Your Baby, Your Birth: Hypnobirthing Skills For Every Birth

I used HypnoBirthing with my first child and it lived up to the hype - not just because it was a calm beautiful birth - but mainly because it gave me the power to know my rights, have belief in my body and perhaps most key - is that when things don’t go to plan- it gives you the tools and techniques to get through. So why you may wonder read another book on the subject,this book is great for first time mums but also second and more - because it requires practise, focus, repetition, knowledge and belief. Hollie consistently informs you with no bias of your rights whatever route your birth takes. She is honest, real and (crucially) current in her writing- never afraid of saying what many other books dare not to say. For example her passage on bottle feeding when breastfeeding does not go to plan is eye opening and important for women who often feel they have failed by not being able to breastfeed. It shows birth stories in all their glory and colour. It is a book that every pregnant mother should be given on their first midwife appointment! It would give them the strength, empowerment and guidance that so many women could benefit from & ultimately impact the rest of their and their babies lives. Get it for anyone you know that is expecting - I promise you they will thank you for it.

I would recommend this book and the audio tracks that come with it wholeheartedly to anyone expecting whether a first time mum or with previous birth experiences. Would highly recommend for birth partners to read it too. I started reading this book about 6 months into my first pregnancy. I hadn't been super scared of labour and birth before, but I did feel like the social stigma of it being horrible was hanging over me and I was afraid of the potential interventions that can go with birth. I wanted to feel like I was in control of the situation. This book gave me tools to feel calm and ready for whatever turn my labour would take. It is beautifully written and everything is put in a very understandable and relatable way. It's not too hippie or patronising. My partner was very suspicious of hypnobirthing as a concept at first, but after reading Hollie's book he was totally on board with it. I felt informed and empowered. I started looking forward to giving birth. We were lucky enough to have a drug-free, smooth, calm and fairly quick birth, the tools I got from this book helped me cope with the process from beginning to the end. I am so happy that I can look back and say it was one of the most intense, yet best experiences of my life. Thank you Hollie, your voice carried me through most steps of labour and my son's birth.

I have just had my 2nd baby and can honestly say that Your Baby, Your Birth made my experience an exceptionally calm and controlled one. I opted for a home birth (I had one with my first too) and people thought I was crazy. I know its not for everyone, but I've only been to hospitals to see really ill people, and so instantly associate them to negative times. I wanted to be in my own home, in an environment that I was completely comfortable in, and to be in control of what was happening. I tried Hypnobirthing the first time round, spending a fortune on 1-2-1 sessions...when I went into labour I used the techniques I'd learned, but they soon went out of the window when things really got going. On hindsight I realised that I wasn't really prepared. My sessions hadn't educated me on what my body was going through and so I lost control. Of course it was fine and I got through it, but it wasn't the experience I'd imagined in my head. This is the key with this book - it totally prepares you for what is happening, educating you on the different stages of labour and why you're body is doing what it is. For me, this meant that I didn't panic, I stayed in control and I used the techniques that the book teaches to breathe through the experience. You have to be prepared to put the work in, it's not just a read the book and you're done job, but using the book and the MP3's regularly throughout pregnancy to get ready. My husband also read it and so was an amazing support throughout the labour. This book is an absolute must read for anyone who is expecting a baby, whether they are opting for a homebirth or hospital - I will be buying it for all of my friends in the future and even recommended it to my midwives for any ladies that they have who are interested in hypnobirthing. Fantastic book, thank you Hollie!!

It's a good read. I'm a second time mum and felt confident with birth from my first experience (even though it didn't go totally to plan). I could definitely see this benefiting women who are anxious about birth and there were certainly a few bits I took from it. Overall though there is a lot to remember to do it properly so a course would be beneficial as well to really engage fully with the concept.

This book gives a good, clear, down to earth explanation of hypnobirthing techiniques, which I feel not only helped me achieve a successful water birth, but have given me some tools to use in motherhood and in general life. I am not usually an affirmation sort of person, but the ones promoted here are just good sense, and sometimes you just need to see things written in black and white to be reminded of that sense! There are various exercises you can do, and relaxation practices, and there is also supporting MP3 material on the Penguin website. The most useful thing I found was the suggested statements to put on your birth preferences plan - it really helped me think about what I wanted to happen in the ideal scenario, and how I would want to handle things if they didn't go to plan. I also read another hypnobirthing book and looked at lots online and while I found them all useful, I particularly liked that Hollie also talked about the post natal period, and how to continue the relaxed and confident approach to the newborn days. I shall be recommending or lending this book to pregnant friends!

The book was good and really helped to calm my nerves during pregnancy so it was great for that and helped me to really narrow down what necessities I wanted during labour and after. However when the day came I didn't really use any of the techniques, or the bits I had bought - it all very quickly. I ended up with severe preeclampsia and needed all sorts of medical help from the hospital staff and spent 10 days in hospital, but I still consider it a positive experience - I certainly don't have any regrets or feel like I was pushed into anything. I stated on my notes that I didn't want any students as the books made it sound like it would be nicer and calmer without, honestly the students in the labour ward I went to were the best and really supportive and I regretted putting that on there - one of the students ended up staying with me anyway and she ended up being the best support at the time I needed it the most, as the midwife was busy talking to the drs, updating my notes, and doing various other medical bits (due to the preeclampsia there was a lot going on). The main bit I took away from this book and others was to understand what your rights were and what your options are regarding interventions, drugs and the location where you choose to *plan* to give birth (in the end my options were limited, but the reasons were medically justifiable and I think that's the main takeaway to bear in mind). So the reason my experience was positive was because I did a lot of reading beforehand so I knew what to expect at each stage - including this book, other hypnobirthing books but also online. I think you could probably read up a lot of hypnobirthing techniques online yourself tbh, and Google some birthing mantras which really helped me to keep calm during pregnancy. I would just advise first time mother's to take note of how many stories in the book, on the website, or any courses you end up doing are also from FTM and what their experiences were. I think if I had another baby I might use hypnobirthing techniques abit more.

I ordered this book on a whim, I was roughly 15 weeks pregnant at the time, riding on a wave of anxiety and hysteria and struggling to see how this birth was going to be enjoyable never mind empowering. As it was my first pregnancy and I was the first of all my friends to be pregnant I felt fairly clueless and overwhelmed, particularly as this little bambino was neither planned nor prepared for. Quite honestly this book made my mindset do a complete u-turn. It put me back in control and turned this pregnancy into something deeply emotional and earthly for me. I finally felt confident that my body could do this and even started daydreaming about the actual labour! Such happy excited feelings thinking about my body riding the surges (super bizarre I know). This book has the right balance of empowering emotional support and useful biology. I recommend it to anyone. My friend trained as a midwife and is particularly sceptical of anything that sounds too "new age" she said that the hypnobirths she had witnessed were not only breathtaking but deeply peaceful and moving. After this book I couldn't think of any other road to go down! And particulsrly as most classes are out of our price range this book made me feel knowledgeable enough to feel like I didn't need one. Fantastic to see a UK momma writing something so empowering for us, I love it!

Some useful chapters but a lot of the information is just being repeated constantly from chapter to chapter. Whilst reading it out loud with my partner we found ourselves skipping quite a lot of paragraphs just because it was getting tiring to read the same information again and again. Hypnobirthing itself has helped me but I found youtube videos on the subject a lot more helpful than this book.