I’ve been staying out of this thread for obvious reasons, but I can sing the praises of Hypnobabies/Hypnobirthing (I did the former). Labor was not at all painful, and when the shit hit the fan, the calming techniques I learned helped me relax and were pretty instrumental in saving my daughter’s life.
I’ll bow out of this thread now. It’s not worth it. Phil, feel free to PM me if you want more info.
I think this shows that labour is a very personal thing - I found it really good in my first 30 or so hours of labour to help relax and focus on each contraction rising and falling; but when I got into active labour, there was no way that it helped - my labour was too painful (and yep, despite what Marie Mongan said, pain is not a myth!). Instead, squeezing stress balls, warm showers and lots of moaning were what I needed to do to get through it. But it was good to have in the kit bag - my experience simply suggests to not rely completely on one method.
Interesting link. Under their FAQs, they list all of the situations in which they’re not able to provide birth services. It’s a very long list.
Good lord, I love how they’re bald-faced enough to compare their emergency transport times to that which occurs in RURAL areas. As if being IN a hospital in a major metropolitan area like Boulder is in any way comparable to giving birth in a barn out in the sticks. :rolleyes:
I’m liking this idea less and less. Sorry, Phl. 
Sorry about that, I meant to answer but got busy talking about other things. I don’t know all of the details about my friend’s decision to birth her twins at home, so I sent her an email asking her to address your questions from the other thread. I do know that she had already had two home births and one hospital birth prior to the twins, so she was very confident in that decision.
I’ll get back to you on this as soon as I hear from her.
No, it’s a relaxation technique using some kind of self-hypnosis techniques. I’m no expert, but if it will help with pain I have no problems with it. Not sure how that was funny though.
It’s amusing because you referenced a “hypnobirthing specialist in the family who is touting it’s advantages” like that any sort of impartial endorsement. Assuming this specialist charges money, they have a vested interest in convincing people it works so their opinion about the effectiveness is somewhat suspect, like asking the late Billy Mays for his opinion of OxiClean and expecting the unvarnished truth.
Well, I doubt ANYONE is working for free - OB/GYNs, nurses, midwives, ambulance drivers, anesthesiologists, floor sweepers … so that particular argument cuts both ways.
Only if the hypnobirthing guy has peer-reviewed studies to show this stuff actually improves anything. If you can prove it helps, awesome, I’ll believe every word you say. If you can’t, I’m gonna take everything with an entire salt lick.
Well, yeah, absolutely. Did I disagree with that somehow? Because I assure you that was not my intent. I am in complete agreement with your statement above. I just think that getting sidetracked into the “well gosh but s/he gets PAID” line of argument is irrelevant and weak for either side. I’d prefer to stick with direct evidence.
Yeah, I totally get this too. I think I just parse those particular words differently, probably because no one said those to me right after birth. What they did say to me was “Oh, it will all be worth it once you see your sweet baby!” and those words still fill me with stabbity rage, because it was so not worth it when I saw her, and then I had to deal with feeling like a horrible mom on top of the pain and lack of sleep and whatever. So yeah, I know exactly what you mean – it’s just a different set of words that trigger it for me 
I’m not really a believer in Hypnosis, but this person is a close family member who is only saying that it *can *help with pain management during birth. She certainly would not charge us for a brief How-To, but I find it kind of irrelevant because we are taking a class all month on all kinds of pain management techniques.
I’ve been a meditator for years and though I don’t have access to it now, the studies from the neuroscience world on the efficacy of meditating are becoming quite well documented.
Whatever works. As long as the baby’s heart chakras are aligned with the stars when he pops out, amirite?