The Gentle Birth Method: The Month-by-Month Jeyarani Way Programme. Karen MacLeod Swan

      Birth Story: The second-time mother – Annabel

      I was thrilled to discover I was pregnant with my second child, but once the elation subsided, I felt a deep sense of dread and fear. Would the birth be as traumatic as last time? Would I have to go through induction, stitches, infection and post-natal depression again? As the months went by, I became increasingly anxious. A friend gave me an article about Dr Motha and despite being very sceptical about anything that might be considered ‘alternative’, I decided to go and see her.

      I had very little idea of what to expect and was startled by Gowri’s positivity. One of the first things she did was take a full history and actually listen to me explaining my first birth experience. It was a huge relief just to have someone calmly listen, let me talk and not try to explain away or belittle what I had felt. After that, Gowri’s approach was to assure me with absolute confidence that my experience need not be repeated.

      I saw Gowri about five times before the birth and felt much more physically and mentally prepared than I had previously. One of my biggest concerns was that I would again need to be induced and suffer bad tearing.

      I was two weeks late and there didn’t seem to be much sign of an arrival, so my husband and I decided to go for a long walk. We trudged for hours up and down hills and even though nothing happened, just being outside in the fresh air seemed to help my mood. When I got home I had a hot bath and as I got out, my waters broke. I was really excited and pleased – already I had managed naturally part of the birth experience, which I had begun to think was not going to be possible for me.

      A few hours later I was still in a state of high excitement but there were no contractions. We went to the hospital and saw the midwife, who said I could go for another 24 hours before they would want to induce. She recommended another walk. The time, it was in the freezing February rain, and was unpleasant. We got home and I began to think induction was inevitable, when at about 4pm, my contractions started. I felt a huge rush of excitement and fear.

      After about an hour, I put on the TENS machine and the contractions started coming closer and closer together, with increasing power. I spent a lot of my time on all fours, crawling about or leaning against the walls. I phoned the hospital at about 6pm and was told to delay coming in for another couple of hours, or until I was unable to walk.

      Suddenly, the contractions began to feel very painful indeed and I had the first sense of an urge to push. We got in the car and drove to the hospital. By the time we got there, I was crawling on all fours. The midwives examined me and I was 7cm dilated. I asked to get into the birthing pool and felt an immediate sense of relief at being in the warm water. It felt comforting and made my body seem supported. I used gas and air as well, and this also helped me to relax. At this point, the pain was terrible and I felt overwhelmed. I was desperate to push even though it had only been a few minutes since my last examination. However, when the midwives checked me again, I had gone to full dilatation.

      Within a few minutes, the baby’s head had crowned and the contractions had become more regular and less frightening. The midwives told me when to push and within the next few pushes the head emerged, followed quickly by the rest of my daughter’s body. I got out of the pool and was immediately handed the baby, and the placenta was delivered. I was checked and, to my amazement, told I had no need for any stitches. All my greatest hopes for the birth had been fulfilled. I had a beautiful baby girl that I had pushed out without assistance in the water, and I had not torn.

      The midwives then ran me a bath and the next hour was spent gazing at our daughter, breastfeeding and absorbing the experience we had just been through. Over the following weeks, I found that in contrast to my first birth I was left feeling elated and empowered. I was amazed at the speed of my recovery, there were no stitches, no complications and the bruising cleared within a few days. I found I was able to cope much more easily with everything.

      I know that Gowri’s help made an enormous difference to my second experience of birth. I was mentally and physically prepared and although the birth of my first child made me apprehensive, Gowri’s approach enormously reduced the fear I felt and gave me the confidence to enjoy a natural birth. I now feel very strongly about the benefits for all women of following Gowri’s advice and, in particular, her mental and physical preparation techniques. I am currently awaiting the birth of my third child and I have once again found Gowri’s support invaluable in preparation. I just wish that all women were routinely offered the kind of care and support that she has given me.

      The Gentle Birth Method Treatments

      One of the most important factors in the success of The Gentle Birth Method is that it helps eradicate many of the problems encountered during pregnancy – such as back pain, nausea, heartburn, fluid retention and so on. Much of this is due to the intensive therapies included in the programme. As well as being heartily welcomed by my mothers for the ‘pamper factor’, these therapies are a quick and effective way of rebalancing the body and tailoring it into optimum condition for the birthing process. In a nutshell, The Gentle Birth Method makes the mother birthfit in all 3 realms: physical, mental and emotional.

       The Origins of the Treatment Programme

      As the number of women presenting congested vaginas and enormous babies continued to rise, I realized my role as a Senior Registrar meant I was simply becoming an expert in crisis management. By the time I became involved in the mother’s care, there was rarely anything I could do to help them, except intervene with forceps, ventouse or scalpel. It saddened me and was not why I had entered the profession. Every birth is a miracle, and should be a personal triumph for every woman. Why was it so rapidly becoming something fewer and fewer women could achieve without help? I fully believed doctors and the medical establishment should be investigating preventative measures that would help women prime their bodies for birth, before they went into labour. The diet I devised was certainly a step towards helping women control the size of their babies and condition their bodies for birth – but it wasn’t a coping mechanism for the realities of labour. It came as a flash to me that all I needed to do was to create a total birthfitness programme and to make the mother birthfit so that they could have the gentle birth they wanted. Hence I began researching front line treatments that would boost the detoxifying effects of the diet but also help with pain management.

      It was at this time that Michel Odent conducted the first waterbirth, in Pithiviers general hospital near Paris in France. The idea of mothers delivering their babies in water excited my interest. When an opportunity to meet Odent came up, I jumped at the chance and learnt what clinical conditions he created for the waterbirths.

      It all sounded quite simple, but knowing the hospital wouldn’t indulge my ‘fancies’, I purchased a pool from my own pocket and put it in a room at the far end of the obstetric corridor in Whipps Cross Hospital. I instructed the midwives – some of whom clearly thought I’d lost my marbles – to let me know of any mothers who were interested in the idea of a waterbirth and soon a few did come forward. Imagine my frustration then, when after a few hours of staying in the pool, they would politely ask to go back to their rooms.

      It was clear that sitting in the water in itself wasn’t enough to reduce the pain of labour, nor to shorten it. So, with a group of seven mothers – I call them my ‘pioneer mothers’ – we started some self-hypnosis classes, incorporating visualizations and learning how to breathe and relax, thereby adding a mental element to the birth preparations.

      At the same time, I was approached by two reflexologists, Mary Martin and Helen Chittick, who volunteered their services to the antenatal clinic on a Friday afternoon. The benefits of reflexology in helping certain medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, were already well documented, so I was willing to refer mothers with high blood pressure to be treated with reflexology. In every single one of these cases, the mother’s blood pressure went down. Word quickly spread through the clinic and I started getting mothers presenting with different problems. I remember one mother in particular, who had developed severe Diastasis Symphysis Pubis in her pregnancy (DSP causes severe pubic pain and instability as the pubic joint begins to separate