I have received many wonderful words of appreciation for the BirthCreation programme from couples who have had very positive Birth experiences, confirming the effectiveness and the relevance of the programme. I would like to share some of those wonderful stories with you:
Savannah Miller's words about the Birth of Moses:
"Dear Olivia Thank you so much for that amazing course... Moses’ birth has completely changed my life and I really want to pursue spreading the word about positive birth... "I don't know how I would have begun to cope with labour without the help of hypnobirthing. Having been absolutely terrified of 'pain' all my life, hypnobirthing gave me and my partner the confidence to trust in nature, ourselves and our baby to ensure that his birth was exactly as he needed it to be. I can honestly say that from practicing the hypnosis scripts and deciding the sensation I would feel during surges would be 'tightening', I never felt 'pain' during my birth. I remained completely relaxed and free of tension during surges largely thanks to my partner being so supportive and constantly reminding me of the deep relaxation techniques and keeping the birth environment free of stress and full of love. During the second stage he reminded me to smile as I would be meeting my baby soon and I gave birth grinning from ear to ear in genuine ecstasy. The act of giving birth was awesome and because I was so calm, I was able to totally enjoy the utter bliss of the moment my son came into the world. The water pool we hired was also fantastic and gave me back ten hours of energy with the relief it offered, Suddenly I was weightless and floating having been on my feet for nearly 24 hours. Moses’ birth was, as we had hoped, totally peaceful, calm and filled with respect for him and as a result he is an amazingly contented and responsive child. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to have had such an amazing experience and thank hypnobirthing for empowering women to enjoy birthing again."
Zoe went through many trials and tribulations during her pregnancy. Here is Osip's Birth story:
Dear Olivia, Well, finally i get to the internet to tell you that Osip Irie was born, at home three weeks early, on june 23. It was an amazing experience.my mucus plug came out around midday, and i started to have very mild contractions. by 3 the contractions were barely noticeable but coming every ten minutes or so. i was pottering in the garden and chatting to alex, thinking they were branston hicks, or that maybe i would go into labour sometime in the following week. By 5 or 6 things had got a little more intense. i settled myself down, called ester, but she was out of town on holiday!!! I listened to the tape and relaxed, but i was in and out of deep relaxation trying to time the surges and work out what was going on!!!It wasnt til about 6 or 7 that i fully realised i was in labour. there was disconfort but not pain.actually, sometimes there was pain, but only when i allowed there to be, if you know what i mean, when i paniced. At nine my watters broke and then it all got really full on. I went into a trance state, i felt no pain or discomfort whatso ever, only pressure, the baby was moving down!!!! I went to the loo, put my hand to my vagina, the head was there!!! we called an ambulance and i got into that position you showed me for slowing things down. the ambulance arrived and i gave birth about a minute later in my own bed, without pain or pushing or fear or discomfort. Osip birthed himself!!! to me, alex and the ambulance woman, with soft music, love, even laughter!!!!! It was the most beautiful, intense, grounding and sublime experience of my life.......so THANKYOU a million times, you changed our lives with the birthing tools you gave me. Osip has had the best start in life.He is a beautiful, peaceful, calm and serene little boy who hardly ever cries . The nurses in the hospital where we went after the birth were amazed by his serenity. I am a very happy mum. So incredibly proud and pleased that i had that beautiful birthing experience i so wanted, just like the visualisations of us all post birth. Amazing. Hypnobirthing should be used by all women. I cant thankyou enough. All love, Zoe xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Marlow's Birth, a beautiful story of a fearless pain-free Birth.
Francis and Dani gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy, Marlow, on 11th July at 10.20pm.....all as smooth and easy as could possibly be. Two hours of pain free, incredibly quick labour in the tub before Dani got out and gave birth standing up holding onto the side, Francis on his knees to receive the baby boy. The midwives were still on their way to the house. They showed up half an hour after the birth, in time to deliver the placenta and tell Dani she was a star and had not even the slightest tear. He'd slipped out like a seal pup just as we'd asked him to! A birth from heaven. Funny, we hadn't actually practiced much hypnobirthing, but knowing that it didn't have to be a painful process did it for us. Dani felt no pain whatsoever at any point. I think the most significant thing we did in our preparations was actually to decide to stop doing any preperations and relax. At that point we stopped feeling bad about not doing enough and entered the state we needed to be in in order to have an easy birth. We know too that the primary reason we had such an amazing birth process was that we didn't allow any fear to cloud the process and our preparations for it. Fear is what brings pain. We now know that from first hand experience, and we're saddened by how much fear is present in Western birth process. Twice in the days since the birth, relatives of ours have brought their fear into our hibernation room and expressed it in a way that was not respecting our openness...at these points Dani immediately felt post natal pains. It took a lot of energy for us to return ourselves to our pain free state. But that's where we reside in now....calm, tired, grateful to all our teachers along the way, enjoying the presence and emergence into the world of this beautiful boy, Much love Francis and Dani xx
Luke's calm arrival
Dear Olivia, A big thank you for helping us have the calm birth we wanted. Luke was born on 31st August and thanks to everything we learnt with you, had a calm journey and arrival in this world.
Luke was born in our pool at home and laid straight on my tummy where he was welcomed by both me and Darren who was sitting in the pool with me - just as I had visualised in the hypnobirthing sessions.
The techniques we learnt with you were invaluable for keeping me calm and focussed and consequently Luke's heart rate stayed stable throughout the whole birthing.
During the surges I used the slow breathing and visualised filling up balloons or waves crashing on the shore. Darren was fantastic. He massaged my lower back and prompted me with cue words and kept reminding me that every surge brought us closer to meeting Luke. The midwife just left us to it and was so impressed with Darren's support that she said he should be a doula.
The pool also made a huge difference. The active positions that I had used out of the pool were so much easier in the pool and it was relaxing to just float in between the surges. The J breath was also extremely helpful during the second stage.
The rainbow relaxation tape continues to help me as I use it to get to sleep or just relax when Luke sleeps during the day.
Love Darren, Alison and Luke
Despite the challenges, creating a sacred space to welcome Sofia
About the birth of our beautiful daughter... As you may remember it was the day before she was born that I texted to say she had moved into the perfect position, she was pointing almost directly towards the front, and felt ready. That night the surges started to come quite regularly, but I slept well until in the early morning it became clear that her time of birth was near. The surges were some five minutes apart from about half past six onwards and I called for a midwife. She arrived at about half past eight, and as soon as she arrived I realised she was about as far from the ideal midwife we had (tried to) manifest! She was perfectly nice, but seemed very nervous, fussy and quite flappy. But what was great was to also notice that it didn't matter - I immediately knew that we would be able to handle her, and whatever situation would arise. The midwife didn't think I was very far along and asked if it was okay with me for her to drive to Paignton for baby oxygen. I was quite happy for her to be gone for a while so agreed for her to go. Soon after she left the surges started to become very intense and very frequent - we had the pool set up but with each surge I wanted to lean forwards to lean on the bed and hold Dale's hands. And every time I went to get up to get into the pool another surge came before I made it! All I wanted to do during the surges was for Dale to breathe with me, which he did amazingly, and visualise our baby on her journey. Dale also kept me looking into his eyes and with his eyes he gave me so much trust in myself.
The midwife came back soon after ten o'clock and did an internal check to confirm I was fully dilated. I then got into the pool and it was really wonderful to feel the relaxing effect of the water. I had a few more surges, then felt that Sofia was going to be born and I started to breathe her down. Dale kept holding my hands and speaking to me, telling me to breathe Sofia down.
Meanwhile the midwife was running around the room, doing what, I'm not exactly sure! What was so wonderful to notice was that at no point was she able to break the calm, focused, peaceful space that Dale and I held between us - she seemed completely peripheral to this; trying to see what was happening with a birthing mirror (which she ended up dropping in the pool!) and trying to check the baby's heartbeat. Finally she managed to get a heartbeat reading and it had in fact dropped. She therefore asked me to get out of the pool.
At this point I was pretty certain that Sofia would be born with the next surge, and I had a complete sense that everything would be fine, but at the same time I realised that the midwife was there for our safety, so I decided to do what she asked. I got up, went to lift my leg over the side of the pool - and realised that I wasn't going anywhere - Sofia was going to be born that moment. I couldn't get back in the water because I had gotten up, so the midwife started to panic about not letting the baby drop in the water - she was trying to remove her slippery gloves, and telling Dale to catch the baby. I was standing up in the pool, leaning over the side a little, and as I felt the final surge come it was quite a comical scene: I had Dale on one side of me saying very calmly and soothingly 'just breathe her down', and the midwife on the other side shouting 'PUSH! You've gotta give me a push!' And I thought to myself how funny the situation was. And then Sofia was born, and Dale caught her.
Afterwards all the other calm, homebirth enthusiastic midwives who came to see us all seemed sorry that we had ended up with a midwife who was not very confident in that situation, but for us it obviously needed to happen this way. You know how strongly the midwives had affected our previous birth experiences, and how much we had thought depended on the type of midwife we would end up with. But what was absolutely amazing to realise was that this time, it didn't matter. The experience was incredibly empowering - it really felt like it was Dale and I, and Sofia, who birthed her. It feels like we truly included and transcended the midwife issue! We are so grateful to you, as we know that the work that we did together is what brought us to this place, and hypnobirthing truly allowed us to create that sacred space between myself, Dale and Sofia, no matter what was happening around us.
Eljas and Lily were downstairs playing board games, and soon came to see their new baby sister - and life went on as normal. Our family feels so complete now - although very soon after the birth I started to feel like I want to experience giving birth again!