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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Saturday, 13 February 2010 12:12 |
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Just to let everyone know that we've announced an extra hypnobirthing course in March, to be held at katharine's home in Fosbury. The village is midway between Andover and marlborough (more details on the main site), and the course will be over 4 evenings (Monday and Tuesday on successive weeks).
These course are more intimate than the London ones, with katharine's house being quite small, so we only have a few couples at each one. Please feel free to contact Katharine through the site for details. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Monday, 04 January 2010 22:35 |
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I taught a Hypnobirthing class near the Southbank to a delightful group this weekend.
There were lots of good questions and I was impressed by the mother who was expecting twins and had decided to have them at home attended by an independent midwife.
One part of the course that I particularly enjoy is sharing lunch together on the second day. It gives everyone a chance to get to know each other and maybe make friendships that will last after the babies are born which can be a great support in early motherhood. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Friday, 01 January 2010 11:56 |
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If your baby hasn't arrived on the 'due date', an induction is generally proposed quite soon afterwards. Let's look at this for a moment.
For nine months your baby has grown undisturbed inside you. There have been checks to make sure all is well but, in general, everyone has trusted this miraculous process. Suddenly this date arrives on which such store has been placed and everything changes. Now the presumption is that the baby no longer knows best and that nature may have got it wrong.
My personal observation is that we meddle at our peril. Which of course is not to say that there are no circumstances where intervention is necessary and even beneficial. To claim that would be stupid and dangerous and, as a hypnobirthing teacher, I cannot give medical advice, but I receive a great many birth reports from mothers and I hear what they have to say.
Yes, there are risks in a pregnancy which goes beyond 42 weeks (the World Health Organization's definition of the natural length of pregnancy is 37 - 42 weeks), but this has to be offset against the risks of an induced labour which is frequently the beginning of a cascade of interventions possibly leading to an epidural, a vantouse delivery, forceps or even a caesarean section. Accord to Ina May Gaskin the risks of a caesaran section are grossly under-reported, and it also needs to be taken into an account that, with an induced labour, you are confined to bed so cannot use a birthing pool, and in a position where the pelvic capacity is much less than in, for example, a squatting position.
Many mothers also report that it is much less comfortable than being free to move around and assume whichever position seems right for them at the time - and no-one can tell them what this might be.
It is a situation where you are wise to ask questions about all the alternatives available, about the pros and cons of them all, so that you can be part of the decision making process. Remember that any intervention can only be done with informed consent. Remember too that the medical profession faces dilemmas daily and are subject to pressures of their own. If you want to be included in the decision making process you too are part of the dilemma.
Remember too that it's your body and your baby. Keep your focus on what you want to achieve, and listen to the advice you are given seriously and carefully. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Saturday, 24 May 2008 09:47 |
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This weekend I'm not teaching HypnoBirthing - yes, really! Today's a very important day. It's a celebration of the arrival of my hypnobirthing grandson last October. Family and friends are gathering for a picnic. The sun's shining, and I'm looking forward to a wonderful day. He's a true hypnobirthing baby. His mother was fully dilated when she arrived at hospital and he was born half an hour later. Since then he has been very calm and cheerful, as are so many hypnobirthing babies. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Friday, 23 May 2008 21:35 |
I was reminded today how much HypnoBirthing (quite rightly) is about mothers and the needs of fathers can be overlooked. Of course fathers have an important role in the HypnoBirthing method, but what about their needs? It was brought home to me a little while back when I was talking to a father who had ME and who was deeply distressed that he was unable to provide for his wife and new baby.
A father's natural instinct to provide and protect is often overlooked, but it is a very deep instinct. In my HypnoBirthing classes I am often touched by the care with which the fathers treat their pregnant wives / partners, and maybe the fathers need a little more acknowledgement for this. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Thursday, 22 May 2008 05:49 |
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HypnoBirthing is wonderful, and it is enormously satisfying to see the difference it makes to mothers, but last weekend I had a different sort of satisfaction. I took a weekend off to be with my family and played with my hypnobirthing granddaughter as well as my three year old grandson (born in New Zealand so I wasn't able to teach his mother hypnobirthing). There's a lot to be said for playing on a sandy beach with small children. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Monday, 19 May 2008 14:08 |
A little while ago I worked with a mother to turn her breech baby, and the baby duly turned, as it does in 80% of the cases when you use hypnotherapy to turn a breech baby. Last week I heard that the baby had been born by c-section because the baby's heartbeat had slowed in labour due to the cord being round its neck. This set me thinking again about interventions in labour. Was the baby breech originally because a combination of baby's and mother's instinct knew that, in this case, it was safer to be born this way round. After all, the baby is the only person who knows where the cord is and the exact position of the placenta, and it's extremely presumptuous of us to think we know better, because we don't.
In the modern world, a breech baby is almost automatically delivered by c-secion, but I know hypnobirthing mothers who have easily delivered a breech baby with no drugs, no pain and with a gentle and easy labour.
The modern assumption that having a baby is a medical emergency and that we know better than the baby what should be done is dangerous and arrogant. A healthier assumption could be that all is well unless proved to the contrary, rather than that we should intervene unless it's proved to be unnecessary.
A mother will always do the best she can for her child. Maybe that's why we use the phrase, 'Mother' Nature. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Thursday, 15 May 2008 11:49 |
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I spent a couple of days with a HypnoBirthing baby earlier this week; my grandson. Everyone tells you that HypnoBirthing babies are calm, develop quickly and thrive. I know he's my grandson, so I'm biased, but it is still remarkable to see the subtle differences in a HypnoBirthing baby. Midwives have been know to remark: "I've never seen such a chilled out baby." It's difficult to define the differences, but it has to do with being more alert, sleeping better, feeding better, and generally being ready to move forward after birth because there are no drugs and no trauma to recover from. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 21:37 |
Yesterday a mother who has just booked up to the HypnoBirthing class in July emailed me to say she was feeling nervous about the birth and asking me if I would send the course CD to her so she could listen to it in advance and relax. By chance (?), it just so happened that she lived in the same street as my son, daughter-in-law, and their HypnoBirthing son who I was visiting at the time. It also just so happened that I had the CD she wanted with me. Within 10 minutes of receiving her email, I had walked down the road, and dropped the CD in to her. HypnoBirthing really does work!
The only thing is, the CD has relaxed her so well that she's never heard the end of it. |
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Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog
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Sunday, 11 May 2008 18:19 |
I read a really funny article just now about HypnoBirthing. It said:
HypnoBirthing - for decreasing birth disomfort.
Why not be positive and put: HypnoBirthing - for increasing birth comfort.
Or, better still: HypnoBirthing - for allowing birth to be comfortable as nature intended. |
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