HypnoBirthing and Child Birth Articles by Katharine Graves


Katharine writes a number of articles and  has appeared in the press a number of times during the course of her work.
Please read and enjoy a selection of her writings here - we hope you find them useful and entertaining.
Any comments, questions or feedback is always appreciated.

Ideas to help with your Birth Plan

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Thursday, 04 June 2009 15:19
Most women will fill out a birth plan with their midwives midway through their pregnancy.  It is a way of registering your preferences for the process of your labour so that your wishes can be carried out whilst you concentrate on relaxing, breathing and focusing on the birth of your baby.

Our ethos is to encourage natural childbirth and empower you to be in control of this process, so we have put together a number of options for you to discuss with your midwife and add to your birth plan if you wish.  We have given a short account of the advantages of certain choices.  This will be covered to a greater extent on the course, and please feel free to drop me an email or call if you want to discuss any of these areas.
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Video on hypnobirthing and water births

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Tuesday, 02 June 2009 11:33

A lovely homebirthing video, showing how you can use hypnobirthing and water births for a natural and relaxed child birth.

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Home Birth or Hospital - whats best for me?

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Monday, 20 April 2009 09:27

Hospital

Nowadays in the UK this is where the majority of births occur and you will automatically be allocated to your nearest hospital.  However you may choose a hospital so it is a good idea to take a tour of the hospitals in your area and decide which one you would like to use.  You can request a referral from your doctor to the hospital of your choice. 

The hospitals are staffed by midwives, doctors, consultant obstetricians and anaesthetists.  The environment tends to be more high tech than homely with facilities for electrical monitoring of your contractions and the heartbeat of your baby.  All levels of pain relief are available including epidurals, pethidine and gas and air. 

These units are capable of carrying out all medical interventions in childbirth and can offer full anaesthetic service including caesarians.
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A personal view on childbirth

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Dr William Daveypram

By Dr. R. William Davey

LVO MD LRCP FFHOM AKC

Former Physician to Her Majesty the Queen




Natural childbirth without drugs needn’t mean intense pain any more.

Dr William Davey says he now recommends hypnobirthing for a less painful delivery...

WHEN I TRAINED IN THE 1960’S and did my midwifery course as a medical student, we had to deliver at least 40 babies as part of our pathway to qualification. We had intensive and thorough training at my medical school and I recall this as one of the best parts of learning to become a doctor.

The outcome was always triumphant for the mother (and for me!!) even if there were a few complications sometimes.

I really grew to admire the “Mums” who seemed to be so good and stoical and long-suffering. I think they knew full well I was under training and I wonder even now at their forbearance and tolerance.

Quickly I grew quite good at playing “the Stork” and seriously considered becoming an Obstetrician.

We had no shortage of ladies to care for, because then it was de rigueur, all first pregnancies were born in hospital. No argument, that was the rule.

In those days doctors were viewed as demigods and if that was the rule then all first pregnancies without question were delivered in hospital. It was then considered far too risky to “allow” home births!

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Hypnosis for Birth

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Friday, 20 February 2009 00:07

Hypnosis for Birth is a term often used interchangeably with Hypnobirthing, and it does emphasise a little some of the interesting aspects of the process that we teach.

When you talk about hypnosis people instantly seem to associate the activity with television shows - you know the type where the volunteers go up on to the stage, and are then hypnotised into doing strange things they would never normally do.

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Hypnotherapy for Birth

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Saturday, 07 March 2009 09:07

"Hypnotherapy for birth" is a broad term describing the number of processes using self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques to make it easy for you as a mother to give birth to your child.  It is a term that is being used more and more and goes hand in hand with a mother's desire to give her child and herself the best possible start in this world.

Hypnobirthing is without doubt the most well know 'brand' in the hypnotherapy birth arena, but there are some similar systems including "Hypnobabies", "Natal Hypnotherapy" which are similar, though of course they naturally claim to have some differences.

Typically some of these techniques include much more than simple hypnotherapy.  Many mothers at our classes are heard to make comments like "when is the hypnosis going to begin?", because no body has started waving pendulums in front of their faces, or told them they are going to sleep!  In reality the process is really much more subtle than that, and might better be described as "relaxing while practising thinking about a certain action or process in order to make the practice of it easier later on!"  It includes a variety of techniques to help you relax and be in control of your own body and mind.

So What is the Childbirth problem that this helps?

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How does Hypnobirthing work?


Hypnobirthing is a completely logical and extremely effective tried-and-tested method that lets you discover the joy and magic of birth, and is much more than just self-hypnosis or hypnotherapy.

It is deeply relaxing and effective, and allows your mind and your body to work in harmony, the way nature intended. Hypnobirthing is a complete ante-natal course.

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Birthing News

Here's a link to my blog: Katharine's HypnoBirthing Blog.
I hope you enjoy reading it. It aims to give useful information about
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Real HypnoBirthing Stories

Zeb was born on 13th October (3 days after his due date) at home. My surges started at 7pm on the 12th Oct and very quickly were lasting1 minute and were 5 minutes apart so we called the midwife at 10pm and she arrived by 11pm. I was 4 cm dilated when she arrived. I spent time listening to the birth affirmation CD and using all the breathing techniques and felt completely in control and calm without any pain using lot of different positions all round the house with the lighting low and everything was very relaxed.

The surges went on like this for several more hours but then about 4am in the morning things started to slow down and the surges became further apart and I began to feel very tired. I tried the different natural methods to try and speed up the surges and progress things but unfortunately they did not seem to work. At 7am the mid wife was due to go off duty and therefore called another one to come-when she arrived they checked me again and I was 6 cm dilated. The mid wives were fantsatic and so supportive of my birth plan. They also commented on how well I was coping with the surges and how calm i was.

I then asked them what they could do to possibly speed things up as I was just getting so tired having gone through the night and they said they could break my waters which I requested they did. Following this my surges became a lot more intense and I moved to the pool which was great. It was then I perhaps felt I wasn't coping as well but not through any pain as I kept thinking that each contraction was bringing me closer to my baby but just out of sheer exhaustion!Second stage labour lasted between 4-5 hours which we later found out was because Zeb had his hand over his head. I was unable to get him out in the pool so the midwives advised climbing the stairs to try and help after a few hours. It was great I was at home as I think if I had been in hospital they definitely wouldnt have let me go this long in second stage without intervening. The stairs did help and eventually Zeb was born at 1.43pm on our sofa! I was able to do the whole thing completely drug free and I really put this down to the hypnobirthing techniques I had learnt. I really felt I had to push as because of his position I dont think the birth breathing would have worked?

I felt in control of my birth and it was such a special experience to have him at home - a decision we only came to after attending your course, if you remember Piers didnt think it was a good idea before this! Unfortunately due to Zeb having his hand over his head I tore quite badly and had to go to hospital to be stitched. Originally they said they would have to give me an epidural and keep me in 2 days but after closer examination luckily I only had to have a local and was allowed home.Funnily enough when I was stitched this is the only time when I actually felt pain-apart from when I actually tore at the end. So that is it. Thanks again for all your help and your fantastic course, I will recommend it to anyone I know who is expecting!!

Best wishes,
Cressida