Hypnobirthing is an increasingly popular technique for staying calm and relaxed during labour. In this video, one mum explains how hypnobirthing helped her when she gave birth to her daughter.
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Narrator: Mother of three, Rosie Prendergast, used hypnobirthing for each of her births, and was able to film the last two at home. We asked her about her experience.
Rosie: In the weeks leading up to my first birth, I got very anxious about- about giving birth. Really worried about tearing, about things going wrong. And, so I went to my midwife saying exactly what I don't want to happen when I give birth, and she told me about hypnobirthing.
I booked myself on a five-week course. For my last birth I didn't do a course, I just listened to the CD throughout pregnancy and for the actual birth itself.
Hypnobirthing is about learning techniques to help you have a calm, gentle experience. You look at how to control your breathing, to get you into a deep relaxation. And also, you learn about what's happening in your body - the physiology of birth - so you're not frightened of this pain, it makes sense.
The pain is still there, but how you perceive it varies dramatically. I felt that if I was scared, then I was doubled over in pain. If I used my breathing and my understanding of what was happening, then it didn't overwhelm me and it felt good. It was satisfying, not frightening.
My husband and I listened to the CD most nights while I was pregnant, towards the end, and it meant that the birth felt like it was me, him and the baby giving birth, there were three of us involved. And my husband was listening to me and responding to me, and he needed to respond to my movements, to what I needed at the time, and he did. The connection was huge between us, and that's from hypnobirthing.
One of the worries for me about giving birth, was that I would have to be out of control. Actually, hypnobirthing taught me that if you surrender yourself to your body, and trust that your body can do it, then you actually do have a lot of control over what's going on.
So I was able to deal with the contractions, with the breathing and the relaxing. And then there was a change, where I felt that I had to go onto my hands and knees, and I could feel the baby moving, and I knew it was imminent, and I felt I wanted to push. There's a slight panic then, because it's really happening. So I had to go deeper into myself, accessing this kind of breathing and relaxing.
For the actual birth, I got into the pool, and the CD was playing, and it felt really nice to be in the warm water, and that I wanted to push. I learned to visualise my cervix as a red polo-necked jumper, and my breath was going behind the baby and pushing it down through this polo-necked jumper. So when I had a contraction, I imagined that happening.
Her head was delivered in a very gentle, breathing push. Again, I was imagining pushing her down with my breath. Then the midwife arrived and I just had to wait for the second surge, and again I imagined the visualisation of opening, and she came out. Very gentle, very calm - it was lovely!
Hypnobirthing definitely gave me the confidence to have a home birth. But I think it would be equally if not more beneficial if you're birthing in hospital, because you are more likely to feel anxious, and to feel that you need a protective space.
Birth is an important rite of passage from woman to motherhood, and I think it should really be treasured that it's a huge experience. For it to be calm and gentle and where you feel empowered is very, very special. And hypnobirthing definitely is all about that, it's about making it the best experience that it can be, and a beautiful one.
