How taking part in an Inspiring Women panel made me realise the importance of hypnobirthing

A few weeks ago at work, I was lucky enough to take part in an Inspiring Women panel Q&A session about how I went from a grade 3 role to a grade 6 role in the space of five years. Just to put it into context, that’s five years, two lots of maternity leave and one global pandemic!

It was great to be seen as an expert in something and to be seen as one of the Inspiring Women! But it also made me reflect on a couple of things, and that is where hypnobirthing comes in.

Firstly, it reminded me that one of the reasons I decided to train to teach hypnobirthing was to help other women prepare for birth. And not just to prepare for birth but to better understand their bodies and how nature has prepared us to give birth, even if the modern world has intervened somewhat! But as women, we need to lift each other up, help each other out and tell the world how we want things to be in order that the world (men) follows.

Secondly, it made me re-evaluate my own self worth. A room full of 60 women were here to see me (and a couple of other people) talk about how I’d been successful in my career, despite the obstacles there have been over the last five years. And self-worth is an important message when it comes to giving birth. Too often we tell ourselves that as long as the baby is ok, that’s all that matters. That does matter, of course it does! But what about you? Women who have a positive birth experience are statistically less likely to experience things like postnatal depression and anxiety. That means that if you have a positive birth experience you are more likely to enjoy motherhood, and to have the mental wellbeing that allows you to be a better mother. Hypnobirthing and learning about birth are key to allowing this to happen.

Since I’ve been back at work, I’ve also been privileged enough to see a series of talks by Vicki from The Wellbeing Focus and I’ll be bringing some of what I’ve learnt to a future blog post about the menstrual cycle. Sign up to my mailing list to make sure you don’t miss it!