Katharine's Hypnobirthing Blog

I have recently returned from a wonderful trip teaching KG Hypnobirthing to a group in Dubai.  A fascinating city and as always I felt honoured to teach such a lovely group.  Sharing insights into different challenges that varied cultures experience during childbirth can be very educational for us all.  The demand for Hypnobirthing keeps growing and growing and we are happy to keep helping spread the word.    

KG Hypnobirthing are delighted to be at the RCM conference, It is a wonderful opportunity to meet with new and established midwives and to have a friendly chat about KG Hypnobirthing.

AIMS is a wonderful organisation. Everyone in this country has cause to be grateful to AIMS although they may not know it. AIMS is a charity that has worked tirelessly for over 50 years to improve conditions for women and babies. AIMS lobbied for fathers to be present at the birth. AIMS lobbied to have birthing pools in all birth centres.

VIEW OUR VIDEO WITH BEVERLY BEECH FROM AIMS HERE

AIMS was founded by Sally Willington as a result of the rigid and uncaring treatment she received when giving birth to her baby in hospital. Her letter to the national press received an overwhelming and heartfelt response from other women who had suffered the same treatment and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Pregnant Women was formed. In 1960 the name was changed to The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services which focussed originally on lobbying for more humane treatment for women giving birth in hospital. Subsequent research has shown, of course, that home is the safest place for most women to give birth, so now AIMS lobbies for choice of place of birth too.

In the room in the antenatal department of the Royal Oldham Hospital where midwives go to have a cup of tea (if they have time) there is an open envelope on the noticeboard. This envelope is there for midwives to post suggestions, and the wonderful thing is they can do it anonymously. This provides a facility for midwives to raise the alert about procedures they see that give them concern without the danger of victimisation or accusations of whistle blowing, and I was hugely impressed.

Following on from our competition we have had a chance to chat with Debra Sequoia, the winner of our general public category.  Thank you Debra and we are excited to be sharing KG Hypnobirthing with you.

"I am so excited to learn that I have won a place on the KG Hypnobirthing teacher training! My email hasn't been working and I didn't actually see the email that you sent. Thank goodness you kindly phoned and left me a message. I was so surprised after listening. Literally, jumping up and down in excitement!

I went to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, on Thursday, to visit the midwives who trained in KG Hypnobirthing over a year ago. After a year’s experience teaching KG Hypnobirthing, they had seen the positive results and were even more enthusiastic than they had been when they first completed the training, and we were able to have a really useful discussion based on their experience to date.

We regard it as very important to keep in touch with the hospitals that are offering KG Hypnobirthing to give them any ongoing support they would like.

We spent a very happy and positive morning together, and I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting.  More details about the training we provide for hospitals and midwives can be found on our Hypnobirthing for Hospitals page. 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter our KG Hypnobirthing Teacher Training Competition and for those who kindly shared the details on social media. The response has been overwhelming, and we are just sorry that there could not be more winners.

So without further ado, the winners are Sue Mealor (midwife category) and Debra Sequoia (general public category). Well done to both of you, and we are sure you will have a wonderful time on your KG Hypnobirthing Teacher Training Course. We look forward to seeing you on the course.

We spoke to Sue about what this has meant to her:

Part of our parents KG Hypnobirthing course covers the Rebozo technique.  If you are unfamiliar with it, this is a brief overview.

Rebozo started in Mexico when women used their long shawls, rebozo, to wrap around themselves during labour which supported the weight of the baby and achieved a gentle massage. It can also help a partner to relieve the mother of the weight she is carrying and help her to be in a position that facilitates labour and birth.

This technique has now been developed and is becoming more and more well known. With the woman on her hands and knees, the rebozo is wrapped around her abdomen and takes the weight of the baby, relieving the mother’s body of this stress and relaxing tight ligaments. It is then gently rocked from side to side, giving comfort and relief to the woman. Equally, if she is experiencing discomfort in her back , the Rebozo can be wrapped over her back and massaged from side to side in the same way as it would be on her front.

A friend forwarded me this wonderful letter in the Telegraph published very recently:

“SIR – After a 10-year battle, Amanda Burleigh has persuaded Nice to recommend other midwives not to clamp the umbilical cord of newborn infants immediately, to allow more time for oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood from the placenta to reach their as yet fragile blood supply.

Almost 50 years ago, two veterinary greats, Dr Peter Rossdale and Professor Roger Short, demonstrated the vascular benefits of leaving the umbilical cord of newborn thoroughbred foals to rupture naturally when either the mare or foal first stood up. This approach is nowadays used on stud farms worldwide.

We were saddened to hear of Sheila Kitzinger’s death.  Sheila was a doyen of the natural birth movement and inspired many others to follow her lead.

We remember with gratitude and happiness the day she spent talking to us at our KG Hypnobirthing Study Day only two short years ago.  The course was packed to hear her speak, and I have fond memories of the event and of Sheila.

More details about her life and work can be found on this BBC article.