Your forum has been the most informative piece of information I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I am a prima & am currently 6 weeks into my first trimester. Scared to death. I used to suffer from severe anxiety attacks for about 2 years until I finally built up the strength to see a therapist. I had two visits under hypnotherapy & no longer suffer from the debilitating mental illness. I completely understand the concept of your natural hormones releasing adrenaline, because whilst I was going through my anxiety attacks, I could actually feel my body surrender to the adrenaline set off as a coping mechanism. I am just prying to good that I do not relapse into my panic attacks when I finally go into labour. My theorist said my anxiety came from being abused as a child, so I am positive that we have dealt with those issues together and I will not need to contemplate my worst fears. I believe it?s has you said, The pain can come from fear, so I will absolutely believe that breathing can play an enormous part in aiding women through there Childs birth. Thank-you and I look forward to reading your next post. Best regards KTM
if you havent written a book yet for expecting mum's.... then you should. I just finished reading "Belly Laughs". It was informative, but it scared the crap out of me. It was 1 womens story (or nightmare) about her own child birthing experience. It explained in detail every stage of her 3 trimesters & her actual child birth experience. I now believe that knowledge=understanding of process, which should enable me to deal & cope with the pain of all 3 stages in my child birthing experience. I intend to read everything I can over the next 8 months & your forum has help me to understand more about child birth, It has also made my partner & I re-consider rushing into any major med's for our experience, I am from sydney. Do you know of any particular places/contacts for Hypno-birthing centres in that area ?
ktm, just as an aside, have you read anything by Ina May Gaskin? She is an American midwife and runs a birthing centre out in Tenessee. I have Ina May's Guide To Childbirth and Spiritual Midwifery and seriously, apart from all the good calm advice in both books on the processes of birth, there are DOZENS upon DOZENS of drug-free birth stories from every kind of woman with every kind of outcome. There are also stories of women whose births didn't go well for whatever reason (ended in emergency, lost the baby, there are various) and how they coped and it is SO SO inspiring to read how the experience one is striving for is normal and attainable.
Amazon usually have both books (sometimes you haveto wait a few weeks though), or maybe Kelly sells them here...? They are wonderful. I would recommend them to ANYONE feeling nervous about pregnancy and birth. Best of luck to you.
I have written a yoga (with some snippets on birth, writing a birth plan, baby behaviours) book on all things belly, birth & baby, self published which is available on my web site (see link on my signature)
and I am writing a second book, Beautiful Birth, which has recieved interest from a publisher..woo hoo
there are some articles on my web page that are taken from my writings
I also have BirthSkills program packs (HypnoBirthing) available
as a guide most natural therapies need a week or 2 to take effect
I cant personally comment on acupuncture, but I had reflexology from 37 weeks to reduce going post dates and minimise my risk of any medical intervention
I've just read this thread. It's fantastic it all makes sooo much sense. And to think a lot of women aren't even aware of the reasons why breathing and not being fearful of the birth process are sooo important in labour. Why aren't these sorts of things explained properly by obstetricians or in our ante-natal classes
Do let me know when Beautiful Birth is available as I would definately love to buy a copy.
Suga, I had acupuncture to try and bring on labour but it didn't work. It did however work wonders for my cankles
I will definately try reflexology for my next bub though as I don't want to go too far past 40 weeks either considering it'll be a VBAC.
Natalie, also, thanks for sharing that you still got PND with your second bub, but that you found it easier to manage. I am kind of hoping that if I can have a beautiful birth experience next time, I won't get PND again but it is good to be aware that it can still definately happen.
the more wonderful women that support my work, the better able I am to get it out there
so a big thank you
the reason OB's and antenatal classes dont cover this is because they are too busy telling you what might go wrong...focus on the negative not the beauty
Congrats on finishing your book Natalie! I'm sure it'll be a great read.
By the way, I used acupuncture to try and avoid induction and the therapist told me the longer you do it for, the better. Ideally you would have therapy throughout pregnancy, then up the ante, so to speak, once you go post-dates. I started at 38 weeks. Havn't managed to bring on labour, but it did really help with my back/leg pain - have been able to go for walks again, which was really nice.
thank you so much for doing this. Someone explained this to me when I was pg with my first and it made an incredible difference to my labour at least my perception of it
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yogababy
it all makes sooo much sense. And to think a lot of women aren't even aware of the reasons why breathing and not being fearful of the birth process are sooo important in labour. Why aren't these sorts of things explained properly by obstetricians or in our ante-natal classes 
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