Natural Birth

An Amazing 9 Month Time-Lapse Video

2012-03-14T09:54:41Z

I love this kind of thing and I really wish I had thought to put one together for when I was pregnant. It is a great little reminder of the whole 9 months. Take a look:

If you have just found out you are pregnant then it is time to get out your camera.

Take care

Natural Birth

Six key reasons why you should choose a Montessori Antenatal Class

2012-02-25T12:18:28Z

A little while ago I wrote a blog post about how the Montessori approach for guiding children in their learning seemed to fit wonderfully well with those parents who have focused on trusting the natural abilities of their babies and bodies to have the best possible birth experience. I am now extremely excited that my own son's Brighton Montessori school is offering what they call "Preparation for Parenthood" in my home town of Brighton and I have been finding out more about their Antenatal course so you can perhaps find one where you live (or of course attend this one if you're in the South East of the UK).

Here are the key similarities between a natural birth experience and Montessori teaching and why I truly believe that a Montessori Antenatal Class would be my preferred approach:

In the same way as being overly monitored without cause during birth, the Montessori method discourages children from being obviously monitored for example taking exams and tests
In the same way as how we truly appreciate medical staff to be available but not to intrude, a Montessori teacher is an "observer" of the child as they go about what comes instinctively to them
In the same way as it is so important to control your birth environment and to feel relaxed within it, children are masters of their school room environment, which has been specifically prepared for them, rather than for the ease of the teacher.
Just like the journey of birth it's key to be allowed to focus. Children in a Montessori environment spend a lot of time alone during periods of intense concentration. During these self-chosen and spontaneous periods, the child is not to be interrupted by the teacher
We are all aware of some of the time limits which seem to govern 'medical' processes however there are no time limits for the child - she may work with whatever she chooses for as long as she likes.... and just like medical staff when a difficulty arises the teacher is able to step in and give help but is always careful never to give more help than is needed.
...and finally, just like mum, children work at their own individual pace and naturally develop their own rhythm and pattern.

What is included in a Montessori Antenatal Course?

Here are the four ways for how the 'Preparation for Parenthood' Antenatal course will help you:

An overwhelming amount of information is likely to be thrust on you during your pregnancy. Learn to tell the difference between what is useful and what is not.
Birth is the first collaboration between you and your child. Experience an intuitive and powerful relaxation technique that prepares the ground for that collaboration.
There are many decisions you will make related to pregnancy, labour and life with baby. Practise using a simple tool that leads to better decisions, every time.
Discover practical Montessori guidelines that help you create a nourishing physical, emotional and intellectual space for your baby from the start.

Key Information

The format of the course is based on 36 hours across 8 days and the times fit around families who work.

An interesting point to note is that this course length is twice the duration of any other antenatal classes in Brighton & Hove !!

Currently the course fee is only £275 per couple, so I'm sure these courses are going to be extremely popular. In fact if your not local or in the UK, it may be cheaper to pop on a train/plane and attend this course rather than one more local to you!

From my own personal experience of NCT antenatal classes I believe the depth of content is here is greater and although there are similarities between this course and HypnoBirthing in their focus on collaboration of mum and baby, again their coverage of breastfeeding and other parenting skills gives it a more rounded feel.

There's a wealth of information on their website, so rather than me duplicate it here, why not pop on over and take a look via this link.

http://www.themontessoriplace.org.uk/what-we-offer/preparation-for-parenthood/

I'd be really interested to have any feedback, especially from anyone who has been on a similar course in other area's or if you are able to attend this one.

Take care

Natural Birth

Live Birth Video

2011-10-04T08:59:12Z

Well, the world is quite taken with the latest possibility of a birth video being streamed live to the comfort of your home.

Mom-to-be and Chiropractor Dr Nancy Salgueiro has announced that she will be live-streaming her third child's birth online from her home where she's giving birth to help change the visual blueprint most people have about the experience of birth. Nancy is planning on people seeing the whole birth process right from the very beginning to show how it is so different to what people have seen in films and on TV.

On her website http://yourbirthcoach.com/ you can sign up (give your email address and name) and you will get an email when labour starts.

Here's Dr Nancy's own words from her website:

“For me an empowered birth is one where I am the one who makes the decisions for me and my baby. Where I am in an environment of love, support, and respect for the power within my body to successfully birth my baby. Where I can be free to express anything I need to express; sound, movement, fear, love, ecstasy in a place that my expression will not lead to interference from the outside. I believe women have the ability to create an empowering birth experience regardless of if the birth outcome is natural, medicated, or surgical. When women are making the decisions for their bodies and their babies out of education, faith, belief and confidence in themselves and not out of fear or manipulation they will be empowered. I believe in the human body, in it’s power, and in birth’s ability to transform a person, woman, wife, and mother.” Dr. Nancy, Your Birth Coach

One thing that I did wonder with all of this was whether this was really about a selfless act to share how wonderful birth can be or whether this also had a hint of alternate motives. This could be the huge sign up list Dr Nancy is managing to create and then maybe utilise, potential product launches following the birth or meeting other personal needs which may not be quite as healthy as simply the desire to share and help others. In the interests of sharing a balanced opinion I did do a search on other websites and also came across this blog post, from the title "The pathetic attention whoring of homebirth advocates" you may be able to tell that not everyone is completely behind Dr Nancy.

In summary, I will always be behind any opportunity for women to be more informed about birth. If seeing this video live helps that, then that's great. The important thing to remember is that every birth experience is completely unique and in the same way as women should not assume it's going to be an awful experience just because that's what they are familiar with, neither should anyone assume it will be a breeze. Focusing on having the birth that's right for you and your baby is a wonderful feeling, regardless of whether it's at home or hospital, whether it's natural, C Section, whether you used hypnotherapy, yoga, EFT, TFT, Reiki, angels, or whatever. Be informed and do it your way, it will be right for you.

Natural Birth

Help shape the next Psychology Of Giving Birth Programme

2011-07-20T12:55:30Z

I was really hoping the visitors of this blog would be able to help me out with five quick questions I have. The birth programme I offer on my site has helped many people from many countries who now look back on their birth with joy, however one thing I have always promised is that the programme will continue to be updated as new information is available and also as priorities change for parents. Therefore, I will shortly be creating version 2 of The Psychology Of Giving Birth Programme and you can play a part in shaping it's future.

Whether you are a birth professional or a parent I'd love to hear from you and as a special thank you I will send you a completely free copy of the new programme once it's been updated!

Please click the link below to the survey. It will only take you a few minutes and I would love to have your feedback:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PYTNZ7K

Natural Birth

Brainfit

2011-06-16T11:54:32Z

I recently attended a Master NLP Practitioner course with the charismatic Dr Richard Bandler (co-creator and creative genius of Neuro-linguistic Programming). After nine days of being in awe have now arrived back on planet earth and am looking forward to continuing to improve the birth programme with the new insights into the human mind which I have gleaned.

As well as the direct training I received, I also found out about a new 'hot off the press' tool which Dr Bandler has only recently publicised called the BrainFit.

Here's what Dr Bandler says about his new product:

"I have devoted 35 years to developing tools to make the human brain more user friendly. I find the BrainFit to be of the most important new tools that can open the doorway to better quality of life.

I use the BrainFit on myself....I use the BrainFit on my clients. The results I get are astonishing. Better learning, sleeping, thinking...... the list goes on and on. I intend to use this device to create opportunity, success, and freedom. Let the future be more wonderful! “

Here's a list of the benefits of BrainFits Programs

Enhance your Sleep
Arrest Insomnia
Reduce Stress
Boost energy
Eliminate Jet Lag
Improve Sports/Physical Performance
Enhance Your Memory
Focused Concentration
Improve Your Ability To Relax
Rejuvenate Your Senses
Increase Your Brain Fitness
Helps Anti-Aging
Stimulate Your Creativity
Increase Your Income
Help PTSD

It's worth noting that when you purchase BrainFit, this includes 30 days free access to over 450 life-changing programmes for Health, Relationships and Career Advancement. It's really not that often that Dr Bandler comes out with a tool such as this so I'll be really interested to see the types of positive changes people experience. As he said in London "It's not about you wanting to be happy it about just how much happiness can you handle!"

For more information about this tool, head over to the BrainFit website which gives you all of the information you need so see what difference it could make to you.

Natural Birth

One World Birth - Birth Warriors - Join the Revolution For Change!

2011-05-16T09:53:18Z

I recently heard about a new venture in the birthing world called "One World Birth" which looks really interesting so I thought I'd post an article to tell you more about it.

The venture has been started by Toni Harman and her partner Alex Wakeford "to encourage positive birth experiences through uniting, sharing, inspiring and informing birth and postpartum doulas around the world."

The couple have been inspired by birth since the birth of their first child 3 years ago when they felt as tough they had lost control of their birth experience. As with many people who are passionate about the experience of birth, having first hand experience really does make a difference and this shines through when they talk about why they are doing this in their online videos.

One of my favourite quotes from what I have seen so far is that of Social Anthropologist Sheila Kitzinger ;

"Birth isn't something we do it's something we suffer, it's something we actively do and exult in "

Here are the three descriptions from the One World Birth website to give you a bit more of an idea as to it's purpose:

One World Birth is a “living”, “breathing” online documentary that expands and evolves with the ever-changing world of birth.
One World Birth is also building a community of birth professionals to connect, inspire and to help deliver change, to make birth better and safer everywhere.
One World Birth is also about YOU! Everyone loves hearing from the leading experts, but what makes this site even more exciting is that we want to include the midwives, doulas and campaigners who are at the front line of birth as your stories are vital to the bigger global picture!

Toni and Alex are expecting people to dip in and out of the site, share information and watch video clips from inspirational well know people as well as those at the front line. They do mention that there will be a full length documentary eventually, however it seems as though they are keeping the direction of this quite fluid to enable it to be driven by the global birth movement.

So, whatever your interest in birth, whether you are a birth professional, a parent or an interested bystander, I urge you to take a look at the "Trailer" and the "How It Works" videos:

Then, if you want to join the revolution lets stand side by side and take our positions as birth warriors and join the revolution for change!!!

To help stir your loins a little, here's a quote from one of the most passionate rebels I know of... William Wallace;

"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"

See you on the front line.

Photo credit: sebastien.b

Natural Birth

Free Hypnosis

2010-08-21T17:44:46Z

I just wanted to quickly post about a new resource that I am supporting that I thought you might find useful and interesting. It is a site called Free Hypnosis and it is aiming to provide free hypnosis downloads and free hypnosis scripts to help people with any issues they might have and for any areas they may want to excel in.

The underlying assumption they are making is that hypnosis is a totally natural phenomenon and therefore everyone should be able to utilise hypnosis to further better themselves. This is something I couldn’t agree more on. To this end they are promoting a ‘Learn Hypnosis Free’ course that you can sign up to that will teach you how to apply these techniques to any situation. It is a 5 day email course and there are audios and documents to work through on each day.

All this and it is totally free. I recommend that you head on over and check it out and have some fun with free hypnosis.

Natural Birth

Prevent Pregnancy Weight Gain

2010-08-11T20:23:26Z

A recent study regarding weight gain during pregnancy recently caught my eye as it identified that weight gain does increase the weight of a child independently of genetic factors.

The study, which involved over 500 thousand women and 1 million children showed a consistent association between pregnancy weight gain and birthweight. In summary, each kg gained by the mother in pregnancy increasing the baby's birthweight by 7.35 g. Infants of women who gained more than 24 kg during pregnancy were around 150g heavier at birth than were infants of women who gained 8-10 kg.

I do believe that much more can be done for pregnant mums during pregnancy to help ensure they have the healthiest pregnancy and baby possible. Although there’s a significant amount of monitoring of the baby, advice to help stop smoking, drinking and information regarding what to eat from a danger perspective, there seemed to be much less focus on weight gain.

From working with pregnant women, some who have found it easy to manage their weight and others who have struggled, I have noted down below the four key things which made a positive difference.

1) Only eat when you are hungry and stop before you are full
A Paul McKenna favourite, but this really worked both for me personally and many other mums. This is also an opportunity to practise listening to your body which is a wonderful skill you will be thankful for during your birth.

2) Make time for yourself so you can stay active
Whether this be seeing an osteopath to help with back problems (my osteopath Richard Skudder was a lifesaver - thanks Richard!), going to a pregnancy yoga class, or any other activities which make you feel good - the better you feel, the more active you’re likely to be. This will help both with you and your baby’s health as well as preparing you for your birth day. Remember to take advice from your care provider about what type of exercises you are able to take part in.

3) Consider what you will feed your baby once he/she is born
It’s likely that you wouldn’t knowingly feed your baby unhealthy food once they are born, so start considering their diet before their birth day. Babies tend to be de-humanised during pregnancy by being referred to as a foetus rather than baby, so reframe this for yourself and begin to be the mum you want to be, right from the start.

4) Break all of the above rules... occasionally
Remember to enjoy your pregnancy, celebrate each day, treat yourself occasionally and look forward to your birth day.

If you would like further information on exercises during pregnancy, then do check out my previous post where I recommended an e-book containing birthing ball exercises. Purchasing the book will enable you to have access to a free exercise motivation during pregnancy hypnosis download which I created especially to go with the book.

For more information on the article, go to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196836.php

The Article, published Online First in The Lancet, is written by Dr David S Ludwig, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA, and Dr Janet Currie, Columbia University, New York, USA.

Photo credit: stuartwebster

Natural Birth