I trained with Maggie Howell and run Natal Hypnotherapy workshops locally. Her book, "Effective Birth Preparation" is FULL of positive birth stories and highly recommended.
You can find out more about me at http://www.birthconfidenece.com
Hypnobirthing is great as letting go of fears, often stemming from past experiences, is at the core of what we do, whatever our training background.

All the best.

Sandra.

Hi fulhammum,
I followed the hypnobirthing method in preparation to giving birth to my son (now 2) and i found it great. I was quite scared of the whole thing so it made me positive and prepared to go through it.
Although on the day it didn't fully work out as I had high blood pressure and I had to be given medicine to bring it down and have the baby monitored, the whole preparation allowed me to remain open-minded and positive.
I did write my impressions in a blog post on hypnobirthing recently with more details of the method and what it does http://wp.me/p3B8xy-bB

But overall I would highly recommend it as a natural method that encourages you to connect with your body and the little baby inside. If you body reacts well on the day it can achieve powerful results.
I'd do it again and hopefully for a number 2 baby it could work better.

Also with a hypnobirthing class your teacher (certainly those of us in the hypnobirthing association) do a fear release session where you get to talk in depth about your fears and then we use a combination of cbt, nlp and hypnosis to redirect fear into letting it go & being positive. A doula is a fab setup! A doula myself though not working as I have my toddler and killer hyperemesis irrrrgh but a doula is invaluable and all women should get one! Hospitals are great if you just understand the protocols and environment and if you understand you can manage your expectations - hospitals tend to operate with a one size fits all approach so it's important to bear that in mind when deciding what is most important to you. If you are considering home birth the nct do a free group on the first Tuesday of the month in islington (I co host that one) but I onwl there are many. You might want to read ina may gaskins guide to childbirth and there's another good book by someone I've forgotten called confident birth xx

I read a book on hypno birthing before I had my 4 th 9 months ago and I can honestly say I actually enjoyed every aspect of my labour. I went deeply into myself and totally relaxed. All the pain and anxiety left me and I felt I really mastered childbirth.

My first labour lasted 38 hours and involved epidural, ventrouse and dropped heartrate. It was a frightening ordeal. My second and third I was more relaxed and they were 5 and 2 hours respectively. I was still in pain and not in as much control as I was with my last labour. It was 4 hours and our son was 9 ibs. It was the only labour my husband videoed and he was amazed at how much hypnobirthing improved the experience.

I would recommend it to everyone and will make sure my daughter uses it if and when her time comes.

I also wanted to say, please keep your replies coming as I am getting a huge amount of encouragement from them. x

Thank you all so much for your replies. It is really encouraging to hear about positive birth experiences and I really am grateful for your sharing them with me and also your recommendations.
Here's where I have got to. I am speaking to a Doula this morning who understands my desire to work with the unique energy of child birth, I am hoping that she will be available to be a support to my husband and I during the birth. I am definitely going to try to have a more natural birth without medical intervention and haven't yet decided if this will be in the hospital, birthing unit or at home. I think in the coming days I will feel what's right for me. Someone reminded me at the weekend that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, so having had 2 difficult hospital births I am sure it's time to try a radically different approach. I am strengthening every day in my belief in myself and can feel my fears and attachments gradually melting away. What a unique experience for personal growth this pregnancy has turned out to be, I am grateful.

Hi, hypnotherapy has been used in childbirth for many years I am told Madonna used it when she had her children many years ago and more recently the Duchess of Cambridge had it for morning sickness so it is widely used and tried and tested.

I recommended it to my daughter-in-law 4 years ago and she had an amazing outcome - quick and easy birth, no painkiller, no gas and a natural birth. Her father,an eminent Proffessor of Medecine in London was amazed as were the hospital doctors and the midwives. One of her midwives was pregnant at that time and she then went on to have it herself.

As a long experienced psychotherapist and medical hypnotherapist I often suggest hypnobirthing to my clients as it is safe and natural. I am trained in hypnobirthing but usually reccommend client go on a hypnobirthing course usually with three or four other couples where you go to classes with your partner and where the hypnotherapist is usually an experienced midwife too.

I do see mums one to one but this can be expensive and it is probable more fun going on a class with a few other couples. If a mum has complications or perhap prefers privacy then having one to one treatment might be appropriate.

After my daughter-in-law had her hypnobirthing experience I asked her to write an account of the whole experience which she did. If anyone would like a copy of her hypnobirthing experience let me have your email address and I am happy to email it to you. christopher@thepeelclinic.org.uk (Clapham Common Northside).

Whoops! You can also order a cd too. There are 46 hypnobirthing teachers on London, some offering courses and others offering private. Some people need a book and a cd and that's enough, others need the one to one setting to fully absorb the course. You never really know which camp you're in until the day! Hypnobirthing is no magic cure and its not done to you or administered like an injection, it takes will and commitment and lots and lots of practice. Having a 'healing' birth is perfectly achievable. I wish you all the best & happy to answer any questions you may have - my email is lottie@blossomandbloom.net

Hello lovely

Really sorry to hear that you experienced a less than ideal previous birth. I do understand, my first born in November 2011 was an ordeal that left me with post traumatic stress & post natal depression. I struggled to breast feed for 8 weeks but through determination & luck we latched and are still going strong at 20 months - no thanks to health care workers though.
I probably sound biased, but I became super obsessed with birth after my experience when I read up about natural birth and got a little on my high horse about breast feeding. I retrained in January this year as a HypnoBirthing teacher and honest to god it's such a simple logical and successful programme for so many mums. I'm teaching in batter sea at the moment & seeing an anxious first time mum blossom with confidence in her body and its mechanisms is really great to see. What hypnobirthing essentially does, is inform. With knowledge is power, mums say they feel in control no matter how their labour progresses. In class we work to understand the uterus and how it works and how our bodies work when in labour. We essentially have two states of mind, the para sympathetic and the sympathetic. We must be in the para sympathetic to produce hormones such as endorphins and oxytocin. I teach what these two states are and how you can get into either state and switch etc. I also teach everything you can expect from an antenatal course in depth including interventions, rights, protocols and third stage. Obviously you are taught self hypnosis and birth breathing, positions etc. I'm 8 weeks pregnant with my second and feel so calm this time around. I guess I have to practice what I preach now! I recommend Katharine Graves book on HypnoBirthing. It's simple easy to absorb and straight to the point. You can also order a CD t

Yes! I had a tough first labour, not traumatic, but I was induced due to pre eclampsia, my daughter was back to back, it was very long, very painful and I had an epidural resulting in a ventouse.

When I became pregnant with my second I hoped for a very different birth experience so decided to prepare as best I could. I was recommended the Natal Hypnotherapy cds which I found fantastic. I listened to them every night before bed in the run up to my labour. They helped me to remain really calm when I was panicking I'd have another tough time. I also signed up for pregnancy yoga with Battersea Yoga and did the couples Birth Preparation workshop with Nadia from Battersea Yoga. All of these things helped me feel a little more in control and gave me the tools I needed to remain as calm as I could during the labour.

As it turns out I went into labour naturally and my second daughter was born in five hours with no pain relief whatsoever. I then went on to have my third in under two hours in my lounge! So although I know I was very lucky to have two hiccup free labours, and that no amount of hypnobirth preparation can ensure that is always the case, it certainly helped me no end mentally in the run up and also during the labours and I feel really helped me to have a very positive birth experience with 2 and 3. I would also recommend the book Birth SKills by JuJu Sandin. I found it brilliant. It's packed full of loads of ideas to help distract you from the pain during labour and really helped me.

Wishing you lots of luck with number three.

I'm wondering if any mums out there have had a previous difficult/traumatic birth and gone on to subsequently have a successful HypnoBirthing experience or any sort of a thoroughly positive experience with births following on from an earlier traumatic birth. I'd love to hear your stories and thoughts around getting over fears from previous experiences and going on to embrace a wholly positive birth experience. Thanks so much in advance, I'm trying to get myself into a good positive place ahead of the birth of my third child following previous difficult births.