ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Natal Hypnotherapy, Effective Birth Preparation CD

Updated on August 26, 2014

This is pretty much my favourite product ever. I rave about it frequently, and I credit it for my stress-free pregnancy and the relaxed and surprisingly easy birth of my daughter.

When you have a baby there are many drug-free forms of pain relief to help ease your labour. I plumped for a few different methods. On the day I used gas and air, a great temporary relief, and a TENS machine, which reduced the pain to some extent, and also distracted me from it for a time as I fiddled with all the controls and dials!

But for months before D-day (or that should probably be B-day..) I prepared myself mentally by using my Natal Hypnotherapy cd.


The Natal Hypnotherapy cds are soothing voice recordings accompanied by relaxing background music. The recordings provide help with all aspects of baby-making; from the pre-conception period to post-natal recovery; using hypnosis, visualisation, the power of suggestion and deep relaxation. The aim is to make you feel relaxed, confident and completely in control about the whole experience of reproducing.

So far I have used the Effective Birth Preparation CD (for giving birth in a hospital or birth centre) which matched my particular birthing plans, but there are different versions available if you're preparing for a home birth, for a caesarean section, a VBAC(vaginal birth after caesarean) or are expecting more than one baby.

It's recommended that you start listening to the Birth Preparation cds from around 32 weeks of pregnancy, to give you time to learn and absorb the relaxation techniques so that by the time you give birth they have become second nature. However, you can still get tremendous benefit even if you start listening later than this.

Effective Birth Preparation CD

The cd begins with the soothing female voice guiding you through some simple but effective relaxation exercises to calm your body and mind. These exercises are a very useful means of relaxation both during pregnancy and later on during labour. They put your mind into the daydream-like state which is hypnosis. (Don't be alarmed by this word; you will feel deeply relaxed but always totally in control!)

Once you are in this state of deep relaxation, the cd takes you through a guided visualisation of an ideal pregnancy and birth. Amongst other things, it gives you tools to be able to control your own pain-levels, it changes your expectations of contractions and reduces the "fear of the unknown" that all pregnant women experience, especially if they're going to give birth for the first time.

The idea is that the more you experience this "practise birth", the more you absorb the positive suggestions and the more you believe that your body can birth your baby naturally and calmly when it comes to the real thing. Listening to this cd regularly also gets your body used to being deeply relaxed. And a relaxed body and mind are the most essential ingredients for an easy and problem-free labour.

If your mind is calm then your body will also be relaxed, resulting in less painful contractions and allowing pregnancy hormones to flow freely. These natural hormones will increase the effectiveness of your contractions, making your labour quicker and reducing the need for painkilling drugs, interventions or a caesarean.

This is a HubMob Hub!

Sounds wonderful, but does it work?

From the moment I started listening to my cd I felt instantly relaxed by the soothing voice and music, and I knew I was going to love my hypnotherapy sessions!

I used the cd every night, and sometimes also during the day when I felt the need to relax. Often, after a few minutes of listening I would fall asleep! This is apparently quite a common occurrence, and doesn't matter too much as we can absorb information while we're sleeping. This side-effect was fantastic for me as I'm prone to insomnia, and I knew that if I listened to my cd I would get a good night's sleep; (something which is often rare anyway in the later stages of pregnancy!)

I have to say that I was a bit sceptical at first about whether this product would actually work - and then whether it would be any more than a sleep-aid! But as time went on I did feel a lot more laid-back about my forthcoming pregnancy. This really hit home when friends from my anti-natal group started having their babies, some with real horror stories, but I felt confident that me and my baby would be ok, and that I could handle the birth however it went.

It sounds strange now that I was so relaxed about it, but it wasn't a case of "I've been listening to this cd so we're immune from any problems". Rather that one of the things the cd does is prepare you for the fact that things might not go quite as you planned. But it teaches you that whatever happens, you'll be able to handle it, and if you relax as much as possible then your body has the best chance of naturally doing what it's supposed to do.

On B-day, I was three centimetres dilated by the time we arrived at the hospital, after two nights of intermittent contractions. The midwife decided to keep me in, and thinking that things weren't going to happen in a hurry, she let me rest in the ward.

For the next few hours I could feel the contractions becoming stronger, but I felt calm, and my relaxation exercises helped me to go within myself, focus and keep them manageable. When she did a routine check a short while later the midwife was alarmed to see that I was fully dilated; she'd had no idea that I was anywhere close! The birth itself was slightly complicated and prolonged as my daughter was face-first, but it never became unmanageable. I felt in control the whole time; so much so that before seeing my notes, one of the midwives had assumed that I'd had an epidural!

Lots of women experience completely pain-free births when they use hypnosis. This wasn't the case for me; I could feel pain but by relaxing into the contractions I could reduce it a great deal, and using the practiced techniques I was also able to "turn it down".

It says on the cd that with Natal Hypnotherapy it's possible that you will enjoy giving birth. Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say that I enjoyed every moment of it, but on the whole it was a lovely experience! (And one which resulted in a very beautiful, loud and red-faced little girl!).

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)