Hi my name is Natalie a thirty something mother of four fantastic children, pictured here with my fourth who was a hypno-baby, albeit three years ago.  As a parent I am constantly amazed at how different my children are, the genes are there but how they use them seems to change daily!  Equally their births were all very individual.  I have had a complicated pregnancy that meant my care was totally hospitalised to a very beautiful home birth – thanks to HypnoBirthing®.

When I was pregnant with my youngest son in 2005 I read in a magazine about a HypnoBirth.  My births to date had been in hospital and I wanted a home birth, this was definitely going to be my last birth and I wanted it my way.  If I’m totally honest, for me, the first thing that interested me in HypnoBirthing® wasn’t actually pain relief but …control!  This was my body; my baby and I wanted the knowledge to do it my way.  HypnoBirthing® seemed to tick all the boxes for me, but I learnt so much more... and so did my husband….

My husband was pretty complacent about the idea of antenatal classes, however after researching it a little further did comment it would be nice to feel a little more useful at the birth than the bedside cabinet!  He had been present at all of the births but actually defied any father to say that the experience was enjoyable – more like a job that needed doing.   In his opinion no single event had the ability to make a man feel so useless and incapable of stringing an educated, intellectual sentence together to either the doctors or me!

However, after the birth of our last baby you couldn’t shut him up!  Quite literally to anyone who would listen he told, retold and retold again the birth experience.  Now he is certainly not new-age and if the conversation isn’t about football it’s not a conversation.  All in all I think I was more emotional about his experience of the birth than I was about my own!

My passion for mothers (and fathers!) to become empowered to having the birth they wanted resulted in me training to become a HypnoBirthing® practitioner in 2007.  Although I am considered to be quite analytical and logical,  I support HypnoBirthing® in several ways.  Firstly the science bit holds up to research, and secondly because quite simply it works.  That knowledge coming not from a book but because I’ve been there, got the t-shirt and the baby!

I believe I now have the best job in the world, to watch parents grow in their knowledge and confidence throughout the course is fantastic.  However to see their faces filled with excitement after the birth is something I will never tire of and I thank everyone of them for letting me take a very small part in their wonderful experience.