My own birth experiences and my journey to becoming a Hypnobirthing Practitioner

With my first child I went to the antenatal classes and found the focus was very much on ‘pain’, ‘drugs’ and coping with the experience. I was surprised that there was no mention of the wonderment, the joy, the whole miracle of pregnancy and birth and a little seed of a thought started to grow. This seed unfortunately was soon quashed when I went into labour and arrived at the hospital. I soon became frightened and know that because of that fear my body stopped doing what it had started to do so well when I felt calm and in control. Hours and hours went by and I was in pain and tired and the whole experience wasn’t the joyful one I had hoped for.

Nevertheless I had the most beautiful baby boy but felt that something was missing from the experience and I was left with some sadness and regret.

I’ve always had a strong interest in what makes us all ‘tick’ and I love people! So I started to read everything I could on how our brains work. I then became pregnant again and this time understood how my thoughts affected my body and how to use visualisation and breathing to assist my body to birth easily. My beautiful baby girl was born with such calmness and joy and that memory is the single most magical experience of my life which has filled me with such a strength and belief in myself and what I can achieve. Whether it was nature or nurture (I believe it was her birth that contributed) she was much calmer, slept well, fed well, which was such a contrast from my first child.

With my strong belief in the power of the mind I decided to train as a hypnotherapist to help others to overcome their limiting beliefs and I have been running a successful practice at Emmer Green Surgery, Sonning Common Health Centre and The Rosedale Clinic for over 10 years now. I soon found out about The Wise Hippo birthing programme and was delighted to find a fantastic structure that pregnant mums and their birth partners could follow.