The Birth-ed Method is finally here.
After years of supporting 10,000s of families preparing for their births using hypnobirthing, it’s time for birth-ed to wave that chapter goodbye, and introduce- The Birth-ed Method.
The 4 pillars of the Birth-ed Method, Mind, Body, Choices & Communication provide you with a deep & holistic preparation for birth and early parenthood.
There’s no point in knowing your choices, if you don’t feel confident enough to communicate what you want. Understanding how your body works in labour is useless, if you don’t have the mindset techniques to manage what you’re feeling.. These 4 pillars of birth & parenting preparation are essential to achieving a positive and satisfying birth & early postnatal experience, skip one, as many antenatal courses do, and the whole preparation falls apart.
Bringing together a decade’s worth of working in maternity care supporting 1000s of families across the Globe, The Birth-ed Method is EVERYTHING you need to prepare for an empowered, satisfying and supported birth & postpartum on YOUR terms.
In this episode we explore what the birth-ed method is, why I’ve made the change and how it can help you.
Please subscribe, rate and review, so we can get this vital info to as many parents-to-be as we can!
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00:00
Ad - This episode is brought to you in partnership with iCandy. I've been using our iCandy peach pushchair almost daily for the last seven years and counting. And I've really put their five year warranty to the test using it for both my boys on muddy walks in aeroplane holes in and out of my car boot and aside from being completely filthy, my fault not theirs. It's still going strong. I can't wait to tell you more about my experience with eye candy later in the show.
00:24
Ad - This episode is brought to you in partnership with the bump plan which is honestly the best pre and postnatal exercise programme that I've come across in a decade of supporting families through pregnancy and the early years of parenting. For 20% off and access to a free pregnancy or postnatal safe workout. Follow the link in the show notes.
00:49
You're listening to the Birth-ed podcast. I'm your host and founder of Birth-ed, Megan Rossiter. If you're looking for the evidence, the nuance the detail that's missing from your antenatal appointment, then I've got your back. The Birth-ed podcast is here to help you sort the facts from the advertising the instinct from the influences and the information you're looking for from the white noise of the internet. I hope you've got a cup of tea in hand and a notepad at the ready. Let's dive in.
01:14
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Series four of the Birth-ed podcast and the launch episode for the Birth-ed Method. Now this has been a long, long, long time coming. And it's the culmination of a decade's worth supporting 1000s of families in their pregnancies, births and early parenting experiences. And it really is a birth and postnatal preparation like no other. You guys already know how much I love a podcast and the opportunity it gives us to dive deep and get into the nuances and specifics of things. So I figured this would be the perfect place to introduce you to the Birth-ed Method. What is changing here? What makes it so different, and how it's going to help you to have an empowering birth and start to parenthood in the modern world.
02:06
So you'll know if you've been in the Birth-ed community for a while, that I've been a huge advocate of Hypnobirthing for a long time. I used hypnobirthing in my own births. I have been a regular podcast guest kind of talking about hypnobirthing, dispelling the myths. I've lectured at universities on the topic, it's really been my area of expertise for very, very long time. So why am I waving it goodbye? Well, hypnobirthing, first off, has a really stupid name. The word hypnobirthing never really sat comfortably with me. I remember when I vividly remember actually my friend suggesting it to me when I was pregnant with my eldest sort of nodding and internally rolling my eyes wasn't my vibe, I didn't have crystals on my bedside table. I worked in a hospital, it really didn't sound like something that was going to help me. And whilst eventually I was convinced, convinced enough to stop working in a hospital to start teaching it to eventually it becoming my full time job. So like really convinced, I still found that most people had the same reaction that I did anytime I said the word. Then over the years, I found that the word hypnobirthing the name of it really divides people, either that evangelical totally on board credit their entire birth experience to the practice of hypnobirthing, or they think it sounds completely ridiculous, and they're sceptical, they're not interested and assume it cannot help them. Or they tried it, and it didn't help them in the way that they had been led to expect that it would. And my work here at Birth-ed is about inclusivity, not division. Breaking apart, the like polarisation of birth and parenthood is my now life mission. It drives me insane when we get so caught up in the semantics of language, or we get defensive or aggressive about our choices. And we end up directing this anger, trauma passion at each other, rather than the kind of driving forces behind it government medical system patriarchy, you know not to get too deep too early or anything.
04:16
And the second reason now that I've kind of moved away from hypnobirthing is because after 10 minutes of trying to explain to somebody what hypnobirthing was, I then found myself spending another 10 minutes trying to describe how what I taught was so much more than that. With a decade working in maternity care and supporting 1000s of families all over the world, the depth of education that I was providing was so much deeper than just the kind of hypnobirthing tools themselves. So I wanted to take the opportunity to create a standalone course that represented the unique holistic and thorough approach to birth preparation that I share at Birth-ed. The other thing that I was finding and you might be surprised to learn is that hypnobirthing isn't a protected term or a regulated practice. So every hypnobirthing course that exists is likely to be vastly different. Some focus wholly on hypnosis and mindset techniques. Others put natural birth on a pedestal. Some are essentially obstetric led antenatal courses with breathing techniques and a relaxation thrown in as a kind of little bonus session. So when someone says they've done hypnobirthing, it doesn't really mean anything at all. So those are many of the reasons but the real stickler for me was the number of women coming to me in their second pregnancies saying that they did hypnobirthing before, and that in some way it contributed to a traumatic birth experience. And this could have been because they were led to believe that if they did it right, then it shouldn't hurt. It might have been because they ended up having an induction or an epidural or a caesarean and they felt that their experience was now considered like less than because it wasn't an unmedicated natural waterbirth. And even women being told that they wouldn't be allowed to share their birth experience because it wasn't positive. Like what's really going to help after an experience of birth trauma is an added layer of shame and censorship. I want to emphasise that this is certainly not all hypnobirthing courses. I mean, I was teaching hypnobirthing myself until a week ago, and I certainly never shared any of those messages. And I have got tonnes of friends and colleagues working in this space, who approached hypnobirthing in a very similar way to how I did, but it was certainly happening frequently enough for me to now wanted to kind of distance myself from the kind of practice of hypnobirthing in general. And that is how we've ended up here with the development of the Birth-ed Method.
06:54
Ad - I remember choosing a pram for my first baby almost eight years ago and honestly it required as much research as giving birth. Is it going to fit on my beat when it converts would double one day? Will it last and past 18 months old? Can I attach a car seat? Will it roll in mud? Can I put it down with one hand? And eventually I found the answer to all my questions. For me it was the iCandy peach which by the way, fits into the back of a Fiat 500 car which sounds unbelievable for pushchair that sturdy but seriously it does. We knew then that we hope to have more than one baby. So choosing something that was going to stand the test of time and not end up in landfill in a year was really important. iCandy pushchairs come with a five year warranty. And believe me we've put it through its paces. It's been up mountains and wailed, it's been on and off the escalators and the tubes of London Underground. It's been in and out of my car boot every day on the school run. It's flown all over Europe. And yet still seven years on aside from being completely filthy, it's going strong. If you're looking for a push out or travel system that's really going to see you through the early years with this baby and maybe any future babies, nieces nephews, best friends children that might join your family. For me iCandy has been an investment worth making. Follow the link in the show notes to find the perfect pram or travel system for you.
08:07
Ad - I'm actually so excited to be sharing with you our sponsor for this episode, the Bump Plan - Pregnancy. So the Bump Plan is a Pilates strength and cardio based prenatal fitness plan. And you move through your whole journey alongside Holly, the founder of the Bump Plan who was actually pregnant to in all the videos. And he's exactly the kind of knowledgeable empowering and understanding person you'd want by your side throughout pregnancy. I've worked through one of the Bump Plans myself and it feels so safe, inclusive and accessible. So whether you're looking for a gentle introduction to movement in pregnancy, so you feel stronger, more energised and more comfortable in your swiftly changing body, or you've exercised for years but needs support in adapting your training to suit your changing pregnant body, you're in such safe hands with Holly at the Bump Plan. Holly and the team at the Bump Plan have been kind enough to share with the Birth-ed podcast listeners a free 45 minute workout and 20% off their plans. You can sign up for this via the link in the show notes or visiting www.thebumpplan.com/birthed-pregnancy. I promise I'm not just saying this the whole plan whether you're trying to conceive pregnant or postpartum is actually brilliant, and I really hope you guys enjoy it.
09:21
So the Birth-ed Method - if it's not hypnobirthing, what is it? The Birth-ed Method is very much designed to support families giving birth within the modern maternity systems. Understanding what happens in birth and what you can do to manage it, which is kind of the focus of most antenatal classes was probably sufficient, like, I don't know a generation ago, intervention rates were significantly lower, midwifery staffing and provision operated very differently. You were much more likely to know your midwife they might have even come out to you at home early But they knew you, you know you had time together. You didn't scroll social media for three hours a day, like the world was a very different place. Right now, we are giving birth in a maternity system that is stretched beyond its max. There are incredible midwives working in it. But there's not time for nuanced, balanced, personalised conversations with every woman that steps into an appointment. The amount of testing screening hoop jumping that we go through in pregnancy now is staggering. The rate of intervention is at an all time high without you know this being reflected in a similar improvement in outcomes. birth trauma is at an all time high, we don't move as much we're influenced by social media, the news, TV, movies, more so than we have ever been before. And all of these things are impacting the way that we experience pregnancy, birth and parenting. So we need an approach to birth and postnatal preparation that reflects the world in which we are birthing and parenting right now.
11:06
The Birth-ed Method is made up of four key pillars of preparation, mind, body choices, and communication. And you'll begin to see as you work through the Birth-ed Method, you cannot prepare in one of these areas without also preparing in the other three. So let's start by looking at the mind. Understanding how your brain works, how that directly influences physiological processes in your body, and what you can do to shift your mindset into a confident and empowered place. So we're still utilising tools like hypnosis here, as well as mindfulness techniques, guided meditation, grounding and relaxation tools, to really tap into the subconscious part of your mind. Build yourself trust and eliminate any irrational fears or anxieties that might be sitting there, influencing your choices, so that by the time you get to giving birth, you can act from a place of instinct, intuition, and informed decision making, not a place of fear or panic. And this approach plays right into your postnatal preparation to where maybe even more so you need to shut out the noise of social media, unsolicited parenting advice and advertising, and tune back into your baby and your sense of self. So that you can parent in the way that feels right for you and your family.
12:45
The next pillar of the Birth-ed Method is the body. So this is understanding how the body works in birth and beyond. So the hormones, the muscles, the position of your baby, the sensations, you feel your healing and recovery, milk production, breastfeeding, normal infant behaviour. And again, understanding what we can do to support and influence these processes. Now, you don't actually need to understand how any of this works. If you are giving birth, like you know, in a cave like a cave woman. But once you understand how the body works and what it needs, it suddenly becomes very clear how not brilliantly our maternity systems are set up to support these needs. And it's when we understand that, that we can take back control and start making choices to support ourselves better. you starting to see how they all link together. Because this leads me nicely onto the next pillar of the Birth-ed Method, which is your choices. Understanding your rights and choices in modern maternity care is absolutely essential, but not just understanding what those choices are. But how to actually make a choice without it feeling totally overwhelming. So in the Birth-ed Method, this means learning about your pain relief options, your birthplace choices, possible interventions, your feeding choices, parenting choices, you know, you're going to be making choices for your kids forever. Now pregnancy is just the start. But the ability to confidently make these decisions will continue serving you when you're navigating child care, discipline, education, screen time, social media, sleepovers, I mean everything right. And something that is so important to me when I'm talking about making these decisions for your baby or your family is that the Birth-ed Method is not a dictatorship. It's a community. So we're building here an understanding of the normal evolutionary biological processes or behaviours of our body his or her babies in the context of life in the 21st century, and then giving you the tools and the confidence to make your own decisions on top of that. So you'll know even from listening to the birth dad podcast, I hope but from our community's birth stories, if you're already accessing the course, that this information, these tools, these techniques can be utilised to support you in a home birth, a caesarean birth and induction to breastfeed to bottle feed to mixed feed. So understanding how your mind and body work, and knowing what choices you want to make, still isn't going to give you everything you need to give birth in 2024. I'm going to say it again, understanding how your mind and body work and knowing what choices you want to make still isn't going to give you everything you need to give birth in 2024. Because the fact of the matter is 99% of the families that I support here at Birth-ed are giving birth within the maternity system. And whilst you absolutely should be able to, you cannot rely on just showing up and saying I don't want vaginal examinations. I want to be on a birth centre I want to see section I don't want to mute continuous monitoring, I want to use a birth pool. I don't want an induction and be guaranteed the response. Oh, sure, no problem. Let me spell it out for you. You need to know how to advocate for yourself. You need to know which members of staff have the important signatures to get in your maternity notes. If you're asking for anything out of the ordinary. You need to know what questions to ask if you're throwing a curveball in late pregnancy or in labour. You need to know how to get your care team on your side so that you're feeling supported in your choices for birth. Now, whilst I'm super passionate and can speak quite frankly, about all of these things, as I speak to you from the comfort of my own bedroom, something you should know about me is that I do not cope well with confrontation, I really like to keep the peace. I think it's the middle child mediator within me, there is a strong people pleaser trait that lives in my very soul. So when someone tells me to do something I find saying no, desperately uncomfortable. But after years of practice, my boundary keeping my advocacy skills are pretty hot, even though I still would sometimes prefer to crawl and hide and tell somebody No.
17:25
And this leads me on to the final but essential pillar of the Birth-ed Method - communication. You can rest assured that the approach I take here to advocacy and communication is going to make you feel safe. This is not a big battle of just say no stomp your feet scream, but a thorough understanding of how the maternity system functions where the power lies, how you fit into it, and how you can take your power back, helping you to get the support that you actually need to have the birth and early parenting experience that you deserve. So from pregnancy to the fourth trimester, this is you and me a cup of tea, several biscuits, the birth had method on your telly or laptop or via the app coming together and working out what you need and how you're going to make it happen. You can re watch the videos as often as you need. There's tonnes of supporting content and information included. I am so proud of what I've created. I know it's going to transform so many lives. And as always, it is an honour and a privilege to walk through pregnancy with you. If you do have any questions, my inbox is always open. You can reach me on Instagram @birth_ed or you can email me info@birth-ed.co.uk It really is me that replies. Your best next step is joining the Birth-ed Method, where together we are empowering birth and transforming parenthood. Sign up at www.birth-ed.co.uk or via the link in the show notes.
19:07
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Birth-ed podcast. It's my actual life mission to get these conversations in front of as many expensive families as possible and you can be a part of this mission. Don't worry, I'm not recruiting you into my cult. But if you leave a five star rating and review of the podcast then we creep up the charts getting more ears change more births, change more lives and come on, you know you want to be a part of that change.