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March 2023 Newsletter

by | Mar 1, 2023

Dear Educators,

It has been a wonderful start to 2023 for HypnoBirthing International. Classes are filling, material orders are booming, and there have been so many reports of fabulous HypnoBirths and new HBCEs joining our team of educators.

Open Chat

We have been having some wonderful conversations in our open chat. We are meeting on the first Monday of each month from 7 to 8 pm EST on Zoom. Join us for brainstorming, support, and community. (Next meeting, March 6 ) Here is the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83962844726

Resources

Checkout the CDC’s “Hear Her” campaign. There are printable tools to enhance communication. This is especially important when our clients are being ignored.

https://www.cdc.gov/Hearher/

Here is a link to free trauma-informed workshops:

TIO | Intro to Trauma Informed Care Training Modules (traumainformedoregon.org)

Free Info Sessions

We were so pleased to roll out the Free Info Session materials that we have put together for Educators to run and increase bookings for classes. We ran a webinar, and the recording is in the Educator Webinars folder in the dropbox.

All of the new materials are in the Free Info Session Folder in the dropbox. We encourage everyone to watch the webinar recording, take advantage of these new resources, and book in a Free Info Session asap. We can’t wait to get feedback on how these are going for everyone.

New Breastfeeding Videos

Recently we have had a few IBCLC Educators who have expressed that some of the Breastfeeding videos (The Thompson Method videos) we have available are not giving our parents the most up to date and evidence-based information about breastfeeding. We have a new series of videos recommended and approved by our IBCLCs. These are videos put together by Dr. Jane Morton from www.firstdroplets.com. Dr. Jane Morton has given her blessing for us to share these videos with our Educators for our classes. Please replace these new videos for the Thompson Method videos for your classes. They are in the Videos/Breastfeeding folder in the Educator Dropbox.

News from the Chapter Leader Team

We are pleased to introduce Open Chapter Meetings! This is a wonderful way to participate in a Chapter Meeting. It’s an opportunity to hear from a knowledgeable speaker, discuss a learning topic, or just get together with other HypnoBirthing Educators. These meetings are rotated through time zones and are hosted by a different Chapter Leader each month.

For those interested in becoming more active in the Chapter Leader community, connecting with a local Chapter, or becoming a Chapter Leader, please contact Kadie Barber at kadie.hypnobirthing@gmail.com

Book Club

We are pleased to announce our HypnoBirthing Educators Book Club. We will pick a birth-related book each month to read and discuss at our open chat. We will start it off with

Oxytocin: The Biological Guide to Motherhood

by Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg.

I hope you will join us.

Contribute your stories of Obstetrical Kindness

A while back I wrote a blog on what I called “Obstetrical Kindness”. It got a lot of attention and was shared repeatedly. In the spirit of attracting what we focus on, I’d like to keep that energy going and want to create an IG account called Obstetrical Kindness. (OK!) There is so much emphasis on Obstetrical Violence that the fear factor continues to rise, and families don’t know who to trust for competent, kind care. If you have witnessed kind, competent, evidence-based care, please write your stories and submit them to Obstetricalkindness@gmail.com. Join me in bringing awareness to those who are providing wonderful care. Eventually, it would be wonderful to provide a referral list on our website for our families. (See the article below)

Obstetrical Kindness

I work in Miami. It is a strange and wonderful place. When it comes to giving birth in the magic city, the accounts are often less than magical. We have a C-section rate that is the highest in the nation, and we hear repeated stories of traumatic experiences and obstetrical violence. Does it happen? Yes, unfortunately it is true, real, and so very wrong.

Today I am writing about something much different. It is what I call Obstetrical kindness. It is something I have witnessed many times but something that I have never read about. I want you to know about the beautiful things that I see.

Recently, I supported a mother at Mt Sinai Hospital as she gave birth to her baby. It was a beautiful birth. She was calm and peaceful, and her partner was loving and supportive. Labor was progressing quickly, and Mother asked if I could help to get the doctor there. I stepped outside the room and saw the doctor standing in the hall. I greeted him and told him he was wanted in the room. He so kindly came and greeted the mother with a genuine hug, kiss, and words of encouragement. It wasn’t quite birthing time, but Mom said to him, “please don’t leave”. It would have been easy to exit, but instead, her doctor held her hand, told her how wonderful she was, and waited patiently. This birth would be one surrounded by love and patience and kindness. As the baby was nearly ready to be born, there was no interruption of the calm, no aggressive position change or decrease in the peaceful environment in the room. Instead, Mom birthed in the position of her choice, in subtle lighting, with no coached or forced pushing. She breathed her baby down until crowning. In a beautiful display of understanding the spiritual nature of birth, the doctor placed Mom’s hand on the baby’s head and then placed Dad’s hand on the baby’s head as the baby made his entrance into the world. How beautiful to be the first ones to touch your baby and together bring forth the life you created.

How wonderful it was to be a part of birth that was free of fear and surrounded by love. How wonderful to be supported by a doctor who exudes kindness and truly believes in a woman’s ability to give birth normally without hurry, negativity, or threats. How blessed is this baby whose first moments were those of gentleness in his parents’ own hands. How grateful I am to witness such raw beauty, love, and power. Thank you, Dr. Mauricio Bitran, for your kindness, for believing in women, and for embracing the transformative power of birth.

Nutrition Updates

Calling all Nutritionists or those having a special interest in nutrition. We’d like to work on updating our nutrition information. Please email vkeeler@hypnobirthing.com if you’d like to be on a committee to review this information.

ORDERING AND SHIPPING NOTE – from George

Hi everybody…it sure seems like you are all extra busy. We’re receiving an unusually high volume of orders right now. People who haven’t ordered in some time are ordering, and people who usually order a 5 or 10-pack are now ordering 2 or 3 of them at once. Add to that some extra large hospital orders, and we’ve ended up with a considerable increase of orders to get out. Due to this volume, please allow a bit of extra time to get your order. I do my best to get everything out within a day or two, but right now it might take a bit longer. Also, please feel free to let me know when you order if you have a class already scheduled and when that is…I’ll do my best to make sure you get your supplies by the time of the class.

Thanks for your help with this…George