Hospital Bag Checklist for Birth in Australia

by | Birth Preparation

In the twenty years Regina Power has taught the Calmbirth program, one of the questions that couples often ask her is what they need to bring when they go into hospital. Many of the lists are from other countries, but we are fortunate here in Australia that our maternity system provides a number of essentials. Therefore, she thought that it would be helpful to give parents some ideas as to what they may want to pack for their birth and their stay in hospital afterwards. 
Calming your nervous system postpartum isn’t about “fixing” yourself—it’s about creating small, supportive conditions that help your body feel safe again.
Birth too has a rhythm and it is believed that mothers are the heartbeat of birth. The relationship between the mother and her birth includes a blend of physical strength, emotional connection and skills required to harness her natural rhythm and flow.

The Power of Gratitude and Adapting to Change to Welcome a Baby with Joy

by | Birth Stories

Over the past eighteen years of teaching the Calmbirth® program, what matters to me most is how people emotionally land on the other side of their experience of giving birth. After teaching hundreds of couples, I know that there are so many different ways that they are going to welcome their babies, and some of those ways may be far outside what the couple may have envisioned for their birth journey. However, if a couple feels respected and dignified as they move through the changes that happen during their birth experience, and how they decide to embrace those changes, this will leave an emotional memory, and set the stage for the way the couple enters parenthood.

Catherine Bell in her book, The Birth Map: Boldly Going Where No Birth Plan Has Gone Before, states, “HOW A WOMAN FEELS ABOUT HER BIRTH EXPERIENCES MATTERS. It matters A LOT! The birth experience (that is, how the mother feels about the birth) and the level of support received are fundamental to the emotional health of the mother. The emotional health of the mother is fundamental to the health of the baby.” (Bell, 3)

Lena’s birth was primal, it was thrilling, it was tough, it was gentle, it was blissful, it was so many things at once.

by | Birth Stories

We welcomed a baby girl Lena Soleil on the 2nd of December at 1:55pm. I laboured for 12 hours and birthed within the same hour that her 6 year old brother Finn was born at (1:03pm).

Both births were very alike, contractions began at a very similar time of night, and I laboured for almost the same amount of time as my first birth. I attended the Calmbirth course with Regina back in 2016 for the birth of my son. The breathing, relaxation and visualisation techniques contributed so much to how I birthed Finn.

Spinning a Baby from Posterior: The Birth Story of Baby Lachlan James Chessell

by | Birth Stories

Sometimes birth is not what you expect, but how you decide to work with it. It is not about perfection, but showing up and giving it your best. It is about learning a set of skills that gives a couple a sense of empowerment and confidence in a woman’s innate design to birth and a baby’s ability to be born. The story of Lachlan James Chessell’s birth shows us how Alison and Gareth were able to use what they learned in the Calmbirth program paired with their knowledge of Spinning Babies techniques to facilitate the birth of their son.