Kate Middleton has praised the ‘hypnobirthing’ technique as she candidly revealed she actually ‘quite liked' being in 'labour’ but only because she knew it was eventually going to end.
- Kate Middleton has revealed she 'quite liked labour' as she 'realised the power of the mind over the body' by using the ‘hypnobirthing’ technique.
- The Princess shared that the technique was 'something she wanted to do for herself' after suffering with hyperemesis gravidarum, a form of morning sickness.
- In other royal news, Prince George had a 'baptism of fire' and has learned 'an awful lot about his destiny' since Queen's death - but Kate and William wanted the opposite.
It still doesn't feel possible that Prince George celebrated his 10th birthday last week, marking the passing of a whole decade since Kate Middleton and Prince William welcomed the first of their children into the world.
They may have raised eyebrows following George's birth with an unusual detail on his birth certificate, but since then they've done nothing but make headlines for their brilliant parenting style. Even King Charles, a staunch traditionalist, is 'fully supportive' of the 'informal and fun' way Kate and William are raising their children.
The couple are taking parenting in their stride, from their handy trick to keep the paparazzi off their children's backs during holidays to their mostly successful attempts at treating Prince George, who sits first in the royal line of succession, and his two younger siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who sit further down in the royal lineup, equally - though his sister and brother do know there is a difference between them and Prince George.
And, just like her approach to motherhood, even during the children's births, Kate Middleton was relaxed and knew exactly what she was doing. In fact, she has revealed that she actually 'quite liked labour.'
Speaking on Giovanna Fletcher's podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby, Kate shared that she was introduced to hypnobirthing after struggling with hyperemesis gravidarum, a form of morning sickness that can see pregnant women be sick multiple times a day and suffer from more extreme symptoms than are usually associated with morning sickness.
While she stressed that hypnobirthing isn’t the technique for everyone, Kate praised the technique and shared that she found labour to be a 'powerful' experience where she 'realised the power of the mind over the body.'
She told Giovanna, "It was through the hyperemesis that I really realised the power of the mind over the body. There's levels of it. I'm not going to say that William was standing there 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 realised that this was something that I could take control of, I suppose, during labour. It was hugely powerful."
The Princess then went on to reveal that she 'quite liked labour' only because she knew it would eventually have to end.
She said, "Because it [the sickness] had been so bad during pregnancy, I actually really quite liked labour because it was an event that I knew there was going to be an ending to."
But when her children's births were over, Kate had another trial to complete; presenting her children to the world. Following the birth of all three of her and Prince William's kids, the couple had to stand outside the hospital doors and pose for the cameras, an act that Kate shared was 'slightly terrifying.'
When Giovanna Fletcher asked her whether making her first appearance with Prince George was scary, Kate answered, "Yeah, slightly terrifying, slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie.
"Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and, you know, we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important.
"But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents, and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions."
