Verity Lovelock claims that giving birth to her son (8 hour labour) was totally pain free, and in fact she would describe is as 'enjoyable'.
Verity wanted as 'natural' a birth as possible, without the use of any drugs at all and she believed in and embraced the idea of hypnobirthing.
Hypnobirthing is defined as being a complete birth education program, with the ultimate goal of helping the mother to be in control in order to have a better birth experience. It involves self-hypnosis, relaxation and breathing techniques.
Although this approach was somewhat complicated by the fact that Verity's waters broke three weeks early, and when contractions hadn't started a week later, she ultimately had to agree to being induced as the risk of infection for her baby grew. Even though induction can often bring on stronger contractions, Verity says that while 'it was intense, by the end, I was totally euphoric between contractions. I don't remember pushing - suddenly he was just there'.
Verity says she used a chapter of a hypnobirthing book to learn visualisation techniques focusing on images that were calming to her, , she explains: 'I just concentrated really hard and talked to my little boy', insisting that 'I honestly didn't find my labour a painful experience, the stronger my contractions got, the less they were a problem, because it was a productive feeling. Everyone was a step closer to my baby. As soon as it was over I thought "when can I do it again?"'
So what do you think? And what approach did you decide to take for your labour?
