Accepting Your Birth Journey - For those who need a little extra help!

This specially designed 3-session programme has been formulated by Hypno-Psychotherapis, doulas and Daisy Birthing antenatal educators and teachers.  It is aimed at Daisy Birthing® mums to be (along with their birth partner), who perhaps feel they need a little extra help and nurturing when it comes to accepting their current feelings about their personal birth journey.  For some this will involve looking back at a previous birth.  

Is this course suitable for me?

• Perhaps you are a mum who knows you will be having an elective section and whilst you enjoy the relaxation our weekly Daisy classes bring, feel you need a little more help to accept your journey as valid and beautiful
• Perhaps you were hoping for a home or mid wife led birth, and feel worried that you are now under consultant led care
• Do you have unreleased anxiety and feel terrified about the journey to come?
• Perhaps you are worried about how being monitored during labour will affect your journey!
• Maybe you are struggling to accept the journey of a previous birth and concerned about how this will affect your journey still to come ...

Just Like our popular weekly (mums only) classes this programme is NOT intended to tell you what is the right or wrong way to give birth -  our aim is to help all mums LOVE THEIR LABOURS.  This programme is pitched to help you understand all births can be amazing and wonderful as long as you allow yourself to bond with your birth journey and to feel part of it.  

To reiterate, not every mum will feel they require this couples based programme - remember your Daisy Birthing® teacher will help you during your usual weekly classes,  to understand how to use movement and relaxation to empower your journey.  We recommend you experience your weekly classes initially, to evaluate whether you need extra nurturing before booking this course!

From 8 years of teaching and now 1000+ Daisy mums visiting us weekly however, what we can most definitely acknowledge is that for some, there is a real need for some additional support in order to feel ok about the journey you are likely to have and our 'Birth Acceptance' programme has been designed to do just that!

 

How Does This Differ To The Daisy Birthing® Couples Active Birth Workshop

The 4 hour one off Active Birth workshop is designed to help you and your partner put your much loved Daisy moves, breathing and other techniques into a virtual birth order (and of course to help your partner understand the benefit of the Oooouuut breath!)  

Within our popular couples active birth workshop there is a strong emphasis on movement and the use of tools such as reebozo and massage.  Whilst some of these topics are reiterated in this Birth Acceptance Course, as a programme the latter is much more about relaxation and self hypnosis to release anxiety and perhaps more importantly, to understand where that anxiety stems from initially.  

Within Birth Acceptance, we aim to provide you with solutions to your worries - so the focus on reducing your stress levels starts the minute you walk through the door!  We explore a range of holistic and alternative techniques such as self hypnosis, touch therapy, emotional therapy and even brain dance techniques to help you reduce your anxiety levels.

To Summarise:-

• If you are a mum keen to experience a natural birth and to use movement all the way the couples active birth workshop is perhaps more for you.
• If you recognise yourself in the list of possible mums above and need some extra help to come to turns with a possible outcome, the Birth Acceptance programme could be just what you need!
• Weekly classes suit all mums as remember, it is so important to work on pregnancy well being and to gently lengthen and support the birthing muscles (however your birth then plays out)

 

Your Teacher

Your Daisy Birthing ® teacher will have undertaken further CPD training to deliver this course which allows her to focus particularly on self hypnosis and holistic mentoring skills, and to apply these to her birthing knowledge.  Check locally to see if this module is available.

How this 'Extra Care' Programme is Structured

You and your birth partner will be guided (as part of a small group) by your familiar teacher, through 3 x three hour sessions:-

 

Week 1:  Recognising your anxieties and releasing them

This week we explore in more detail we you and your birth partner

• The result of anxiety on the birthing process (something you will already be working on in your weekly classes) and the common phrase 'Fear Tension Pain Syndrome'.
• We look at empowering you with solutions for each worry and anxiety 
• We use practical tools to help you begin to vocalise worries, release and let you go - our Brush Your Worries Away segment introduces the idea of touch therapy and re-programming hormonal responses!
• The class culminates with a beautiful release script will allow you to dilute the level of stress you feel when focusing on your worries and hopefully leave the session feeling more in control and ready for anything

 

Week 2:  What we can and can't choose and plan

This week is all about acceptance of possible birth outcomes.  

• We help you understand how your Daisy Birthing® techniques can work for you in three different settings (Natural Birth, Managed Birth, Section Birth)
• We look at ways your partner can support you in each session and explore the common differences in mid wife and consultant led pregnancies and labours
• We enjoy a beautiful 'journeys' script which will help you visualise varying pathways for your birth and to see these all as beautiful - you will wake feeling ready to be adaptable!
• We look at creating a personal Birth Preference and ditch the word (and the potential disappointment) PLAN!

 

Week 3 - Foetal calming and bonding

In the final week we allow you to think about life beyond birth and to consider the needs of your newborn (and whilst considering them, look at how natural calming can help you!)

• We explore your expectations of baby in that first 12 weeks and look at how the calming button comes into play
• We help you understand containment holds and laying of hands – the effects on you, your bump and your baby!
• We look at how closely related birth attachment and baby attachment are, and how to lay good foundation stones!
• Your partner will learn to deliver containment and reassurance now and in labour
• We explore how brain dance is at work in you and your baby, and how it can reduce anxiety
• We culminate with a Psoas Release Script, enabling you to get your body and mind fully birth ready (whilst creating space for your baby)

 

Your Daisy Birthing teacher will aim to ensure you get to meet a real life mum and hear a real birth story each week!

 

The Birth Acceptance Course will be available to book from October 2012 onwards at selected Daisy Birthing classrooms and is best suited to couples between 28 and 35 weeks pregnancy