Hypnobirthing? Really?

I knew hypnobirthing was the right place for me at the begining of the first class when our teacher gave us a button that said: "PLEASE! Only happy birth stories . . . My baby is listening." I LOVE IT!

So, DH and I are going to be hypnobirthers. It's a method of childbirth preparation like Lamaze or the Bradley Method. The focus of hypnobirthing is to be relaxed and meet the birth of our baby without fear. The method teaches that fear leads to tension which leads to pain. This makes a lot of sense to both of us, so we're going with it. I have to do lots of relaxation and visualization exercises to prepare my self to relax through my birth. We have to practice with DH reading visualization scripts, so I get used to relaxing to his voice. Luckily, he has a very relaxing voice. We've been to two classes now, and I really love it. Some of it is pretty hokey and sentimental, but the exercises actually work! I've been a little ball of tension since I was born, but I can relax, whodathunkit!

Yes, this means we are planning an unmedicated birth. No, I've never birthed a baby before, so I don't know what it's like. Any thing else?

Our last class focused on prenatal bonding. We watched an old video from the 80's that was pretty funny. It was hard to focus on the content while you were busy listening to the synthesized music and looking at the teased, featherd hair and blue eyeshadow. Let me just say that us pregnant ladies are very lucky when it comes to maternity clothes now!