By Paul and Nadine, One Born Every Minute, Channel 4.
My initial concerns were unfounded
I guess my initial thoughts of Natal Hypnotherapy, with the power of hindsight were somewhat unfounded. I think if somebody mentioned the word hypnotherapy to me then, I would conjure up thoughts of somebody influencing your actions, your behaviour, your feelings, and for me that translated into somebody being in control and that was not something that we wanted for the birth of our second child.”
The birth of our first child
“And just to place that in context the birth of our first child, due to medical reasons, meant that the medical team had to intervene quite a few times, and that along with the pain relief that my wife was administered, which I guess for one of a better word, meant that she was sedated for an awful, lot of the labour, created an environment where I don’t think either of us felt in control of the situation.
From my perspective I felt somewhat of a bystander, I was just an onlooker, witnessing what was unfolding in front of me. From my wife’s perspective, she was somewhat distanced from the whole experience. She wasn’t totally aware of what was going on around her, and she was just taking instruction, doing what she was told when she was told, and that was something that we wanted to rectify for the birth of our second child.”
What Natal Hypnotherapy gave us
“So it’s actually my wife that suggested we look at Natal Hypnotherapy and despite my initial scepticism, once she explained it to me and I understand the basic principles of it, I very quickly realized that actually it’s all about, taking control, and that was exactly what we wanted to do. From a wife’s perspective, it gave her a tremendous breadth and depth of understanding of where the feelings and the emotions were coming from, and how that can very easily start to manifest itself as fear and panic, and anxiety.
If you’ve got that understanding of where those feelings and emotions are coming from then it makes it a lot easier to control them and make sure that it doesn’t snowball out of control. It also gave her a lot better understanding and acceptance of the fact that the pain is an integral, part of the birthing process and that, that pain is messages that, your body is giving and that you need to listen to those messages. you need to embrace them and understand them and not fear it.”
Contrasting both of our births
“I think as a couple, Natal Hypnotherapy gave us both, a much richer experience in terms of the planning process so again it was in real contrast to the birth of our first child where the birth plan was I guess more reactive, it was about instructions from the medical team if something went wrong, if they needed to intervene and how my wife wanted them to intervene.”
My perspective
“Whereas I think Natal Hypnotherapy it gives you a different perspective on things, so the planning process became a lot more positive for both of us. From my wife’s perspective it meant that she had something to focus in on in terms of understanding her, her feelings, her inner emotions, thinking about different scenarios or different types of eventuality that she may have to deal with. She could internalize what that might feel like, and how she would control those emotions and feelings and make sure that the outcome was as we’d planned. From my perspective, playing the role as gatekeeper, whereby I took on the responsibility of trying to create an environment for my wife, that would be conducive to a calm, and a natural birth. So that gave me something to plan towards.
All the preparation in terms of setting the room out, creating that nice atmosphere. trying to prevent as many unnecessary distractions as possible to enable my wife to focus on what she needed to do. I became the eyes the ears and the voice with the medical team and meant that sort of if you like I was more in a protective role. That gave me, a sense of responsibility and involvement in the whole process from the planning right the way through the whole birthing process as well. So that was a lot more of a proactive approach, it focused more on the positives as opposed to the negatives. From my perspective I felt a lot more engaged, right from the outset and for both of us the whole experience was a lot more positive.”
Looking back
I think our memories of this birth are not going to be forgotten, for the right reasons. It was a magical experience, for both of us. I wasn’t a bystander, it was more of a team effort. And I mean the birth of a child is one of those wonders in life. It’s a moment not to be missed. I guess as long as the outcome is favourable, then the journey is worthwhile, but to have that journey be such an engaging and inspirational, and motivational, positive, uplifting experience is a bonus.
We are so grateful we found natal Hypnotherapy
I guess from both of our perspectives, we were so grateful that we stumbled across Natal Hypnotherapy, and for any of the skeptics out there, and anybody that’s pondering as to whether or not this is for you then I’d suggest that you look into it. I was a skeptic, come advocate of Natal Hypnotherapy, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the whole process.