Generally speaking I am a calm and relaxed person.
The work that I do demands it and since becoming a mama they are skills that I have tried to hone. Don’t get me wrong of course I have moments where my kids drive me insane, I forget that they are 5 and 3 years old and it’s part of their job to make me feel like I’m about to lose my shit. But I’ve come a long way since my teenage years.
However, this last week has bought up a whole host of ‘Old School’ Suzy who I didn’t even know still existed! These were the three big things that came up for me.
1. I have the capacity to lose my shit BIG time.
2. It’s much easier to stay calm and positive when everything is going your way.
3. Sometimes I want to force things that are way beyond my control.
What do you notice?
I’ll tell you what I noticed. It was a lot more difficult for me to practice what I preach when outside of my comfort zone, outside of my daily routine and reliant on other people to help me achieve my goal of a stress free and easy move.
I couldn’t help but see the irony of my reactions to certain things when I thought about how frequently I tell you guys that hypnobirthing skills are skills for life.
So what have I taken from the last week?
1. I need to up my hypnobirthing practice – BIG time.
It’s super easy to stay calm and positive when everything is going your way. But should your baby or the environment you’re in have alternative ideas to things you have planned for your special day. All that calmness and positivity will fly straight out of the window unless you have PRACTISED, PRACTISED, PRACTISED, detaching yourself from everything other than the importance of breathing your way into the calmest of places. Trust me, I’ve just moved.
2. Following on remember hypnobirthing does not guarantee you a perfect birth.
There is so much that is way beyond your control when birthing your baby. Your job is not to control everything and everyone else. Your only job on the day you give birth is to release any resistance to the feelings you may be experiencing in the body and go with the flow of labour. Choosing to believe in yourself and the process of birth (which still goes a lot smoother even if on the rare occasion it does need a little helping hand) and releasing any fear you may be holding onto.
3. From now until the day you give you birth you have control over you.
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- How much you think about your birth.
- How much you visualize yourself feeling calm and at ease.
- How much you discuss your birth preferences, organize your playlist, practise your breathing.
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On the day you can set yourself up with the best possible foundation for a great birth experience by ensuring your birth partner is fully up to speed with your wishes.
Knowing what your plan B and plan C options are if things do not go to plan and checking in with yourself before your labour to assess whether having anyone else in your corner like a doula for example is going to be a welcome addition to your team. So on the day you can let go of anything that distracts you from doing your job.
What will you do if you do need to engage with your care providers because of special circumstances. Use your BRAIN. So you are able to make your decisions from a rational place of calmness. Everything else, let your birth team handle for you.
Now over to you
Have you been tested recently? How have you got on? Have you seen how your hypnobirthing can help you in real life? Or did you lose your shit? If it’s the latter, time to start practicing all the things I’ve been teaching right?? Get on with it. 🙂
