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HypnoBirthing Testimonials and Birth Stories
What People Are Saying
"Before your course, I didn't feel at all involved, but now I can sit and read the book with Cristina, and practice all these exercises with her, so we're a team again…Now that we're going with this different style of birthing, it has brought back the fascination for me. Thank you!" Pete Van Loon, Nerang, Gold Coast
"I did the course mainly because I wanted as natural child birth as possible but from experience knew that I would need something to help me through it, I had also seen a few women have seemingly painless birth using the technique...I didn't need any further pain relief for 18 hrs. Unfortunately I didn't have a straight forward birth. I got stuck at 6cm and had to have a caesarean section...When I went for the caesarean section I was very surprised at how calm I was considering my previous fear, in fact I had no fear and I think it was down to the HB that helped me through this. I still believe women can go through birth with minimal pain using HB I was just unlucky that my baby was in the wrong position (posterior occipital), I will definitely recommend it to my friends, family and women that I care for. Thank you for everything and keep me updated so that I can pass the information on to women I care for at the GCH." Bethan Griffiths Midwife at Gold Coast Hospital
Rhys Griffiths
BREECH TURNING PRIVATE SESSION
Hi Tamika, Firstly a MASSIVE thank you for my breech turning session session yesterday. I cannot begin to tell you how relaxed and calm I am feeling. One of my friends dropped by our place today and said 'oh it feels so calm and relaxed in here' YAY!!!! I have read the book and memorised the tummy holds - great advice and so easy to do. Makes oh so much sense. I have a friend who has a 'short rise' and I will be telling her all about this for her second (she is determined for a VBAC next time) Feeling really excited about the birth now - I cannot tell you what a difference that session made yesterday.
I went to the doctor this morning for my weekly check up and guess what? She is in the perfect position - the exact same position that you gave us in the hypnobirthing class (next to the flower pic). She must have changed position either during our session or last night! I am over the moon and am really looking forward to the birth. I cannot wait to meet our little girl!
Shae Bleakly, Gold Coast, Australia
"It was undoubtedly the calmest, exhilarating, beautiful birth (not to mention one of the shortest) I've attended so far as a birth doula. I plan to suggest it to all my upcoming clients." Leila Botsford
"HypnoBirthing® has changed the way I practice obstetrics." Dr. Jeffrey Segil
"Outstanding! Easy-to-learn relaxation and breathing patterns guided me through a five-hour, pain-free labor. I will treasure the experience forever!" Kim Sweers
"Wonderful! I tell everyone that it is the only way…my doctor is so impressed! Katharine Oliver
"My baby's birth was the most amazing experience. I love this program and am deeply led to teach it." Alicia Watson
"I've been delivering babies for over 20 years, including all of my own, and I've never seen anything like this. Don't tell my wife; she'll want to have another baby!" An Obstetrician
"This is just incredible. When I get pregnant, I'm coming to you. This is the way all babies should come into the world" An OB/GYN Physician
"Thanks for the truly informative classes which are not only changing our perspective and culture on birth, but also greatly offering a better quality of life for our soon to be born child from the very beginning. The most spectacular thing happened this morning...(Feb. 6, 2008) Ansel Oden was born a little after 5:00am! His birth was a fast 4 hours, peaceful, and healthy. It was beautiful and amazed us with its nature. We arrived around 2:00am last night and were back at home by 2:00pm this afternoon. We are all now hanging out and bonding. My how much we love him already. We had an amazing experience. We owe the positive nature of our experience with bringing our son into this world to our connection to you, your class, and HypnoBirthing®. Thanks so much!" Khahtee & Jackson
Hi Tamika
I wanted to share the news with you that Madeline was born on 16th May. Peter and I are obviously thrilled and slowly settling into our new life!
The hypnobirthing was a wonderful help....my waters broke at 3am Sunday, went for a walk at 7am by 11am I was getting 7 min apart contractions. They slowly got shorter. At about 3/4 mins apart we went for the drive to hospital. My breathing and "centreing within" was an amazing help. Once we presented there, I went thru some excruciating contractions and started yelling for pain relief - the midwives knew I was in transition but didn't tell me! We then checked it out and sure enough I was fully dialated. They all said, ok let's have this baby!!
Well 2 hours later we were still there pushing! It wasn't meant to be. My obst was fantastic, he knew I wanted to do it naturally so left me alone until he knew he needed to check things out. We decided to go into theatre to see if he could pull her out. Once we were there we learnt that she wasn't fully engaged in the pelvis so he couldn't even pull her out. I had a c-section. The same thing happened with the twins so I know now why, we just thought it might have been the way the twins presented, but perhaps not??
Anyway, I was totally thrilled I laboured at home on my own and pretty much arrived at hospital to start pushing. It doesn't matter to me that she didn't come out the way we intended, she is well and content. As Marie Mongan says in her book even if there needs to be intervention, hypnobirthing helped me relax and cope with the decisions we needed to make, it was wonderful! Also for your information, the hospital and their midwives were briliant.
Thanks for the training Tamika, it helped me wonderfully.
Cathy and Peter Wilks
Baby Madeline :-)
KLARA'S BIRTH STORY
The birth of my second daughter Klara was powerful, intense and absolutely beautiful. It was also challenging and overwhelming. There were moments which I would not exactly call happy – yet, I feel completely joyful about the birth!
I think these things were key to the bliss me and baby Klara were left with:
Hypnobirthing, the people who supported me and surrendering.
Labour begun with some mild but definite surges the night before. I was so excited to feel them, I went and enjoyed them on the couch while listening to my hypnobirthing CD and dozing on comfy pillows. In the morning, labour took a break.
My doula (who is also a midwife) came by after her morning yoga and I asked her to check me. Klara was "overdue", and at 11 days I was beginning to get offers of induction – something which was not on my wishlist. I really wanted to feel reassured that labour was starting. As she checked, she also stretched the opening a little bit and birthing started again, this time more intensely.
It took me a little while to realise just how quickly things were progressing. Surges felt so manageable and "right". When they were minutes long and a few minutes apart, I texted my doula who had ducked out for coffee, suggesting it was time to down that cuppa. I was going more quiet and holding on to furniture for my surges. As in my first birth, I preferred to be upright. In between surges, I was able to totally relax. My partner gave me acupressure, and my doula gentle verbal encouragement. They could see that I was going into myself, and were very attuned and respectful of that.
This was the hottest day of the year so far, so I moved into the coolest place –the bathroom, leaning on the cold washing machine in between. As my doula saw surges coming more often, she suggested moving somewhere more comfortable. To me, that actually meant the Birth Centre. I needed to be in place so I wouldn't have to move when things got more intense.
In we went, and as I got into the lift I saw a woman with her newborn. She smiled and wished me good luck. It was good to see a little baby at that stage – soon, that would be me! Truth be told, I was a little envious to, but it spurred me on. Another wonderful thing was being greeted with such excitement at the Birth Centre. A bath had been drawn, the big birthing room was cool and nice, and there was celebration in the air. My midwife is such a positive, strong spirit. To look at her and see a smile and hear a happy tone in her voice really boosted me.
And I had begun needing a boost. After only an hour of more serious birthing and intense surges, I was starting to feel more nauseous and the pressure inside the belly was building up. I "felt" that uterus expanding so strongly – I could "see" a dark red circle widening and "hear" a crescendo of tones as it did. At this point, I couldn't relax into the surges, but only hold on to the legs of my partner and the voices of my good women. And I desperately needed a poo, I thought.
I moved to the toilet and started moaning – "How long will this be"? My doula and midwife kept reassuring me; "You are doing great", "Not long now", "Your baby will be here soon". And suddenly I felt something warm and soft come down. I knew it couldn't be the baby, as the bearing down surges hadn't begun yet. It was the membranes, unbroken, coming down before the baby!
I didn't know it then, but it meant that my baby and I had the waters until I was fully dilated. I think that was a wonderful thing to have, both for my baby and I! I was also amazed that it didn't get any more difficult than that for the opening part; a few moments of being overwhelmed, and then we moved into the next stage. How efficient was my uterus ;-)?! There had been some mechonium in the waters, so the midwife needed to follow procedures and bring the paediatrician and the emergency gear in. She was fantastic at how she conveyed that to me; "There is a little bit of mechonium in the water, which is perfectly normal especially with well-matured babies, so we are just going to get some back-up – don't think about it, don't even look that way if you like, it's just there for safety". I just blanked out that part of the room.
The bearing down phase was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I went to a completely different place, was connected to the earth by a force I have never known, and had time to think it was a cosmic experience before the next surge ploughed me down into the ground again.
I was on all fours holding on to my partner's legs. I needed his strength. My midwife and doula were behind and beside me, still giving gentle encouragement but letting me completely in charge. I rested in between, almost sleeping, although there was only seconds between surges. The sounds that came out of my mouth were primal, from the beginning of time, matching the strength of those surges. I was reduced to sensations and sounds.
After some thirty minutes, I knew we were near but I also felt there was something in the way. I didn't think this way at the time, but my coxis had been a bit stuck. I just knew something was not yielding, and said that I needed to change position. My midwife got the birthing stool, and while this may or may not have been the best option, it worked for little Klara!
With two mere pushes, she was out, caught by my doula and handed to me – this warm little miracle. I still get tears in my eyes writing about it. Such love, such joy, such bliss! My partner and I discovering that it was a girl, seeing her beautiful eyes, hearing her healthy cry. The smiles on the faces of my women friends.
Because of the mechonium and the procedures, we weren't allowed to wait to cut the cord. My partner was handed the scissors and did the job, and our little girl was whisked away for a quick examination. She was fine, but there were some concerns about me. I had torn a bit and was bleeding quite heavily. The midwife helped the placenta along with a soft tug. Our Klara was put to the breast right away, and not allowed to find her own way, because they wanted to ensure my bleeding stopped and my tears were taken care of. This was not such a concern to me at the time, but I believe it may have something to do with the feeding problems we then had (we are having trouble attaching).
I was transferred to the medical part of the delivery unit and Klara was left to bond with Pappa. There I was shocked to be offered and epidural to sow up the tear, which was a "medium" one! I said "no way", and was fine with just local and laughing gas. What a different environment. Still lovely professional people, but operating on a different logic, creating a mood a world away from the nourishing Birth Centre. Lucky my women came with me, supported me, explained my attitude to drugs to the doctors and then laughed with me as the gas did it's job.
So it was a happy ending of a healthy, natural, supported and joyful birth. Klara is such a sweet, chilled little baby. When spend a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes, and I feel like I am looking straight into pure consciousness. She is already smiling. We are so grateful and joyful! Thank you for supporting us in having this amazing birth.
Lotta, Matt and baby Klara
Baby Klara
AMELIA'S BIRTH STORY
Hi Tamika
I don't know if you remember but I came to see you twice last year in October I think, and I was going to let you know how the birth of my baby went - she's almost 4 months old now so better late than never!
I just wanted to say thanks for the techniques you taught me for how to get into a relaxed state, it really helped during labour. I think the biggest thing I took on board was our discussion about surrendering to the pain, I did manage to do that for most of the labour and I think this is part of the reason why labour went so fast. It took my husband and I by suprise, he didn't think I was very far through labour because I was handling it so well in comparison to when our first baby was born, and I also thought we had a lot longer to go as my first birth took about 8 hours from when the contractions were intensely painful.
This time things were intense for only about 3 hours, and baby ended up being born at home as we hadn't left for the birth centre yet when baby's head started to emerge! The difference between this birth and the first was that I really went with the contractions, breathed through them and didn't resist what was happening. Baby was in a posterior position, and it felt right to do lots of hip circling which I think helped to turn her around. I felt confident and strong, and when we realised that baby was going to be born at home with just my husband and mother in law in attendance (she arrived from Adelaide just as baby was being born) I knew that everything would turn out alright - and it did. The ambulance arrived about 5 minutes after baby Amelia was born, they cut the cord and I was sweet as. My midwife checked us later at the birth centre and I didn't have any tearing. Amelia was, and is, perfect. I'm so happy we had a natural drug free birth and that labour was over so fast.
Amelia is just beautiful, and is a very outgoing baby - she likes to be held facing outwards, and likes to be always on the move. I think she just couldn't wait to come into the world! thanks so much for your help.
Paula Corban 
ILLONA AND PEPPER'S BIRTH STORY
I am very grateful to Tamika for introducing my husband & I to the world of hypnobirthing as it certainly put us in the right frame of mind for a natural birth. I had no fears on the lead up to giving birth as I really believed my body would know what to do and I didn’t think about it being a painful experience.
The hospital gave me a due date of the 6th May and by Saturday the 8th May I'd been having surges on off for a few days but not much else was happening. Once I went overdue I didn't want to be induced by the hospital so my husband and I thought we’d get things started ourselves and had sex at around 11am on Saturday 8th May. That definitely did the trick and by 12pm I could feel the surges intensify! I did the breathing & visualisation I learned in hypnobirthing and tried to relax. Once things started to get a lot more full on I found myself instinctively moving into different positions. One minute I would be in the shower squatting, the next I would be rocking my pelvis on the birthing ball, then I wanted to lie down, then walk around - I just couldn't sit still! By 5pm it was so intense I thought it was definitely time to go to the hospital. I rang the delivery suite but because I sounded quite calm on the phone and they knew it was my first baby and my waters hadn't broken they told me it would be at least another 10 - 12 hours and to just take a couple of Panadol and relax. After 2 more hours I really felt like my husband would have to deliver the baby at home if we waited any longer so I rang the hospital again (at 7pm) and they told me I could come in if I wanted strong pain relief (epidural / Pethidine) but otherwise I would be better off staying at home because coming in would just slow things down. I insisted on coming in anyway and they told me they would check how dilated I was and if I was only a couple of cm, which was very likely, they would be sending me back home. When we got to the Labour ward at 7.30pm I got onto the bed & the midwife checked me and then asked my husband to pass her something out of the cupboard. She then broke my waters and told me I was 9cm dilated and that the baby would be out in no time! At about 8.45pm I asked for a bit of gas to take the edge off as I needed a little time out before transition. I only had the gas for about 8 contractions or 30 minutes and then the midwife took it off me and told me it was time to push the baby out. I was lying on the bed with my husband down the business end holding up one leg and the midwife holding up the other! The midwife was like a personal trainer and really pushed me to get the baby out. It worked and 30 minutes and a few contractions later baby Pepper was born at 9.54pm weighing 7bl 5 or 3.3kg. No stitches for me just a small first degree tear and a couple of grazes so I was very happy!
Once I got to the labour ward the birthing experience I had expected was totally different to what happened, I was not asked if my waters could be broken it was just done without my permission, I was not in a squat position while giving birth but was instead lying on a bed with my legs in the air and I had to push hard to get the baby out. Doing the hypnobirthing course got me to 9cm dilated in a short space of time and then kept me calm through the rest of the experience even though it was not what I had expected. Once the baby’s head was out it was easy and then my baby girl was lying on my chest and I couldn’t feel any pain at all due to all the endorphins in my body (the endorphins stayed with me for the next 4 days making me feel high as a kite). After one hour of bonding with my baby I got up and went and had a shower and then walked up to the maternity ward. I only stayed in the hospital for 2 days (to get the hang of breastfeeding & to make sure Pepper & I were fine) and then came home. All the physical & mental preparation paid off and I was really happy with the end result.
The hypnobirthing relaxation techniques and the use of light touch massage have also helped me to cope with breastfeeding. Pepper is a very vigorous sucker and I have had a couple of bouts mastitis so being able to relax & release my bodies natural pain relief helped me to get through the mastitis without needing antibiotics.
Hypnobirthing also helped my husband. Before we did the course he never imagined he would be the first person to see his baby girl’s head come out! Seeing the birth from that end has really made him in awe of the female body and what it is capable of doing and he is really grateful to have shared that amazing experience.
If we are lucky enough to be able to have a second child we hope to have a water birth at the birth centre. The midwife who delivered my baby thought it was quite possible that I may be able to breathe my baby out second time around!
I would highly recommend doing a hypnobirthing course as it clears your mind of all the bad birth stories you have heard and gives you a real belief that your body can cope with giving birth no matter how it happens. It also gives you the mental tools to keep relatively calm through the whole experience which can also be used throughout the rest of your life whenever needed.
We love every moment of being parents to little Pepper and are very grateful to Tamika for enlightening us to the hypnobirthing way of thinking which I attribute to Pepper’s beautiful entrance into the world.
Ilona and Pepper 
Baby Pepper
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