FAQ

It’s important that you find a hypnobirthing teacher who’s fully qualified and has an approach that suits you. I trained with Katherine Graves Hypnobirthing. I chose this course because it’s very thorough and is accredited by the Royal College of Midwives. My approach is friendly, balanced and non-judgemental. Hypnobirthing can have a reputation for taking a gung-ho approach to natural, drug-free birth. Your Soulful Birth encourages women to research their choices and make informed decisions about what’s best for them and their baby. This could be a homebirth or a hospital birth, a quiet birth or a loud birth.. the only right way to give birth is your way.

If only. Some women who have learned hypnobirthing do birth in complete comfort. Other women find it painful but manageable as they understand what their bodies are doing and feel in control. Others find labour painful and use Your Soulful Birth hypnobirthing techniques as a way of managing until they’re able to access pain relief.

No, no and noooo (I hope I’m making myself clear here). I sometimes hear women say that they “failed” at hypnobirthing. I’ve even heard of some hypnobirthing teachers (not ones that trained with Katherine Graves I should add) saying this too.

Hypnobirthing is something you use – not something you pass or fail. And it’s about supporting and empowering women – not judging their birth choices. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how deeply your breathe, how supportive your birth partner is or how many lavender-scented candles you’ve lit… things can happen that are beyond our control. We’re lucky to live in a country where we have access to such wonderfully skilled midwives and doctors.

You can start hypnobirthing whenever you choose but most women start after 20 weeks. If possible, it’s better not to wait until the last moment to learn hypnobirthing as then you’ll have time to practise the techniques.

That said, I’ve taught women who’ve been 39 weeks at the time of our last class and they’ve had positive births and found the techniques invaluable.

Unless your baby is crowning as you read this then you still have time! Please get in touch and I’ll do my best to be super flexible to get to you before baby does.

Ideally yes please. It’s great if they can come along so that they too can get informed, and confident and positive about birth. They have a huge role to play so I share lots of practical tips on how they can be really useful.

Equally well, some women come to my course without a birth partner and give birth without a birth partner. This is absolutely fine too. The knowledge, tools and techniques you’ll gain from hypnobirthing mean you’ll be fully prepared.