The Hypnobirthing Australia™ program is for you if you want to feel informed about the process of birth, educated about your choices, in control of your experience, and confident that you will have the positive birth that you want.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed, be prepared, take control of your birth, and look forward to giving birth and becoming a mother!
The confidence you gain through the Hypnobirthing Australia™ course enables you to know that you are making the informed choices that will deliver you the positive birth that you want.
- You will feel calm, able to enjoy your pregnancy and look forward to your birth.
- You will feel less overwhelmed so you can start to take control of your experience and make the decisions that are right for you.
- You will feel confident about labour as you will have tools that you know will help you cope.
- You will trust your partner as you know they are informed, able to support you, and prepared to serve as an advocate for both you and your baby.
- You won’t feel alone. Through meeting other likeminded couples, you will begin to establish your village. You will realise there is an entire community of caregivers, practitioners, families who believe in positive birth and who are happy to encourage and to help.
The Hypnobirthing Australia™ program is a modern, evidence-based, professionally respected program that teaches you everything you need to know to have an empowered and positive birth experience.
You learn about the hormones of birth and the physiology of birth. Gaining understanding of how your body and baby have been designed to work together enables you to trust the process.
We talk about functional pain in a supportive way and teach you strategies so you can cope with every stage of labour.
We talk about interventions and provide you with education about what may be suggested and give you a decision making framework to assist you in making informed choices.
You learn self-hypnosis to let go of fears and to release endorphins during birth (this is the hypno part of hypnobirthing).
You will feel reassured not just about birth but about the postpartum period too so you can enter motherhood confident in the continuity of support and care.
The aim of Hypnobirthing Australia™ is to empower you to have your own unique version of a positive birth.
The strategies you will learn to support this positive mindset are:
- Affirmations and visualisations: We must hear it and see it to achieve it. Encouraging statements and modern birth videos (many shot in the hospitals you will be birthing in) program your mind into believing that a positive experience is possible.
- Relaxation exercises: When you are relaxed, your labour will be shorter and easier.
- An active birth circuit: These positions allow you to work with the natural process of labour and are easy to perform either at home or in hospital.
- Massage: Massage releases endorphins and when the massage is done by someone you love, you also release oxytocin. As those two hormones are the main hormones of a physiological birth, this is a winning technique!
- Self-hypnosis
- Breathing techniques: Use your breath to induce a state of calm and to work with your body as you progress through the stages of labour.
- Acupressure: Independent childbirth education that includes relaxation, breathing, meditation, massage, and acupressure has been shown to greatly decrease interventions in childbirth.
- Introduction to breastfeeding: Birth is just the beginning!
- A decision making framework: Having a birth plan, going through the process of gathering information, and making choices is a great first step. We go beyond this and provide you with tools to make decisions during labour. Owning your birth is key to having a positive experience.
- Empowering your birth partner: You, your baby, and your partner are a birthing team. Since you and your baby will be focused on the physical work, we rely on your birth partner for support and to serve as an advocate for you and your baby.
- A fear release guided meditation: Quite simply, fear and a natural birth are incompatible. This guided meditation helps you release apprehensions, worries, and fears.
This is absolutely for you if you want the guidance of someone who has been exactly where you are now…pregnant, overwhelmed, sure of what she wants but unsure of how to get it…who understands the challengers, knows the rewards, and has had two positive birthing journeys.
As a nurse, I am familiar with the medical system and am able to help you interpret birthing policies and procedures, translate information from your caregivers, and understand risk.
Raising children away from my own family, I realise how important support is! Throughout pregnancy, during birth, and while you find your feet as a mother…it really does take a village. I offer compassion and nurturing connections.
I teach the Hypnobirthing Australia™ Course at two venues, both on the north side of Brisbane, less than 5 kilometres from the CBD.
My Newmarket venue is Soul Space, 23 Parker Street, Newmarket.
My Yeronga venue is Indigo Soul Wellness, 46 Shottery St, Yeronga.
The weekend course is held over one or two weekends.
The evening course is held over four consecutive Tuesdays.
I believe that love is love, all are welcome in my classes.
Hypnobirthing in the time of COVID19.
Women will keep giving birth!
And while I know it feels like everything is uncertain, really nothing has changed.
It is still important to prepare for birth.
It is still important to surround yourself with a supportive team.
It is still important to have tools that will enable you to labour comfortably at home for as long as possible.
It is still important to be informed about your options and to have a framework to help you make decisions.
It is still important to learn how to control what you can control while being open to change.
You can still have a positive birth!
The one thing that has has changed is how I deliver the course.
Here are the options during this time.
1. Live In Person Classes – $550.00
As of September 1 prices for in person group classes will be going up to $595.00.
Starting in June, in person group classes will be back. These are held either in Newmarket or in Yeronga. Due to current COVID restrictions, class numbers will be strictly limited so please book early to secure your spot.
The class days and times are listed below.
2. Live Group Classes Via Zoom – $495.00
These are the standard group classes. They are still live and “face to face” except instead of meeting in person, we meet via Zoom. These classes are interactive, individualised, and you no longer have to be in Brisbane to take them!
The class days and times are listed below. With the Zoom classes you can mix and match classes. So for example, you could join the first Saturday of the July class and then the third and fourth Tuesdays of the August class.
3. Live Private Classes Either In Person Or Via Zoom – $970.00
This option is the same as the group class except instead of being in a class with other couples, it is just you, me, and your partner. This allows me to tailor the material to your individual circumstances and needs.
It also allows for more flexible scheduling.
If you have a pregnant friend who is also interested in taking the course, you are welcome to create a semi-private class.
4. Online Basic – $199.00
This is the Hypnobubs Basic Course which consists of access to an online learning platform with prerecorded educational videos, demonstrations and exercises to master techniques, birth videos, and other resources.
And to ensure you feel fully supported, it comes with individualised phone and email support from me.
5. Online Premium – $399.00
With this option you get the Hypnobubs Basic Course and a 90 minute private session (in person or via Zoom) with me. We can use this session to go over any questions, review any techniques, talk about your birth plan, ensure your partner is feeling fully confident, chat about breastfeeding, whatever you like!
As I know this is a financially complicated time for so many, if you want to take a class but the cost is an obstacle, please get in touch. Together we can work something out.
The upcoming course dates are:
Tuesday 4 August, Tuesday 11 August, Tuesday 18 August, Tuesday 25 August (Zoom – 5:30pm to 8:30pm)
Sunday 13 September and Sunday 20 September (Newmarket – 9:00am to 4:00pm)
Monday 7 September, Monday 14 September, Monday 21 September, Monday 28 September (Zoom – 5:30pm to 8:30pm)
Saturday 10 October and Saturday 17 October (Yeronga – 10:30am to 5:30pm)
Monday 5 October, Monday 12 October, Monday 19 October, Monday 26 October (Zoom – 5:30pm to 8:30pm)
Saturday 7 November and Sunday 15 November (Newmarket – 9:00am to 4:00pm)
Monday 2 November, Monday 9 November, Monday 16 November, Monday 23 November (Zoom – 9:00am to 4:00pm)
Saturday 12 December and Sunday 13 December (Newmarket – 9:00am to 4:00pm)
If you can’t make any of the listed dates or can make one of the dates but not the other, please contact me as I do offer private classes and half group – half private classes. Basically there are options for everyone!
For details about online courses, please click here.
The group course (in person and Zoom) includes twelve hours of instruction, a fear release guided meditation, a folio of evidence based resources, access to an online learning platform filled with digital learning resources, four Australia hypnobirthing tracks, an ebook, a birth rehearsal video, a birth debrief, and additional support as needed.
I often get asked when to take hypnobirthing and the answer is really whenever you are ready and can fit it in! Usually I say between 20 and 30 weeks is ideal as that gives you plenty of time to practice the techniques and get confident using them.
You will feel so much better knowing that you have a plan for how you will manage your birth.
If you are ready to book, you can do that here!
If you would like more information, please fill in the form below.
If you have any specific questions, please email me at Caitlin@MotherDownUnder.com.
I am looking forward to hearing from you and helping you to have a positive birth.
By the way, you might already have a inkling that birth is just the beginning and that motherhood will likely bring other challenges.
The first step to a positive postpartum is a positive birth so, at the moment, the majority of your focus should be on that. But you are right to think that bonding, breastfeeding, and establishing a secure attachment are important too! I am also a postpartum doula and would love to chat with you more about what comes next. When you are making your hypnobirthing booking, please mention that you are interested in postpartum doula services too and we can set up a time to talk about all things motherhood!
