What an amazing month May was for me.
It started off with Kate Middleton really showing the world that birth is not a pathological disease, but a lovely positive experience.
I even got to do a couple of radio inteviews about this which you can listen to at the end of this blog.
Then I had the opportunity to go to 2 conferences and 1 workshop in Brisbane.
Day 1.The Inaugural Hypnobirthing Australia™ Conference.
I was so thrilled because I kept thinking “This is what I teach!!!”.
When women feel safe, private and unobserved they birth so much better because they are able to release the wonderful cocktail of hormones that nature has provided them with.
When they are fearful, feel watched and exposed they can’t.
This is because their body perceives a threat and they go into”the “Fight and Flight”response which is the exact opposite of the state they need to be in to birth.
At the conference I was very humbled to be presented with the Hypnobirthing Australia™ Practitioner of Excellence Award 2014/2015.
This really was an incredible moment for me. I am so passionate about helping couples prepare for the best birth possible and I was truly honoured to be awarded this prize in a room full of women (and one man) who really understand how important this is.
Day 2. Recipes for a Normal Birth Workshop with Sara Wickham
Sara is an incredibly passionate, educated, caring and funny presenter.
Her workshop was for childbirth educators and midwives and I learnt so much.
But once again I kept feeling great because Sara affirmed that education really is the key to keeping birth normal.
Sara also talked about the importance of language and this is something my hypnobirthing training has taught me.
She ask us all to sum up our learning in a 4 word sentence.
I came up with “What I say matters” and I am now making a conscious effort to say “chance” and not “risk”.
I think everyone should do this. They mean exactly the same but “chance” is much less loaded.
I highly recommend all expectant couples, midwives and childbirth educators read Sara’s blog at www.sarawickham.com
Day 3, 4 & 5 The Passage to Motherhood Conference
Next was 3 days filled this the most amazing speakers including Michel Odent, Hannah Dahlen, Sara Wickham, Rachel Reed and Kirsten Small.
I am now a really big fan of Dr Rachel Reed’s website and although it may be targeted at midwives, it is another great one for expectant couples.
I wrote notes and notes, and tried so hard to absord all their knowledge.
There was so much information and research and just good common sense thinking.
My head and heart were buzzing.
However I can sum up my learning in another 4 word sentence (Thank you Sara Wickham for this handy technique)
“Always Optimise Physiological Birth “.
Over and over again, this was the message.
If we leave birth alone it works for the vast majority of women.
And when things do deviate from normal, we must always look for how we can still optimise the normal physiological processes for the best outcomes for Mum and Baby.
Wow what a week!
And I even managed to do two radio interviews talking about Kate’s natural birth and the fact she left hospital so soon.
You can listen to them below.
RADIO ECU
