
To read how this whānau were able to let go of their expectations when things didn’t go to plan
Thank you so much for all the learning you shared in our Calmbirth course. I hadn’t realised how much I had retained and how heavily I would rely on the learning until I was in the thick of labour, listening to the audios in the early hours of the morning and practicing the breathing. Thankfully I was also able to guide my husband through all the different ways you had shown us to support me too which helped us both so much. He felt more at ease knowing he was able to alleviate some of the intensity of it all.
The breath work and the ability to remain calm worked so well that I went through my whole labour at home and funnily enough, despite my midwife recommending this CALMBIRTH course, when we phoned her in the middle of the night to advise it was go time, she was skeptical that I was in active labour as she believed I was ‘too calm’. Oh the irony! It wasn’t until we took ourselves off to the hospital that they realised it was already time for baby to evacuate!
Unfortunately, my birth did not go as planned once we got to the hospital, with our little one getting well and truly stuck, meaning I was airlifted from Kaitaia to whangarei. The two midwives present have both shared surprise at the breath work I was utilising and we had a laugh at my demands of them to keep reminding me to breathe if I fell out of sync! They were really intrigued by the use of breathing to go through my birthing attempt without pain relief/intervention.
In the end I was devastated at having to forgo a natural birth and head to another hospital, however I remember practicing my breathing the whole heli ride down and continued until I was in theatre. It really did keep me calm, composed and able to process what was happening, despite it being the opposite of what I wanted for the birth.
I really would not have been able to remain in the state of calm and labour so comfortably at home without your audios and everything you taught us. I also believe that your teachings were the main reason I was able to let go of my expectations when things didn’t go to plan and keep myself calm through what ultimately was the most traumatic birthing experience I could’ve imagined. Everything you shared for birthing partners was so easy to relay and have my husband replicate and it helped so much.
6 weeks on and we still talk about how tuned in to my breath work I was through it all and how grateful we both are that I was able to learn from you. I will absolutely be recommending your Calmbirth course to any hapu mama that I come across in the future.
Our sincerest thanks to you Deb for everything you shared and for taking the time to share your matauranga with us. I’ve attached a picture of our Calmbirth baby!
Find a Calmbirth course https://calmbirth.nz