It is likely that you have picked up this book because you’re pregnant – or perhaps your partner is – and you’ve heard the term ‘hypnobirthing’ thrown around quite a bit, but are not completely sure what it involves or whether it’s something you should invest your precious time or money in.
So, firstly, and before we go any further, let me assure you that hypnobirthing does not involve being hypnotized and has nothing to do with hippies – or, indeed, hippos! In fact, there is nothing unusual about hypnobirthing at all, besides perhaps the name . . . which is ironic. Most modern hypnobirthing teachers will agree that hypnobirthing could really do with a rebrand. There’s no doubt the word ‘hypno’ deters people and leaves them with misconceptions about what hypnobirthing actually is.
I think hypnobirthing can best be described as the psychology of birth. In fact, it’s a lot like sports psychology. Just as athletes need to prepare mentally, as well as physically, to improve their performance, there is a similar need for women to prepare psychologically for labour and impending motherhood in order to get the best out of the experience.
Essentially hypnobirthing is a form of antenatal education, an approach to birth that is both evidence-based and logical. You may be surprised to know that it’s more scientific than anything else! In this book you will learn about the physiology of birth, and by that I mean how your body works on a muscular and hormonal level when in labour. This should boost your confidence and make it easier to trust that your body really does know what to do. Importantly, you learn how to work with your body (rather than unintentionally against it) to ensure the right hormones are produced, making labour more efficient and comfortable for you and your baby.
You will discover that being calm and relaxed is key, and that this has a direct and positive impact on how your birth pans out. You will learn how to quickly and easily access a state of deep relaxation using the hypnobirthing toolkit: a combination of breathing techniques, visualisations, guided relaxation exercises, light-touch massage, positive affirmations and various other techniques. You will also learn how to make informed choices using a simple framework, so that you are in a position to navigate your birth – and any twists and turns – with confidence, armed with practical aids that ensure you feel calm and in control throughout.
Crucially, hypnobirthing is not for only one type of birth, just as it’s not for only one type of woman. Hypnobirthing is for every woman with a baby inside her uterus (you don’t need to subscribe to any particular school of thought) and for every type of birth (from a natural water birth without intervention or pain relief, through to an unplanned caesarean). Many women come to hypnobirthing wanting a vaginal birth, but I always say that actually the mechanics of how a baby enters the world matter little long term in comparison to how the mother felt during the experience, because it’s the feelings that last a lifetime. This is why a positive birth experience is so important and offers lifelong benefits for mothers, babies and entire families. It is well known that a positive birth significantly reduces a woman’s risk of experiencing postnatal depression (PND) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Giving birth and becoming a mother to a small person is a monumental moment in a woman’s life, whether it’s her first time or fourth time, which is why birth really does matter. As much as motherhood is about winging it, putting some time into preparing for a positive birth is always worth it. In this book you will learn about inductions and caesareans and how you can make all births positive using hypnobirthing techniques.
So, what constitutes a positive birth? I believe that a positive birth is a birth experience that leaves a woman feeling empowered rather than traumatised, a birth in which the mother’s wishes are respected, she is listened to and feels calm, confident and informed throughout. Water birth, home birth, induction, caesarean – it’s not one particular type of birth. All births have the potential to be positive.
The hypnobirthing programme I teach is all about helping women – and their birth partners – to create these positive birth experiences. It’s beneficial for birth partners to learn about hypnobirthing too, as it equips them with practical tools they can use to aid Mum’s relaxation, a framework to help them ask the right questions, knowledge about how to make the environment conducive for birth and a comprehensive to-do list, so that they know how to best support Mum in labour. Hypnobirthing helps birth partners to feel confident, empowered and prepared for the job, rather than feeling nervous and like a spare part in the room. In hypnobirthing we believe giving birth is a team effort and not a one-woman job, so make sure you share this book with your birth partner.
Finally, hypnobirthing benefits your baby by ensuring that they have a gentle entry into the world and are met by a mother who feels relaxed, confident and happy. A positive birth gives everyone the best start.
In this book I will cover everything that you would learn on a hypnobirthing course, from start to finish. As you progress through the book and learn more and more, you will feel as though you are completing a course – a fun one though! This is no boring textbook. I will guide you through the hypnobirthing course I teach, in the order I teach it, chapter by chapter. After reading it, I hope you feel informed, prepared and armed with everything you need to create your own amazing birth experience. This book promises to make your birth better!
Becoming a mother is a huge undertaking and it can take its toll both physically and mentally. Growing a human is no mean feat and places significant demands on a mother’s body. There is also the emotional and psychological impact of assuming this new role, especially as it carries with it such immense and often overwhelming levels of responsibility. It’s very common, if not universal, to occasionally mourn one’s pre-child life. Then there are the 24/7 demands that need to be met by the new boss who will quite literally throw his/her toys out of the pram if you fail to deliver what they want in a timely fashion. Throw a shedload of hormones into this messy cocktail and it’s not difficult to understand that the transition to motherhood can be tricky. And all this on a few hours of broken sleep. Which is why preparing for this life-changing event is so important.
Sleep deprivation is the shared torture of new mothers. Therefore, preparing for this life-changing event is so important. I’ll say this more than once: the benefits of hypnobirthing and a positive birth experience extend well beyond the birth itself. What you are going to learn are life skills: tools and techniques you can use to navigate pregnancy, birth and parenthood in the best way possible.
As you read this book, you’ll discover that the hypnobirthing programme is really logical – common sense, even. Lots of what I will talk about is based on scientific understanding of our anatomy, the autonomic nervous system (which controls functions not consciously directed) and the latest evidence-based recommendations for best practice in birth. For those of you who, like me, love a stat or fancy a bit of fact checking, at the back of this book you will find a list of the sources that I reference and recommended further reading.
As you read you will start to realise how so much of what you think you know about birth is actually the result of social conditioning. You may well start to feel cheated, even lied to. I get it – I’ve felt that too. You might feel angry and frustrated and even sad for the hundreds of women who give birth every day without this knowledge; who aren’t properly informed and ultimately miss out on having what can be the most incredible experience of their life. You’ll say to yourself – and to anyone else who will listen – ‘But everyone should know this stuff!’ This is exactly how I feel too, and precisely why this book has come to be in your hands today.
It’s worth mentioning that hypnobirthing isn’t a ‘new’ thing. If anything, it is a rejection of the ‘new’ over-medicalised approach to birth and a return to how birth used to be. Medical and technological advances, coupled with the introduction of the NHS, have meant that more and more people have gone to hospital to give birth over the years, until it has become commonplace and is now considered the norm. When all this cool new technology was introduced, the importance of the natural way of things was completely overlooked – things that women had done instinctively for generations. These natural processes weren’t valued and they became lost or, rather, we lost our way. Now there is so much scientific evidence out there to support the fact that things like immediate skin-to-skin, delayed cord clamping and active birthing positions offer numerous benefits to mother and baby. As a result, things are changing and returning to the way they used to be. These things I’ve just mentioned are now recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and are considered best practice, based on new findings and updated guidelines. However, they are not innovations at all. For thousands of years women have birthed their babies in upright positions, brought their babies immediately to their chest and not rushed to immediately sever the cord. We used to birth on instinct, but we have been so conditioned through repetitive negative representations of childbirth in the media that we have lost sight of what feels normal and natural.
Take birthing positions, for example. The majority of women still give birth on their backs, despite the fact that we know this is the single worst position to give birth in and increases the risk of requiring an instrumental delivery and tearing. It’s also a position that women would not instinctively adopt due to restricted space, going against gravity and so on. It simply doesn’t make any sense when you think about it. Yet women choose to give birth on their backs without giving it much thought because they perceive this to be the norm: there is a bed in the room and we are conditioned to lie down on beds, plus, all the women we see giving birth on TV do it that way.
If you feel angry about how common it is for women to go into birth feeling uninformed and frightened, and you understand how detrimental the fear factor perpetuated by the media is, then the best thing you can do to change the status quo is to tell your friends about hypnobirthing. Shout it from the rooftops! Give them this book and promise them that no fanny whispering or hypnosis is involved. By doing this we can all contribute to changing the way women approach and experience birth.
The good news is that there is definitely a positive shift happening now, and hypnobirthing is a big part of that shift: a return to the natural, instinctive nature of birth and a recognition of the huge benefits this approach brings. Even in theatre, with the rise of gentle caesareans, the way C-sections are routinely done is changing because there is now a recognition of the importance of things such as skin-to-skin, slow birth and so on. A gentle caesarean tries to emulate a natural birth as much as possible, including applying pressure to gently ease baby out of the abdominal incision so that the fluid on baby’s lungs is squeezed out, which is what happens as a baby moves down the birth canal in a vaginal birth. It’s really quite amazing!
Of course, the way things are done in birth is also constantly evolving to meet the needs of women. The more informed pregnant women are, the more likely it is that they will request things to be done in a way that best benefits them and their baby. The more frequent the requests become, the more likely it is that common practice will change for the better.
Unfortunately, hypnobirthing can’t guarantee you the perfect birth – nothing can promise you that. There are too many variables that no amount of relaxation can control for. However, hypnobirthing will equip you with the tools you need to ensure you get the best birth for you on the day.
Hypnobirthing ensures you are informed and empowered to make decisions that feel right for you and your baby. It will equip you with techniques you can use to remain relaxed and in control throughout, making labour more comfortable and ensuring you meet your baby feeling calm and confident. Ultimately, hypnobirthing practice will help make your birth experience a positive one, however you choose to bring your baby into the world. The benefits of a positive experience are profound and long-lasting.
Wherever you currently are on the anxious-to-excited spectrum, by the time you finish reading this book I want you to feel confident and excited about giving birth, because it’s truly the most awesome thing you will ever get to do in your life.