Sharing the sweet experiences of birth
Horrific birth stories are enough to put anyone off the notion of having children but a new series has been designed to show that not all experiences are bad ones.
This year, Taupo Homebirth, have been running a ‘Change the Birth Story series. The aim; to share three birth stories each event to replace some of the negative ones pregnant woman seem to hear a lot of these days.
The series has already ticked off two event evenings, with a further two to come next week and in November.
At the last event, Ani Laws and Natasja Battermann shared their birth stories.
‘‘I had a really wonderful birth,’’ Battermann said. ‘‘It was a really beautiful experience.’’
Battermann was 39 weeks pregnant with her second son when she started feeling niggles and became extremely uncomfortable. After some time, she found herself on her hands and knees in her bathroom, ready to give birth.
‘‘I didn’t quite realise how far away I was. I told my partner my baby’s coming now,’’ she said.
Within minutes Kian was born in the bathroom with just Battermann and her partner.
‘‘It was a very intense experience and very fast. But also so wonderful to do it at home in our environment.’’
While Laws’ birth to son TitusMaaka didn’t go just how she hoped it would, she said it was still an enjoyable experience. Her initial plan was to have a water birth at home but when she was six days overdue, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and was taken to Rotorua Hospital to be induced.
‘‘I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t have the home birth I had planned but my support group was with me,’’ Laws said.
‘‘They made the birthing unit feel like home.’’
Both Battermann and Laws wanted to share their birthing experiences just to show how natural it is to become a mother.
‘‘Giving birth doesn’t need to be a horrible, terrible experience,’’ Battermann said.
‘‘It can actually be enjoyable and it’s part our spiritual journey to becoming mothers.’’
The next event will include a dad speaking on his wife’s hospital c-section and how they made it a positive experience, a Taupo maternity birthing mum speaking and then also a home birth.
It will be held at the Taupo Parent’s Centre, September 23, at 7pm while the final event will be held November 4 at 10am. Entry is by gold coin donation.