Tag Archives: Childbirth educator

How I Finally Got My Natural Birth.

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working mother, mother, working, freelance, blogger, mummy blogger, blogger, parenting blogger, blogger, writing,, pregnancy, birth, childbirth, hypnobirthing, Catherine Balavage, trauma, childbirth, women on childbirth As I write this it is my sons fifth birthday. He is happily playing with his new toys and his toddler sister is playing with a train track. The pain of my sons birth has lessened this year. The pain is not as searing. I wanted a natural birth with my son. I had gone to an antenatal class at the hospital and they had skipped over most of the birth part due to time constraints. The one thing they did cover was pain relief, and it all looked awful. Even the epidural which they said was the ‘only thing that actually works’ looked so invasive. A catheter? No thanks. I would have a natural birth. It would hurt, but it would be worth it. 

The birth itself was a series of little mistakes leading up to an emergency C section. I ended up having pethidine and an epidural. I have always been sensitive to drugs. I hate the feeling of being high, but by the third day of labour I could not take anymore. The midwives bullied me for taking drugs saying, ‘how much more pethidine is that baby going to have?’, but at no point did anyone induce me during my over eighty hours of labour until the very end. One midwife shouted and screamed at me at the top of her lungs while my water broke. I was bullied, abused and I thought my child and I were going to die. We both almost did. 

That is not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about what happened two-and-a-half years later: I got my VBAC. Having a natural birth with my daughter was the most healing experience of my life. I was thankful it was at a different hospital with better staff. 

The trauma from my sons birth lead me to research childbirth and talk to as many women as I could about their experiences. This lead to me writing my book Women on Childbirth: Tips and Experiences from Women who Have Done it. I read everything I could about natural birth as I did not want another C section or any drugs. A book I recommend is The Positive Birth Book from Milli Hill. I was humbled when Milli was kind enough to contribute her birth story to my book. I also have to mention the team at St George’s who were so supportive. I cannot thank them enough. 

I decided to try hypnobirthing and I read everything I could about it. I was confident I could breathe the baby out of my vagina as long as I was in the right environment. I knew if I was as calm as possible things would go well. I wanted the room to be as dark as possible. I did not want any drugs as they slow down labour. I refused to have anyone other than my husband there. I was treated terribly by the midwives at the other hospital and I knew that it would be partly luck if I got a good midwife or not. I was not going in on just luck however: I was going in empowered with information and a confidence in the abilities of my body. 

I was in labour for over twenty-four hours but most of that was the early labour part which is not as bad. The pushing part was a few hours but it seemed to go faster. I was so surprised when the amazing midwife Elle told me I was ten centimetres. During my last birth I did not even get to five. The breathing really helped with the pain. 

Did it hurt? Of course it did, but a natural birth is only more painful in the moment. It does not hurt as much afterwards and the recovery is much quicker. The moment I pushed out my daughter and she was on my chest was one of the proudest moments of my life. The female body is an amazing thing and we need to have confidence that our bodies can do what needs to be done, but we also deserve to have the right environment to birth in so our bodies are able to do that. Birth rights are human rights. 

 

The Princess and The Pranayama By Cheryl MacDonald

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prince william turns 30. Kate middletonBy Cheryl MacDonald BA Hons E-RPYT, Perinatal Yoga teacher and Childbirth educator

 

The now glowing Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge has given up her punishing exercise routine in wake of her pregnancy and is now practising yoga to help ensure a natural, drug free birth for the pending heir to the throne.

Why yoga during pregnancy?

Yoga is being hailed as THE form of exercise of pregnant women everywhere, allowing mother to remain fit and flexible while building a strong mind and body to prepare for childbirth. The focus of yoga during pregnancy works on relaxed stretching (asanas), yogic breathing (or pranayama) and deep relaxation or savasana. Yoga during pregnancy and also post-partum with baby can decrease the incidence of antenatal depression and has been proven to actively encourage mum and baby bonding, even while in utero.

 

Where do I start with prenatal yoga?

I highly recommend if you are completely new to yoga, then you should join a special prenatal yoga class with a properly qualified perinatal yoga teacher (200 hour yoga teaching qualification with specialist perinatal yoga training a minimum.) If you are a yoga newbie and do wish to practice yoga in the first trimester, look towards relaxing poses and deep breathing, focusing on meeting and getting to know your baby.

 

Five safe yoga postures for pregnancy

Here are some easy to try yoga postures to try at home. Remember that unless you are an experienced yoga practitioner with an existing practice, you should not undertake yoga until 14-16 weeks gestation.

 

Cat Curls (Bidalasana): Bidalasana helps relieve lower back pain and to release the length of the spine, a common problem during pregnancy.

– Get down on your hands and knees with hands placed directly under shoulders and knees under the hips.

– Inhale and lift your heart, stretch back through your tail and concave your spine.

– Exhale and roll your spine, lowering the head, pressing through the hands back to straight back.

 

Cat Curls in pregnancy differ from your normal cat curl as we don’t curl the abdomen towards the floor, after curling up we simply return to flat back or table top.  Repeat following your breath – Inhale as your curl the spine up and exhale back to flat back.

 

Childs Pose (Balasana):

– From any kneeling position, sit your tail back toward your heels.

– Take the knees as far apart as you need to to make your bump comfortable.

– Sit back as far as is comfortable and rest your head toward the mat. If you can’t reach your head to the mat, rest your chin on your hands.  You can stack your fists and rest your forehead there or use a block if you can’t quite get down. Otherwise, you can stretch your arms out long in front of you and lower your head all the way to the mat.

 

Avoid balasana if suffering from sciatica.

 

Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana): Baddha Konasana is a classic pregnancy yoga posture and is excellent for helping to open up the hips and pelvis in preparation for birth. This is a posture that be practised at night while reading a book or watching TV and is especially important for the later stages of pregnancy in the third trimester.

 

– Sit on your mat with the soles of the feet together.

– Bring your heels as close to the groin as possible and pull the shoulder back and down away from the ears to straighten the spine.

– Hold the feet with the hands and (with a straight spine) begin to gently bend forwards from the hips – only as much as is comfortable – please do not squish your baby!

– Remember to breathe in and out through the nose.

 

Downward Facing Dog (AdhoMukkhaSvanasana):  Downward dog can be practised with feet wider apart than normal to accommodate your bump, although ideally no further apart than hip width.

– Push into the palms of the hands and pull up on the hip bones.

– When and if ready, takes the heels to the mat. It’s fine to keep the knees bent when pregnant and focus on stretch from hands to hips, lengthening the back.

 

Only hold any inversion for 5 seconds during pregnancy and if you feel dizzy or nauseous at all, come back down onto the mat and into child pose and relax.

 

Yoga Squats (Malasana): Squats are great for building strength and stamina during pregnancy and in preparation for birth. Many women like to squat while birthing. As you get bigger in pregnancy, use props such as blocks, bolsters or a rolled up blanket to rest your bottom on. Focus on relaxing and letting your breath drop deeply into your belly.

 

– Stand facing the back of a chair with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes pointed outward.

– Squat toward the floor as though you were going to sit down in a chair.

– Contract the abdominal muscles, lift your chest, and pull the shoulders back and down. Most of your weight should be toward your heels. This can be done against the wall for support.

 

Remember to avoid wide legged postures if suffering from pelvic girdle pain or PSD.

 

Cheryl MacDonald is the founder of YogaBellies which specializes in perinatal yoga and natural birth preparation. She created the Birth ROCKS natural birth preparation method and has trained over 70 YogaBellies teachers across the world and has been working with birthing women for almost ten years. She is mother of one lovely three year old buy and lives with her husband in the west end of Glasgow.