I’m on a high after hearing about another one of my HypnoBirthing babies born this week.
Mum says “It was a very long labour and I thank my lucky stars for HypnoBirthing. I could not have gotten through the 9 hours of basically back-to-back surges without it!! We used every HypnoBirthing technique. Sessions with you helped so much.”
It’s in stark contast to another baby born a few weeks ago where dad told me “Baby boy arrived last night within 10 minutes of arriving a hospital. They’re both fine. Mum was able to use some of the HypnoBirthing techniques. She did labour at home but only 2 hours.”
They might not sound like your ‘typical’ HypnoBirthing stories but that’s what birth is.
It’s unpredictable. It can be long. It can be short. It can be comfortable. It can be painful. It can be calm. It can be wild.
I love that HypnoBirthing supports all of those scenarios. That after the course you feel ready for anything.
I’m so passionate about HypnoBirthing because I’ve seen both sides of birth.
I know what birth trauma feels like and I know what feeling like superwoman after a birth feels like. Both equally intense – one awful, one magical.
I learnt HypnoBirthing for my first birth at Simply Natural Childbirth in early 2012.
Unfortunately, all I really concentrated on was that potentially I could have a pain-free birth.
That was all I focused on.
I knew I could relax easily and had been hypnotized countless times before so actually didn’t see any other outcome except for a 100% comfortable experience.
You can imagine my surprise when my surges began and hurt.
At first they were a period pain type ache then progressed to full blown painful surges, which scared me.
I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong and why I couldn’t relax during the surges.
I panicked and went into that fight/flight/freeze response that we talk about in classes.
My labour lasted around 24 hours, 10 hours of active labour. I managed a vaginal birth with no tearing and minimal pain-relief but I was in shock about my experience.
It didn’t help that my son suffered from the affects of the pethidine injection I’d had before he was born and had breathing difficulties.
We were then separated when we went to the Special Care Nursery so I missed the hour bonding I’d had my heart set on.
For two months, I didn’t bond with my son.
For nine months I suffered Post Natal Depression until being diagnosed and deciding to go on medication.
For twelve months I suffered undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
My husband and I struggled terribly that first year. The change to our lives was unexpected and intense.
We didn’t communicate well and struggled with a baby who woke every 30-90 minutes for months.
Every night I re-lived my birth experience. I felt the fear, the guilt and regret each night as I lay in bed before passing out, just to be woken again to a crying baby.
Around my son’s first birthday, I got help. I had a hypnotherapy session with Manuela Picinich at Simply Natural Therapies.
I will be forever grateful and indebted to her. After one session, the trauma cleared and that very night, I fell into a blissful sleep.
A week then passed and I realized I hadn’t thought about my birth story once.
I slowly but surely healed.
The birth of my daughter in 2015 was completely different. Early labour was peaceful and beautiful. Active labour and the birth was quick, intense and loud. I loved it.
It healed me and my husband in many ways and inspired me to share HypnoBirthing and my experience with others.
I have bought all that experience to my HypnoBirthing course.
What I teach is up-to-date Australian content. We watch beautiful current birth videos.
I don’t shy away from the fact that birth can be painful.
I teach women what to do, I teach partners how to support.
I teach about those first few weeks of having a newborn. How tiring it is, how overwhelming and how to navigate it.
My during and post course care is possibly over the top! I send emails, handouts and video links after each class.
I send a Helpful Parenting Toolkit four weeks out from mums due date where I also offer a catchup to go over any last details or concerns before the birth.
I keep in touch via SMS and email to make sure mum and dad are supported after the birth, if that’s what a couple would like.
All of this new content is delivered with my touch of reality, my straight forward approach and I like to think a bit of fun.
I’m passionate, caring and won’t let anyone go into their labour feeling unsupported and fearful.
If you or anyone you know is pregnant at the moment, I am asking for you to think of me and The HypnoBirthing Collective.
