Hello, I’m Viki
I’m Viki, proud Mum of 2 amazing children who are now 8 and 4. Time flies!
Despite it being many years since I gave birth, my whole life since I had them has benefitted from the relaxation techniques I was taught during my pregnancies.
In 2015 I found out I was pregnant with our first child. A hugely exciting but seriously overwhelming time for first time parents. So many opinions, so much advice (helpful and not so much), so many wild birth stories! In 2015 there weren’t as many influencers talking and documenting pregnancy as there is now, but even still, just keeping up with the Baby Centre Birth Club was a task in itself, coupled with working full time and juggling everything else, I get it, it can be a lot.
Through one of those many scrolls on a forum I discovered hypnobirthing. I had never heard of it before but the more I read the more it intrigued me. I am a person who likes to be in control as much as possible and something deep down in my soul told me that all these horror birth stories people are so desperate to tell you couldn’t be the only way, it couldn’t be like that for everyone surely? And so after a lot of research myself and my husband signed up for a local face-to-face course with 2 wonderful midwives. The course was eye-opening – I had no idea how birth actually worked. I ended up very excited to give birth, everyone thought I was crazy!
My son’s birth came after I had accepted a sweep at 8 days past my ‘due date’ – however he was back-to-back and so my contractions were all in my back and really difficult to deal with. I was calm but I did get swept up in a number of interventions such as induction drugs to speed my labour up, a failed epidural and pain relief that I didn’t really want but that the midwives seemed very keen that I take.
So I did.
I had continuous monitoring lying on a bed, all of this coupled with the back-to-back position of my son, he was finally born after 25 hours via an unplanned caesarean section. Now, I know that might be people’s worst nightmare of a birth story but I came out of it feeling positive and proud of myself for navigating all the twists and turns – all credit to hypnobirthing for this.
However, when I fell pregnant again in 2018 it brought up some feelings about my first birth that I couldn’t reconcile in my mind and they were really affecting me. The first stop was the maternity hospital for a birth debrief. We went over my notes from my first birth and we talked about all the decisions that had been made and I realised I hadn’t advocated for myself enough. And so started my journey to a VBAC, vaginal birth after caesarean.
I was ‘high risk’ due to my previous caesarean and so my consultant was extremely keen that I have another caesarean as this is generally what a lot of women choose – however this was not what I wanted. I decided to take an online hypnobirthing refresher course and through that I felt extremely confident to advocate for my wishes this time around. We then came up with a plan that meant I could try for my midwifery suite, pool birth and my consultant ensured I had a very experienced midwife with me throughout my labour and I accepted some monitoring of the baby as a compromise.
And so in early March 2019 when my labour started I was the most prepared and relaxed woman on the planet! 8 hours later my daughter was born vaginally, I had been able to birth exactly the way I wanted to, (almost) in the pool, a dark, comfortable environment with my playlist playing and quiet from everyone in the room. I had never been so elated in my life, that feeling was incredible. The best positive birth experience ever.
How did I achieve it? A lot of practice of hypnobirthing techniques like breathing and relaxation and self-hypnosis and the vast knowledge I had about birth through hypnobirthing and the confidence I had in myself and my body.
I truly believe anyone can achieve a positive birth and I would love to be the one to teach you the power!
My teaching materials are comprehensive. Not only do you get a 10 hour course you’ll also receive a physical copy of our client workbook a birth preferences template, and MP3 audios of our guided relaxation scripts. My classes are not just about learning; they are about experience. I will guide you through a comprehensive birth preparation course and you and your birth partner will be set up for a positive birth experience.