Can you still use hypnobirthing if you want an epidural?

If you can't be bothered to read the whole blog, the answer is yes! You absolutely can use hypnobirthing if you have an epidural!

Despite what you might have heard, hypnobirthing isn’t a particular type of birth. Hypnobirthing is a range of techniques to calm your mind and relax your body, allowing you to make decisions around the way your baby is born. If one of those decisions involves choosing an epidural as a form of pain management, then great! But it doesn’t mean the hypnobirthing techniques you have been mastering during pregnancy go out the hospital window.

When thinking about pain relief I always think it’s a good idea to place your options on an imaginary ladder, which you can start to climb if you are finding you need something to take the edge off your surges (contractions). Hypnobirthing, breathing, water etc are usually down the bottom of the ladder and an epidural is usually at the top, as it’s the only thing that can really stop you feeling anything. This is great if you are exhausted or finding the whole process too intense.

The problem is all the techniques you have been learning – visualising, breathing, adapting your birthing environment, using affirmations – don’t seem as important once the epidural is working. So you stop doing them. The lights come on, you start texting your mum, the increased number of people in the room start chatting with you and each other, meaning that essential hormone, oxytocin, starts to hide away - it’s a shy little bugger! And when oxytocin levels start to dip, labour can slow down, causing a cascade of intervention as further interventions are needed to get it going again.

So this, lovely reader, is where your hypnobirthing techniques come in:

·         Continue to focus on your hypnobirthing breathing (In for 4 and out for 8) to keep that oxytocin flowing.

·         Keep the lights dimmed or pop on a sleep mask to block out the hideous strip lighting.

·         Keep chatting and voices to a minimum.

·         Ask if you can still have some movement.

·         Use aromatherapy smells that you associate with relaxation  (ideally that you have practiced with during pregnancy)

·         Listen to a guided hypnosis track or some chilled tunes, either in earphones or a speaker so the whole room can chill the fuck out!

Remember, absolutely no shade here if you choose an epidural - exploring all your options during pregnancy and labour is a huge part of hypnobirthing. Choosing an epidural does not mean you have ‘failed at hypnobirthing’ or that it didn’t work for you. It means that you made the best decision for you and your baby – and what more can you ask for than that?