Twentieth Birth Wight baby born, just 10 months after the first

 

A mere 10 months after the first Birth Wight baby (Rufus) was born using The Wise Hippo birthing programme on the Isle of Wight, the 20th baby has been born this week.  Philomena Catherine was born to parents Anne-Marie and Alan Clements on Sunday 1 March, following a calm, confident and relaxed 70 minute (!) labour, at St Mary's hospital in Newport, IOW.

 

Helen Wheller, Director at Birth Wight, said: “I know the programme I teach delivers fantastic results, but I am thrilled to have supported so many island parents within the first few months of Birth Wight; exceeding the targets I set last year when we started.”

 

Anne-Marie and Alan, who have a 4-year-old daughter, Jeanie, took private classes with Birth Wight in late 2014.  Anne-Marie said: “Jeanie's birth wasn't the best experience for us.  She caught an infection and was very poorly in the hours and days after her arrival.  It was a scary time for us all and made me very anxious about having another baby.”

 

Helen added: “It was a pleasure to teach Anne-Marie and Alan.  They are the first couple that I've taught face-to-face, who were friends of mine before I became an instructor.  Anne-Marie and I had discussed my previous hypnobirths years before, and she asked me then, once I was qualified and if they had another child, if I would teach them.  Watching them grow in confidence and relax more about their impending birth throughout the course was fantastic; and it's been proven with the fabulous and positive experience that they, and baby Philomena experienced on the day.”

 

Of the 19 other births achieved by couples taking the complete The Wise Hippo birthing programme with Birth Wight since March 2014, 100% have reported success in using the techniques; with many achieving their birthing dreams. 

 

There have been waterbirths, homebirths, VBACs, breech births, first babies, second and third babies! Even the first baby born by emergency Caesarean section in February was a calm, confident and ‘in control’ experience, of which first-time mum, Sally, said: “The Wise Hippo Birthing Programme gave us the confidence to make our own decisions and choices, and made us more aware of what our choices were, so we felt more in control.  Had we have not felt like this, it could have been a very traumatic experience.”

 

Birth Wight will celebrate a year since the first class was taught, on 16 March; there will be a birthday party on 2 April, 10.30am-noon at Wootton Community Centre.  Birth Wight hosts monthly coffee mornings, which has brought together past clients, mums-to-be and those with an interest in hypnobirthing, over (decaf) tea, coffee and cake!.  These events have served to build a thriving, friendly and supportive community of mums and mums-to-be, promoting positive birth and proving that positive birth experiences can and do happen on the island.

 

Classes are run each month.  The 10 hour programme is taught over four sessions, providing a complete antenatal education; physiology of birth, the impact of fear in birth, hypnotherapy techniques, breathing and relaxation skills, birth planning, antenatal bonding, practical physical preparations for birth, birth breathing and tools for dads or birthing partners, plus much more.

 

ENDS