you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]Lemonade_Masquerade 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Hypnobirthing is relatively popular. It's self-hypnosis though. If you meant actual hypnotists I'm not sure about that.

[–]CaliforniGinger 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

True, I was meaning more actual hypnotists. I'm not sure how effective self hypnosis would be for pain control - at least, not for someone like me. They want people not to think about any of the possible bad outcomes of labor, and that would make me SUPER anxious, lol.

[–]rad-sage-fem 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'm a midwife and I've had lots of clients use it - I find (as a very general rule) if they are really invested it in and can put up with the "picture your cervix dilating... blah blah blah" to regularly do it (you're supposed to do the visualizations throughout pregnancy to prepare), it can really make a difference. Those women often manage pain a lot more internally (sort of turn into themselves) and without outside support, I have found.

[–]CaliforniGinger 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's good to know! I know my mother's deliveries really varied in experience, with one of them being almost painless when she had had several pregnancies and knew what to expect. She used to teach breathing and act as a companion during labor to the disadvantaged women we were around, many of whom expected it to be constant screaming and awful pain. Thanks for the input!