One thing that made my birthing experience so positive was Ben and I doing the Calmbirth course down in the Southern Highlands with Karen McClay. Doing the breathing and visualisation was amazing to put into practice and insane how simple it is but so incredibly effective. Ben was able to just say relax your face and remind me of my breathing and that was honestly life changing and kept me calm between each contraction. Each night in the lead up to the birth he would use the techniques learnt in the course such as the massage, pressure points and the jiggling to help me and that played a major part in how smooth the birth was.

I can honestly say I breathed Peyton out.

Calmbirth definitely helped us achieve my VBAC, it gave us so many tools and techniques to use in early and established labour and supported a sense of empowerment that if I listened to my body then it could do this.

We travelled 5 hours to attend Karen McClay’s Calmbirth course in Bowral and I believe this played a huge role in why our birth experience was so powerful and positive. I cannot wait to give birth again. Calmbirth gave Danny and I the tools and confidence that we needed to continue to advocate for the birth that we envisioned and to understand the natural physiological stages of birth and how we can use breath, touch and positioning to support my positive birth experience. Calmbirth taught me to always come back to my breathing and Danny would continually remind me to come back to my breath when I felt like running away. Calmbirth instilled confidence in myself and my partner Danny, knowing that my body and mind already know exactly how to birth. Danny learnt the importance of his role during my labour and was extremely supportive and present throughout the entire labour, he was my rock.