Better Birth Blog
Information on hypnobirthing, pregnancy and birth
Abuse in labour.
Women should not be having to reach out or yearn for kind and generous care in labour and birth. It should come as standard.⠀
The fear of induction is growing.
How has something that was only meant for situations when either mum or baby were unwell now become so normalised? How has something so regularly known to fail become the one thing that women are guaranteed they will be offered in their care?
We can only move forwards.
When we have given birth there grows a deep realisation that everything has changed. Everything.
I am decorating a room for you.
When in this room you matter most and we are silent when you speak.
The joys of the humble brew and slice of toast.
Is there actually anything more soothing than a cup of tea? Anything more comforting than a couple of slices of toast?
The judgement can be deafening.
There is a fair chance that you have travelled through your life thus far without being aware of the judgement of others. Or maybe not.
How to make great decisions in pregnancy, labour & birth.
I am going to give you two really great tools to use for when you need to make really strong & well thought out decisions.
Birth Choices And Birth Provider Bias.
I like to think of your birth options as a huge supermarket of choice. It is all there if you are just willing to put the legwork in and look for it. Or ask for directions. Provider bias is the shiny stuff placed all around the tills.
W.A.I.T - what am I thinking?
You need to be your own best champion in life. The love of your life, your guide, your cheering team, your observer and your forgiver.
What are the benefits of skin to skin post birth?
Can you even imagine now that there was once a time when it was considered bad to let a new mother see her baby, until that baby was washed clean and fully dressed?
Too tired for birth.
Is it possible for someone to just be too tired to give birth? When a labour has gone on… and on… and on…?
LONELINESS…
To have your craziest problems affirmed as normal and your darkest worries brought into the light, shared and diminished.
Affirmations and hypnobirthing.
What do you know about affirmations? I like to think of them as totems, held by the speaker to ward off all fear and darkness. The comforting sounds of a mantra repeated again and again…
Stop thinking about birth so hard.
You don’t need help to sneeze. You don’t need help to cry. You don’t need someone to watch you, or coach you to have a poo.
Who is responsible for your birth?
It is your responsibility to decide where you wish to birth.
It is your responsibility to decide who will support you in this birth.
The power in a smile.
As we all know our facial expressions reflect our emotional states. I’m happy so I smile, I’m angry so I grimace, I’m miserable so I frown.
A handrail polished smooth…
We look around us. The sky, the sea, the stairs and the handrail.
We notice that the stairs are wooden, worn deeper in the centre and covered with a sprinkling of fine, white sand. And then we look to the hand rail.
There is no perfect.
‘For too long, women have been told that their bodies are the wrong shape and size, that they’re too hairy, too dirty, too smelly, too old, too fat and that they don’t work properly.’
Moving worlds.
While happily residing inside mum there have been dim lights, smooth surfaces and constant sound.
Inductions fail, not women.
Your body is complex. Perfectly designed but complex. Labour is a delicate dance between both your baby’s needs and your own.