Katrina Berry
Complementary Therapist

Doulas in the press

The Hackney & Islington NCT magazine covered the birth of Elliot - a successful VBAC I was honoured to attend in March 09. Please click here to read all about it...

HypnoBirthing in the press

Here's an article I was asked to write for the Hackney & Islington NCT newsletter about HypnoBirthing

In their own words...

Here's a chance for some of my clients to tell their story...

When I fell pregnant I was over the moon but the idea of giving birth really frightened me. Everyone in my family had horrible deliveries and so did my friends, who filled me in on the details through the years. I was so skeptical about natural delivery that I seriously contemplating having a planned cesarean. I felt it was almost barbarian to ask women to endure horrific pain for hours or days and not even be sure of the outcome.

With these thoughts in mind I started to search the internet and read about birth and birth choices. Little by little I started hearing stories of women having positive experiences of birth and I eventually I decided that I could have a natural delivery but I was still pretty scared of the whole thing, pain in particular. Thinking about birth would fill me with anxiety every time.

One day by chance I saw an ad from Katrina in a shop and looked at her website. I began to familiarise myself with the concept of a doula and the hypnobirthing approach to birth. I did not contact her straight away because I was still skeptical, as I'm not normally into alternative therapies or spiritual approaches. Eventually I called her and she made me feel positive enough to decide to enroll into the course.

A few weeks into the course I was a different person. This empowering feeling took hold of me and I started to see how amazing it must feel to be in control of birthing your own baby. I also began to understand the mechanics of birth much more in detail. The fear just melted away and I became more and more confident. Dare I say I started looking forward to the amazing journey of birth and meeting my baby. These days I feel light and happy. When I went to my last midwife appointment this change must have registered with them because they offered to help me organise a home birth if I wanted to. The minute she said that I felt a wave of emotion coming up and I knew that was what I really wanted to do. Despite the last minute change I managed to organise everything and I'm now waiting for my baby to be born in his own home. I'm aware things could always work out differently from my plans but I'm not scared anymore and full of positive energy.

The course was amazing and helped me in so many ways. It also helped my partner a lot by giving her a clear, active role and allowing her to share the preparations on both a practical and emotional level. The course is very bonding for the pregnant couples as you learn to work together, to develop strategies and to trust each other at a deep level. You feel that together you can make it.

I won't be able to tell you how well the techniques I learned work until I give birth in a week or two but I know that Katrina made the last couple of months of my pregnancy the most fulfilling and expectant of all. She made me strong and grounded, the rest will come.

Manuela - October 2009