About me
Hi! I’m Charlotte, I'm a mum of three fab children, step-mum to two more and married to an awesome, and infinitely patient, guy! Thank you so much for being here!
My knowledge of hypnobirthing came about following two rather difficult labours with my first two children. Overwhelmed with scary birth stories, expectations of pain, drama, trauma, all the usual stuff we hear about birth,I was left me feeling very low, with a real sense of deprivation of a positive birth experience. When I fell pregnant with my third baby I decided that things would be different this time around. Determined (well, desperate) to not let history repeat itself, my husband and I enrolled on a hypnobirthing course. I wasn’t sure, it all sounded a bit ‘airy fairy’ for me, but by this point I was willing to try anything! So, 34 weeks pregnant, armed with a birth ball and a healthy dose of scepticism, off we went!
The classes were not at all what we expected. There was no chanting, no pendulum waved in my face and definitely no dodgy animal impressions! Instead, we were provided with science by the bucket load around the physiology of birth, evidence based information about interventions and what to expect during labour. All of this along with techniques to assist with relaxation, focus the mind and build confidence in the ability all women have to have a fantastic, comfortable birth.
Minds suitably blown, we left feeling empowered and excited. Equipped with so much knowledge we were buzzing and couldn’t wait for labour to begin-we both felt we could really achieve the birth I so desperately wanted and the course brought us even closer together in our excitement for the arrival of our baby. Our little girl had other ideas though, as sometimes happens, and we welcomed her two weeks before her due date, via C-section, on Christmas morning whilst our unopened birth pool sat on the front door step at home…not quite what either of us had in mind!
However – it mattered not. The whole experience was incredibly calm and relaxed and our daughter came into the world surrounded by warmth and love. It was AMAZING. Words just cannot describe how magical it was. There was no panic, no fear, no rabbit in the headlight moments. My husband and I had been able to make informed decisions and have control over what was happening throughout my time in hospital as a direct result of the knowledge we had gained through pregnancy. I was able to relax, focus my mind and trust my body and its abilities. I totally rocked my c-section! This further cemented my belief that hypnobirthing can and does make an enormous difference to a woman’s birth experience, whatever experience that may be.
Whilst on maternity leave I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to help women like me achieve the birth they deserve. Women who were perhaps nervous first-time mums, conditioned by society to believe that labour had to be painful and traumatic, women who have had previous traumatic births and wanted things to be different, women who just felt they had no real choices in their labour. Nine months after the birth of my daughter I couldn’t ignore this nagging anymore and so I said goodbye to my legal career and trained as a Hypnobirthing teacher – and I haven’t looked back.
Giving birth is an incredible process, one which all women are designed to do and the experience of which will inevitably have a profound effect on the rest of your life. It is my aim to work alongside you and support you to enable you to fully believe in the down right amazing-ness of you. I’m not here to tell you what to do, I’m here to help you see how brilliant you are, to help you trust your instincts and your abilities, and give you confidence in your power to achieve the positive birth experience you and your family deserve.
I can’t wait to hear from you!
Charlotte x
