My Gentle Birth

By Iona Leigh

I’m sitting up in bed with my beautiful five week old son Gavin sleeping next to me as I write this feature article for the October Newsletter. As some of you may recall, I wrote an article in the June newsletter discussing useful tips for how to achieve a ‘Blooming Marvelous’ pregnancy. Well, in this follow up piece, I will tell you about my gentle birth experience. I use the term ‘gentle birth’ because I followed Dr. Gowri Motha’s Gentle Birth Method, which combines a healthy eating plan with exercise advice, mental preparation exercises, alternative therapies and a wide variety of natural remedies, including flower essences.

“ Born in Sri Lanka and raised in South India Gowri with her mother and her doctor father, she was immersed in conventional medicine and what we would now term “complementary” therapies from a very early age. When she initially trained as a doctor she believed that conventional medicine was the way forward in obstetrics. However, while working as an obstetrician in London, she found that, in reality, obstetrics was a form of crisis management of dealing with the mother's problems once she was in labour. She saw women struggling to give birth, unable to deal with the demands of labour, in shock and unhappy with their birthing experience.

As a doctor she helped these women, as much as she could, but she thought that there must be another way - a way of mentally and physically preparing a mother for labour, so that these crises did not happen and they could give birth in a manageable, natural and nurturing way. Having been an Obstetrician in a conventional medical setting at a teaching Hospital in London for 12 years she then began investigating the alternative therapies that had been part of her life so long ago. She became an expert in these therapies and by mixing the best of the conventional, with the best of the alternative, she created “The Gentle Birth Method.”

I found the Gentle Birth Method to be extremely helpful in achieving a happy and healthy pregnancy, and even more importantly, the gentle birth I had prepared for. One of the most helpful exercises is the daily ‘Birth Rehearsal’ visualization practice, which encourages you to visualize manifesting your ‘ideal’ birth, whatever that may look like for you. This practice helped me to prepare on an emotional and mental level, and reinforced a positive attitude towards the purpose of labour pain and my ability to manifest a gentle birth.

I began taking Birthing essence 2 weeks before my due date, which I found helped me to continually let go of my fears and open up to allow the process to unfold and progress when the time was right for the baby. This was challenging for me, as I felt so big and heavy in the summer heat. On one hand I just wanted to pop the baby out, but on the other hand I wanted my baby to have all the time he needed in the womb until he was fully ready to arrive/be born. I also took the Birthing just minutes after my waters broke, to help me to open on all levels. By opening up and welcoming the painful contractions as crashing waves that would bring my baby into the world, I allowed my mind to rest in a place far away, where my thoughts could pass me by with little inner comment.

My birth was fast and furious, lasting just seven hours at home with my mother and husband as my active birth partners, and my lovely independent midwife Allison Ewing. Together, we created a sacred space where I could make as much noise as I wanted, and found comfort in the warm birthing pool. The birthing pool allowed me to adopt active birth postures which I was unable to achieve outside the water due to my size and weight, and this freedom of movement was a very important factor in my ability to adopt the best positions for pushing and achieving a gentle birth.

The pain I experienced was far from gentle, but because my environment was safe, warm, quiet, peaceful and sacred, my birth journey unfolded gracefully without the use of any drugs or medical intervention, and provided a gentle water birth for my son. Gavin (meaning ‘white hawk’ in the Celtic tradition), was born as 1:43 am on the 1st of August 2010, received in his father’s hands under water and then passed through my legs to me before I lifted him out of the water onto my chest. He was a beautiful big baby weighing exactly 9lbs, and because I had adopted an upright position, had the support of water and practiced the perennial massage for three weeks before my due date (as recommended by Dr. Motha), I did not require any stitches.

I had read many alternative birth books such as Birth Without Violence, Spiritual Midwifery, and the Mama Baba Way, all of which discussed the importance of a warm, gentle, welcoming environment for the moment of birth. As Gavin emerged from the water, he arrived in a dimly lit room with the sweet smell of bees wax, happy tears from his mother, father and grandmother and many joyous words of praise and welcoming. The absence of bright lights, loud voices, strangers, cold instruments and medical inspections allowed my son’s arrival to be a gentle one.

Gavin and I spent his first few hours cuddled up in my bathrobe on the sofa, looking deeply into each other’s eyes in very alert and awake states. This was such a magical bonding experience, which I will never forget. I understand that home and water births are not appropriate for everyone, but due to my age (27), health, fitness, and geographical location I was a prime candidate for a home and water birth. I am very grateful for all of the amazing alternative doctors and midwives out there who have combined some amazing research and helpful advice on natural births, home-births, and water-births. There are some great books, DVDs, websites and tools out there, and here are some links that you may find helpful: -

Dr. Gowri Motha’s Gentle Birth Method
Birth Without Violence Video
Singing In Labour Video
Birth Toning
Ina May Articles
The Farm (Spiritual Midwifery)
AIMS
Water-births
Birthing Ball - Fetal Positioning
The Healing of Birth DVD
Birth Into Being