goldfish and anyone interested in being in control over ur birth,
just to share how hypnobirthing helped me. Btw, I'm not advertising for them.
From what I understand, Hypnobirthing is about thinking about birthing in a whole new light. that it does not have to be painful. That we trust that our body and mother nature know what to do.
Cos we are always bombarded by images of woman screaming in pain in labour so we already have the idea since young that labour WILL be painful. And we may be scared even, and take these fears with us as we give birth. So it is like a self-fulfiiling prophecy... But it does not have to be like that.
For me, because of the knowledge I gained and relaxation techniques, plus I also hired Ginny as doula, I felt empowered and I left the hospital after being induced (cos not enough amniotic fluid and we had waited one week already since knowing I was 2cm dilated).
Next morn 5 plus I felt "surges" (we dun call contractions cos contractions assoc with pain) but irregular. I went back to sleep until 6 plus, cleared my bowels with the pessaries dr gave me cos I rejected enema.
Dilly dally uintil suddenly surges only 1 and a half min apart. Still, I had confidence to put on face cream and makeup in between surges before leaving for TMC. I also drank milo, chicken essence and ate biscuits for energy.
We finally reached TMC and less than 2 hrs later, my baby was born. I used a birthing stool and my hubby sat opposite me and supported me physically as I breathed our baby down. Ginny also encouraged me and she knew waht to do, just let me hold her hand and I felt safe with her support.
So yep, this is my hypnobirthing story. So I can say that it's my hubby and me who birthed our baby together =)
What I know is that without hypnobirthing, I would have curled up in bed, very tense and in unbearable pain, feeling very scared and sorry for myself...
The key is that the more relaxed and fear-free you are, the faster you will dilate and labour will be shorter.