My Thoughts on Giving Birth (Again!) & Hypnobirthing

The last few weeks of pregnancy are here and I’m getting to the point of feeling ready for this baby girl to arrive. I’m very big and very uncomfortable. Naturally as you approach the end of your pregnancy your thoughts turn to labour and how exactly you’re going to give birth. When I was pregnant with Edith I decided that ignorance was bliss. Listening to peoples horror stories and the people I surrounded myself with were very quick to tell me the negatives. Brushing it all off and decided that I would deal with giving birth however I do. I didn’t read a single book and other than googling signs of early labour I really didn’t educate myself. I thought that this was the best way. Now, in hindsight. I realise that this was a mistake.

I didn’t have a birth plan with Edith, I wanted to keep things as natural as I could. Edith’s labour didn’t go smoothly, you can read about here. I still look back on it with awe and wonder and I would go through labour that was even worse to have Edith in our lives. However this time I would like things to go differently. Of course you can’t plan for labour exactly because it can oh so many ways. But educating myself on what my body is doing and ways to cope has become really important to me.

I started to think about hypnobirthing at the start of my pregnancy but brushed it off as I thought it was a little early to think about things. After Christmas I decided that it was time to take action and I would start thinking about it. I watched Ruth from Bright Mama’s video with her first where she touched upon it and then when she said she was going to film a separate video on it I was over the moon. Her video is packed full of information and she recommended the book she used. I ordered The Hypnobirthing Book by Katharine Graves and started reading it as soon as it got here.

There is so much packed into each chapter and there is so such science in there too. I could easily pinpoint where things went a bit mad with Edith’s labour. The flight, freeze or fight response that sends energy to your arms and legs instead of to vital organs. My hands kept doing odd things. I couldn’t control them. Now I know why this was. It also meant that energy wasn’t solely going to vital organs which explains why Edith’s heart rate dropped a little and why she pooed inside because she was a little distressed. Of course I don’t blame myself for these things. I just didn’t educate myself.

This time I know that me remaining calm (as I can) is going to be better for me and baby. My aim this time is not have to stay overnight so keeping things as easy as possible is the plan. I’m definitely going to incorporate hypnobirthing into my labour with this baby. I’m not taking everything on board but the breathing, relaxation and visualisations are hopefully going to help me be in a better place.

This time I’m hoping to actually get into the water for pain relief and give birth in the water. Of course this is all subject to change but at the moment it’s what I want. I’m hoping labour will be a little more positive this time. I’m not saying I’m going to be one of those people that say their birth was pain free but I would love to just have a little more control over myself.

I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out!

I’d love to hear your experience of positive births and hypnobirthing.