"I want to take this opportunity to thank you for helping me to appreciate how my body and baby can work in harmony during labour. You not only provided me with the tools and knowledge to achieve a positive birthing experience but more importantly, created an environment of trust. Your genuine caring nature and passion for helping others is what made each session that I had with you special. You gave my husband the confidence to effectively coach me through my labour and unlocked the door to an amazing birthing experience.

Our little miracle, Caleb, is a calm happy baby and I truly believe that your advice has played significant role to his relaxed nature". ~ Elaine, 2011.

What is HypnoBirthing^®?

HypnoBirthing^® is a complete childbirth preparation program which enables parents-to-be to achieve a positive, safe and informed birth.

This method has helped tens of thousands of couples be emotionally, physically, mentally and logistically prepared for a comfortable, easy, shorter and more relaxed birth.

To see how calm, relaxed, comfortable and serene birth can be, have a look at these recommended videos .

How does it work?

HypnoBirthing^® provides parents with the methods to release fear and move beyond anxiety, the know-how to understand the normal physiology of birth and the tools to learn how to relax sufficiently deeply to allow the birthing muscles to work effectively and in perfect harmony.

When the woman’s body is free of fear and tension she is able birth easily without discomfort. Instead of releasing the stress hormones or catecholamines (eg adrenaline), the relaxed body releases endorphins, oxytocin and prolaction - the hormones of pleasure, love and mothering. During the birth the mother is not in a trance or sleep state, but instead is awake, fully in control, and profoundly relaxed.

You might be first-time parent wanting to start your family with the best-prepared birth that you can. Or you might be a parent already who is looking for a better birth experience this time around. We can help you achieve this better birth experience.

Our society paints birth as a frightening and uncomfortable experience. Television and popular culture bombard us with stories of difficult and painful births. These images leave women fearful of giving birth to a baby. This fear causes tension which in turn causes pain.

This fear-pain-tension cycle is self-fulfilling and affects most births. Our methods help parents to break this cycle and experience a better birth.

In fact, HypnoBirthing^®...

- facilitates a more positive, enjoyable and deeply-bonded pregnancy.

- eliminates the ‘fear-tension-pain syndrome', empowering parents with techniques to achieve a comfortable, easy, short and relaxed birthing experience whilst being in complete control. The mother is aware of her body actions in labour but capable of controlling the extent to which they are felt.

- greatly reduces or eliminates the need for drugs or pain medication, episiotomy and other interventions including surgery.

- typically shortens labour by several hours.

- works with the mother’s body and the baby, lessening fatigue during labour so that the mother feels fresh and energised as she births, bringing into the world an alert baby ready to bond and breastfeed properly.

- returns birthing to the beautiful, peaceful experience nature intended.

- enables the mother to utilise her body's natural expulsive reflex to breathe the baby out gently, rather than having to use forced pushing which is exhausting and risky for both mother and baby.

- helps keep oxygen supplied to baby during birthing.
- provides the birthing companion with an integral role for during labour and birth.

- gently births babies into their new world, giving them a calmer, healthier start to life, with improved sleeping and feeding patterns.

- reduces postnatal depression

What do we learn in the course?

The objective of the HypnoBirthing® course is to enable you to have your best birth experience, no matter how the birth may proceed. Each session builds upon the other and helps you achieve the kind of birth that you are planning for. Most antenatal programs will teach you the know-hows of labour and what to expect but they will not teach you how to work through your fears and emotions during pregnancy, labour and birth, or teach you how to go through an informed decision making process.

The full course is usually conducted over 5 weeks, lasting minimum 12.5 hours, although we also offer a single weekend intensive course if necessary. 

How did HypnoBirthing START

Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, an English obstetrician, observed in the 1920s that women who were calm and had positive expectations of birth, tended to experience less pain than women who were frightened. He hypothesized that the fear felt by a woman during childbirth caused blood to be diverted away from her uterus into muscles for defense in a ‘flight or fight’ response. This left the uterus with less oxygen and unable to perform efficiently in labour.

With these observations, Dick-Read theorized that fear and tension actually cause the labour pains in approximately 95 percent of birthing women. He described a "the fear-tension-pain syndrome of childbirth" and believed that by eliminating the fear factor, women would reduce pain in childbirth.

Marie Mongan combined Dick-Read's theories, her own experiences of childbirth, and her knowledge as a Master Hypnotherapist with 30-years experience to create HypnoBirthing, founding the HypnoBirthing^® Institute in 1989.

"My dream is that every woman, everywhere, will know the joy of a safe, satisfying birth for both her baby and herself — one she’ll not need to forget." ~ Marie F. Mongan

WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

Hypnosis is a naturally induced state of relaxed mental and physical concentration in which we can we communicate suggestions to our subconscious mind. While under hypnosis we are able to contact our subconscious mind and influence what we think, feel and react to stimulus, including pain.

Being so engrossed in a movie that you lose all track of time is an everyday example of what hypnosis can be like.

Hypnotherapy is a safe and enjoyable way of relaxing that leaves you fully in control. You cannot be forced to change how you act, feel or think while under hypnosis. Instead, hypnosis helps you tap the power within you for positive change.

Hypnosis is now being taught at major medical schools and is officially sanctioned by the American Medical Association and the Catholic Church. It is used to treat a range of conditions including anxiety, eating disorders and fertility.

WHAT WILL BE EXPERIENCED?

Using HypnoBirthing will feel similar to daydreaming, or when you are engrossed in a great book or a movie, or gazing at an open fire. The mother will be calm, relaxed and in control.

CAN WE REALLY DO THAT?

With our proven methods and some practice, tens of thousands of couples have found that HypnoBirthing was easy to apply and beneficial to them.

WHEN SHOULD WE START THE COURSE?

The HypnoBirthing Institute recommends starting the course in your second trimester, to have time to practice before birth. Starting later is also fine and will still be beneficial to your experience.

WE ARE NOT SURE, AS WE DON'T LIKE THE FEELING OF LOSING CONTROL

Hypnosis leaves you completely in control. You will only do things that you want to while under hypnosis and you will not lose control.

WE HAD A CAESAREAN SECTION PREVIOUSLY, CAN HypnoBirthing BE USEFUL FOR A VBAC?

Yes, doing our course will significantly improve your chances of a successful VBAC.

WILL OUR HYPNOBIRTHING TRAINING BE WASTED IF WE HAVE A MEDICALLY NECESSARY INDUCTION OR CAESAREAN SECTION?

The training you will undergo stays with you and will contribute to you achieving the best birth experience you can, whether the birth is a natural, managed or medical one. The birth outcome will be more positive as a result.

SHOULD THE PARTNER ATTEND CLASSES?

You will get the best results for the labour and birth of your baby if you are both trained in the techniques and skills.

FOR FURTHER READING

For general articles about HypnoBirthing, please have a look at the following.

www.hypnobirthing.com

www.pregnancytoday.com/articles/labor-preparation/hypnosis-during-pregnancy-1970

www.webmd.com/baby/features/hypnobirthing-calmer-natural-childbirth

www.webmd.com/news/20000918/hypnosis-in-delivery-room

http://thehipsterhomemaker.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-i-chose-calm-natural-birth.html

http://ht.ly/2dEZN Natural Childbirth: Change Your Inner Programming

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Prenatal classes

As doulas, our preferred course of prenatal classes for childbirth is HypnoBirthing. This is a philosophy as well as a technique for a calm, comfortable, gentle and safe birth experience. Couples are empowered with the knowledge that women are designed to birth; to trust their bodies and its innate abilities; to communicate with their baby; and that babies are aware during the pregnancy and remember their own birth.

HypnoBirthing has been proven to significantly reduce pain and fatigue during labour and women have quicker postnatal recovery. The mother is alert, aware, comfortable and relaxed during the arrival of her baby, allowing for an aware, bonded and happy newborn. Birthing the way nature intended it to be without fear or pain.

The complete course takes place over 12.5 hours minimum, normally divided over 5 weeks of 2.5 hour sessions. 

We also offer intensive courses held over a single weekend.

During the course, topics covered include:

* Philosophy and Beginnings of HypnoBirthing
* How the Uterus Works in Birthing
* What's Wrong with Labor as we Know It
* How Fear Affects Labor
* The Origin of Fear and Pain in Labor
* Prenatal Bonding and Fetology
* Selecting Care Providers
* Preparing the Mind for Birth
* Hypnosis Deepening and Visualization
* Releasing Fear
* Preparing the Body for Birthing
* Building a Partnership with Care Providers
* Turning Breech-Presented Babies
* Looking at the "Estimated Due Date"
* Avoiding Artificial Induction
* Preparing Birth Preference Sheets
* How the Body Prepares for Birth
* The Onset of Labor
* Perinatal Bonding
* Breathing Through Labor
* Breathing with Birth
* Bonding with Baby

WE ALSO OFFER:

- Refresher courses for parents who have done a HypnoBirthing course during an earlier pregnancy
- 'The Fourth Trimester' Breastfeeding and Parenting interactive lesson.

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