Nantwich Baby Fair is back and I’m joining them along with many others offering services and products of interest to bumps, babes and beyond.
12pm – 5pm on Saturday 23rd June at Nantwich Civic Hall. The entrance fee is £1.50 (under 16s are free)
For more information take a look at their website.
Come along and say hello!
Question: Why do you HypnoBirthing practitioners avoid talking about pain during labour?
Answer: It’s not, as you might first assume, because we are sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that pain in labour doesn’t exist, but for some other, far more appropriate reasons which I would like to share with you.
We acknowledge that yes, of course, you are going to experience some very strong sensations in labour and during childbirth and that yes, it is going to involve some hard work. But if we start out by defining it as pain it leaves no room for anything else. If you get a tightness or a pressure, as a lot of my clients describe the sensations they feel at the start of labour, and you are expecting it to be painful, then you will call those sensations pain. However, pain has a very important role in telling us to deal with something – when we are in pain it’s our body’s way of sending us an important message. If we aren’t able to filter actual pain from the assumed pain then we won’t be able to give our attention to those things that we do need to deal with.
In his book “Childbirth Without Fear”, written in the 1930s, Grantly Dick Read wrote about something he called the Fear-Tension-Pain cycle. Essentially, fear causes tension in muscles and tense muscles pulling against one another cause pain.
HypnoBirthing and other similar ante-natal childbirth education programmes are based on Dick-Read’s theory. The HypnoBirthing programme therefore starts with education about the physiology of birth and how to let go of fear, which could cause tension, unyielding muscles and hence pain. We also help you to learn breathing, visualization and relaxation techniques as you learn to trust your body and work with it rather than against it.
This is how a couple of clients explained the sensations they experienced at the outset of labour:
“J was timing them and they got to 4 mins apart while we were on this walk, I think they must have started at about 6 mins apart. But I wasn’t feeling anything more than strong period pains.”
“I still wasn’t convinced [I was in labour] as it didn’t seem to be as painful as everyone had told me it would be.”
Having said all that though, we don’t guarantee a pain free birth or a perfect birth, but with that sort of preparation the experience of birthing can be one of feeling more calm, confident and in control than without it.
Happy Easter everyone!
Tracy
… is to receive a lovely birth story in my email inbox.
I admit to shedding a tear, but it was a happy tear. I am so pleased for S, J and their new little girl.
If you want to read a fantastic home birth story then just take a look here it’s the first one on the page.
I would like to thank S & J for allowing me to share their story on my website to inspire other parents-to-be.
Enjoy!
Tracy x
For anyone in the Bangor area that’s intrested in HypnoBirthing there’s a free information drop-in session being held at Tryfan Therapy on Wednesday 31st August between 5.30pm – 8.30pm.
Feel free to drop in and say hello to me and my hosts Graham Williams & Simon Hill, to have a look at the premises, and to ask any questions about HypnoBirthing or hypnotherapy.
The address is 42 Glanravon, Bangor, LL57 1LH.
The first class in Bangor starts on 7th September – you can book online now.
Tracy x
Here are the details of some special offers running until 31st July (or while stocks last) for Birth Pool in a Box:
So if you were thinking of buying a Birth Pool now’s the time to do it.
Order through the online shop and we will add the free items to your order (ie order the Regular pool and we will add the pump and cover to your order for you). If you’re not sure drop us a line or give us a call and we’ll talk you through it.
Tracy
Just a quickie to let you know about a baby show on the Wirral on Sunday 20th March.
It’s a Mother’s Instinct show organised by RDA Events and sponsored by the NCT. It’s open from 12-5pm at Thornton Hall Hotel & Spa in Neston.
I’ve just had a sneak preview of the programme and the demonstrations being held throughout the afternoon include:
There’s also a prize draw, in aid of the NCT, to which I have donated a prize of a free hypnotherapy session (either face to face or via Skype) and a free relaxation CD.
Enjoy!
Tracy x
Welcome to our guest blogger, Tom. I heard Tom being interviewed by Sharon Burrows on her Toddler Talk programme on RedShift Radio a few weeks ago and I thought it would be good if he could share some information about his line of work with you. I am a great fan of osteopathy myself having taken my 5 week old daughter to see an osteopath when she was suffering from bad colic and sleep problems – it worked wonders for her and now I would recommend every new parent considers considers osteopathy for their little ones. Thanks for your contribution Tom.
Hi there,
My Name is Tom Austen and I am an osteopath working at Weaver House in Nantwich, the clinic offers a full range of therapies including Osteopathy, Cranial Osteopathy, Animal Osteopathy, Acupuncture, Massage, Podiatry and have been helping to serve the local community for over 20 years.
Tracy asked me to write a few words down about osteopathy and its benefits specifically for children, babies and pregnant mums….. so here goes.
Osteopathy
Osteopaths work on the basis that there is an inextricable link between the structure and function of the body. We do not simply treat the symptoms you may present with but aim to work with any structural imbalances in the body promoting healing and helping the body to return to normal functional state.
Osteopathy lends itself particularly well to treating children as a healthy and relaxed child with no physiological imbalances is much better equipped to deal with the challenges and demands of life.
Paediatric osteopathy is a specialist area of osteopathy perhaps better known as ‘cranial osteopathy’, in fact the techniques performed by cranial osteopaths are used on the whole body so the term is almost a misnomer although particular focus is often placed on the head. Treatment is very gentle and patients often report a sense of warmth and gradual relaxation.
One of the more common reasons for children to see an osteopath is due to unresolved birth trauma. In order to reduce the size of the head to fit through the pelvis during birth the soft bones of the head are squeezed and overlap. Usually the compressions correct but occasionally if the birth has been difficult, the moulding is retained and can result in tension and discomfort. This can cause a sequence of problems beginning from birth and may persist throughout life as the child grows.
Common symptoms of retained moulding are excessive crying, fussing and irritability, pulling of ears or grabbing at the head, feeding and digestive problems and sleep disturbance.
Mum can benefit too, during pregnancy the body has to adapt to physical, hormonal and emotional changes. The mechanics of the lumbar spine and pelvis are often affected resulting in the lower back pain that many pregnant women can attest to. Osteopaths can help to improve the drainage of tissue fluids into the circulatory system and improve general spinal mechanics, which is often very helpful in reducing swelling, back and pelvic pain.
I hope this gives an idea of what we do and how we can help, if you would like any further information on osteopathy in any of its forms or any of our other services please check out the website above, call 01270 629933, or email info@weaverhouse.com.
Thanks
Tom Austen
Registered Osteopath
A short, but sweet post this one.
I spotted this lovely photo on Facebook and thought I’d share it with everyone.
Fancy having your bump painted then having it photographed?
Sharon Burrows of Hullabalo Kids has just started a new service with Simon Newbury called Paint & Portrait.
Contact Sharon for more details.
And if you do have your bump painted I’d love to see the pics!
Txx
The Health in Pregnancy Grant is to be abolished on 1st January 2011. It’s not been around for long, but ever since the idea was mooted back in 2007 it has been the subject of controversy and criticism and it seems that just about everyone had an opinion on it. In the midst of all the other spending cuts the Government is taking the opportunity to get rid of it saying that it is a poor use of public funds.
I have been doing a little research to understand the reasoning behind the grant in the first place and have come across:
I don’t have any strong opinions of the rights and wrongs of universal benefits but I do wonder at the efficacy of a grant to fund healthy eating without the back-up of education to support it. Heck, now I think about it I can think of a hundred different ways in which the money could have been used more wisely….
I know that a few of the mums to be that I have worked with have used the grant to fund their HypnoBirthing classes and, to be honest, I can’t think of a better use of public money than that 
Come on Department of Health, why not put that put that money into better ante-natal education for all (and with respect to the original aims of the grant, you know HypnoBirthing classes include advice on nutrition too….)
Tracy x
There’s a nice (I’m not sure if that’s quite the right word for it) article on the BBC health website this morning about the pain of miscarriage.
It includes an interview with Michelle Every who lost her unborn baby, Arthur, at 20 weeks. I had the pleasure of working with Michelle a few weeks ago – she was the doula for a hypnobirthing couple of mine and she came along to the last session with them. Following this meeting we exchanged a few emails and plan to meet up again for coffee and a chat sometime soon, I am also hoping that she will write a guest blog on doulas for me 
During our email conversations, it became apparent that we have more in common that just our belief in calm births. I realised that we had both suffered the loss of a baby at or around our 20 week scan. Although, I didn’t realise, until reading today’s article, that she had had such a bad experience of birthing her baby in hospital.
I, on the other hand, felt that the care and support that we had from the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time was lovely. I am SO grateful that a special area, called the Snowdrop Room, was set aside for mums labouring under these sad circumstances, rather than having to labour with everyone else. We were treated with dignity and respect and so was our little baby.
There was only one awkward moment and that was when we tried to get in to the labour ward to start the process and a nurse waylaid us and suggested that we might not be in the right place – pointing at the lack of bump. That hurt, but it wasn’t her fault and could have happened to anyone – actually I felt sorry for her when she realised her mistake.
Some other things can hurt like hell as well though. For example, I do wish some medical professionals didn’t feel the need to use the correct medical terminology no matter what. I can’t count the number of times that a medical professional has referred to my loss as an abortion – apparently that’s technically correct as I had to have labour induced, but….
As well as working as a doula, Michelle now volunteers as an emotional carer with The Miscarriage Association.
As the article says, the emotional pain of miscarriage is no less great when the miscarriage happens earlier in the pregnancy. However, such losses are often less visible, maybe the pregnancy hadn’t even been announced to family and friends yet and the grieving parents can often feel isolated and in many cases unable to grieve.
Another lady whose acquaintance I have had the pleasure of making recently is Ann Girling. She lost a baby at 9 weeks but felt unable to grieve for many years. She threw herself into her home and career and buried the emotions. One day those emotions found an outlet and Ann was overcome by stress and depression. It took her a while to get there, but at 52 and with the help of a therapist, she took control of her life once again and started to redefine what it meant to her.
Ann now runs On The Threshold a personal development and coaching service for women who have suffered from trauma.
For anyone who is facing such a loss right now (or who knows anyone who is) there is lots of lovely advice and suggestions on the Sands website which, although primarily aimed at stillbirth and neonatal death, can be just as applicable at any stage of pregnancy.
There is also an excellent article written by Sharon Gourlay which I posted on the Cariad Hypnotherapy website earlier this year which gives advice on how friends and family can support a grieving family.
I’ll end this post with a quote from that article by Sharon:
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal”.
The love that you show the grieving mother and family can’t remove their heartache but it can help them on their healing journey to see they are supported and love. Love is, Love endures, Love is the answer.