Almost two years ago, a lady booked onto one of my courses and said she was terrified of giving birth. This isn’t an uncommon feeling amongst pregnant ladies, however when she said also she that was a journalist for a national newspaper and that she would like to write about how we would be able to transform this feeling into her achieving a relaxed, gentle and natural birth, the prospect of her being able to reach so many other women really excited me.

So, we did the course and I chatted to her and helped her and her birth companion with advice afterwards as I would do anyone I was helping. Interestingly, she had an amazing imagination and it was great to be able to work with someone who could be so versatile in the metaphors which ran through her mind. I remember visiting her just a couple of days before she gave birth, when she told me she could feel herself transforming, that she was getting in touch with her animalistic side and almost seeing fox-like features when she looked in the mirror. In true Ina May Gaskin style she was “letting the fox do it”.

She called me on the morning her surges began as she had discovered meconium in her waters. She was scared as she knew she would have to go in to hospital and not have the home birth she had hoped for. We kept talking until her excellent birth companion had got the car ready and I reminded her of breathing techniques she should use to help her stay calm and relaxed.

Then she left for the hospital and I waited for the call.

I was so happy when the call arrived and she told me how her wonderful birth story unfolded. Her view was that it could have been so different if she hadn’t have stayed relaxed and used the techniques she had learned. At the hospital staff talked to her about how her baby was breech and was told she would need intervention, but instead of handing over control, she went inward, focused on her breathing and enabled her labour to progress to the point where a natural delivery was the best option. As she did this, they found her baby was not breech and was also not in any distress. She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy called William and now feels exhilarated when she recalls her birth day.

It gives me an amazing warm feeling to know that I impacted Kate, Dave and Williams birth experience and this feeling, for each birth I’m involved in never lessens. The story appeared in the Daily Express, a national UK paper on November 18, 2008 and I’m sure this will have already made a difference to many thousands of women. So thank you to Kate for sharing her experience.

If you would like to give yourself the gift of a wonderful birth experience, then take a look at my new downloadable programme. This programme works alongside the care you are already receiving and will unlock the secrets behind achieving a calm and gentle birth through understanding the psychology of birth.

As always, wishing you a wonderful birth day
Take care
Juliet Eccleston

You may have been wondering why it has been a little quiet recently within the Birth Download camp, well this is the reason. We have been busy beavering away on a new product for mums and their birth companions to help them discover how to use the power of their body and mind to birth in a calm, relaxed and controlled way.

The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme

If you are interested in learning techniques to enable you and your birth partner to be in total control of your birth day and to tap into your own natural pain relief to allow you to birth in the most natural way possible with a minimum of intervention then this message is for you.

If you are anything like me when I became pregnant I suddenly started to worry about what labor would be like. How painful would it be? Would I cope? Would I tear? Would it put me off ever having children again?! Then, to make matters worse, I found that other women were only too happy to share their "horror stories" with me and, although their intentions were to probably to help me prepare for what they believed was to come, I started to truly believe that pain and trauma were inevitable. These kind of stories are everywhere - TV, radio, magazines, the internet... it seemed like everywhere I turned there was another story of a long painful birth. As well as all of this my birth companion wanted to make sure that he played as big a part as possible in the birth of our baby and not just stand on the side lines until the whole thing was over.

This is where our search for something different began. The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme is the result of that search:

The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme

Here's a sneak peak at what you'll discover in "The Psychology of Giving Birth":

- Techniques to enable you to have a clear view of what you want your birth experience to be like
- Discover visualisation skills and breathing techniques to stay relaxed throughout birth
- Learn how to prevent the risk of tearing
- How to work with your contractions and minimise any discomfort
- The little known secret to be able to control any fear or anxiety which may creep in
- The very best ways to have a birth companion who is completely prepared and knows how to really help
- How to minimise the risk of intervention
- Learn to go within and listen to your body
- How to look forward to your birth day

And that's just a fraction of what you'll find in the "The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme". Not only that but for a short period of time you will get a number of bonus modules as well.

Take the first steps towards a calm and gentle birth today and check out the The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme.

As always, wishing you a wonderful birth day
Take care
Juliet Eccleston

I was just checking out antenatal classes for gentle births and there are so many out there now using hypnosis that it must be really confusing to know which one to go for and what it involves. Some of the more recognised names include HypnoBirthing, Natal Hypnotherapy, Hypnobabies, Leclaire Hypnobirthing Method and many more. But what is hypnosis in childbirth? What's it like? How does it work?

Sometimes the perception of hypnosis in childbirth is that it's a special state which not everyone can achieve, or that it's something new, created as a 20th/21st century tool to mask the "pain" of childbirth, some people even consider it to be like "3..2...1..your back in the room and here's your baby". So to help clear things up for the reader, here's my own view on this (as a hypnotherapy trainer and an ex HypnoBirthing practitioner).

Hypnosis is among the oldest phenomena known to man and is found, in one form or another, in virtually every culture throughout the world. Many people believe they would be out of control whilst experiencing hypnosis, largely due to watching stage hypnosis, however it is actually a state where we are completely in control, with complete focus on one particular thing. In the case of childbirth, it's the complete inward focus on birth which is the natural trance ("hypnotic") state. This trance state, which can only happen when a woman is completely relaxed and feels safe during her birth has been happening since the beginning of birth itself.

If you haven't already experienced childbirth and wonder what this trance state feels like, you have probably actually experienced it before without knowing. Think of a time when you were so focused on something, that you had no perception of time, of people around you or of other noises wherever you were. Sometimes this can be through listening to music, reading a good book or being mesmerized by a great movie. It's also the state we go into just before we nod off and fall asleep. It's this ability which you already have which is called on for giving birth.

By practicing this existing skill before you give birth, you can help increase your confidence about your ability to birth gently and calmly, in complete control. A great way to practice this calm inward focus is to do so whilst listening to relaxing music you may have chosen to be played at your birth, so you automatically link the two together, plus visualize your birth unfolding just as you would like it too. Remember, if you would like a helping hand, you can get my free relax during birth guided visualization (aka hypnosis download!) just by entering your name and e-mail address into the top right hand box.

I hope this has helped clarify what hypnosis in childbirth is, if you have any questions, please do place a comment and I will happily respond.

As always, take care,

Juliet

I have created this website to help women and their birth companions reduce feelings of anxiety and focus their energy on having a calm and gentle birth. I guarantee you that this website is free from exaggerated stories passed down from generation to generation, free from stress inducing articles and free from well meaning friends who happily freak you out with their stories. What you will find here are relaxing birth downloads, birth DVDs, real stories of wonderful births, books and fact sheets all to help you look forward to your birth day.

How you visualize your birth day will have a direct impact on how it turns out, so choose your websites, reading and conversations carefully. To help you on your way, I have recorded a birth download called “Relax During Birthing” which will take you on a wonderful guided visualization of your birth. You can benefit from this download straight away as it’s completely free when you sign up to my Newsletter, as well as this I will also send you a Birth Companion Guide to help your birth companion know how they can help “protect and serve” you on the day! You can sign up to the Newsletter by entering your name and email address in he form at the top right of your screen and selecting “Get your free Downloads” button.

If there’s anything you have been unable to find on this website which would help you achieve a calm and gentle birth, please do place a comment on the blog and I will endeavor to include something which I have personally reviewed. In fact, if you have any feedback at all I would love to hear from you, then you can join me in shaping this website and it’s products into something which makes a real difference to birth experiences across the world.

So, I hope you enjoy the newsletter, products, reviews, recommendations, articles and birth stories which will follow. If you have a positive birth story of your own and would like to help others understand just how wonderful it can be, then tell me all about it by clicking on the 'Contact' link at the top of the website and I will share it with the birth download community, to help the ripple of calm and gentle births spread.

I wish you a wonderful birth day.

Take care

Juliet