Positive Birth Stories Archives - Mama.ie

May 9, 2013 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

The birth of Little Woman Part 2: A horrible hospital experience

Little Woman is almost six weeks old now and I feel far enough removed from my experience in the hospital to be able to write about it. If you’ve read Part 1 of Little Woman’s birth story, you’ll know that labour itself was relatively easy – a gentle build up all day with an intense hour or so at the end. It was everything I could have hoped for a smooth manageable labour.... read more

Apr 13, 2013 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

The Birth of Little Woman: Part 1 Labour and Delivery

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you’ll know that I love positive birth stories. In fact I collect them and share them on this site whenever anyone is kind enough to give me permission to do so. I had been hoping to share the birth of Little Woman as an extremely positive experience. After all, I had done all my Gentlebirth preparation, practiced my yoga positions and breathing,... read more

Feb 1, 2013 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Creating a birth plan

Can you plan a birth? Probably not – after all, birth like life can be unpredictable and there are no guarantees about what will happen on the day – or night! But I do believe that you can educate yourself about the most common decisions that have to be made during labour in advance, and that for many people – me especially – knowing that you have done the research beforehand will... read more

Nov 5, 2012 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Pregnancy: Week 17

I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago when I was seventeen weeks pregnant, and starting back with my Gentlebirth preparations! This has been a really good pregnancy week. I feel so normal. Not too tired, not sick at all. Just normal – and I’m reveling in it because I know it won’t last. As I mentioned last week, precisely because I feel so normal, I haven’t been feeling very... read more

Aug 13, 2012 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Funny what you forget

Funny what you forget isn’t it? I was reading Mind the Baby’s post tonight where she was talking about just how long 90 seconds is…when it comes to labour. Her post reminded me about one of the most physical ways I prepared for labour. If you’ve been reading here a while, you’ll know that I used Gentlebirth in preparation for giving birth and I was definitely pleased with the... read more

Jun 16, 2012 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Mind the Baby’s Birth Story

If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll know by now that I am a huge fan of birth stories. My own experience of giving birth left me on a high for close to two weeks afterwards, I’ve never experienced anything like it. I think part of the reason I had such a good experience was because in the months leading up to the birth, I followed the Gentlebirth guidelines to read only... read more

Feb 4, 2012 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Guest Post: Planning a water birth

Today, I’m delighted to bring you a guest post, written by Maria Barker who loves discussing the various options during pregnancy, and how women make decisions from their first pregnancy symptoms. Planning a Water Birth Water births have had a popularity surge in the last five years and thankfully hospitals are beginning to accommodate for this. There was a temporary ban on water births in 2006 in... read more

Jul 29, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Birthing Pool removed from the Rotunda

I published a new blog post on eumom.ie today: Birthing Pool removed from the Rotunda If it’s true that the pool has been removed, then I am very disappointed to hear it. Labouring in water can be so beneficial for women, especially for pain relief. I don’t understand why Irish hospitals are not more supportive of it. I read on a number of Internet forums this week that the very expensive... read more

Jul 9, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Just what is Gentlebirth?

I’ve written quite a bit about GentleBirth™ – Self Hypnosis for Childbirth and hypnobirthing in the past few months, but during an email exchange with Áine from AndMyBaby yesterday, I realised I’ve never actually written a blog post to explain in simple terms just what Gentlebirth is. Although, I’m a Gentlebirth affiliate, this post isn’t based on the official marketing... read more

May 20, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Does hypnobirthing really work?

There was a very interesting story on the BBC news yesterday. The NHS is launching an official study on the effectiveness of hypnobirthing during labour. The study will be carried out in selected hospitals across the north west of England. Check out the video report on the BBC: NHS study tests effectiveness of hypnobirthing If you’ve read my birth story, you’ll know that I used Gentlebirth... read more

May 7, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Hypnobirthing wins over a sceptic!

I saw a great video today from Heather Van Nest, a US journalist who recently used hypnobirthing instead of pain medication during labour. Her story is really interesting because she had originally planned not to take any childbirth classes before labour. Her husband has a medical background, and they felt that his background would allow him to guide them through the process. You can see the video, and... read more

May 5, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Guest Post: Nate’s birth story

Today, I’m delighted to feature Nate’s natural, active birth story from Lauren. Thanks for sharing Lauren! Lauren is a Texan relocated to Dublin and one half of the team raising a hilarious baby boy called Nathaniel. She recently started The Dare Project to keep track of motherhood and hopes it will be a lovely, if not slightly embarrassing, gift for her kid when he’s all grown up. It is... read more

Feb 23, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

New Irish Maternity show

A new show started on RTE this week – From Here to Maternity. This is a six-part show set in Cork’s University Maternity Hospital (CUMH); it tells the story of couples attending one of Ireland’s busy maternity hospitals. I recorded it earlier in the week, but tonight was the first time I got a chance to sit down and watch it. I was really looking forward to it, because as you may know, I love birth... read more

Feb 16, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Labour in the US: Now a laughing matter!

Did you know that if you’re having a baby in the US “gas and air” isn’t on your list of pain relief options? I didn’t, until it hit the news this week. The Daily Mail has the full story if you’d like to read it. What we call “gas and air” is actually Entonox, a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen. This is the same “laughing gas” that’s used... read more

Jan 26, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Marisa Mackle: Anti-breastfeeding and birth stories!

There was a pretty hateful article in the Herald on Jan 26 2011, from a chicklit author called Marisa Mackle, all about how she “hates, I mean really hates” breastfeeding in public. I was in the middle of researching Marisa and her article so that I could blog about breastfeeding attitudes in the media, when I came across this post on another blog, which I think sums up my opinion on... read more

Jan 25, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

There is a better way to give birth!

If you’ve read my birth story, you’ll know what a huge fan I am of Gentlebirth. This is the self-hypnosis for childbirth programme that I used when I was having Little Man. Charlie and I completed a weekend course when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. Over the course of the weekend, we learned about the relationship between fear and pain in childbirth. We learned to question the portrayals of... read more

Jan 13, 2011 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

Giving birth is not scary!

Earlier this week, I received a lovely message from Sara B, a friend of mine from the local booby group. She read my birth story, and wanted to share her own with me. She has very kindly allowed me to publish her message here to share with all of you. Thanks for sharing your inspiring experience with us Sara! Hi Lisa, What a lovely story! And you were very well prepared it seems – I wish I had heard of... read more

Nov 8, 2010 Posted by Lisa | Mama.ie

The birth of Little Man, Part 2

The day before Little Man’s birth, I was feeling a bit more tired than normal. I had planned to clear out the wardrobe in the baby’s room, and I made a start on it, but soon after I started, I hurt my shoulder – not sure how. So I took it easy the rest of the day. I had already slept for 11 hours straight the night before, but even so, I slept for two hours that afternoon. When it came... read more