I have mentioned before about how I struggle to relax.
I especially struggle to relax my mind and find it impossible to switch off my thoughts.
This was especially evident in my yoga class this morning when we were doing the relaxation part at the end. My body felt very warm and relaxed but my mind was thinking about how I was going to buy some natural yoghurt on the way home and sprinkle it with cinnamon.
I am very aware that the reason my birth went so wrong last time was mainly sue to my inability to relax. I was unable to relax my mind which made me unable to relax my body and this therefore made me unable to give birth successfully.
I had been looking at doing a hypnobirthing course to try and help me prepare for Baby Insomniac the 2nd’s birth so when my friend Adele from Circus Queen told me about an open day that The Natural Pregnancy Partnership were having I went along to find out more.
Just outside of Bristol is a new complementary therapy centre specialising in the care and education of pre and post natal women. They are in a lovely rural setting and offer all kinds of therapies and classes such as reflexology, physiotherapy, osteopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, pregnancy yoga, baby massage and much more.
On their open day they were offering tasters of each of the therapies and classes.
Eva from Born Direct had a stall there so the first thing I did was go and speak to her about slings. I didn’t know anything about babywearing when I had Iyla but it is something that I really like the idea of and would definitely like to try this time. She spoke to me about a number of different wraps and I tried out the Moby which was my favourite. It was really interesting to learn a bit more about them as I honestly had no idea how they even did up! Born Direct has very kindly sent me one to try when the new baby arrives so I will be writing about how I get on with it next year.
I was only able to attend the open day for a couple of hours and the main taster I wanted to attend was the hypnobirthing talk but I was able to choose one other therapy from the list so went for a osteopathic spine check. The main reason being that Dad2BabyInsomniac is always telling me that I have a wonky spine so I wanted to see if he was right!
Turns out he was, but apparently the curve isn’t actually visible just from looking at it so I’m not too sure that he knew from looking at it!
Following this, I went upstairs to listen to the hypnobirthing talk and came away feeling absolutely sure that is is the right thing for me to do this time. It teaches you how to deep relax and the techniques you learn can be applied to any type of birth you have, so even if I did need medical assistance again, I would be able to cope with it in a more positive way. We spoke about how programmes like One Born Every Minute have actually done a lot of harm to women’s views towards childbirth. The births they show are so medical and seem to be a lot more focused on the things that can go wrong instead of the fact that women are built to give birth. I won’t be watching them anymore. I am determined to have a more positive birth experience this time and am really looking forward to starting my hypnobirthing sessions.
The centre is really great and if you are pregnant and living near Bristol then I would definitely recommend it.
Disclaimer – I haven’t been paid to write this post and will be paying for any treatments I have at the centre in full.
It sounds like you’ve been taking lots of positive steps to help you have a different experience this time around. I did pregnancy yoga last time and felt so confident about using the breathing techniques to help me, but then in the throws of labour I was too scared and I panicked and forgot all about it. I would definitely say that the second time round isn’t as scary because it’s not an unknown entity. And as a result I actually used the techniques this time around (despite not doing pregnancy yoga this time) and stayed away from pain relief a lot longer as a result.
I think you’ll find this time will be different anyway, regardless of what preparation you do. But preparing yourself to be in control and calm can only help you. And I think a positive mental attitude is half the battle. X
Lucy at Dear Beautiful Boy recently posted..three weeks new
Really interesting post. I was also unable to relax during birth and I’m sure this is why everything ended up being so medicalised and why I found it traumatic. Would def consider hypnobirthing or even using a doula next time. I know the centre you are talking about, it sounds great. Let us know how you get on if you do the course x
That sounds really promising, I’ve never considered it before but it sounds like a really good thing to have if you can’t relax. I’m really rubbish at relaxing too so I might think about it. I’ll be interested to hear how it all goes with the course.
Notmyyearoff recently posted..Project 52 / Week 41 / Silent Sunday