Alternative Birthing Classes

[Deleted]

I haven't studied up too much on it, but hypnobabies intrigues me and I plan to look at it. But I'll do it at home.

I think all moms to be can benefit from those kinds of classes. I have friends who would have had their epidural hooked up at their first US if they'd had the option who then ended up with such fast labors that they couldn't get any pain meds at all and it ended up being horrific for them because they never thought they'd have to deal with pain management on their own. You just never know what will happen and it's good to know those coping mechanisms.

[noeliav]

We did Bradley classes with DD, and I would recommend them. I don't have experience with birth anxiety, or panic attacks in general, but maybe the benefit of a Bradley class to you would be that it removes a lot of the unknowns related to labor and delivery? I'm happy to share more with you if you have specific questions.

Our friends are doing hypnobabies with their pregnancy this time, and the lead OB at our practice used it for her births. I don't know much about it, honestly. But, I do think that any preparation is useful.

ETA: I don't know that I would have called myself "calm and relaxed" during L&D with DD. Partly, my labor (in retrospect) was of the "insta-labor" variety, and I didn't have the slow build that so many mamas seem to have-- the benefit there being that you adjust to the intensity of the contractions before they ramp up. But, I managed well enough. At no point in my L&D with her, though, did I feel scared or panicky. I think the classes prepared me well to understand the process and have faith that my body was doing what it needed to do in order to birth our daughter. 

[kemdupuis]

We're planning on doing a series of classes through our hospital, but the concept of hypnobirth is very intriguing to me. Like jimbobcooter said, who knows if you'll be able to have an epidural when the day actually arrives- I've heard of a lot of moms that have labored so quickly that they weren't able to be hooked up, or the drugs didn't kick in in time too- and I think anything that you can do to keep yourself calm and centered (drug free) sounds like a great idea. Even if you decide to have an epidural too, I think that the additional knowledge of hypnobirthing techniques could only benefit you.

I totally hear you about the anxiety about pregnancy/birth- last night, LO decided to wedge himself up under my ribs just as we were getting into bed to go to sleep (DH was already practically passed out), and it hurt SO bad. This turned into me having a full on panic attack about how I don't know if I can handle labor/delivery. I plan on getting an epidural and using other relaxation techniques, but the thought of having a baby come out of my hoo-ha is still terrifying. I think we're all in the same boat (atleast FTMs), and I think having discussions like these is really important. I'm interested to see what everyone else is doing, too! Maybe I'll get some good ideas and not be freaked out so much.

[Deleted]

Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth has wonderful anecdotes and mantras for helping stay centered and calm as well. I especially love her concept of letting your "inner monkey" just take over by trusting that your primal brain will know what to do when the time comes. Whether I make it all the way without pain meds or not, I'll be taking a stuffed monkey that DH gave me several years ago with me as my focus object.

[noeliav]

I love Ina May's book for all the positive birth stories. After we saw the heartbeat with this one, I let myself read them again and was excited to look forward to our birth. They are each wonderful in their own ways.

For the specifics related to child birthing, I actually prefer Penny Simpkin's The Birth Partner. DH liked that one, too.

[theBeeMama]

Thanks for starting this thread! I have recently lost all my motivation to do another unmedicated birth... Like, I started remembering how it was the first time and I panicked. Since then I've been trying to figure out if I really can do it again, and go all the way this time (got an epidural at transition last time, which was kinda dumb but I freaked out because I thought it'd never end! Lol) ANYWAY, I've been looking into different classes I could take that might help me this go round. So this thread is helpful:)

[beersandweirs]

We are doing Bradley birth classes, but have only had 3 classes so far. Our class is a little more touchy feely than we tend to be as people, but I know it will provide valuable information as far as pain management and relaxation.

[noeliav]

Mar 6, 2015 13:49:27 GMT -5 pbubblegum said:

Mar 6, 2015 12:16:48 GMT -5 noeliav said:

I love Ina May's book for all the positive birth stories. After we saw the heartbeat with this one, I let myself read them again and was excited to look forward to our birth. They are each wonderful in their own ways.

For the specifics related to child birthing, I actually prefer Penny Simpkin's The Birth Partner. DH liked that one, too.

Bought this book for DH! He's almost done reading and it eases my anxiety when he knows what's happening too. I already told him I need him to be by my side the entire time and basically do whatever I tell him to do. He's really good at keeping me calm and sane in other situations too.

So did you have a drug free birth? The drugs especially pitocin and the epidural scare me most. I think that scares me more than the pain. I want to be in control. The doula mentioned that there are pain alternatives. I think she said something about saline solution injections into the lower back. I don't remember what it was exactly so don't quote me on it, I'll find out more at the class.

Yes, I had a pain-med free labor and delivery. I did have IV antibiotics because I was GBS+, but once the bag was done, I only had the hep-lock. After hearing horror stories from other moms about their epidural experiences (both during L&D and postpartum), having one was not an option for me. I went into pregnancy with the mindset that I was going to do this pain-med free.

Pitocin isn't first course for our OB/MWs in the event labor needs to be sped up, and at no point was it ever on the table for us (mainly because 1) I went into labor naturally and 2) I dilated in a rather speedy manor, oops). 

I just went back and looked at the document I used in preparing our birth plan. With regards to induction (or labor speeding techniques) this is what I had:

"In the event of an induction:

• If induction become necessary I would like to try natural induction techniques first, such as breast stimulation, herbs, acupuncture, walking, sexual intercourse

• If medical induction becomes necessary, I prefer to try:

o Foley catheter

o Stripping membranes

• If my water breaks before I go into labor, I would like to wait 18 hours before being medically induced."

I also have in there that (assuming baby and I both are medically fine), we were comfortable going to 42w before discussing an induction. So, that's a lot of time and other, non-pitocin attempts before we would have gotten there.

Does that help at all? The TL;DR version is: yes, options other than pitocin exist.

[Deleted]

Mar 6, 2015 11:14:46 GMT -5 @jimbobcooter said:

I haven't studied up too much on it, but hypnobabies intrigues me and I plan to look at it. But I'll do it at home.

I think all moms to be can benefit from those kinds of classes. I have friends who would have had their epidural hooked up at their first US if they'd had the option who then ended up with such fast labors that they couldn't get any pain meds at all and it ended up being horrific for them because they never thought they'd have to deal with pain management on their own. You just never know what will happen and it's good to know those coping mechanisms.

This is exactly what happened to me. I didn't take any pain management or birthing class because I planned on getting an epidural the whole time. Then woopsy I did most of the painful labor at home unintentionally because I had no clue what was going on and the on call doctor kept telling me to stay home. It was so beyond any pain I had ever experienced. By the time I got to the hospital I was 9cm! Then they tried an epidural but it didn't work. I'm planning on taking a class this time around.

[jcprn]

I'm going to drag DH to a hypnobirthing seminar with me to learn more about it and see if it's something I could do. It definitely intrigues me. I told him it would be irresponsible of me to not research different birthing techniques in case I don't/can't get an epidural. I texted him about it today and his response "it sounds a little crazy" lol.