-child health by preventing unnecessary cesareans through education, providing support for cesarean recovery, and promoting Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC).
Jessica Franks is the ICAN of Phoenix co-leader and runs the East Valley meetings. “We have monthly meetings covering different topics like planning your VBAC, healing from a traumatic cesarean, covering how doulas can help you, labor and delivery preparation, PPD and baby blues and more,” she says.
Their online community is over 350 members (just in Phoenix/Tucson) and ICAN has more than 80 Chapters in the U.S., and several international chapters as well. Meetings give women a safe space to share their stories. “Some have had very traumatic births, other just come to plan their VBACs. Some women will only have cesareans for their future births, and want to know their options in planning a more family/women centered cesarean.”
If your goal is to have an intervention free birth, education is the biggest factor, in my opinion. There are many classes to choose from, but one that focuses on coping and overcoming the physical feelings of childbirth is key. No matter what one you choose, its important to commit to it and truly believe you will be successful with that method. We fully committed to the positive teachings of Hypnobabies and I know that both the practical knowledge of the birth process and hypnosis kept me calm and focused during our son’s quick delivery. I’m looking forward to using it again for any other future children we’re blessed with.
East Valley Birth Prep Resources
Hypnobabies:
Noelia Waldo, Tranquility Birth Services
HypnoBirthing:
Kori Sprintz & Kelsie Thelander, The Fearless Mamas
Alyssa Johns, Empowering Birth Project
Bradley Method:
Krystyna & Bruss Bowman, Sweet Pea Births
Breathwork:
Cherise Sant, Birthing Family
VBAC or Cesarian Prep:
Jessica Franks, ICAN of Phoenix
