At 38 weeks pregnant, and with her baby in the breech position, Liz was determined that she was going to get him to turn so she could have a natural labour. In my 37th week of pregnancy and my baby in the breech position, I had been to referred to UCLH for an ECV. The procedure
Catherine attended Janet’s Pregnancy Yoga classes and, together with her husband Eoin, Janet’s Hypnobirthing Course. Here, Catherine shares the story of the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Niamh Aster McKenzie Parker. My waters broke on the Sunday, however I had not gone into full labour by Monday evening so had to be induced (on
The odds were against me for a natural birth. At age 48 with an emergency c-section for a breech baby 15 years previously and a long hard road to conception, with New Year’s Eve as my due date – I kept hopeful, negotiated with the obstetrician and persuaded him to let me get to 40
I gave birth to our daughter Cassandra on a Monday evening at the Whittington Birth Centre in October. Unlike our expectations of a ‘likely’ arrival post-EDD, Cassie arrived in week 39. Three days before Cassie’s birth, on Friday, I had my second reflexology session with Sophia Smith at the Active Birth Centre, which was wonderfully
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There has been articles appearing in the press in recent days claiming that the increase in the number of Caesarean Births in the past 50 years is having an impact on human evolution! This is due, it is claimed, to the fact that women and babies who would previously died in birth due to the
Essentially labour is a dance between mother and baby aided by the downward force of gravity. Now that we have some understanding of the physiology – lets turn to the protagonists. I believe it is essential that we think of labour starting in the final weeks of pregnancy when baby and mother are preparing, both
The concept of dilation of the cervix from 0-10cms during labour is unphysiological when we understand labour as a series of responses between mother and baby. It starts at the very end of pregnancy, when space in the womb is tight and the baby’s head starts to descend into the brim of the pelvis. Pressure
I have worked with mothers to be in pregnancy for more than 30 years and helped many hundreds of them to successfully access their mammalian instincts and to give birth naturally. As humans we have the disadvantage of our over-active rational brain and cultural conditioning to be afraid of giving birth. We are giving birth
The mammalian birth process is one of Mother Nature’s finest creations. It is a biological process common to all mammals, including ourselves, which occurs spontaneously when pregnancy comes to an end. On the physiological level it involves a complex combination of interactions between mother and baby, from the end of pregnancy, throughout the phases of
