“I took the HypnoBirthing class because I figured as a FTM, I would benefit from having a teacher, and there wasn’t a live Hypnobabies class in my area at the time. It still annoys me that I didn’t do more research and find out the differences, because HypnoBirthing just wasn’t a good fit for me, but Hypnobabies was PERFECT. Since I hadn’t given birth before, I wanted to learn as much as I could, and I walked out of the class knowing basically nothing about how to achieve a natural birth. I wanted to learn deep hypnosis skills to help me have a great birth, and all I learned was guided relaxation and some visualization. It helped, but it wasn’t nearly what I was looking for. My husband was very disappointed, because the class didn’t really give him much preparation and he had no idea what to do to help me. We kept asking our instructor for specifics and all she would do was smile patronizingly and say that we would “know what to do when the time came.” Um - if that were true, why would be take a class? We wound up having a nice, drug-free birthing, but we used the supplemental materials and actual hypnosis skills we had gotten through out own research after being so disappointed by the class.

With our second baby, there still wasn’t an instructor in the area, but we got the Hypnobabies Home Study and were blown away by it. We literally knew more about birth, hypnosis and how to have the birth we wanted within an hour of opening the Hypnobabies Home Study than we had picked up through the entire first pregnancy and class. Hypnobabies was WAY more thorough, easier to learn, far easier to use during our birthing time and so much more effective it seems unfair to even put them in the same category. My husband loved that he had so many ways to instantly increase my comfort, and used them like a pro. We felt WONDERFUL going into our birth with confidence because we actually knew what to do and how to do it! The birth itself was so fun, we were positively giddy for days. I was so comfortable I actually did our taxes in active labor, then slept for 4 solid hours before wandering cheerfully into the birth center fully dilated.

Here is another bit of information on the differences:

http://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/comparison_between_hypnoclasses.htm

http://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/options.htm

and here is a free CD discussing Hypnobabies and a sample hypnosis relaxation session, so you can “try before you buy”, which I thought was a cool thing to offer:

http://www.enjoybirth.com/Free-Hypnobabies-Tracks.html

In retrospect, I compare my taking the HypnoBirthing class with an instructor instead of the Hypnobabies Home Study to learning Japanese at a local college to prepare for a trip to France, just because there isn’t a live French class nearby. The class simply didn’t teach what I needed to learn, and I would have been FAR better off doing the Hypnobabies Home Study. So make absolutely sure the class you are looking at actually teaches exactly what you want to learn, or having an instructor isn’t going to be the benefit you hoped. Luckily there are way more live Hypnobabies classes available these days, so many people can find one if having an instructor is important to them. And if one is too far away to go to weekly, but relatively nearby (a couple hours away, maybe), I’ve heard of many people doing the Home Study, then doing a 1-time private session to get all questions answered, watch videos, do a guided birth rehearsal, etc., which seems like a good alternative.”