Suzy Ashworth - The Calm Birth Method: The Practical Guide for Modern Mamas to Create a Calm, Positive Hypnobirth

First published and distributed in the United Kingdom by:

Hay House UK Ltd, Astley House, 33 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JQ

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Text Suzy Ashworth, 2017

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

The information given in this book should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice; always consult a medical practitioner. Any use of information in this book is at the readers discretion and risk. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or damage arising out of the use, or misuse, of the suggestions made, the failure to take medical advice or for any material on third-party websites.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-78180-846-7 in print
ISBN 978-1-78180-867-2 in ePub format
ISBN 978-1-78180-868-9 in Kindle format

Interior images: Suzy Ashworth

To Jerome, Caesar, Coco and Aluna my beautiful family, I love you so much. xxx

The biggest thank you has to go to my long-suffering husband, Jerome Ashworth. Im so grateful for all his support and belief in me. During the many long nights and weekends, he urged me to keep on going and for that I will be forever thankful! My beautiful children, Caesar, Coco and Aluna, who wont know for a long time what they have inspired, but without whom there would be no Calm Birth School.

To all The Calm Birth School instructors who help to spread The Method and teachings to women far and wide. The godmother of hypnobirthing as we recognize it in the West, Mary Mongan. The founders of The Wise Hippo, Dany Griffiths and Tamara Ciafinni, who are a constant inspiration with their work to empower women and their families to create calm and positive birth experiences.

To Mark Harris, father, midwife and author of Men, Love & Birth for the support he offered The Calm Birth School when it was barely a thought.

To Katy Appleton of Apple Yoga, Katie Whitehouse from Vital Touch and the Neighbourhood Midwives for their ongoing support.

To all the couples who have been through The Calm Birth School and have kindly shared their journey both within and off the pages of this book; they are a constant inspiration and motivate me to do more.

To Elloa Atkinson, for believing in the message of this book and her role in helping me to get to this point.

To all the childbirth educators out there who continue to make mothers and babies their priority, I thank you, too.

So youve finally decided to bite the bullet, or maybe some kind soul decided to for you, and you want to know more about The Calm Birth Method (TCBM): the tools and techniques used in the worlds first video-based hypnobirthing programme, The Calm Birth School. Since its launch in December 2014, The Calm Birth Method family has helped over 5,000 women across six different continents to create calm and positive birth experiences, and now has a team of amazing instructors working with women face to face across the whole of the UK, so youre in the best company. But enough about us, lets cut to the chase and acknowledge the most important person in the room: thats you. Yes, you, who right now is growing another human being, even as you read these words. And that is by far the biggest deal in the world. You are bloody amazing.

Perhaps the whole growing a baby thing is something that youve already got to grips with. If not, go and Google it. Theres a million-and-one blogs and forums telling you exactly what size nut your baby is today. This book isnt about any of that, but rather the most amazing feat a womans body ever goes through giving birth. In the following chapters youll get the lowdown on all the different tips, tricks and techniques that have helped thousands of women to have calm, empowering, positive and fear-free birth experiences.

Although this is primarily a book about giving birth, youll also learn how to unleash your personal power from within, so that when the moment finally arrives for you to welcome your baby into the world, youll feel calm, positive and ready for whatever twists and turns may be presented to you. The one thing we know for sure about birth is that its a journey, and one where you cant know ahead of time exactly whats going to happen. You can, however, arm yourself with a mindset and a toolkit that can make giving birth one of the most incredible and enjoyable experiences of your life.

By the time you have finished reading this book, youll understand exactly what you need to do to give yourself permission to go wherever you need to go, controlling what you can control and letting go of what you cant, as you eliminate the fear of birth. Its this inner confidence that will enable you to bring your baby into the world positively, happily and powerfully.

Am I serious about birth being happy, positive and enjoyable? Absolutely. Am I a lentil-eating, hummus-knitting, crochet-knickers-wearing kind of woman? Perhaps youll be surprised to hear, Im not. Am I going to make you walk from room to room, wafting a joss stick while chanting in Sanskrit? Nope. Will I be asking you to pay homage to the lotus flower or whisper to your vagina? No, no and no: there will be no vagina whispering! (Unless, of course, you want there to be.)

While Ive secretly loved all things a bit hippy for a while now, this book was written from my shoot from the hip, lets get sh*t done, pragmatic left-hand brain. I write these words to you as an everyday woman who has been there and got the calm birth T-shirt, not once or twice but three times. And Im here to show you that no matter who you are, or what your perspective on birth, giving birth can be an experience youll never forget, for all the right reasons.

While you might be feeling confident in your bodys ability to do this job (and why the hell not, it is quite literally what your body is designed to do), it is also highly possible that youre peeing your pants at the thought of everything to do with the bit before you hold your baby in your arms for the first time.

If this is your first child and youre anything like me, or many of my clients, you might be in a bit of a head spin about having a baby growing inside you. Thats OK. Its normal to get a bit freaked out as you comprehend that the collection of cells formulating within you right now which started out smaller than a grain of rice will one day become an actual human being. It definitely fried my brain even third time around!