Does HypnoBirthing Work? A Hope and Honey client shares how it helped her birth quickly, gently and easily

Hope and Honey offer HypnoBirthing, Fertility Coaching, Private Antenatal Classes and Birth Pool Hire in Perth, Western Australia. Here is a birth story from a HypnoBirthing client, a 2nd time mum who benefited hugely from the whole journey of HypnoBirthing.

"I was 40 weeks + 5 days it was Saturday the 7^th February. I was relaxed and not at all anxious about the +5days I was very keen to let labour start naturally without any intervention. I had been swimming everyday and walking as much as possible to support this. I went to bed the night before after eating a vindaloo curry and slept as usual with no signs of anything happening.

K & Baby B after their gentle, calm HypnoBirth

I woke up at 0730hrs and was planning on swimming again with my husband and daughter, I felt some tightening shortly after I ate breakfast at around 8am, I wasn’t sure that it was a contraction so I carried on getting ready for the pool. I felt a few more tightening sensations and began to think that it was contractions. I used an app on my phone to time them and had 3more in very close succession, I realised at this point that I probably wouldn’t go swimming however I didn’t rush to ring the hospital or anything like that as I was keen to stay home as long as possible.

I put on my affirmations and had a shower and got dressed my surges continued every 2 minutes and were getting more intense. I did my relaxation breathing and continued with the affirmations whilst walking around the house. I called a neighbour to look after my daughter and I just felt really calm about it all at this point. At 1010am, all of a sudden with the next contraction I felt a real sense of pressure and I was very nauseous. I instantly knew the head was bearing down, I felt scared at this point and called the hospital. I was very uncomfortable and anxious. We arrived at the hospital at 1040am, I knew the baby was well on its way to being born my contractions were further apart but lasting for longer. I stood at the side of the bed trying to restore my inner calm and just trying to do my surge breaths.

The midwife attached some monitoring and then examined me confirming I was fully dilated but membranes were intact. I was instructed to begin pushing whenever I felt the surges, I was asked to lie on the bed at this point which I really found uncomfortable but my obstetrician needed to rupture my membranes because she saw that baby looked tired from the monitoring and was suspecting meconium in the waters. Once the membranes were ruptured there was indeed meconium present and so a paediatrician was called, I was putting lots of energy into my breathing but fear had defiantly taken over at this point. I was experiencing a lot of pain and wanted it to be over.

Karen, Baby B and Big Sister M

Luckily I didn’t have to wait long as my beautiful baby girl was born exactly 1 hour after arrival at the hospital at 1140hrs, only 3.5 hours after the onset of labour. I did have an episiotomy because Beatrice had her hand up on her face during delivery.

Hypnobirthing was a real journey for me, it helped me plan out and make decisions about how I wanted my birth to be. I planned it, I visualised it and it happened. My hypnobirthing practitioner really opened my mind and introduced me to techniques and therapies I hadn't known before. It was about more than just the labour itself and I feel I benefited hugely, I will and have recommended it."

Karenna from Hope and Honey says - "K had a very quick first birth with her first daughter nine years previously. In some ways because it was so quick, there was a bit of fear still there from this birth even though overall the experience had been positive. So through HypnoBirthing, we worked on reducing that fear and by the end of the classes, K was really looking forward to the birth and had planned out everything she wanted. I'm so pleased for them both that their journey was as they wanted, loved working with them and love keeping in touch with them and seeing pictures of Baby B growing up already!"

Epi-No or Yes? Regardless, let's talk about perineal massage

Hi, I'm Karenna from Hope and Honey - offering childbirth education classes, HypnoBirthing, birth pool hire and much more in Perth, Western Australia. Here's my latest blog about perineal massage:

Ok don't get embarrassed, we're going to talk about something a little bit private but oh so important and something that should be more public.

When preparing your body for birth, many midwives and in HypnoBirthing we advocate you to practise perineal massage. Now this is a part of your body that you will probably never have paid any attention to before. It's the section of muscle inbetween your vagina and your anus.

During the birthing and crowning phase of labour this section of muscle is stretched to allow the baby's head through. Your perineum, with the correct preparation and care, will stretch and allow the baby through with no tearing or need for an episiotomy (medical cut). Just like preparing for exercise, we would stretch a muscle - we can also prepare our perineums for birth through gentle stretching.

Some women liken this phase of birth to have a stretching / stinging / burning sensation - but remember that every woman experiences this differently. At the time of birth, your perineum can be assisted in stretching through slow birthing / crowning, hot compresses and water births. Before birth (from approximately 34 weeks) you can also prepare this area by using your fingers to stretch the area. Inserting your or your partner's thumbs into the vagina at the bottom and stretching apart until you can feel the stretch, then holding it for a minute or two.

This has two benefits - firstly it will give you an idea what this sensation feels like and secondly regular massage in the later weeks will prepare the area to stretch easily and naturally. You can use natural oils such as sesame oil or vitamin e oil, but I wouldn't recommend synthetic or petroleum-based oils.

You can also talk to your midwife or OB about how they care for the perineum during birth.

Now there is also a product on the market to help you stretch your perineum - the Epi-No. As with anything there are supporters and opponents. The product uses a balloon and a pressure pump to facilitate stretching of the perineum up to 10cm (full dilation). The Epi-No can also be used as a pelvic floor trainer.

Opponents of the device say that you shouldn't really be stretching your perineum to this degree without all the accompanying natural labour hormones and lubrication that are present during birth. Supporters say it can reduce tearing and the need for episiotomies. Whatever your stance on the Epi-No, it's important to prepare your perineum.

So tell your friends and don't be shy to talk about it.

Feel confident in your body's natural ability to birth a baby and use your pregnancy to become informed, confident and practiced in the art of active and involved birthing.

Much love xxx

For more information and advice, why not sign up to Hope and Honey's childbirth education classes or HypnoBirthing classes?