Hypnosis
Testimonial and Birth Story
My name is Jody Blake and I have two little boys: Kyle, 3
and a half, and Logan, 4 months. I had both my boys at the Family
Birthing centre at King Edward Memorial hospital. I chose
there because I didn’t want any intervention at all
unless absolutely necessary.
My births were completely different, so different I could
never have imagined them to be this way.
My pregnancy with Kyle was uneventful; I only had a small
amount of nausea which disappeared within 12 weeks. I walked
approximately 10 kilometres everyday and worked until I was
38 weeks pregnant. It was a wonderful time and pregnancy.
The labour itself was fast and furious and all over and done
with in five and half hours which sounds so great. Unbeknown
to me I was five and a half centimetres dilated without even
having one single contraction and then there I was suddenly
holding my son. I hardly remembered anything about the birth
except the pain and the fear I was feeling. I could not believe
I had survived it and thought that I definitely could not
go through that experience ever again. I guess you could say
I was traumatised due to the speed in which my body laboured
and expelled my baby out into this world!
I know lots of women who would love this type of experience,
but it does come at a cost sometimes.
This was a huge dilemma for me as I had always wanted at
least two children. In my head I felt very fearful and trapped
and agonised over whether I should try to have another child
or not. I knew in my heart that if I fell pregnant again that
I wanted to have a completely natural experience with no medical
interventions or drugs, but at the same time I was frightened
about doing the whole natural labour process again.
Finally, I came to terms with the fact that I was going to
have another baby and fell pregnant and realised I had to
find someone that could help me through this dilemma and fear
I had brewing within me. This is when Gaby came into my life.
I had read her book and felt very strongly that she was the
one person who was going to be able to help me achieve getting
through this labour and birth naturally, in a positive and
calm way, this time around.
Lucky for me Gaby lived in the same state as me and not too
far away so I knew there would be this opportunity to work
with her. When I felt the time was right I rang Gaby and we
organised a 3 hour hypnosis session. At last I felt like I
was moving in the right direction so that I could gain some
perspective on my past event and move forward in a positive
way. Well I can tell you, I cannot believe the results!
When I finally came to sit on Gaby’s couch she asked
me to describe my first experience. I told her that previously
when I had talked about it I had had panic attacks and felt
very uncomfortable. I truly was in a bad way, however Gaby
reassured me that by talking about it I was debriefing myself
and looking at this experience as a past event that is over
and done with. My biggest problem was every time I went back
to that experience in my head I became terrified about my
imminent experience just around the corner.
By the end of the three hours I walked out of the session
with a completely different outlook on my first experience
and felt so excited about my impending labour. Who would believe
that?!
During this second pregnancy I had nausea and vomiting constantly
for twenty five weeks, which was just so debilitating as it
would go on for 24 hours each and every day and night. However,
the hypnosis completely alleviated this as well, and whenever I felt unwell I would do my deep breathing techniques
and listen to Gaby’s hypnosis CD and I would feel so
much better and re-energised. I really don’t know how
I would have coped if I had not learned these skills.
Finally, after going over my estimated due date by thirteen
days, my waters broke at 9pm on a Thursday night. I don’t
think I have ever been so grateful for event beginning. People
were starting to whisper in my ear about inducing me and I
was trying to stay positive and not buy into this panic and
pressure. The cut-off day for my birthing at the birth centre
was 14 days over so I knew I was cutting it very fine with
my pregnancy gestation.
My labour was a lot longer than the first, which was exactly
what I wanted, however the contractions would start and stop,
go to 2 to 3 minutes apart then disappear. I was not perturbed
by this, as I just listened to Gaby’s CD and felt calm
and relaxed. I also used the TENS machine which helped me
immensely to stay relaxed and positive. I felt so empowered
and strong and in control (to a degree!) of what was going
on this time around. I know Gaby says being in control is
the wrong way to go about labour and that it is about surrender
and staying out of your head and just allowing the process
to take its course. I definitely was doing this during
labour, thanks to learning relaxation skills, how to breathe
through the contractions and how to ‘let go’ through
using hypnosis from Gaby.
As I look back and write this story I can honestly say that
this was the most beautiful, amazing birth experience. I ended
up water birthing with no interventions or drugs in a calm
and relaxed way.
If I never have any more children now it would be perfectly
OK as I feel I have reached the pinnacle of what natural birth
is all about. I birthed with no fear but instead feeling strong,
confident and excited.
Preparation is everything and I highly recommend that all
pregnant women listen and use Gaby’s techniques and
hypnosis CDs before giving birth: it will change the
way you think and feel about labour.
Jody Blake, 2008
Customer of Hypnosis for Birth CDs
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