Congratulations on your pregnancy or on having just had your baby!
My name is Saveria Upcraft and I am a HypnoBirthing™ – The Mongan Method practitioner affiliated with the HypnoBirthing® Institute, and a Doula UK mentored birth doula and postnatal doula. I am based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, and provide a variety of services.
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What is HypnoBirthing™ – The Mongan Method?
HypnoBirthing™ – The Mongan Method is the original American HypnoBirthing programme that has been helping women have a safe, natural and comfortable birth for over 20 years now. HypnoBirthing is simply about birthing while in a state of very deep relaxation. When you are relaxed, your birthing muscles work in harmony, you feel little or no discomfort (most women just feel pressure and tightening around their tummy) and your baby is birthed safely and calmly, as Nature intended.
What is a doula?
A doula is a trained birthing partner. The word originated in Ancient Greece, where a ‘doula’ (pronounced ‘doola’) was a woman’s servant or slave. It is a bit more glamorous nowadays but the role is essentially the same: a doula tends to the woman’s every need, in every way that she can, whether it be emotionally or practically. Postnatally, the doula looks after the mother and her baby, but also her other children if this is not her first. The doula is there to ‘mother the mother’. Equally, antenatally, the doula is there to mother the mother or mother-to-be, helping with light chores around the house, cooking meals, looking after the older child(ren), walking the dog, running errands, etc. She is also there to assist with preparing the upcoming birth, thinking about birth preferences, planning childcare, and generally discussing any concerns the mother or parents may have.
Nests and nesting
There is a French saying that goes: ‘Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid ’, which literally translates as ‘Little by little, the bird builds its nest’.
This is true of birds, but it is also true of women, who use the 9 months given to them by Nature to make a baby and build their ‘nest’ around it, slowly, as their baby grows. And of course, this is true of the postnatal nest – it takes time to get the nursery/baby room ready!
As a mother of two, HypnoBirthing practitioner, antenatal doula, birth doula and postnatal doula, I also believe that it takes time to prepare for the birth itself and the postnatal period. We can put these 9 months to good use – get everything, but also ourselves, ready to meet our new little bundle of joy, whether it’s the first, second, third or tenth.
In these pages, you will find all the information you need for this preparation and I will explain how I can help you as a HypnoBirthing practitioner and as a birth doula. You will also discover all the services I can offer as an antenatal and postnatal doula during the weeks and months before and beyond the birth of your baby.
As for the ‘Nesting Mums’ logo at the top of these pages, the nesting dolls represent the various stages of motherhood and how I see the doula (the one dressed in purple!) as the mother of them all – the mum who mothers the other mums as well as their babies. The logo also represents continuity of care from someone you get to know and trust in pregnancy during HypnoBirthing classes and/or antenatal doula sessions, someone you build a solid rapport with over several months, thereby feeling calmer and better prepared for the birth and beyond. My aim is indeed to provide continuous support to mums and dads, through HypnoBirthing classes, antenatal doula sessions, birth doula support and postnatal doula help.
For a calmer, more relaxed and gentle birth, hire a HypnoBirthing practitioner and/or a doula. Proven benefits include:
- shorter labour
- elimination or reduction of the need for conventional pain-relief methods (gas and air, epidural etc.)
- reduced likelihood of ventouse, forceps and caesarean section
- increased chance of successful and long-term breastfeeding
- better mother–child bonding
- increased self-esteem and decreased risk of postpartum depression
A better birth experience and better early motherhood are at the root of a better world
Saveria Upcraft
HBCE (HypnoBirthing™ - The Mongan Method) Childbirth Educator)
