I love the quote by Jane Weidman “giving birth should be your greatest achievement, not your greatest fear”. And because birth is not always experienced in this positive and empowering way, I offer a 2-hour professional Birth Reflection (or De-Brief), at a mutually convenient time and place. Prior to our meeting, you are given a structured worksheet for you and your partner to work through independently. As you may both have different experiences to work through.
If you have experienced a difficult birth, it can leave you – including support people at the birth - with symptoms similar to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). You may have a negative reflection about the birth of your baby, or it may even lead to feelings of fear and helplessness about parenting, pregnancy or birth. If these emotions are not dealt with in a helpful way, it may leave negative impacts on your quality of life as a new family. For some people, the prospect of future pregnancies and births can be so overwhelming that they delayed or even avoided future pregnancies.
I believe it is important to have the opportunity to de-brief from these negative birth experiences. And I am not referring to being told in hospital by the doctor a day after the birth, what they did to come to the rescue of mum or bub. I am referring to exploring how your emotions of the even have colored the way you view, yourself, your baby, your parenting, your abilities as a woman or mother. These can often be unhelpful. When we take time to understand the physical and emotional of what happened and our response, the baby’s birth can be put into a perspective. We are often then more easily able to be dealt with what occurred and move forward.
Family and Friends are often the first point of call when wanting to talk things over, but not necessarily are they always the most helpful. Without medical understanding, they sometimes can unintentionally fuel the negative emotions of the experience. Or further traumatise you by suggesting you should be happy if you have a live healthy baby. This negates how you really feel. Occasionally retelling your birth story amongst friend, might inadvertently instil fear into other women (or men) who face going through birth in the future.
With my background in Nursing, Midwifery, Child Birth and Early Parenting Education, I am qualified and experienced to be able to unpack what happened and offer a birth de-brief. Going through what happened, what led to this cascade happening, how strategies can be put into place in the future to avoid the same situation, can all help move forward from a negative experience.
For this reason, I am offering a professional Birth Reflection (De-Brief) session to anyone who feels the need to talk through what occurred to them. In this session, we go over your experience of birth, from both partners perspectives. I unpack the medical side of birth so we can explore how these events can be dealt with in a more emotionally productive way. I also put strategies in place for the future; how certain situations may be prevented and how to prepare for future births in a positive and calm manner. If, after this session, you would like to attend a Hypnobirthing Class for the next pregnancy, this fee can be deducted from booking a group course.
Healthy Reflection on situations can put things into perspective we might view differently. And thereby move forward with positive anticipation for the future.