Kate Middleton Reveals She Did 'Hypnobirthing' for All Three Kids — and 'Quite Liked Labor!'
Kate Middleton is getting personal about her experiences during childbirth, revealing that she turned to “hypnobirthing” for all three of her deliveries.
While battling hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness she had during each pregnancy, Kate says she took it upon herself to learn about the birthing method.
“I got very bad morning sickness, so I’m not the happiest of pregnant people,” Kate says in a revealing interview on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, hosted by bestselling author Giovanna Fletcher.
“[It was] utterly rotten! I was really sick – I wasn’t eating the things I should be eating – but yet, the body was still able to take all the goodness from my body and to grow new life, which I think is fascinating,” she said during the podcast, which premiered Saturday.
“It was through hyperemesis that I really realized the power of the mind over the body because I really had to try everything and everything to try and help me through it.”
Kate immediately connected with hypnobirthing, which involves various relaxation and self-hypnosis techniques to help relax the body before and during labor and birth. Classes generally teach participants to practice and use a combination of music, visualization, positive thinking and words and even prompts from partners to relax the body and control sensations during labor, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“There’s levels of it,” added Kate, who is promoting her groundbreaking survey called “5 Big Questions on the Under Fives,” which kicked off earlier this month. “I’m not going to say that William was standing there sort of, chanting sweet nothings at me. He definitely wasn’t! I didn’t even ask him about it, but it was just something I wanted to do for myself.”
“I saw the power of it really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like that – that they teach you in hypnobirthing – when I was really sick and actually I realized that this was something I could take control of, I suppose, during labor,” she continued.
“It was hugely powerful and because it had been so bad during pregnancy, I actually really quite liked labor! Because actually it was an event that I knew there was going to be an ending to! But I know some people do have really, really difficult times, and it’s not for everybody.”
Kate welcomed son Prince George on July 22, 2013. His sister Princess Charlotte followed on May 2, 2015. Younger brother Prince Louis was born on April 23, 2018. The royal mom had all three of her children in the Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in London.
Over the past several years, Kate has done a lot of work on behalf of early childhood development, which has been inspired by her own experiences as a mother. Her new survey, which has been taken by more than 200,000 people, aims to spark a national conversation on the early years that will ultimately help bring about positive, lasting change for generations to come. As she’s learned more through her research and in teaming up with various charities and organizations, she’s come to realize that she would have done things differently during her own pregnancies.
“I feel huge responsibility because what I’ve learned over the last few years is so fascinating and I definitely would have done things differently, even during my pregnancy, than I would have done now,” she revealed.
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“I found it fascinating to see the wellbeing of the mother – not just physically, you know there’s so much information about making sure you exercise and making sure you have a healthy diet and things like that, which, yes, is definitely important — but the emotional wellbeing of the mother directly impacts the baby that you’re growing.
“It’s difficult, and also with life’s challenges and everything like that, it really is hard but actually just being aware of it. I was a lot more aware of it third time around than I was the first time around.”
