Being in the birthing business means that you often build closer relationships to people you deal with than in other professions. This is the case for a couple and their beautiful baby I met up with recently. We met up to chat about the birth of their second child and how, even though they felt as though they had a good first birth experience, they thought this may not happen for the second. I think there are many people who go through this thought process, which often isn't helped by well meaning friends or relatives claiming that it wouldn’t be the same for the second child, or that it was just luck that it was ok for the first.

This led me to consider how we need to ensure that mums to be and their birth companions understand that although the physical birth outcome is changeable, the skills and resources you have to ensure you have a good birth experience are constant and, like any skill, will only improve with practise.

As I wrote in a previous blog post when I questioned "What Is a Natural Birth?", there are 4 key elements to ensuring mum comes away from her birth recognising that it was a good experience. These are:

• Did mum and birth companion feel in control of their birth?
• Was the birth as calm and gentle as possible?
• Was mum relaxed throughout the birth?
• Did mum feel empowered after the birth?

I know I contradict some of the well known antenatal classes who infer that the best birth experiences are completely 'natural' ones, however I passionately believe that a great birth experience includes those who choose to have gas and air, epidurals, caesarean sections, hospital births and the multpiple other options which are available to help support the arrival of a healthy and happy baby.

A great quote by Jimmy Dean comes to mind when I consider birth - "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." A first time mum sails her maiden voyage for her first birth, having learned the skills but never having experienced the changing wind or power of the seas. A second time mum returns to the sea as an experienced sailor, she has the familiarity of the ocean and knows just how to work with that power and how to best harness the energy of nature.

Photo credit: wili_hybrid

Many women use visualisations to help them during labour. It helps to focus the mind inward as well as helps you avoid distractions. Visualisations can also help you focus on a rhythm of breathing. Visualising to help you manage a situation is a form of self-hypnosis and something that you can practise over time to increase the impact is has. One thing I've never been entirely sure about is when antenatal classes are prescriptive in what a woman should visualise. I remember being told to visualise a flower opening during my classes, but no matter how hard I tried, it just didn’t work for me, instead my mind kept going back to visualising what was physically happening. The reason this happened was that I was interested in what was actually happening and how each part of my body was working to enable a natural birth. I decided to take my own visualisation forward and utilised it during labour, as it was something I felt much more comfortable about, I believe it was much more powerful for me that something which didn’t quite fit.

So, if you're pregnant and you are finding it hard to stick with the visualisations you have been given, then think about what interests you have and how your visualisations can fit around those. For example, if you like cycling, imaging a rhythmic wheel turning in time with your breathing may help, or if you like scuba diving, imagine the slow breathing you do through your regulator and how wonderful it feels to be underwater. If you're a care provider, then utilise what resources and skills your client has rather than ask them to learn new skills. You will find they will be able to visualise things much more easily, which will enable them to maintain inner focus and work more effectively with their bodies. The Psychology of Giving Birth programme available on this website works with mum and birth companion to teach them how to create their own relaxing visualisations, once you know how to do this, you will have these skills for life and you can pass this wonderful technique on to your children too.

Following a recent question I posted on Twitter asking people to send me what visualisations helped them during their labour, below are the responses, these also include feedback from mums I have helped. As you can see, many of them are completely unique and wouldn’t be found in any antenatal class! Take a look through these and see if any of them might work for you.

• The actual mechanics of the body and focusing on each part working effectively, almost in slow motion
• Contractions/surges as pate being spread on toast (this lady really missed pate!)
• A feeling of warmth spreading over my body
• I intuitively imagined a flower opening in bloom
• Clouds of different colours - went through the spectrum
• I visualised my cervix opening the size of a football field, with my baby coming through easily and with love
• A quiet warm beach with gently lapping waves
• Being in warm soothing water
• A positive energy force washing over me body in waves (had a particular interest in reiki)
• Breathing in time with a hot air balloon rising and falling across the sky
• My uterus was an icing bag and I was gently massaging the icing down (a cake decorator of course!)
• Fields of wheat in the wind
• Blowing up balloons and watching them drift away
• In a squatting position imagining there was a magnet on the floor helping to draw my baby down and out
• My body was made up of different instruments which made an orchestra, me and my baby were conducting the symphony, each part coming in to play at just the right moment with just the right tune
• There was a wonderful imaginary carer, gently massaging my uterus with each contraction
• In the last few weeks of pregnancy I began to see a more animalistic side come out in me and during labour I completely took on the characteristics of this animal, the animal gave me confidence that my body and mind was capable of a having a natural birth

And of course it's not just the mums who can utilise visualisations, here's some from birth companions too…

• The room was a fort and I only let down the drawbridge to people we trusted
• I was a lion protecting my family
• I was on top of a mountain, being able to clearly see everything and had the strength of the mountain within me
• I was a tree, solid, strong and sheltering my partner

I will continue to share new visualisations I hear about, so if you would like to share yours, please do add a comment.

A great article was published yesterday, which explains how Midwives in Southampton, England, are helping women who have previously had a caesarean section to choose a normal, natural birth for their next baby.

The article, published on the Medical News Today website stated that nationally, the number of c-sections has dramatically increased over the last decade and that this has led the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement to develop a toolkit to help midwives reduce these numbers.

This toolkit has been in development at Princess Anne Hospital for the last 18 months and during that time there has been a 4 per cent reduction in the number of c-sections. This is double the target reduction.

In 2007, 24 per cent of births were by c-section. In 2008 this dropped to 20 per cent, with just 16 per cent of births by c-section in November.

Interestingly, one of the initiatives is to introduce midwife-led care for women having vaginal birth following a previous caesarean.

Helen Barnes, the consultant midwife trainee who helped set up the project, said: "We try not to medicalise the event, so from the beginning the mother will see a midwife, rather than a doctor. They will have a risk assessment to make sure they are suitable for midwife-led care and VBAC, and we fully explain the risks and benefits so they can make an informed choice."

I'm not sure of the plans for this toolkit, but it if it's working it would be nice to this that this would not only be shared with other UK Hospitals, but also internationally.

If you are planning on having a VBAC, try our free download which will help you relax and work with your body.

For the full article:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/139288.php

Today I have had the wonderful opportunity of including Sheri Menelli’s wonderful eBook entitled : Journey into Motherhood: Inspirational Stories of Natural Birth into The Psychology Of Giving Birth Programme.

The aim of the Programme is to reframe peoples views of what birth can be like and this ebook completely supports that goal. It provides both inspiration and education. This guide to natural childbirth offers 48 personal accounts of labor and delivery without medication. Revealing the many options women have beyond birthing location, the testimonials offer insight into the joys, concerns, and realities of natural birth. From delivering at home with a midwife and hearing the right words from a hospital nurse at just the right moment to describing a combination of the Bradley method and acupuncture at a birthing center and discussing a child's birth at home in warm water, this resource combines personal insight with referential information. A glossary of terms and a resource guide to books, magazines, websites, videos, and CDs, and listings of childbirth classes and instructors nationwide are also included.

Here are some of the reviews of the book:

"...I highly recommend it." -- Gurmukh, Director, Golden Bridge Yoga and Author

"...these inspiring stories of natural childbirth show that childbirth can and should be safe, empowering and beautiful." -- Penny Simkin, founder of DONA and co-author of When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women

"women and girls need to hear these stories and know that natural birth is full of magnificent, life-changing wisdom." -- Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

The book is currently on Amazon for a price of $13.46, but you get is absolutely free with The Psychology of Giving Birth Programme which is only $47.00 anyway!

Sheri has allowed me to include this ebook as she is committed to getting the message out there about how birth can be so different to a lot of people’s views. Thank you Sheri, firstly for writing the book and secondly for joining with me on the unique crusade to make a difference to birth days.

This is a post I have wanted to write for a while, it's been brewing in my mind and so I've finally let it out and will see what comments and thoughts it brings.

I believe that most women would like to have a safe, gentle, empowering, natural birth with minimal discomfort, however for some women the discomfort becomes too great or there are medical concerns and varying levels of intervention are needed. Generally what I have found is that these experiences can still be safe, gentle and empowering as long as mum (sometimes via the birth companion) is in control of the decisions and she understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives about the choices on offer. If a woman feels in control, she can be proud of what she achieved, feel empowered by the experience and this can help her in her transformation as a mother.

Probably none of this is controversial, but one thing which continues to frustrate me is the idea that if a woman has intervention, that in some strange way she has "failed". When I was a HypnoBirthing practitioner, there were a few times when practitioners would discuss birth outcomes where intervention was needed. So often questions would be asked such as "..did mum practise the relaxation techniques enough?", "..she didn’t listen to Rainbow Relaxation every day, perhaps that’s why?", "...did she pay attention in class?!". One of my mums had gas and air during her labour, this was considered by some as her failing in some way, whereas to her, she was in complete control, had an amazing gentle calm birth and looks back on it with absolute joy. By applying this level of pressure, whether consciously or subconsciously we are increasing the performance anxiety around birth and causing the very thing we are trying to prevent. As well as this, by applying our own personal values to what a good birth experience is, we are taking away the gift of a wonderful birth from those who in their owns eyes had actually achieved it.

The only way to achieve wonderful birth experiences is to join with mum and understand what would be wonderful to her. Then we can help her achieve her experience, if this changes along the way then so be it, as long as she continues to be informed and feels in control of her birth experience, she will become a mum who is proud of the journey she has been on and proud of what she has achieved. It must be a huge difference to a newborn baby being surrounded by people who feel as though they are strong and empowered, compared to the feeling of failure.

Lets' give more mums, birth companions and babies the gift of wonderful birth experiences by holding back on the pressure, supporting what they want and celebrating their own unique journeys.