Customer Reviews

HypBirth: Natural Childbirth Preparation Kit (DVD)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started using HypBirth at 33 weeks pregnant and diligently used the program everyday (it's not asking a lot of a 8-month pregnant woman to lay on the couch for 45 minutes everyday). I was so relaxed throughout my last weeks of pregnancy, I actually was 4cm dilated before I even got to the doctor's office for my last checkup. The day we arrived at my last midwife appointment, we actually decided to go to the hospital and break my water. I was already 4cm dilated (and 39 weeks) and due to some health concerns it was best to get labor moving. When I arrived at the hospital, my midwife broke my water at 8:35 am. At 6cm the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and I was still walking around, laughing and joking with my husband. I'm not going to lie, I did feel pain, but it really wasn't painful until I got to about 8cm. Throughout my entire labor, I was relaxed and did not feel any fear. I pushed for 28 minutes and my baby was born. I was able to have a drug-free, amazing birth and I attribute it to HypBirth. It helped me to understand that birth doesn't have to be scary. I was relaxed and happy throughout the entire process and even though I felt pain, it wasn't unbearable. I would recommend this program to anyone and plan to use it in the future if I have more children.

What I hoped for was a natural, relaxed, painless birth experience. What I achieved was an epidural-free birth resulting in a happy, healthy baby. I could not ask for more. The hypnosis program did much to calm my anxiety in the weeks leading up to my due date. My husband was able to participate and facilitate the hypnosis during labor. Although I definitely felt pain and discomfort during my contractions (unlike the inspiring women in the DVD!), I felt in control right up until the doctor and nurses started yelling at me about not pushing and then pushing. In the end, I would certainly use the program again and recommend it to others, but with more realistic expectations.

I so strongly recommend this, especially used in concert with a doula or other labor support person trained in facilitating these techniques. I used this CD series to learn triggered relaxation techniques. With these techniques, facilitated by my fabulous doula, I had a peaceful, powerful, wonderful birth experience during which I was focused and physically relaxed. We used the triggered relaxation technique and then my doula softly spoke to me using visualizations from the CDs as well as visualizations that I had written down based on concepts of stamina, trust, love, adventure, courage, and others suggested in the CDs--my own words and images coming back to me. It was such a powerful experience and I feel like I was able to experience it really fully because I was able to be mentally focused and physically relaxed. I was in serious labor from about 7pm Monday to 1:30am that night, though I had lighter labor for since about midnight Sunday night, and I did it naturally, with no medication, and I must just say it was a really good experience, even in all its intensity.

A really big plus is that I used these techniques before and after my baby was born to trigger my relaxation and be able to go to sleep really quickly, which is valuable to a tired pregnant woman and an exhausted new mother with only 2 hours to sleep before the next feeding. Here are the benefits listed by the author, all of which were true for me: * Minimize pain dramatically during labor and birth. * Produce a faster and easier delivery. Reduce the need for an episiotomy. * Enhance comfort and sleep in your pregnancy. * 80% of all clients give birth in less than six hours, including first time moms.

I began using the Hypbirth program at 33 weeks. For about six weeks I committed myself to listening to the audio cds and practicing what I came to realize were powerfully effective exercises. My husband was minimally involved with the effort. He watched the dvd once and participated with the excercises only a handful of times.

On the morning of my delivery I woke up at 2:30am ... went to the hospital at 4:30 with completely manageable contractions having been 5mins apart for two hours. When we arrived the receiving nurse didn't believe I was in labor. We walked the length of hospital to the delivery, checked in and couldn't wait for the nurses to get out of the room so I could put on the cd. We ran out of time. My wide-eyed son was delivered at 6:17am - no pain meds, no drugs.

Too bad they don't make a "Hyp-Motherhood" program for the first 6 weeks back at home!

I agree with an earlier reviewer that the dvd production quality could be improved. But the bulk of the value of the program comes from the daily use of the audio cds - which worked great out for me and my new family.

My baby is now three years old. I used this product with her. I was intent on a natural birth and my first birth (a decade earlier) was a c-section. The labor nurse said that she had never seen anyone as relaxed as I was. I kept my fingers near my cd player to begin a cd with each contraction.

I delivered in record time. They admitted me at 11:XX in the morning with the intention of inducing labor. I guess my body wasn't interested in a round of induced labor drugs, so I went into natural labor by noon. Hubby arrived with birth bag (which had my cds). By 3:00pm, my baby girl was here. The last time I did this it took 27 hours, so I will take less than 3 any day.

I was very worried about this product not working. Many days, I would fall asleep on the cds. No fear, they worked like a dream. If I become pregnant again, I intend to purchase again, as I loaned the old set to a co-worker and never got them back.

Invest the time and money, you won't be sorry.

I loaded all the CDs onto my MP3 player and started listening to them about week 31 of pregnancy. The instructions state you should start on about week 33, when you should listen to the same CD about 7 days in a row before moving on to the next one. There are four main CDs and the other CD's have extra material that you can practice with. Once you are done with the four main CDs you can pick what you want to listen to each day until you go into labor. I didn't think I'd be able to listen every single day so I started early to make up for some lost days. I found the instructional video content to be okay, but the video quality was very low budget. If you can get past the chintzy decor and the bad lighting and sound in the video, the content still does what it intends to: provide instruction on how to use the CDs. You only need to watch a short part of the video once before moving on to each of the four main CDs. I found the CDs to be great, the four main ones are divided in to three sections each, one that is to relax you, one to teach you tools to use during labor and one that had positive birth words or affirmations. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but sometimes the sound level varied on the CDs, with one section becoming much louder all of the sudden.

When I used the CD's in the evening, I fell asleep quite often, so during the weekend I would try to use them during the day and sometimes I'd double up so I could make up for days that I fell asleep or missed practicing altogether.

I went into labor feeling like I had some tools to rely on. I did not have a fast labor; in fact, I had a very long labor, over 30 hours from the very first contraction. It was a great labor though, and I did it naturally without an epidural. I delivered at a hospital with midwives. There was a jetted tub in the room which I used three different times. I was checked early on at 2 cm and then I was not checked again until much later. My contractions never got really strong or really close together. The time between contractions was varied the whole time, with 3 minutes in between, then 10, then 5 then back to 3 or back to 10. When I was checked the second time, I thought they were going to tell me I was at about 5 cm because of the erratic pattern, but I was already at 10 cm. I had already gone through transition and did not even know it because my contractions were never that painful. I truly think it was because of the Hypbirth tools that I used to relax and let my body do its work. My focus during the whole labor was to relax every single part of my body from head to toe. Once I found a position that I was comfortable pushing in, I pushed for 30 minutes. Pushing felt very primal with moaning and grunting sounds I had no idea I could make.

Using this preparation kit was worth it. I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to share this with all my pregnant friends, but someone pointed out that I am the type of person that likes yoga a lot and that maybe that's why this worked well for me and that some folks may not want to go inward like that. I don't know if you have to be into yoga to appreciate this kind of tool, but I think it's worth a try if you have the time.

My results: 6 hr labor and no epidural. The techniques helped with pain management during the labor period. There is not much training for the delivery period, which probably would have helped. A great side benefit was improved sleep quality during the weeks I listened to the CD sets. I think the CDs are worth it for the sleep factor!

Overall, the DVD's and CD's helped me during the birthing. I was able to relax, and keep my wits about me until about 6 hours into labor. That is when the more severe surges began. At that point, no amount of concentration, breathing, or finger drops were enough to prevent my whole body from tensing. I did, eventually, have to resort to an epidural, although I was 4 cm dilated by then. My husband's help, in reassurring me, and massaging/tickling my lower back was invaluable.

I would recommend your significant other or support system view the DVD and listen to the CDs with you.

Lastly, I should note that the DVD was VERY poor film quality. It looked as though it were shot, and probably was, in someone's house with an old camera. With that said, that didn't necessarily change the efficacy of the message, just it's delivery.

After my first birth being exactly what I didn't want (lots of interventions), I was determined to have a natural birth the second time around. A friend recommended HypBirth and I immediately bought it and started using it, early in my pregnancy. What a difference!! I was calm right up to the end of my pregnancy, without any nervous jitters about a repeat performance.

My labor was similar physically (days long) but completely different mentally. At the hospital, just before transition, I heard a few different nurses say "I've never seen ANYONE so calm during labor". I got what I wanted - a completely natural birth. AND I felt great after the delivery!

I highly recommend HypBirth to anyone who wants a calm, natural birth.

Wife of Stephen here: I used Hypnobirthing with my first labor (8 hours) and Hypbirth with 2 and 3 (3-1/2 hours and 4 hours once the herbal induction kicked in). I can't recommend it highly enough. The hypnobirthing worked fine, but I didn't want to take classes again, since I didn't have the time. The Hypbirth program was a good alternative and, in the end, less expensive and more effective than Hypnobirthing. I am now expecting #4 and again starting the program. It is hard to explain, but even though it isn't "pain free," the pain of the contractions was not scary like pain normally is, and I felt in control and like I could handle it all.

As far as pushing goes, my first was born in the hospital, so they made me push. I pushed 3 times and tore before my son was out. The 2nd and 3rd times, I was in the birthing center and home, so I was not forced to push. Both babies came out quickly without tearing and without me having to push. I felt like I could go plow a field after those births, but my midwife made me promise to take it easy and act like I was recovering from a lot of labor. Both my births and recoveries were easy, uncomplicated, and quick.

I am also comforted in knowing that should a complication or need for C-section arise, I have the relaxation tools at my disposal. I have even used them in the dentist's chair and been told I was a "wonderful patient.". If he'd known the trouble I had being a good dental patient before Hypbirth, the dentist would have been amazed.