i am an anxious person by nature and found doing the calmbirth course extremely helpful. after losing five pregnancies early in the piece, i was wrought with worries about E's birth so DH and I went to the course and found it really beneficial. there is a lot of focus on breathing and relaxation techniques, visualisation etc. i ended up with pre-eclampsia and an induction that went on for days resulting in a c/s but at no point did my anxiety get the better of me. every time i felt it creeping up, i focussed on what we'd learnt and did all i could to NOT let the anxiety overwhelm me. in the end, i ended up making the decision to have the c/s due to my own health issues. there was no fear, it was purely a medical decision. i was able to think it through logically and come to the conclusion that was best for us (mum and bub) - and i have no regrets. i think it would have been VERY different had i not done the course.

our course was, from memory, about $400 for a weekend. money well spent. our course was on the weekend of the Victorian Black Saturday fires which were extremely close to my family, and only one week after fires that had burnt part of our own property and we'd been evacuated. the difference in my response to those stresses after only the first day was, in itself, enough to show me that it was working.

hope you can find someone local to help you out - it really is a worthwhile investment