Sometimes, despite the most meticulous planning, birth takes a turn that wasn’t expected.
When unexpected things happen during pregnancy, labour and birth, this can often lead to disappointment and even trauma.
The HypnoBirthing program aims to prepare a couple for ‘whatever turn their birthing takes’, so that they are informed enough to ensure that their birth is not being led in a direction of intervention unnecessarily. Birth is unpredictable, and whilst we need to focus on what it is we are aiming for, we must be prepared for any special circumstance that may arise.
Unfortunately many expectant couples approach birth uneducated and give away their power and control, which can set them up for disappointment.
Around 30% of women worldwide describe their birth as being traumatic.
So how can birth take a turn?
- Medical complications
- Unplanned/unnecessary interventions
- A fast birth
- Caesarean section
- A premature birth
- Baby being separated for medical reasons at birth
Women can be left feeling traumatised if they;
- Feel powerless during labour
- Feel out of control
- Fear their baby or themselves dying
- Needed more support from staff or partner
- Had needs that went unmet
For many women these feelings continue into parenthood and can lead to Post Natal Depression or Post Natal Anxiety. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is also reasonably common for new parents.
There is something seriously going wrong with birth and believe me, it’s not women’s bodies.
We have a very medicalised system that most women birth within and often when we impose needless tests, exams and procedures on a woman in labour, it can affect the natural rhythm and flow of her hormones and body.
Of course special circumstances can arise too and even when we have access to state of the art technology, it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.
Following a traumatic birth women can feel many things;
- Shock
- Numb
- Anxious
- Anger
- Guilt
- Disappointed
- Resentment
Many women talk about feeling emotional and alone too. These feelings can all lead to issues bonding with baby, confidence with parenting and wanting to avoid physical contact and intimacy with others.
Very often women blame themselves for their birth trauma and wonder what they could have done to change things. There is also a huge tendency for others to dismiss birth trauma and give the age-old line ‘at least you have a healthy baby’, which is incredible trivialising and lacks understanding at how serious birth trauma can be.
Women start to feel guilty that they can’t move past their birth. They feel like they should be grateful for their birth because their baby is alive. However this requirement should be the absolute base line that we measure a successful birth from.
Our HypnoBirthing Practitioners have a top goal of a healthy mum and baby after birth but we also look at many other things. Firstly, the long term physical health of mum and baby. Hospitals generally focus on the short term, basically while the woman is still in under their care. We look further than that. We want mums and babies to feel physical healthy moving forward which means we teach about nutrition, exercise, perineal massage and share information about mum and baby’s gut microbiome.
We also explore what an emotional, mental and spiritual journey pregnancy and birth is. We want to make sure that families come out of birth feeling positive, satisfied and proud of themselves. We care deeply about the mental health of the families we work with.
We have many couples seek out our course after a first traumatic birth and occasionally even some couples who have completed the course have a birth that went down a path they didn’t expect.
The main thing to realise is that help is out there. Healing will be a journey and even though it’s hard at the time, there are so many learnings and lessons to be found along with way.
We have a beautifully, healing MP3 available for those women who may have experienced their birth take a turn that hadn’t been prepared for.
‘Healing Birth Trauma from Within’ guided meditation MP3 is a must have for any woman that has had a difficult or traumatic birth experience and is ready to find some inner peace. This beautiful album will help you to release and let go of the negative association and emotions that you may be carrying as a result of your experience.
Whether you have recently birthed, or you have been holding onto your birth experience for years, or decades, allow yourself to be transported on a journey into a beautiful forest scene where you are able to safely review your birth experience with the ‘wise women’ and gently let go of the emotional baggage that you have accumulated. Deeply relaxing and deeply healing you can listen to it again and again and have a different healing experience each time.
ON SALE HERE for only $7.69
We also recommend;
- Centre of Perinatal Excellence(COPE)
- Perinatal Anxiety and Depression(PANDA)
- How to Heal a Bad Birth
- Sessions with a clinical hypnotherapist or psychologist
