In all my years of teaching pregnant women and couples, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that knowledge is power. If you are pregnant, you ARE going to give birth. There’s no getting out of it. So learn all you can, not just about the physical and mental experience of pregnancy and labour (because it's as much a mind game as a body one - due to your birth hormones which control everything in labour), but also about your choices, options and rights in the birth room. Here are my five top tips to maximise your chances of a positive birth

Optimal Cord Clamping - How it benefits your baby

After baby is born we might think of the placenta and umbilical cord as now defunct. Of course they were part of the amazing life support system that grew and nourished your baby for all these months, but that is now no longer needed. But hang on a minute, the reality is that the umbilical cord has one last job to do - and it’s an important one.

Positive Affirmations For Motherhood - FREE for you

Filling your mind with positive thoughts, and reminding yourself what a truly amazing job you are doing, can really help you feel brighter and repeating positive affirmations actually rewires your brain and halts negative thought patterns.

Use these affirmations on a daily basis to help you create pops of positivity when you are sleep deprived, hormonal and feeling overwhelmed. They are simple yet effective, and allow you to regroup a little and focus on the positive. Find you FREE printable Positive Affirmations For Motherhood here.

Part 4 - Comfort Measures For Labour

Welcome to the final part of my top tips and techniques to ease discomfort and manage the sensations of labour, however they may feel in your body (and remember everyone is different). So in this post you are getting the final 10, which makes a whopping 31 Comfort Measures in total!! Being informed and educated and knowing you have choices is hugely important in having a positive birth experience.

Part 3 - Comfort Measures For Labour

It’s week three of my Summer of tips and techniques to ease discomfort and manage the sensations of labour. Helping you be more knowledgeable, positive and confident about your upcoming labour and birth.

In this post you'll find a range of comfort measures for labour including - Massage, ReFraming, Clary Sage, Epidurals and Hypnobirthing. It's a balanced look at ALL your options.

Part 2 - Comfort Measures For Labour

Welcome to week two of my Summer of tips and techniques to ease discomfort and manage the sensations of labour. By the end the series you are going to feel so much more confident and relaxed I hope about your upcoming labour and birth.

I've been running these each day on my For Modern Mothers Facebook page. In this post you'll find a range of comfort measures for labour including - TENS Machines, Doula's, Heat, Aromatherapy and Opioids. It's a balanced look at ALL your options.

Part 1 - A Month Of Comfort Measures For Labour

Welcome to August, and my whole month of tips and techniques to ease discomfort and manage the sensations of labour. By the end of the month you are going to feel so much more confident and relaxed I hope about your upcoming labour and birth. I've been running these each day on my For Modern Mothers Facebook page, and thought I'd put them together here as a series of blog posts for easy reading.

Birth Knowledge // All about Home Birth (no its not just for hippies!)

Welcome to today blog post, where I wanted to talk a little about home birth. Those two little words 'home' and 'birth' when put together can cause even mild mannered folk to suddenly become highly opinionated and start to either evangelize about it, or to shriek with fear that your baby's life may be in danger. I think we need to all calm down, and separate fact from fiction. Because I imagine that you want to make all your decisions about your pregnancy, baby and child from a place of knowledge and information, not myths and hearsay.

Positive Affirmation and Mindset In Pregnancy

So I wanted to write today about mindset and about positive affirmations for pregnancy, labour and birth. Positive affirmation are one of the many techniques and tools we use in hypnobirthing, and I often use positive affirmations in my pregnancy yoga classes too.

Positive affirmations are a great way to start thinking about mindset in pregnancy. This is so important, really actually more important than any physical work you may do to prepare. They are brilliant to build confidence and to release fear, and are simple yet effective and everyone can start using them straight away - wherever you are in your pregnancy. Here’s how to use them….

Build the perfect birth space

To have the best possible birth for you, you need to give birth in an environment that makes you feel safe, comfortable and relaxed and allows you to produce oodles of the important birth hormone oxytocin - read more about oxytocin in birth here. This will not be the same place or environment for every woman – we are all different. And it can be harder in some places and easier in others, but it’s still possible and important whether you are planning a home, hospital or birth centre birth. Here are some great ideas for creating a brilliant birth space that works for you.

5 Hypnobirthing Myths Busted - VIDEO

When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I run hypnobirthing and birth preparation courses, often I get a confused look which makes me smile. I then get asked many of the same questions, or misconceptions about hypnobirthing come up again and again - so it’s time to bust some of those hypnobirthing myths!

Take a look at my video, or you can read the transcript below if you prefer

From a Skeptical Dad to Hypnobirthing Evangelist! One Dads Birth Story

Partners, especially men, can be quite skeptical about hypnobirthing classes at the start, but often turn into the biggest advocates. Why? Because the tools that are taught are common sense, practical and very tangible. The other great benefit for partners, is hypnobirthing gives them a very defined support role during both your pregnancy and labour and that’s incredibly helpful for both of you. You can really become a ‘birthing dream team’ (love that phrase!)

Here's Ricks amazing story

Ten Hypnobirthing Myths: BUSTED!

When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I run hypnobirthing and birth preparation courses, often I get a perplexed look - which makes me smile. Many of the same questions or misconceptions come up again and again, so it’s time to bust some myths!

A wonderful VBAC Hypnobirthing Birth Story

Here is a wonderful positive hypnobirthing birth story from a mother having a vaginal birth after a caesarean birth (called a VBAC). So inspiring and lovely to hear a positive birth story. Do contact me if you'd like more - I have lots I'd be delighted to share with you from hypnobirthing mums. Hearing all about positive birth when we are pregnant is so important (and please stop people telling you their negative birth stories, it really doesn't help you prepare for your birth in a positive way).

Ten Mindful Steps to an Empowered and Positive Pregnancy & Birth Experience

Here are ten steps you can take during your pregnancy to prepare your body and mind for the experience of a lifetime and a birth you will remember with joy.

Why it’s important to prepare for your baby’s birth

If you’re expecting a baby, your due date is probably looming large in your mind. Maybe you’ve already packed your hospital bag, and chosen the first clothes your new baby will wear. And you’ve certainly wondered what type of birth you’ll have. But have you fully researched your options to ensure you are completely prepared?

Research shows that a mother who is well prepared for birth, is more likely to have a smoother labour:

“Childbirth education can simplify pregnancy and birth and help women… to have a safe, healthy birth. Pregnancy is complex and fraught with potential for worry and confusion. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that things can go terribly wrong. Excellent childbirth education can help women learn how simple birth can and should be.”

hypnobirthingSusan BradleyJune 21, 2017For Modern Mothershypnobirthing, positive birth, pregnancyComment

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