Easierbirth.co.uk - HypnoBirthing, the natural choice

In The Media

TV presenter Beverley Turner, and her husband Olympic Gold Medallist James Cracknell, took HypnoBirthing® classes with London based HypnoBirthing® practitioner Helianthe Rusken. Their Birth stories follow:

Beverley: Helianthe's HypnoBirthing gave me a birth experience that I could only have dreamt about. Like all women I was anxious and uncertain about what to expect. We were aiming for a natural birth at London's Birth Centre but everyone kept telling me it was a ridiculous idea and I should go for the drugs. I was determined to prove them wrong and I did! I was in the middle of writing a book about Formula One and knew that being laid up with a caesarean scar would be very debilitating. As it turned out, I gave birth at 9.30 am and was back home, watching the Grand Prix and taking notes by 10pm. The next day I went for a walk to the river.
When my waters broke I was calm and confident that my body would do exactly what I needed it to. I stayed at home and began cleaning like a mad woman.



				In The Media TV presenter Beverley Turner, and her husband Olympic Gold Medallist James Cracknell, took HypnoBirthing® classes with London based HypnoBirthing® practitioner Helianthe Rusken. Their Birth stories follow: Beverley: Helianthe's HypnoBirthing gave me a birth experience that I could only have dreamt about. Like all women I was anxious and uncertain about what to expect. We were aiming for a natural birth at London's Birth Centre but everyone kept telling me it was a ridiculous idea and I should go for the drugs. I was determined to prove them wrong and I did! I was in the middle of writing a book about Formula One and knew that being laid up with a caesarean scar would be very debilitating. As it turned out, I gave birth at 9.30 am and was back home, watching the Grand Prix and taking notes by 10pm. The next day I went for a walk to the river. When my waters broke I was calm and confident that my body would do exactly what I needed it to. I stayed at home and began cleaning like a mad woman.









		As the evening drew on my tummy felt tighter but not at all painful because I was so relaxed. James and I watched TV in front of the fire with lots of pillows. The midwives had been round and checked on me once but I wanted to watch the end of Sex in the City and said I would call them if I wanted to go to the Birth Centre. It was all very instinctive and I firmly believe that is because of the HypnoBirthing training. The midwives knew that HypnoBirthing mums give birth much more quickly but accepted my decision totally. Finally at 3am I called them and we went into the Birth Centre where I got in the birthing pool. We played the HypnoBirthing tape over and over and in my notes I apparently said "This is bliss." James wasn't as well-rehearsed as I would have liked (I have made him suffer with that ever since) but he counted my breaths and turned the tape over. I did get very tired towards the end but when I got out of the bath in order to get gravity on side our little boy appeared pretty quickly. Because I was relaxed and because I had spent a few hours in the water, I didn't need any stitches and had no tearing whatsoever. Croyde fed well and was a lovely calm baby (he is less so now...maybe Helianthe can do some hypnosis on a boisterous 14 month old!!) I will never give birth any other way. It was a revelation and I'm afraid I have become a bit evangelical about it. I recommended Helianthe to a friend who had had a terribly traumatic time with her first - lots of intervening doctors and an emergency c-section. She has since had a beautiful big baby girl completely naturally at home and is elated by her experience - all the doctors had told her it wasn't possible. My ante-natal pals also suffered a myriad of complications as a direct result of meddling doctors and their own - understandable - anxieties. Over half were given c-sections. I cannot recommend HypnoBirthing enough. I even find myself doing some of the breathing techniques when I am about to broadcast on TV or Radio! The relaxation skills are very useful in everyday life.

		James: When Bev said she wanted to do HypnoBirthing I was very sceptical. You might think that as an athlete I would believe in the power of the mind but I needed some convincing. The main problem with our lessons with Helianthe were Bev's giggles. She couldn't stop laughing and on a few occasions she had to go into the garden to get it out of her system. I had hoped to be able to put her in a trance every time I needed a shirt ironing but no luck. The lessons themselves were great for me too as I got to have a lie down and do some deep relaxation. As I had normally come straight from a training session on the river I quickly fell asleep. But it didn't matter - although Bev was embarrassed by my snoring. I was away a lot during our pregnancy but Bev listened to the tapes and seemed very relaxed about the whole thing. I realized during the birth that I wasn't as well prepared as I should have been and felt bad about it. At one point I asked Bev if she was ok and she growled back "Don't ASK me if I'm ok, TELL me I am!" She was more annoyed with me than with giving birth...tip for the dads...do your homework. it will make your lives a lot easier and your partners birth much calmer. I was so proud of Bev and the way she kept in control throughout.I held her head in the water for about 4 hours and all the callouses on my hands peeled off. It hurt like hell when I got back in the rowing boat. Bev said it served me right for not being better prepared.

		Next time I will try harder and we will certainly do the training again. I think it is understandable to be nervous and I expect that Bev will need to have any negativity erased again. People are always telling us their horror stories. Helianthe's service actually went beyond the HypnoBirthing and she ended up giving us an afternoon of marriage guidance when the stress of the pregnancy, me being away and the looming Olympics all came crashing in on us. Bev was struggling to explain how she was feeling and I wasn't doing a good job of listening. Helianthe gave us a safe, objective space to discuss our concerns in and it worked brilliantly. We owe her and HypnoBirthing an awful lot.
		An article about Beverley’s experience of childbirth with HypnoBirthing also featured in The Sunday Mirror ‘Celebs’ magazine, Sunday 19th June 2005. For a scanned copy on the UK HypnoBirthing site follow the link below: www.hypnobirthing.co.uk/pdf/Beverley_Turner_HypnoBirthing_1.PDF (page 1) www.hypnobirthing.co.uk/pdf/Beverley_Turner_HypnoBirthing_2.PDF (page 2) 'Give birth with no pain and no drugs.... just by relaxing' An article from the Derby Evening Telegraph (Wed June 13th 2007) DET_Article.pdf ‘Birth Bliss’ – An article from the March 2004 issue of Time magazine www.time.com/time/connections/article/0,9171,1101040301-593553,00.html ‘Smooth Delivery – An article in The Times newspaper, February 26th 2005 http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17909-1499221,00.html ‘A Pain-Free Childbirth Is a Possibility’ – Northampton Chronicle & Echo 16th July 2004 www.northamptontoday.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?ArticleID=824073&SectionID=324 ‘Hypnotherapy Plan for Childbirth’ an article by Catherine Lyst for BBC Scotland’s news website may 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4593427.stm BBC news website article ‘Why I Chose HypnoBirthing’, Saturday 20th July 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2136691.stm A TV news article and video from Austin, Texas http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=103136&SecID=2 A TV news video about a wonderful HypnoBirthing birth of a breech baby http://www.hypnobirthing.co.uk/child_birth_video-jackie_gadret.shtml For Jackie’s birth story click here: