I would like to share with you an uplifting birth story of one of the couples I recently taught the HypnoBirthing programme to. When this lady first contacted me, she hada  profound phobia of hospitals - so extreme was this phobia that twice when needing to attend hospital as a child, she had suffered cardiac arrest as a direct result of her fear. Pregnant with her first baby, she was determined to experience a gentle, natural birth in the comfort of her own home. I began teaching her the course but after class 1 her waters broke at 35.5 weeks. She also developed a rare liver condition called cholastasis which had to be monitored carefully due to the risk to the baby and mum. After only 3 days the decision was made to induce her due to special circumstrances arsiing from the cholastasis.  I taught as much of the programme as I could to her and her birth partner prior to the induction, focussing on the breathing and instant and deep relaxation techniques and information about the physiology of birth and what to do when. In her wisdom, she had read the HypnoBirthing handbook between class 1 and 2 and completely immersed herself in its teachings.

Of course, due to the special circumstances, the opportunity to birth at home was no longer available. This courageous lady was induced by pessary and practised the HypnoBirthing techniques in her hospital room, supported fully by her partner who helped her focus on positioning, relaxation, breathing and the need to keep hydrated. She described the experience as so calm and relaxed it "felt spritual" as she gently gave birth to a baby boy, named Heath. Her experiences were so positive that she is over-the-moon with her decision to do the HypnoBirthing course. The midwives were so impressed that one of them has since completed the course herself to prepare for her first baby's birth in January 2013.

This is a wonderful example of how learning how to release your fears and trusting your instincts and body's ability to birth, aided by the easily-learned HypnoBirthing tecniques- how all can result in a magical birth experience even for those mums who are acutlely afraid of birth, for whatever reason.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to share the programme withy this lady and help her transform her baby's birth, even where medical intervention was necessary into such a memorable, beautiful event.