Did the Duchess of Cambridge use hypnosis for birth?

Well there has been a lot written about the Duchess of Cambridge using hypnosis techniques for the birth of her son. Interestingly, these were written before the birth and nothing yet has emerged afterwards, if it ever will. I hope she did take the time to learn the techniques on The Birth CD programme, all of then can help to contribute to a positive and calm experience for the mother, a calm baby and also to aiding recovery afterwards. Certainly the duchess looked marvellous the day afterwards when she showed off her new son to the world.

Work work work

I am being a "self-starter" today, as on many other days. I am busy creating another CD for publication. Originally I thought I'd just rattle it off and get myself into the studio but it's proving more complex than I thought. Much thinking time required as the languauge has to be spot on let alone deciding exactly what content to use, in what order, how to structure it AND what to leave out.

This one is all about hypnosis for childbirth. It is incredibly powerful, helpful, useful and something that most mothers would benefit from. I have GOT to get it right!

Hypnobirthing - Hypnosis for Birth

I recently took a couple through the whole hypnosis training for childbirth. They were a delightful couple and the baby should be making an appearance in the world very soon.

What shocked me was that they had to travel from London to Northamptonshire to find a class! The birth classes in London were booked up for 4 months ahead.

There is an easy solution to that! Either get on an intercity and come to the peaceful Northamptonshire countryside, or if your feet are stuck in the city - many Londoners' are! - then I will come to north London to run a class for you. I have a room in West Hampstead which is perfect for the job. Just 3 Saturday mornings is all we need for me to teach you how to use your own abilities to manage pain, manage labour, birth your baby calmly and comfortably and really have a great birth experience.

Sounds simple? It IS!!!

Hypnotherapy in Rugby is where it's at

And finally I am about to start working in Rugby. It's been a while in coming but had been on the cards for some time. I will be working with therapist George Houguez at Trance4mation http://www.trance4mation.co.uk

George is an experienced hypnotherapist and instructor at the London College of Clinical Hypnosis. He has been in Rugby for some years and has an abundance of experience. Between the two of us, you'd be unlucky to find an issue that we haven't come across and treated successfully. There will also be a greater range of appointment times because if one of us is not available at times to suit you, then it's likely that the other one will be. So if you're needing or wanting hypnotherapy in Rugby, call us.

There is also a super group room that will be perfect for birth hypnosis group sessions. Hypnobirthing coming to Rugby too!

Hypnosis is better pain relief for birth than pethidine

I always felt this instinctively but now there is some research to back it up

If you click on "research to back it up" above, you will open the web article about the research. Here is the link in full: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20101010/Bathing-better-than-pethidine-as-pain-relief-during-labor-Survey.aspx

Hypnosis for birth, or "hypnobirth" classes are run at my clinic in Northampton. Click on my website for full details and look on the blog for the next course dates

Hypnosis CDs

My range of hypnosis CDs is coming along very nicely. The first one, The Bump CD, is available on Amazon and on my own website. That one is used to aid relaxation in pregnancy, bonding with your baby, helping you to have a confident pregnancy and start to promote feelings of confidence for the birth. It is selling really well on Amazon already. So well in fact that I may have to do another production run soon.

I was in the studio last week, recording the next in the Belief Bump Baby series. This next one is all about support to IVF treatment. I was really pleased with the way that recording session went. The tracks are perfect and the sound quality is fantastic. When you add Nick Willis's beautiful music to the background, you end up with a very high quality product indeed.

It won't be available until after Christmas but watch this space - Helen McPherson Hypnotherapy CDs are going to be very popular!

Belief, Bump, Baby - More tiny feet!

No, not for me!

Another client is pregnant! I sent her a pre-conception hypnosis CD to use prior to starting her IVF treatment cycle and wouldn't you know it, 5 weeks later she is pregnant.

I am finding it hard to keep my feet on the ground - jumping in the air with joy for these couples is the best! I feel so happy it's like I am celebrating my own good news. (Quite apart from the fact that these couples have saved thousands of pounds that would have been spent on IVF treatments)

"Belief Bump Baby" is how I describe my services for fertility, pregnancy and birth - and beyond. Not only hypnosis, I start at the very beginning with fertility counselling. If you don't know whether to see a doctor, if you think you might be too old, if you don't know how to access fertility treatment, how to pay for it, where to go, I can help.

If you don't know how to interpret test results, can't decide which treatments to have, I can help. Do you need lifstyle and nutrition advice? Just ask.

If you are grieving over past losses, if you are holding onto fear of pregnancy or birth there are a myriad of techniques I can use to help you overcome the past and reach the state of parenthood that you want.

No one can promise you a pregnancy but we can help to make it a reality for you.

And then I am uniquely able to help through pregnancy and birth, teaching you techniques to enhance confidence, baby-bonding and have a happy and comfortable birth experience.

It is probably the best part of my job. Helping somene to quit smoking feels good but the work I do with fertility and pregnancy clients has to top it for feel-good factor.

Surfing the wave

I have written this on my Facebook page but my head is BUZZING with ideas since my detox. I feel I'm on fire with things to do. Completely enthused about what I do and how to reach out to more people.

My re-branding has started, which is very exciting. My wonderful marketing helpers Archie, Louise and Simon at create-a-brand have done some amazing design for me. You can see it on my Facebook page, it hasn't migrated to the blog or the website yet.

I have also launched "Belief. Bump. Baby" which is a totally new service dedicated to family creation from pre-conception through to parenthood. "Belief.Bump.Baby" is going to take off and it's almost a case of reining it in! There is so much to be achieved in this area - pre-conception counselling, fertility counselling and advice, support to IVF and assisted conception treatment, emotional support through pregnancy and pregnancy loss, and the courses in "hypnobirthing", a practice that is gathering pace thank heaven.

I am so excited by what I am doing right now. Charles gave me a fantastic phrase - "Surfing the wave." I love it and I'm surfing!

Hypno-Birthing

I have been training this weekend, on a masterclass in hypnosis for childbirth. It has become popularly known as "hypno-birthing" but an American training company have tried to copyright the word in UK. It's a shame as the general public are only using the term in the same way as we might say "hypno-dieting" meaning using hypnosis for dieting. Anyhow, the words hypno-birthing have not been copyrighted so I will use them to describe the process of using hypnosis training to assist in childbirth.

It's a great system. If you are hypnotically trained to use hypnosis to keep calm and relaxed then you do not impede your body's ability to give birth. Very many women in our culture have come to believe that birth is a painful ordeal so they fear it. Because they are fearful they tense up and this tension actually creates pain and really can hinder the baby's smooth passage into the world.

Hypnotocally trained women have no fear, only confidence in their own abilities and so they tend to have shorter, more comfortable and simpler labours and births. They also have shorter recovery times, less incidence of post-natal depression and better breast feeding outcomes. The babies also have higher Apgar scores and tend to be calmer.

It's so simple, I don't know why every woman doesn't use hypnosis for birth!

This was a good masterclass though and although I didn't actually learn anything new, I verified my knowledge and skills and, swot that I am, I was top student too. With any luck, it will make up for England losing to Germany again. At least I didn't have to sit through the match :-)