By LIA SPENCER
MICHELLE Newton had had a relatively pain-free labour with her first son Jack due to hypnobirthing techniques.
So when she found out a similar course was being offered in Sydney, the Narre Warren mother jumped on a plane to take part.
Through her hypnobirthing studies, Michelle learned a lot about breathing techniques and visualisation.
During her labour with her son Jack, Michelle barely felt any pain as she envisioned breathing into a red balloon and releasing it in one of her favourite locations, the Murray River.
“After having Jack I started looking into hypnobirthing a little more and found out a man named Peter Jackson was developing a Calmbirth course.
“He had studied hypnobirthing but wanted to make it more relevant to Australian families.
“I did a home study and became a doula, then flew to Sydney and studied under Peter for a week and became a Calmbirth practitioner. Then I did three weeks of practice.”
Michelle suffered a devastating miscarriage after she gave birth to Jack, so when she found out she was pregnant a third time, she was thrilled but nervous.
“I think having a miscarriage made me even more determined to do things naturally.
“I was really nervous and I think all the stress made me feel constant nausea. But after the 12 week scan I finally relaxed and enjoyed the rest of my pregnancy.”
Michelle was due on 9 April but her waters broke one day early.
“By the time my due date rolled around I was pretty relaxed and very ready to give birth,” she said.
“After my waters broke I called my husband who was at work then called my sister-in-law who was going to look after Jack.
“She still talks about how relaxed I was. I was making peanut butter sandwiches for Jack between contractions, and I would stop mid-sentence, close my eyes and breathe, then open my eyes and continue my sentence.”
Michelle gave her husband strict instructions on what he was supposed to do during the labour to help with her pain-free birth.
“He didn’t say a word and just lightly stroked my arm up and down to keep me grounded in the physical sense while my mind could go somewhere else.
“I envisioned myself floating on a cloud and listened to my body, allowing it to do what it needed to do.
“I also listed to relaxing music, which is part of the Calmbirth program. There is no singing, no beats or anything like that. It helps take your mind to a different place.”
Michelle said she felt all the sensations of labour such as tightening in the stomach but never felt pain. The labour lasted a total of four hours.
After only 12 minutes of pushing, a healthy 9 pound 10 ounce boy was born. Michelle and Darren named him Riley Kenneth, with his middle name a tribute to Michelle’s father who passed away when she was 16.
Due to time constrains, Michelle is no longer a Calmbirth practitioner but said the course was well worth it.
“Pain relief never even crossed my mind during the labour,” she said.
“Everything went very smoothly. It was amazing.”
