In September I began teaching group Hypnobirthing classes in addition to seeing clients privately.  I have met some great couples and it has been lots of fun, the first baby to arrive since then is little Hunter.  I was delighted to be asked to come and help out during some of the labour, which was a real honour.  I found it absolutely facinating seeing such a calm and relaxed mother working beautifully through her labour.   Hunter’s father James talks about his experience of the course and labour below:

‘My wife and I wanted the birth of our first child to be as positive and happy experience as possible. So when a close friend told us that she delivered her first baby at home without pain-relief drugs via the breathing techniques of hypnobirthing we were very curious. Shortly after we saw details for Hannah Hatherell’s hypnobirthing classes and we signed up for the four two-hour classes. It is undoubtedly one of the best decisions we have ever made.

Hannah taught us how to be in control of the birthing of our child and how my wife could mentally prepare and relax using breathing and positive thinking. Her classes are friendly, informal and are expertly balanced between theory, relaxation practice and watching real, inspiring hypnobirths on DVD. Hannah is a brilliant, charming teacher and is blessed with the perfect voice for hypnotherapy and relaxation.

In short, the birth of ones child should be the happiest day of a woman’s life. It should not be filled with that TV cliché of screaming in agony and begging for drugs. Thanks to Hannah, our birthing experience was a joyous experience in which the pain was managed without pain-relief drugs, which meant instant recovery post-birth for both mother and baby.

We had complications that resulted in a 36-hour labour. Despite the intensity and length of the labour, my wife never once screamed and at no point needed pain-relief drugs.

People can be skeptical of hypnobirthing because it goes against all the scare stories that people perpetuate about giving birth, but the female body was designed to give birth and hypno-birthing teaches you how to work with your body.

Hannah is excellent at giving the birthing partner all the tutoring you need to support the mother through every stage. Despite having no prior experience in any form of hypnosis (I hadn’t even heard of hypnobirthing before our friend mentioned it) I was able to guide my wife through the 36 hours with the help of Hannah’s notes and a hypnobirthing CD. Some of the midwives we encountered were skeptical about the prospect of my wife delivering the baby without pain relief and often tried to insist that she have an epidural. At the end, once the baby was born naturally, all the midwives were amazed and admitted they had learned a lot from the experience.

Obviously, every birth is different but hypnobirthing can prepare you for whatever you want your birth to be and, most importantly, it puts you in control of what should be the happiest day of your life.’

James, father of Hunter