That’s how Raquel Vargas describes the birth of her daughter, Juleanna, using Childbirth Hypnosis Training (CHT). She is especially appreciative of the wonderful birth experience, because it was very different from the tense and difficult birth experience she had when her first child was born.

“For my first child, the whole birth experience was confusing and frightening.
I didn’t know what was happening and I felt totally unprepared. I remember thinking, ‘I never want to go through that again.’”

Contrast that to how Raquel feels about the birth of her second child, using CHT. “This time, I didn’t have any of those feelings. I just kept thinking it was a beautiful experience. I was relaxed, rather than tense, and I was able to appreciate it so much more. I wish I’d had that experience the first time.”

Raquel had never tried hypnosis before and wasn’t sure what to expect, but she enjoyed the training sessions with Marie-Paul. “I could feel myself relax completely, and I was able to access that state of relaxation myself when I went into labor. I felt prepared because Marie-Paul did guided imagery with me so I would feel prepared, no matter what situation came up at the birth. In fact, she asked me to create the scenario of the birth, —how long labor would be, would I be able to walk around turning contractions, all the details. And you know what? It pretty much happened that way.”

Raquel says the experience of using hypnosis techniques during the birth of her daughter was “so relaxing that it was almost like having an epidural, which I didn’t have.”

Marie-Paul attended the birth, and used soft music and Reiki, a hands-on healing method, to help Raquel with the back labor she was experiencing. “It eliminated the pain and I just got a wonderful feeling of well-being. I was even able to sleep for long periods of time. There were about four hours of active labor, just as we had discussed in our sessions.”

Juleanna Vargas, 8 pounds, was born about 3:00 a.m. “The hypnosis training made all the difference. The midwives said it was one of the easiest births they had ever seen. In fact everything went so well that I think I could easily do it again! It was incredible.”