When it comes to childbirth, amazing might not be the first word that springs to mind.
But for Rebecca Newell, she had such a positive experience when giving birth to her daughter Sunny that she is now on a mission to help other women experience the same.
“I had such an amazing, positive experience,” says Rebecca.
“Yes it does get painful at points but you know that’s going to end and that you’re stronger than the pain.”
So how did Rebecca feel so strong both mentally and physically good during her childbirth?
‘Birth can be fun and exciting’
The 34-year-old from Banchory says it was all down to hypnobirthing, a technique that uses practical ways to make giving birth a more peaceful and calm experience.
“All we hear is negativity, pain and things going wrong,” says Rebecca.
“Birth doesn’t have to be scary.
“It can be fun and exciting.
“The only reason I had an amazing birth with Sunny is because I blocked out the noise, centred myself and got informed.”
Feeling unprepared in pregnancy…
When Rebecca first discovered she was pregnant, she admits that she felt completely out of her depth until she discovered hypnobirthing.
“When I fell pregnant, it was a surprise – it wasn’t something that my partner and I planned at all,” says Rebecca,
“At the time I was very focused on my career as we were living in London.
“I felt very unprepared as I realised that I didn’t know anything about being pregnant or childbirth or what I wanted.
“So I knew that I needed to get control over what was happening and that’s when I found hypnobirthing.”
So what is hypnobirthing?
From self-relaxation and pain management techniques to empowering women to know their rights and make informed decisions when it comes to the birth, Rebecca says hypnobirthing helped her on so many levels.
“Due to its name, people just assume hypnobirthing is airy-fairy but it’s not, it’s based in science,” says Rebecca.
“It’s about self-relaxation and pain management through practices like self-hypnosis which can help you get into a very deep state of relaxation.
“And when you’re in this deep state of relaxation, you tend to feel less pain because you’re more relaxed as there’s less adrenalin in your body and more oxytocin so it’s perfect for childbirth and labour.”
Rebecca opted for a home birth…
Rebecca says hypnobirthing also gave her confidence in the decision-making process.
“Quite early on in my pregnancy, people were asking me about what kind of birth I wanted and I was like ‘oh I’ll just go to the hospital and will do as I’m told’,” says Rebecca.
“But through hypnobirthing, I decided to have a home birth and it was amazing.
“I think a lot of pregnant women, including myself, don’t know how to say no to some things.
“So it’s about how to do it in a way that you’ll still maintain a good relationship with your midwife while having the power to say ‘well I don’t think that’s right for me’.”
Happy memories of childbirth
Thanks to hypnobirthing, Rebecca says her childbirth experience was nothing but positive.
“We were staying in a really tiny flat in Hammersmith but we put up a pool in the living room and I actually asked the midwife to wait in the spare bedroom because I felt so confident,” says Rebecca.
“Everything that I’d learned through hypnobirthing and the positive affirmations I’d practiced about trusting myself and my body just made me feel so relaxed.
“My partner Jono was amazing too.
“It was exciting and I was able to relax and enjoy it.
“Even two and half years down the line, it’s still a really vivid memory for me.”
The Sunny Birth Club
Inspired by her positive birthing experience, Rebecca has now become a hypnobirthing instructor and has launched The Sunny Birth Club, named after her two-year-old daughter Sunny.
“I’m still at the early stages with The Sunny Birth Club but I ran a free class during the summer and it was amazing,” says Rebecca.
“It was a great turn-out with women who were all at different stages of their pregnancy.
“Some of the women were on their second or third child so they had previous experiences that they wanted to change.”
Birthing partners play an important role…
Rebecca, who works part-time with the Aberdeen charity Instant Neighbour, also does one-to-one courses with couples in their homes.
“One lady I worked with had a very traumatic first birth and she felt very out of control so the second time round she wanted to tailor the experience to how she wanted it,” says Rebecca.
As well as supporting pregnant women, Rebecca says it’s also important to support their birthing partners too.
“Quite often birthing partners are left out of antenatal education,” says Rebecca.
“But there’s a huge part that the birthing partner can do to help whether it’s just creating the right environment or advocating for their partner.
“Birthing partners can quite often feel terrified due to what they’ve seen on TV or what they’ve heard so it’s important to teach them relaxation techniques and ways to find a bit of control and to be as useful as possible.”
Next month, Rebecca is hosting another free hypnobirthing class at the Deeside Wellbeing Collective in Banchory on Saturday December 7 at 10am.
“I’m super excited about this as it’s in a new wellbeing studio,” says Rebecca.
For more information about the free session, go to Rebecca’s website sunnybirthclub.com or check out her Instagram page @sunnybirthclub
Conversation