Birth Partner Stories/links
http://juliebyers.com/birth-stories/aspensbirth/
http://portlandhypnobabies.com/2011/06/10/a-dads-point-of-view-be-amazed/#more-223
http://enjoybirth.com/blog/2011/02/22/guest-post-proud-hypnobabies-birth-partner/
http://anjalisalbum.blogspot.com/2010/02/anjali-dyens-birth-story-as-told-by-her.html
http://hypnobabies.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/walifs-hypnobabies-birth-from-dads-perspective/
http://www.abitbackward.com/2013/01/atleys-hypnobabies-birth-story-squires.html
http://inexplicableways.com/doula-services/dads-and-doulas/
Birth Partner surveys
Name (or alias): Butch Cassidy
What was your initial reaction when you first heard about Hypnobabies?: I believe some people believe this kind of thing can work. If she thinks she is one of them than great 'cause we all know a natural birth is best.
What was your experience with HB during birthing?: I was glad we had clear roles and plans with built in options and was overjoyed by my wife's confidence, flexibility and empowerment.
What was your experience with HB during pregnancy?: My wife did a lot of listening to scripts, a fair amount of reading and some practice meditation. I read the bp thing at the very beginning and at the very end. I guess I ended up listening to a fair amount of scripts but I was mostly asleep at the time.
If you used a Doula, did you find them to be a helpful resource? Would you use one again?: Yes, yes ,yes, yes, etc.
If you were present for previous non-HB births, how did your Hypnobabies birth differ from the other(s)?: never present at a non-hb birth
Any words of wisdom or helpful resources for other Birth Partners?: Suspend your dis-belief and commit yourself to this working. It will.
Name (or alias): Will
What was your initial reaction when you first heard about Hypnobabies?: I was familiar with hypnosis before, and really wanted my wife to have an unmedicated birth, so the idea sounded interesting; I don't remember whether it was my wife or I who first suggested it, but seemed like a good idea. We had also discussed Bradley, which obviously has a lot of connections to Hypnobabies, but I didn't really like the "coach" mentality.
What was your experience with HB during birthing?: Overall, I think it really made a huge difference; the staff at the hospital was amazed at how calm my wife was. While at the time, she did not find it painless or completely comfortable, when reflecting back on it now, she says she found it helpful.
Whenever I asked if she wanted the Hypnobabies background tracks or recordings turned off, she would emphatically ask for them to stay on. I did some of the short cues, but didn't actually read any of the scripts. Aside from Hypnobabies, and having a great doula, being able to go in the shower was very helpful.
I was a little anxious ahead of time about other people's perceptions (since we gave birth in a hospital setting) about hypnosis during birth, and unmedicated birth in general. I didn't want to put up signs or things like that (we ended up not really needing to anyway). However, the staff seemed somewhat familiar with the idea and mostly left us alone, and overall, I don't think we got too many kooky looks. Much to my surprise, the staff was also really good about actually reading, and following, our birth preferences, and in cases where they felt something was problematic, they communicated about it with us very early in the birthing process.
What was your experience with HB during pregnancy?: Overall, it was a good experience. I would have found more class time and more coverage of physical comfort measures helpful, and even though we had things go pretty much as expected, and while I understand why Hypnobabies doesn't want to make people think too much about bad things that can happen, I think (especially since Hypnobabies discourages taking other classes), more time on things that can go wrong would have been good.
I personally thought too much time was spent on the Brewer diet; while Hypnobabies advocates for it, from what I've read elsewhere, I don't think a lot of evidence supports its claims.
The other information did more or less give me information to feel confident about our birth preferences and to help communicate.
Some of the euphemistic language does seem a little silly, even though I understand why it's important.
We are still friends with some of the people from our class, so that was also a good aspect of doing an in-person class.
If you used a Doula, did you find them to be a helpful resource? Would you use one again?: We did use a doula, one who had done the Hypnobabies training, and was familiar with the cues, etc. Our doula was fantastic, and really bore out all the research that shows how much doulas can help facilitate, rather than hinder, partner involvement. I really felt like it took some pressure / anxiety off ahead of time (that I would choke or not be able to get through the whole birthing process), but also made it possible for me to stay really involved throughout the whole process. It was enormously helpful to have someone who had been through it before, knew what was normal, and was able to give us some perspective on what the medical folks were saying.
Where we live, good doulas are very expensive, but for us, definitely worth every penny.
Any words of wisdom or helpful resources/links for other Birth Partners?: Even though Hypnobabies tells you not to take other classes, if you're planning on nursing, birth partner and mother should at both take a breastfeeding class