About Me
Growing up one of nine children, babies have always been an integral part of my life. I have always been surrounded by confident, strong and fierce women!
These women in my life run families, businesses, work full time, farm and watch all the children’s rugby / netball games – absolutely amazing how they juggle a thousand things at once and I’m so proud of them .
But having said this, I was shocked to hear that some of these women have had negative, disappointing and traumatic birth experiences. Adequate support, options, and thorough information were not discussed during pregnancy or childbirth.
Often, I hear the story of women being swept into medical intervention and feeling that they have completely lost control of the situation. Often one intervention leads to another, and another, leaving emotional trauma in place of the empowering birth experience that every woman is entitled to.
Manw Rangi MacRae, a few hours old.
Becoming a New Mother
Looking back at the birth of my first daughter I saw for myself how a woman can feel totally overwhelmed during labour and birth.
When I got pregnant I didn’t prepare myself at all for birth or beyond. From a young age, I would often hear about how ‘painful’ and ‘traumatic’ births could be and so I was in denial about the birth and didn’t want to think about it at all, until it was happening.
This left me feeling scared during the first stages of labour as I didn’t know what was happening in my body and what to expect. I didn’t even know I had to birth the placenta!
I had some difficulty with birthing the placenta which ended up with manual extraction. For me, this was the worst part of the birthing process. I felt like I didn’t know what was happening and things escalated quickly and left me feeling deflated and sad. It cast a dark shadow over the whole experience.
So, What Changed? Hypnobirthing!
By the time I was pregnant with my third daughter I had been introduced to hypnobirthing by a friend.
When I first heard of hypnobirthing my automatic response was an image of a swinging watch and a bunch of hippies dancing naked around a fire – doesn’t quite work like that!
Hypnobirthing is a game-changer, no doubt in my mind about it. Every woman should do hypnobirthing before birth, in my opinion. It totally empowered me to have a beautiful home birth with my daughter and gave me the tools I needed to make informed decisions as my pregnancy developed and during birth. Having ‘control’ during my birth made me feel empowered. Being fully aware of what was happening in my body physically as well as the awareness around hormones made me calm and confident.
It’s important to add, hypnobirthing is valuable to EVERY mother – wherever or however you may decide to birth your baby and is especially valuable if your birth journey doesn’t quite go as you had hoped/imagined.
This is because the course is there to inform you about your choices and rights during pregnancy and labour. The course will give you techniques on how to ride the waves of your surges and mentally prepare yourself for one of the most amazing and important moments in your life.
What is Hypnobirthing ?
Hypnobirthing Course
A hypnobirthing course is also very beneficial when a birth goes off the course you had hoped for. Learning about mindfulness techniques and educating about different options, gives you the confidence to keep the power and control within YOUR grasp. It is YOU who gives birth to this baby, YOU have the right to make the decisions during childbirth.
Every woman should have a birth with an emphasis on emotional as well as physical support. The importance of connection between mind and body is incredible and it is essential that the woman has a place where she feels safe during birth to have peace of mind and to help the body give birth without interruption.
We spend so much time and money on the cot, the pram, the baby shower but why don’t we invest in ourselves before birth? This is one of the most powerful and important times in your life. The birth of the baby, the birth of the new mother. The experience is one you will NEVER forget and something that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Why then do we not prepare thoroughly, and give ourselves the best chance to have an empowered birth experience that every woman deserves? Do you drive abroad without a map? Did you run a marathon without training? It is so important that you walk your OWN path into motherhood, everyone’s experiences and every baby is different. Knowing your choices, being informed and using a range of hypnobirthing tools and techniques will help you achieve an empowered birth, regardless of the twists and turns in the road.We must take ownership of our birth – if not us -then who ?!
What is Life Coaching?
Life Coaching Services
The transition from becoming a woman to a mother is powerful and life changing. It took me a long time to adjust and even though I had many friends and family members who were mothers, I feel that everyone’s experience can be so different.
It’s so important to acknowledge that this transition can be hard, massively rewarding, but also hard. This brings me to life coaching. I was introduced to life coaching by a friend and quickly realised how impactful a life coach can be to a person. A life coach is a facilitator of change , growth and progression.
A coach encourages positive action and helps people get unstuck, break down barriers and achieve their goals. Having a coach in pregnancy and motherhood is extremely valuable.
Gareth, me, Nant (baby), Nara (center) and Manw
Starting Again …
After being coached myself it has given me so much awareness and clarity and helped me feel like ‘me’ again.
I lost my sense of identity for a while after having my children, as many women do. I also emigrated to New Zealand when my youngest daughter was 8 months old, leaving my tight knit family as well as a very loved career.
I was basically starting afresh in every way imaginable, in every aspect of life. I decided to get a life coach to help me gain a deeper perspective of what I really wanted from life – Who am I? Who do I want to be? What do I need to do to achieve this goal? Another huge benefit I found with my life coach was having that support, a constant, on a weekly basis, by an unbiased, non-judgemental person that’s not in your immediate circle of friends or family – a person that you can be TOTALLY honest with in TOTAL confidence. Where you can unload and start to break down ‘problems’ or obstacles and build an action plan on how to move forward.
Investing in Myself
As I was working with my life coach in New Zealand, mostly discussing and working around self identity and who I wanted to be and what I wanted to achieve, I had a sudden realisation. I LOVE births and babies, and I LOVE to help people…I should combine both! And so I completed an internationally accredited life coaching certification, followed by a certified FEDANT (federation of antenatal educators) hypnobirthing instructor course. This allows me to work with YOU! This work allows me to combine my passions, work from home and achieve a better work/life balance which was one of the goals that we set out with my life coach.
I’m currently based in the King Country in New Zealand working mostly online but can also offer in person hypnobirthing courses and life coaching sessions in the Waikato area. All of my courses are available online and are UK and NZ time friendly 🙂 I am a fluent Welsh speaker and am very passionate and proud to offer all of my courses bilingually. I can’t wait to start working with you to achieve an empowered birth and to support you into motherhood.
