Thursday 17 November 2011

Lots of wonderful women at the RCM conference


It was wonderful being at the RCM conference this week and meeting SOOOO many wonderful midwives.  In total we spoke to over 300 midwives, all of whom now have the antenatal pregnancy relaxation cd.  what was particularly nice was that almost all of them were familiar with the use of hypnosis for childbirth and at least 80% being familiar with Natal Hypnotherapy. A far cry from when we first started 11 years ago and had to explain the concepts to every single person

On the slightly negative side is the persistent misunderstanding of the fact that there are key differences between NH and HypnoBirthing.  I had many midwives initially confuse us with hypnoBirthing, often saying that they felt uncomfortable with the need to change their language, had to watch everything they said, felt nervous of doing something Wong, have a list of do's and dont's etc.  As ever I reassured them that that is not the approach that Natal Hypnotherapy takes.  I have heard this so many times from literally hundreds of midwives. I am so glad that we have developed NH alongside the Uk maternity system and work so closely with midwives.

I met lots of wonderful people using NH CDs in different ways.  One was Val Watson who uses the CDs with pregnant asylum seekers.  She mentioned several women who felt that listening to the CDs was a turning point in their pregnancy, that is was the first time they had been able to relax since coming to the UK, that they were beginning to look forward to the birth etc.  She uses the CDs with an interpreter for a few times after which they do not need one any more.

I also met the lovely Helen from Cheeky wipes who used out CDs for all 4 of her births. She has created a fantastic product - a reusable baby wipes kit - check it out at http://www.cheekywipes.com/

I had a long chat with the girls from the NCT telling me all about the babycafe initiative - a friendly, welcoming support network for breastfeeding mums - http://www.thebabycafe.org/

I had a right giggle with the girls from MIDRS I wont mention helium balloons, mannequins and glasses of wine - they will know what I am talking about!

It was great to see the team from tummytub who we exhibited with 7 years ago at the NEC - amazing how time flies. www.tummytub.co.uk

So all in all a great couple of days

Monday 7 November 2011

Passion rekindled

Ok, it has truly been a long time since I last wrote my blog.  No excuses - just looking after five energetic boys, a growing business, keeping up with school activities, training new practitioners, releasing a new cd, breastfeeding a toddler, ironing 15 school shirts a week and getting my nails done for the first time in my life! Life is certainly full.

Last week I started training practitioners again after a three year break.  it took a considerable amount of planning and thinking, but once I was back in that room with 12 eager faces smiling and keen to learn I was back in my stride.  I thoroughly enjoyed the week and in many ways feel my passion re kindled (not that it had fizzled out - just that it was at a steady low ember like burn).  It is so exciting to have 12 passionate, enthusiastic women ready to pick up the baton and go out there to help hundreds more women have a better birth.  I know there are more and more courses available for women preparing for birth, but I truly believe that the workshops we run are so powerful, so empowering and yet so simple.  We strip away all the "noise" and just get back to basics, teaching couples simple and so easy to use techniques that really help them overcome fear and plan for a positive birth experience.

I feel that Natal Hypnotherapy is truly going from strength to strength!