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The following are some testimonials from couples who have used Lotus calmbirth techniques.



Maddy's birth

I have been out and about and telling everyone and anyone that will listen to me all about calmbirth, and how fantastic it is! After discovering that calmbirth existed, and reading as much information as I could find about it, I mentioned it to my Midwife, and asked her if she knew any women that had used it. She told me that not only had she heard of it, one of the Birth Centre Midwives was a qualified teacher, and so we met Lainey.

We had wanted a fairly "normal" natural pregnancy, labour and birth, hence our decision to go with a Birthing Centre, not a delivery ward. Our idea's of labour and birth were fairly open, and we both wanted a positive experience, with as little medical intervention as possible. Lainey met us and we immediately felt at ease with her, and extremely comfortable learning and relaxing. We felt that we could not have been better prepared for our impending labour and birth.

My waters broke at 2.30pm on Thurs 6th April , and we were immediately excited about the impending arrival of our little one. Unfortunately, I did not go into labour for some time, but with a few simple suggestions from Lainey, we were well on our way. The first sign I got that I was in labour was at 2.30am on Friday 7th April, and all I felt was tightening in my belly. We moved out to the lounge room couch, and I started my relaxation breathing. Ash then commenced with his positive affirmations, and was timing the waves. At 7.30am, we called the Birth Centre, and made our way to the hospital.

We arrived at 8.30am, and I was still in full control, and in no pain at all, just tightening with each wave. With no medical intervention, no drugs, and no internal examinations, our beautiful baby girl, Maddison was born in a calm environment, bright eyed and wide awake, and not crying, at 10.32am on Fri 7th April, after only an 8 hour labour and delivery.

Maddison is a calm child who rarely cries for long periods of time and I continue to use my relaxation breathing to quickly go to sleep in between night feeds.

I constantly rave about the benefits of calmbirth to anyone that will listen to me, and am already looking forward to having another child, using the calmbirth techniques. A huge thank you to Lainey, who made our labour and birth such a positive and fantastic experience.

It was truelly amazing, and we couldn't have done it without her.

She is a star!!!

Love Kellie, Ashley and Maddison Bird.


Michele
A calming approach to preparing mind, body and spirit for the birth of our little miracle. Thanks to calmbirth we felt at ease with the labour ahead and welcomed our beautiful Lily Mae into the world in 3 hours. Lainey's approach to calmbirth is holistic, her touch was both professional and loving throughout our time together antenatally and as a family.

Matt

At our first calmbirth class I went into it a bit sceptical. I never believed that it would work, let alone it could help with making the birth of a child easier. During one of our initial sessions I was totally amazed at the power of the subconscious mind. With Lainey's guidance I experienced something that I never felt was possible, and gained self belief that calmbirth could definitely make a difference.

Thanks to your beautiful caring nature and love surrounding us throughout pregnancy and birth! Our birth wouldn't have been the same without you.

Matt, Shell and Lily Mae



Jane,alex and Poppy

After attending your class, we felt so prepared to birth our baby. Alex raves to anyone who will listen about how amazing your calmbirth classes are, as do I.
We both felt prepared for what was to come...even though we had no idea what the fates would throw at us, and that was the most important thing. We
knew that no matter what happened during my labour, we could deal with it together, and breathe through it.

As it was, I was very lucky. When my waters broke and I was told that unless I went into spontaneaous labour by 3am the next morning,I would have to have to
be monitored and need antibiotics. I started visualizing the flower opening at double time! And as you know, sure enough, I did go into labour around 9pm when
you started your shift. I had a quick 6 hour labour and having you there as our midwife was the most perfect scenario.

Poppy is thriving. She is a very easy and cruisy baby. I have a lot of jealous friends, who can't believe her demeanor or my perfect labour story.

Thanks again, and we will see you again when it is time for baby number two.

Jane, Alex and Poppy x


andrea

Andrea, Craig and Campbell

The birth of Campell John Blake


The birth of our little boy is by far the best I have ever had, thanks to the techniques I learnt from your calmbirth class. As hoped, it was completely natural and drug free and couldn't have been more different from my two prior birth experiences.

I arrived at the hospital at 4.30am when my contractions were 6 minutes apart and CJ was born at 9.30am. I spent the first hour drinking tea with the midwives at their desk, breathing through contractions as they came and went. I spent the next hour or two sitting down with a hotpack on my back, focussing on breathing.

I couldn't believe (and nor could Craig) that the breathing and visualisations were so effective and I can honestly say that the contractions I experienced did not feel like pain. Craig also proved far more useful and supportive third time round! The midwives and my obstetrician commented a few times on how calm I was and said they were wondering whether things were really progressing as I was so quiet.

I felt very calm and peaceful and started to cry with joy at the thought of my baby arriving soon. I told the midwife I didn't know why I was crying and she said that I was going through transition...Unbelievable, given transition with my previous deliveries involved writhing in pain and talking in tongues. Sure enough, a few minutes later I was pushing and about 10 minutes later (including a posterior rotation and stuck shoulder) our beautiful little (3.9kg) boy was born.

Interestingly, he did not come out screaming and he has been a very contented, settled and calm baby so far- due in no small part, I'm sure, to the fact the  labour and his birth were so peaceful for him. I probably should have practiced more, but thankfully my subconscious must have been paying more attention than I thought as it all seemed to work perfectly.

I had a number of midwives come to visit me in the days after his birth, having read my birth notes, and asked me how I had done it. I provided your name to a midwife who wanted to recommend your calmbirth class to a friend of hers.

We are all settling in at home now. Thankyou again for making Campbell's entry into this world such a lovely, positive and calm experience for us all.

Andrea, Craig and CJ.



rhian

Rhian,Deon and Carter

Hi Lainey


I can't thank you enough for teaching me the calmbirth tools, and it may sound corney, but it has completely changed my life. The birth of Carter was so positive and special, and I've been recommending calmbirth classes to every woman I speak to!

I was ten days overdue and was booked for induction (which I really didn't want), but started having some irregular contractions at about 6pm. At 10pm Deon ran a bath for me, lit some candles and I listened to some relaxation music whilst doing my calm breathing. By 11pm the contractions had increased to 5 minutes apart and I knew it we needed to make our way to the hospital.

After settling on the bed I didn't want to move at all, as it would disrupt the 'zone' that I had put myself in from calm breathing. The doctor came to check on me, and see how dilated I was, and the midwife (who was lovely) guessed I was about 4cm. However, to their surprise, I was 9cm dilated and almost ready to start pushing! I still attribute this to visualising my cervix opening. I began pushing, with Deon encouraging me and helping me with my breathing the whole time. But after two hours of pushing our little Carter refused to turn so I needed the help from the doctor. With a big push and help from the ventouse, Carter's head was out and two more pushes later, my beautiful boy was born! Fairly big too at 8 pound 14.
Deon was absolutely fantastic. He remained calm and collected and was my rock through the tough moments.

It really was the most amazing moment of my life when he was placed on my chest, and opened his eyes to look at Deon and I. I still can't believe that I went from being absolutely terrified of labour and wanting every sort of pain relief under the sun at the start of my pregnancy, to becoming confident enough in myself to birth my son naturally, calmly and quietly.

The midwife said to me that it was the calmest birth she had ever attended, and was priveleged to be a part of the experience.

Lainey, thankyou so much again- you're amazing

Rhian, Deon and carter.



What a fabulous way of thought and teaching that promotes confidence and rightly restores the responsibility and control for a woman to contribute to what can be one of the greatest experiences and joys in a woman's life. Calmbirthing...The word really needs to get out there.

Lainey, I can't thank you enough for facilitating the way to tap into inner strength and resources that gave a profound inner healing and a confidence to face "birthing" with total confidence. Even when things didn't go exactly as planned, the skills I was able to employ kept me calm with all fears allayed. Our beautiful daughter Crystelle, a calm, healthy and happy baby is testimonial to the calm pregnancy and birth I was able to have. Calmbirth was a major contributing factor for my attitude.

I was greatly blessed and fortunate enough to have had the exceptional midwifery experience and firsthand experience of this excellent calm birthing teacher Lainey, to help my husband deliver our beautiful cherub into this world.

A truly remarkable, professional teacher and an inspirational model for all midwives to follow suit.

Thanks Lainey, I hope all women are as lucky as we were to have you in our lives at a very important time on our journey.

Caterina, Brett and Crystelle



jaime

Jaime,Alex and Poppy

When faced with the thought of our first child's arrival, Daniel's main concern was how he would stop himself from passing out 
due to his weakeness of all things medical. My main concern was who would look after me if he did!! I have bad reactions to
most
medications and knew I needed stratergies to cope.

After a weekend of Lainey's teachings we walked away empowered with the knowledge that we needed to ensure that our
baby's arrival into this world would be our experience. No longer was Daniel concerned as he knew his role to and how to help
me. The 'medical things' that used to be so daunting became much less scary as we began to understand them.

Tahlia arrived 12 days overdue. Our labour experience was nothing like we planned, but with the last minute help of Lainey on
the phone and by doing all that I had learnt I managed to re-focus and deal with everything as it arose. I remained calm and focussed throughtout. I was
very fortunate to have a midwife and obstetrician who were very supportive of calmbirth and knew Lainey.

Despite my baby girl being posterior and quite stuck they supported me and I achieved a natural birth. It was only afterward that they told me that
it was quite a difficult labour and most women would have had an epidural! I didn't use any medication, and really didn't need it.
Daniel was amazing and supported me throughout the labour and didn't feel faint once!

Most importantly our beautiful little girl arrived into this world bright, alert and very calm despite her tricky arrival and for the first three months we have
barely heard her cry. Tahlia is just delightful and we are so glad that we used calmbirth to make what could have been a very traumatic experience into a
calm and beautiful one.

From the bottom of our hearts, thankyou.

Jaime, Daniel and Tahlia.




Sonya,Peter and Justin

Hey Lainey

Just reporting in to say that Justin Peter Rule arrived 4 weeks early on the 9th of July, the Thursday after we attended your workshop. Thank the universe for calmbirth because we used every technique you'd taught us!

The labour lasted 6 hours and I breathed my way through the whole thing with no drugs. Justin came into the world a happy little vegemite and it is an experience that I will treasure forever. I am looking forward to doing it all again in the coming years with the knowledge that I can once again use the calmbirth techniques.

I kept my cool the whole time and focussed on making the experience a calm one for my little one entering the big wide world and it worked a treat! He has been a cool little cucumber since his birth and we've had comments supporting this from the midwives in special care ( he was there 9 days) and from friends and family visiting the last couple of weeks. Of course he does the odd squealy tomatoe face- but who doesn't when they are hungry?

I have told anyone who will listen and recommend calmbirth to my pregnant friends. As far as I am concerned it was the best money I've ever spent and I'll be back for a refresher in my next pregnancy.

THANKYOU!!!!!!

Sonya, Peter and Justin.


lennox

Sarah, Tarquin and Lennox

Hi Lainey

I was excited to discover I was pregnant but apprehensive about the unknowns of labour. I found out about calmbirth through 
a midwife as we were inspecting prospective hospitals. I selected Lotus calmbirth as Lainey was a trained and practicing
midwife, which appealed to me.

We learned so much from the course, but also from Lainey's stories about other births from her experience as a midwife. I was
so happy that I didn't have an epidural and only a little bit of pain relief when labour really kicked in. I kept repeating the mantra
"your body was designed to birth your baby" which really helped me trust my own body, and get through it.

After an 11 hour labour our beautiful son Lennox was born. I cannot recommend calmbirth enough. Lainey reminded us that sometimes things don't go to plan
Lennox was born by Vacuum extraction due to a number of complications, but we were armed with the knowledge and tools to get us through. I would not
change any part of my labour or birth and although uncomfortable and at times painful, I look back on the experience as a joyous and relaxed one.

Even the midwives made comments about how relaxed and focussed I was!

Thanks for everything Lainey

Sarah, Tarquin and Lennox



At 32 weeks pregnant, and being a midwife, thus knowing way too much, it dawned on me what I may be heading for with the birth of my baby. Suddenly I was full of fear! Thanks to you, our guardian angel who guided us from here on with the concept of calmbirth, that fear, was transformed to that of excitement, a feeling of being able to let go, and most importantly allowed me to have a very special bond with my baby before he was even born.

I did have an extremely long labour and ended up having a caesar as Darby was in a posterior position, however, by using my calmbirth techniques throughout my labour, I have very fond memories of it. I never felt afraid and I always felt a calmness, and therefore felt empowered to help make decisions throughout my labour, and the birth of our baby. This is all thanks to calmbirth.

We thankyou Lainey from the bottom of our hearts and look forward to using the calmbirth programme with our next baby.

Love Jo, Craig and Darby Blinco


Hi there,

It's Amanda from your calmbirth course. Just letting you know that Steve and I had a beautiful little girl on July 14th, Lily Rose
(7 pound 15). We were lucky enough to only have a 4 and a half hour labour!!!!

Thank you for everything that you taught us, if it wasn't for the breathing techniques I don't know what I would have done. Even Steve thought that the 'hippy crap' was worth it and he was glad that he had some good techniques to help me through it.

Thanks again

love Amanda and Steven x



Just a quick note to say a big thank you. Calmbirth was a very positive experience for us. It allowed discussion as a couple on the ideas we had for the birth and made the birth of Tobias a joint effort. We had the same focus together during the birth. As a partner it made Mat feel included rather than helpless.

The techniques learnt during the course not only helped with Tobias's birth, it also gave help with sleeping during the pregnancy and made us more relaxed within other aspects of life. Calmbirth also gave us the insight that birth process is a normal life event.

Anita, Mat and Tobias



celeste

opal,marcel andceleste

Hi Lainey

Marcel and I gained so much valuable information over the weekend and I wanted to give you my story.

I needed to be induced because I was two weeks overdue. Whilst Marcel and I were excited on the day we also carried a bit of
fear about the unknown. I was attached to the drip and baby monitor and slowly things started to happen. The first real
contraction caught me by surprise, but as it passed I knew what to expect.

I found myself breathing through the contractions bringing my attention to my body. I used the TENs machine, which you also
recommended, from about 12pm when my back started to hurt.

At 3 pm the midwife checked me and I was only 1cm dilated. I found this mentally challenging, exhausting and frustrating. Again at 6pm the midwife checked me
and I was only 3cm dilated.

This is where my mind took over and I thought to myself "Come on Opal... Lets get things going!" I sat up, got on the chair, closed my eyes and worked with the
contractions. As they came, I would stand and swing my body to them. Then I would sit down at the edge of the chair visualising my baby moving down. The
midwife kept asking if I wanted any gas, but I thought to myself that as one contraction subsided that I could manage the next without anything.

By 8pm the urge to push came on strong. The midwife said I wouldn't be ready and again checked me. I was 8cm dilated and she couldn't believe it. This gave
me even more motivation to keep going the way I was.

It was at this stage that Marcel stepped in. Through the TENS machine and monitor straps he rubbed my back, talking in my ear, "you can do this." It was
amazing how strong I felt hearing his words and our little baby girl, Celeste was born at 9.45pm, 17th May.

I breastfed straight away and she attached beautifully.

It saddens me that women are so frightened of labour that they opt for an epidural even before their labour starts. I am sure that it because of all the negative
stories that they hear. I am so happy that mine is a positive story and think that these need to be shared to encourage women and allay some of their fears.

Giving birth is a very powerful feeling mentally, physically and emotionally. Calmbirth helped me get my head around the fear factor.

Thankyou Lainey

Opal, Marcel and Celeste


 
 


keywords: lotus, calmbirth, pregnancy, birth, natural, labour

Lotus calmbirth – Lainey Pedley (Clinical Midwife Specialist) ABN 66744130457
Certified calmbirth® Practitioner - Bayside, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
For more information call: 03 8707 1869 email:lotuscalmbirth@optusnet.com.au
Website created by: michelle.kofod@gmail.com
Website last updated: July 2010