How can positive birth affirmations help me have an easy, comfortable birth?

My birth will be easy because I'm so relaxed and confident - my favourite positive birth affirmation

Hi I'm Karenna and I run Hope & Honey offering HypnoBirthing, Fertility Coaching, Childbirth Classes and Birth Pool Hire in Perth, Western Australia.

One of my favourite things about working with clients is seeing their confidence grow and see the change from fear of birth to being excited about their labour.

So how does that happen and how can you make that change and be truly looking forward to the birth of your little one?

Partly it's about education - learning about the natural process of birth and how our body responds to relaxation and reacts to fear. Another part of the transformation is 'changing your mindset' - sounds a bit tricky eh? Well it doesn't have to be!

Our minds work through pathways. When we develop a habit our brain trundles down the same old pathways. When we want to create a new habit or train of thought - we have to create new pathways and that can be hard at first. It's almost like trampling down a new path in a meadow - it's hard at first and you have to consciously do it, but after several times it becomes easier and soon you can walk down that path easily and without much thought.

A great way of creating new positive thoughts about birth is to use positive birth affirmations. An affirmation is:

• a positively phrased statement to yourself
• phrased in the present tense
• simple and short
• a statement that starts with the word 'I/My/...'

E.g. - I am choosing healthy food that makes me feel good. The practice of doing affirmations allows you to begin replacing some of your stale, worn-out or negative mind chatter with more positive ideas and concepts. It is a powerful technique, one that can in a short time completely transform your attitudes and expectations about life, and thereby totally change what you experience. 

I'm preparing for the birth of my second baby at the moment. Here are my top 3 birth affirmations - the ones that really resonate with me:

1. My birth will be easy because I'm so relaxed and confident
2. I release my birth over to my body and baby
3. My baby is perfectly positioned for an easy, comfortable birth

Imagining your baby is perfectly positioned for birth - a good positive birth affirmation

But there are many more to choose from...

• I am focused on a smooth, easy birth
• I am prepared to meet whatever turn my birthing takes
• I put all fear aside and welcome my baby with happiness and joy
• I deepen my relaxation as I move further into labour
• My mind is relaxed, my body is relaxed

So why not try using some affirmations when preparing for your birth? You can say them out loud, listen to some recorded affirmations or my favourite - print them out and stick them around your house. I find this really helpful as you see these statements and images regularly - helping your mind take in these statements repeatedly.

It's natural to be apprehensive about an upcoming birth and that's okay, but if you're feeling fearful or negative - try using affirmations to help you change your mindset and be able to get excited about your labour. For more information or to book HypnoBirthing or antenatal classes, visit Hope & Honey.

Positive Birth Affirmation Example

Does HypnoBirthing Work? A Hope and Honey client shares how it helped her birth quickly, gently and easily

Hope and Honey offer HypnoBirthing, Fertility Coaching, Private Antenatal Classes and Birth Pool Hire in Perth, Western Australia. Here is a birth story from a HypnoBirthing client, a 2nd time mum who benefited hugely from the whole journey of HypnoBirthing.

"I was 40 weeks + 5 days it was Saturday the 7^th February. I was relaxed and not at all anxious about the +5days I was very keen to let labour start naturally without any intervention. I had been swimming everyday and walking as much as possible to support this. I went to bed the night before after eating a vindaloo curry and slept as usual with no signs of anything happening.

K & Baby B after their gentle, calm HypnoBirth

I woke up at 0730hrs and was planning on swimming again with my husband and daughter, I felt some tightening shortly after I ate breakfast at around 8am, I wasn’t sure that it was a contraction so I carried on getting ready for the pool. I felt a few more tightening sensations and began to think that it was contractions. I used an app on my phone to time them and had 3more in very close succession, I realised at this point that I probably wouldn’t go swimming however I didn’t rush to ring the hospital or anything like that as I was keen to stay home as long as possible.

I put on my affirmations and had a shower and got dressed my surges continued every 2 minutes and were getting more intense. I did my relaxation breathing and continued with the affirmations whilst walking around the house. I called a neighbour to look after my daughter and I just felt really calm about it all at this point. At 1010am, all of a sudden with the next contraction I felt a real sense of pressure and I was very nauseous. I instantly knew the head was bearing down, I felt scared at this point and called the hospital. I was very uncomfortable and anxious. We arrived at the hospital at 1040am, I knew the baby was well on its way to being born my contractions were further apart but lasting for longer. I stood at the side of the bed trying to restore my inner calm and just trying to do my surge breaths.

The midwife attached some monitoring and then examined me confirming I was fully dilated but membranes were intact. I was instructed to begin pushing whenever I felt the surges, I was asked to lie on the bed at this point which I really found uncomfortable but my obstetrician needed to rupture my membranes because she saw that baby looked tired from the monitoring and was suspecting meconium in the waters. Once the membranes were ruptured there was indeed meconium present and so a paediatrician was called, I was putting lots of energy into my breathing but fear had defiantly taken over at this point. I was experiencing a lot of pain and wanted it to be over.

Karen, Baby B and Big Sister M

Luckily I didn’t have to wait long as my beautiful baby girl was born exactly 1 hour after arrival at the hospital at 1140hrs, only 3.5 hours after the onset of labour. I did have an episiotomy because Beatrice had her hand up on her face during delivery.

Hypnobirthing was a real journey for me, it helped me plan out and make decisions about how I wanted my birth to be. I planned it, I visualised it and it happened. My hypnobirthing practitioner really opened my mind and introduced me to techniques and therapies I hadn't known before. It was about more than just the labour itself and I feel I benefited hugely, I will and have recommended it."

Karenna from Hope and Honey says - "K had a very quick first birth with her first daughter nine years previously. In some ways because it was so quick, there was a bit of fear still there from this birth even though overall the experience had been positive. So through HypnoBirthing, we worked on reducing that fear and by the end of the classes, K was really looking forward to the birth and had planned out everything she wanted. I'm so pleased for them both that their journey was as they wanted, loved working with them and love keeping in touch with them and seeing pictures of Baby B growing up already!"

Baby Leo's HypnoBirth - Client tells all...

Here is a lovely hypnobirthing story from clients H & T who welcomed little Leo into the world recently. I think it’s so important to share real, positive birth stories so thank you to H&T for sharing this with us x 

(For more information on HypnoBirthing, visit Hope & Honey)

H writes “On Sunday I just wasn't feeling very well...that evening I woke to cramps at 3am coming pretty consistently every 9mins lasting about a minute. I kept trying to sleep listening to affirmations until 7am when T woke up...by now they were 5mins apart and I was doing my surge breathes.

We continued the surge breathing and I tried to listen to my affirmations etc this continued until 12pm and we were umming and ahhing about whether to go into the birth centre or not...the 'pressure' was so bad, I felt I wanted to go in as I needed a bit of reassurance..so we did.

We kept going for an hour or so after our arrival and then I wanted a VE (vaginal examination) to see where I was at. I wanted the bath so bad for relief...unfortunately I was only 2cms. This was disheartening for me as I was struggling with the pain.

The midwives knew my plan and we're very supportive. They offered me morphine with finergin to take the edge off and I was happy to try. Five minutes later my waters broke and it had thick green meconium. T and the midwife stayed very calm but we all immediately knew I had to be transferred to King Edwards.

Off we went and they explained that if I didn't dilate to at least 4cm by next exam them I would need Pitocin (artificial induction). They also advised that this would increase the pain significantly.

I was ready for an epidural anyway by this stage. So that's what we did. Immediately I felt huge relief and was able to get some much-needed sleep. With my body now relaxed at my next VE I was 6cm (avoiding induction..yay!), then not long 9cm, then it was time.

I was able walk around with no catheter and I wanted to squat as I breathed the baby down. We kept going for 1.5hr and then baby got a bit distressed. They called the doctor in. At this point I was like right...I'm gonna get this baby out...all I could think of was forceps for some reason! Unfortunately by now the epi numbed me just a little too much down my thighs and I couldn't use my legs the way I wanted to. Onto the table and we discussed everything with the doc...delayed clamping and physiological placenta delivery...

I was helped on the type of pushing we needed, he was coming but the doctor said she could see my perineum looking to tear in a not ideal place and so she asked to snip..and just small snip and he was out!!! Skin to skin...delayed cord clamping...i did start bleeding a bit, so after about 10mins they injected me to get placenta out. Leo weighed 8.1lb /3.66kg and was 51cm long.

 

All in all...our 'plan' changed a lot....but I have absolutely no regrets what so ever and if anything, I feel really proud of myself and T with how we handled everything. Toby was totally my rock. Holding it together...doing everything right, despite me pushing him away sometimes and me telling him to push my knee up harder right at the end...bless him...he was my outlet. I felt comfortable yelling at him vs anyone else. He handled me so well. I love him to bits.

Overall, we felt really informed, confident to speak up and just went with what felt right for us.

T and I are so grateful for your hypnobirthing sessions as it was so pivotal to our birthing day and beyond. Thank you!"

Karenna from Hope and Honey says – “I love this birth story as it shows how plans can change but you can still feel happy with how the birth went. Much of this is to do with being informed and confident about all your choices and about your important involvement in all decisions throughout the birth. HypnoBirthing and antenatal classes are invaluable in preparing you for birth, helping you be confident together, know about your options and to have a voice. Thank you so much for sharing your story H&T and for our lovely fun classes together!”

Baby Bella's HypnoBirth - A client's birth story

I had been really focused about our hypnobirth following our sessions with Karenna from Hope & Honey. I wanted to get into the zone so I arranged a fear release session with a local hypnobirth practitioner here in Esperance as we had moved here 6 weeks earlier from Perth. It was great to feel that deep relaxation I had with Karenna during our classes in Perth and made me feel empowered to have the birth we wanted. 

It was three days before our due date and I had been feeling niggly all day, I had been productive making a garden junk art piece on my hands and knees with power tools though so keeping the theme of an active pregnancy! Pete was working a late shift, about 9.30 pm I went to the bathroom and thought I saw the mucus plug so called my sister to check, I then sat on the fit ball watching TV. My sister, who is a nurse, thought it was the plug and said it could be a week before anything else happened. Pete called about 10 pm to check on me and while I was sat there chatting to him my membranes released! He came running home and I put on my positive affirmations and sat relaxing in the living room. 

As the hospital is so small here we rang about 10.30 pm to tell them about the membranes releasing, they said to come back in when the surges became closer together, I had some surges but nothing too strong, my lower back was aching so I hopped in the bath. About 12.30 the hospital called me and asked me to come in to check I actually was in labour. We went in and met the midwife Sandy who was lovely, she respected all our birthing choices and made me feel really at ease. After a quick examination she let us go home. We stopped at the servo to get milk and I had a huge surge, I breathed through it visualising my blue balloon, the staff at the servo were somewhat alarmed at this lady in labour buying milk at 1.30 am! 

When we got home the surges got really strong. I got in the shower on all fours and breathed through them, over the next hour they got increasingly strong and I lost focus to breathe through them. I woke Pete and got him to take me back to the hospital. Pete kept counting my breathing, reminding me of the affirmations, and rubbed my back. We arrived back at about 2.30 am Sandy examined me and I was 7cm dilated, I felt lost in the intensity of the surges and a failure I couldn't breathe through them, I used the gas and air as I felt I could no longer cope. Over the next 3 hours I crawled around the floor during surges and did relaxation breathing between them. I then remember feeling really scared the baby was too big to birth, Pete kept repeating "you will birth a baby the right size for your body" he was amazing, he kept me calm, used light touch massage, gave me ice and water and never left my side. 

Although I felt I had cheated by using gas and air, I kept thinking about the affirmation "I will calmly meet whatever turn my birthing takes" knowing every surge was closer to meeting my baby. 

I seemed to go into a primeval head space and made a lot of noises during the surges, so much so the day after the birth I still had a sore throat!! When I hit transition Pete recognised it immediately, I was begging for morphine and feeling I couldn't go on, I rang my sister who was a gentle encouragement for not only me but also Pete. The midwife got the morphine together and Pete told her not to give it to me and that I could do this without it. I am so glad he had the strength to do that and I think hypnobirthing gave him the confidence to stay true as much as was possible to our birth plan. 

The birthing room had an amazing birth chair and Sandy suggested I use it. I then stopped using the gas and air and breathed down as far as was possible for the next hour. It got really intense though after the hour and I knew the doctor had been called in. After a further 20 minutes Sandy told Pete that I had 10 mins or they would need to intervene as they were worried about the baby. Pete gave me huge encouragement to let go and meet our baby so for 10 mins I put all my energy and focus into meeting our baby. 

At 7.30 am Bella came sliding into the world, Sandy put her straight onto my chest! I then got into the bed and with the cord intact had skin-to-skin for an hour. She was alert and crawled up to my breast and latched on straight away. It was an amazing feeling to know I had done it!! We delayed the cord clamping until it stopped pulsating and I then birthed the placenta. 

I did have a second degree tear that had to be repaired and a very sore throat but apart from that I felt elated. I then had a shower and Pete had skin-to-skin with Bella for another hour before she was dressed and wrapped. For the next 48 hours she was the most chilled out baby, I didn't let them measure her at birth and we waited 3 days to bath and measure her. She knew who Pete and I were straight away and the beauty of being down here in Esperance is all the uninterrupted time we have had to bond with our little girl. 

Although I wasn't as true to the hypnobirthing principals as I would like I felt it gave me confidence to meet my birthing day without fear. It also helped Pete make informed choices for our family during the birth. Having done the classes with him I felt unconditionally supported and loved throughout the whole experience, I know Bella is a happy settled little girl who was birthed in the best way possible. 

Thanks for all your knowledge, help and encouragement. Without the classes I think our birth would have been far more medicalised, so I know Pete, Bella and I have a lot to be thankful for.

“Becky – you are amazing and you did such a fabulous job. In no way were you untrue to the HypnoBirthing principles and you were absolutely not a failure for using gas and air. There is no failure in birth. HypnoBirthing is all about being informed, being relaxed and creating a good birth environment. You did all that so well and I’m so proud of both you and the journey we took together. Sending big hugs to you and Baby Bella!” Karenna, Hope & Honey

For more information on HypnoBirthing or to book a class with Karenna, click here. 

Getting the support you need, but not too much...!

The last few weeks of pregnancy are a funny old time - unfortunately for many of us the glow of the second trimester has transitioned into more of a hot, flustered, uncomfortable kind of look and that glow is normally a sheen of perspiration if you're battling through an Australian summer and fielding a million phone calls!

It's also a time when you can feel at your most vulnerable - every twinge gets you on edge thinking 'Is this it?'  and you're spending more time at medical appointments and sometimes it can all get a bit stressful with test results and the possibility of plans changing. Plus it's difficult to get comfortable with the baby mountain making sleeping and resting not as easy as it used to be.

So you've got a lot going on! How do you get the support you need but not too much?

Only you can decide what is right for you, but my advice is to speak up and set some guidelines about what you would like now and especially around the birth. Only yesterday I was speaking to several new mums who were bemoaning the myriad of badly timed visitors to hospital just after the birth or the annoyances of people 'popping in unannounced' to the house. It was something they found quite upsetting or are still angry about.

Let me just say, I'm not being a grinch here - so much love and support is needed at this time but think about it ahead of time and you can get the best support you need without having horrible stories to tell afterwards of being exhausted, boobs out, desperate for a shower and finally getting down to a nap when Uncle Fred calls unannounced!

One idea is to have a buffer - either your partner, family member or good friend - whose job it is to field all the calls, texts and facebook messages and let everyone know when they can and can't visit. Some people also pop a sign on their door when they don't want to be disturbed. You can also tell the midwife on duty if you don't want any visitors at certain times. Everyone wants the best for you so will respect your wishes and right to privacy.


Those first few hours and days with you and your baby are so precious - spend a bit of time upfront thinking about what you would like, telling everyone and you can get the best support you need without Uncle Fred syndrome!

xxx

For more advice and information, why not sign up for Hope and Honey's childbirth education classes or HypnoBirthing?

Choosing where to give birth in Perth

Hi, I'm Karenna from Hope and Honey offering HypnoBirthing, childbirth classes, birth pool hire and much more in Perth, Western Australia. Here's my latest blog on birth options in Perth:

It's a tough decision - some people don't think much about it, they just look at what's available in their local area. Other people prefer to do some research on all the options. Whatever end of the spectrum, choosing where to give birth in Perth is a big decision, is really individual and one not to be taken lightly or to be rushed. 

But do you know all the options available in Perth? There's probably more than you think. Here's a link to a list of the options in Perth from my friend at Birth Savvy. 

There are so many opinions out there and many people turn to friends and family and good old 'word-of-mouth' to help inform their decision. There's also a place for some hard statistics but these are really hard to find. Below are some statistics on caesarean rates in this graphs below. It's not often we get the opportunity to compare the various hospitals across Perth so this is really useful, but remember c-section rates are only one part of a much bigger story. 

Caesarean Section Rates in Perth and Around the World

It does however give us some food for thought. Often a hospital with high c-section and induction rates (if not high-risk like KEMH) shows their policies are to intervene in birth so if you're looking for a natural birth - perhaps you could explore other options such as midwifery care, the family birth centre or an independent midwife. 

Hope & Honey don't advocate any particular hospital or way of birthing because the only thing that matters is that you and your family are comfortable and happy with your selection. It saddens me when I meet or hear about families who are getting increasingly dissatisfied with their care or feel that their caregiver isn't supportive of their choices. It takes a huge leap to step away from care that you're planning or have paid for but remember that getting the birth you want and being on the same page as your doctor is much more important. If you want to chat through your options, please feel free to contact me. 

What Hope and Honey do advocate is doing a bit of research, deciding which is best suited for you and working hard to develop a good relationship with your chosen caregiver. Feeling informed, supported and comfortable with your birthing decisions is the best way to ensure you get the birth experience you want and deserve.

Much love xxx

For more information and advice, why not sign up to Hope and Honey's HypnoBirthing or childbirth education classes? 

Hope and Honey: The Personal Story

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Hope & Honey blog.

Hi, I'm Karenna from Hope and Honey offering HypnoBirthing, childbirth classes, birth pool hire and much more in Perth, Western Australia. 

The home water birth of my daughter Isla

The blog aims to share the latest news and views from the world of fertility, pregnancy, birth and beyond and be a place to chat and share personal news and stories of your journeys. Hopefully it will be a bit fun, a bit serious when needed, but mainly be bits and pieces you should find interesting and give you a glimpse into the work of Hope & Honey. I will also share bits of my journey, my stories and my views so you can get to know me a bit better.

H&T and baby Leo - HypnoBirthing Clients

So first of all I thought I'd tell you the personal story behind Hope & Honey. Supporting and educating women and families at this amazing time in their lives has always been my major passion in life. I think the whole process of conception, pregnancy and birth are nothing short of a magic, a little miracle. I'm also fascinated by the mind, coaching and facilitating change in people and am continually dumb-founded by the evidence of the power of the mind over the body.

I feel that, in general, modern society doesn't allow a lot of time for us to really listen to our bodies, to connect our mind and bodies and to relax and nurture ourselves the way we should. Often many of us just need a bit of support and coaching to tune back into our bodies and what we need.

So after many years of volunteering in hospitals, sitting on maternity advocacy groups, doing an honours degree specialising in the transformation to motherhood, supporting women and lots of training and reading along the way - I decided to make the jump into running Hope & Honey. 

Becky and Baby Bella - HypnoBirthing Client

And I LOVE IT! Working with all of you gives me the greatest buzz, seeing clients transform before my eyes, reach their goals and create bonded, happy families is like a dream come true for me. So thanks for being part of this and making my dreams come true! Lets keep working together so yours can come true as well! 

Big cyber hugs xxx 

Karenna

For more information and advice, why not sign up to Hope and Honey's childbirth classes or HypnoBirthing classes?