Why your Grandma didn’t do hypnobirthing (and why you should!)

Who has questions about your choices on why do hypnobirthing? I bet it was Grandma… 🤐

 These comments may be all too familiar for you….

“We didn’t have any of that hypno-nonsense in my day”

“All sounds a bit airy-fairy to me”

“Back in my day we just got on with it!”

So let me tell you what’s changed in the world since Grandma was pregnant and why you should do hypnobirthing.

Grandma may not have been exposed to any negative birth stories.

Ugggh how crass to talk about your labour and birth whilst picking up your sunday paper from the newsagents. Back when Grandma was pregnant, there was no social media or TV shows or films in fact. There was no OBEM glaring on to our screens that showed birth as the dramatic and entertaining event that it has grown to be. And there wouldn’t have been any sharing about the memoirs of your vagina during the birth of your baby. Nowadays, us midwives and hypnobirthing teachers spend A LOT of our time debunking myths that women have heard over their flat white or whilst scrolling their instagram feed.

We know more about birth now.

We understand more about what we can do to stack the odds in our favour for birth to go well. For example, we understand about the pelvis and how we can use what we know to help baby be born quicker. It is known that eating & drinking in labour helps have a shorter labour. Birth partners are encouraged to be present now as it is known how beneficial this can be for both parents.  We know about water and epidurals and the benefits of these. We know about breathing techniques and how hormones play a part in your birth. Knowing this information gives you the power to remain in control and feel confident during your labour and birth.

Grandma would have been exposed to birth at home as a child.

When children are exposed to birth at a young age, they learn about it and it becomes less of the unknown. The fear surrounding this as a young woman grows up is less as they have witnessed another womna in labour and the magic that surrounds that. Compared to just hearing about the worst bits at the tea station in the office. The trend for birth has swayed to hospitals and birth centres, meaning that as a young child you wouldn’t have seen your Mum in labour at home.

This may sound like a good thing but it actually encourages birth to be more of a taboo event. And we don’t learn as much as what we could have if we see it for ourselves. Grandma most likely saw her Mum in early labour, cooking a dinner and carrying on putting the children to bed. Being instinctive to what her body needed, without even knowing what she needed herself.

We know more about how birth has an impact on our mental health post birth.

Women have very different pressures to what Grandma would have had. We are often expected to go back to work, keep the house immaculate, go to a baby group a day, teach our baby to be multilingual and maintain a life fit for a socialite. But equally, we know now the importance of mental health and the impact that can have on bonding with baby and our post natal recovery. Hypnobirthing and antenatal education can reduce your chances of experinecing post natal depression, anxiety or birth trauma post birth.

You have more options to choose from than Grandma.

When Grandma gave birth, her options would have been limited. Birth at home unless there was a big complication and here’s your wooden spoon to bite down on for pain relief. It’s amazing that there is so many more options for women with regards to their births, but every option has it’s consequences and every choice needs consideration. Being prepared for these options and choices can make the process at the time smoother nad less chaotic fro you.

It’s easily accessible for you .

Thanks to things like the internet and social media, information is able to be passed aound and shared very easily. Grandma may have had to walk a while to do any type of antental class and it may not have been easy for her to access alongside an already busy family life. Having hypnboirthing courses online makes gaining information that is going to help you give birth really easy to do.

So to answer your question… why do hypnobirthing?

Hypnobirthing will help you prepare for one of the most important days of your life. It will give you the tools and techniques to go into that day feeling calm and confident and it will give you the knowledge to make informed choices and feel in control. It will allow you to stack the odds in your favour for a positive birth, a day you can look back on with joy – always.

Why do hypnobirthing at The Bump to Baby Chapter

I’ll tell you a little secret… 🤫 I once may have been guilty for an internal eye roll, jut like Grandma’s, when I first heard about hypnobirthing 🤐. In my defence, some of the techniques and teaching methods I came across were a little suss. Some still are…

But – that’s why I built this type of birth prep. A no-nonsense, no BS, no-woo woo approach to hypnobirthing. A bridge between the calming and empowering approach of hypnobirthing combined with my knowledge and real-world expertise as a midwife. An approach that can be applied to all births.

Thank God we’re not giving birth in Grandmas time ey? And we are lucky enough to have access to great birth prep and great medical teams to help birth go as smoothly as possible.