Are you expecting? Do you know someone who is? I was lucky enough to have the privilege of sharing hypnotherapy with this awesome new mum. Here is her story:
Trudi is amazing, she generously did some hypno sessions which helped me turn a corner in my thinking and develop positive thoughts towards my upcoming labour (or impending doom as I thought before she helped me) and this led to not just acceptance but excitement.
The mind is an incredible thing, the last communication we had just days before Arabella was born I was imagining the future with her joining my frame of reality and this cemented the conclusion to my “therapy” and sure enough the final and lasting calm settled through my bones and I breathed her out exactly as I hoped, without fear and seeing her in my mind.
Getting myself a bag of tricks was the best thing I could have done, at first I thought “ignorance is bliss” and “don’t think about the labour itself until it’s here” but I’m so glad I changed that thinking because there’s no way my pregnancy or labour would have been as calm if I hadn’t, I was already having panic/anxiety attacks thinking “what if I need a needle at any stage through my pregnancy or birth, I’m terrified of needles, what was I thinking trying for a baby” and I’d end up in a frozen type state and very tense to the point I kind of pass out, I can hear everything going on around me but I’m non-functioning! “That was going to be handy when I needed to push the baby out”, and there was another thought that scared me and why I loved hypno techniques, because you “breathe your baby down – a far cry from on Offspring which is a favourite show of mine, where I saw many times a miserable lady not in charge of her birthing experience in unbearable pain and the doctors “managing” her. “Well they would have their hands full with me for sure, it’s one day in your life, many women would give anything to do it, just suck it up” I resigned myself to but instead of being traumatised I luckily found a better way with Trudi’s energy radiating and empowering me. We found out we were pregnant at 4 months along, we had actually been to a naturopath about 3 months pregnant to get the worst tasting powders ever to help us fall. I thought I must have polyps growing, at a scan we saw bub and that was nothing to be dispelled! We decided to have a gender surprise and chose boy and girl name. Arabella means “blessing”.
I know this preparation, particularly Trudi’s encouragement of affirmations, helped me to just go with my body as I felt informed and inspired and saw FEAR for what it was – False Evidence Against Reality – so I took myself to my bubble of comfort during labour. Knowing what the body is doing is invaluable in those moments and that simple techniques such as resting my tongue behind my front upper teeth and using a comb for acupressure can help.
I remember the transition stage where I shut up shop, I had the Dr. on one side, who I ignored and turned and there was my midwife on the other, great team effort! The surge didn’t quite keep Arabella’s head out, my hypnosis track stopped and I was brought back into the moment and I panicked briefly, thinking thorough what Trudi did with me where I saw Arabella merging into my family reality as I knew it, and I told myself it was almost over, you are not too posh to push, and to think how many women would give anything to be in this moment, it’s a privilege and so I breathed myself back. Self-talk was powerful with the skills Trudi shared with me, and soon after I was having a cuddle with our calm little bubbles.
Congratulations to Lorrie-Ann on her inspiring story and welcome to the world darling little Arabella! Thank you for sharing your story. If you have any positive stories involving hypno-birthing or have any questions please feel free to comment on this blog.
