The birth of Isla Mae

By Kate

The birth was so intense, but I was so proud of myself as I was able to manage it without any intervention or pain relief. I drew very heavily on the Calmbirth breathing exercises and even though I had a cold, breathing through each contraction and trying to stay focused and calm was what got me through.

We attended the Calmbirth course with Peter Jackson in February of this year. We just wanted to email you to let you know we had a beautiful baby girl on Monday (15 April). Isla arrived right on her due date at 5.24pm. She weighed 3.6kg.

The birth was so intense, but I was so proud of myself as I was able to manage it without any intervention or pain relief. I drew very heavily on the breathing exercises and even though I had a cold, breathing through each contraction and trying to stay focused and calm was what got me through.

Chris was the most amazing support. He did and is still doing small things with great love.  He was my rock that day and I think he felt so much more confident having attended the weekend Calmbirth course with you. He knew what to say and what to do and I couldn’t have gotten through it without him by my side..

Leading up to and during the birth, I drew on so many things you said.  Especially…

Let it unfold.

Life fires at you point blank

Just surrender

Draw on your inner resources

 

I also tried on most days to do the Calmbirth reading, Calmbirth meditations and exercise which I think also contributed to such a positive birth experience.

I don’t want to speak to soon – it’s only early days but our breastfeeding journey has gotten off to an incredible start. Isla is feeding like a little Champion and we believe it is due to the fact she was born so alert and ready for a feed. This has been such a relief as breastfeeding was really important to us.

We hear you are retiring. Congratulations! Very exciting for you. We know you will be very much missed.

We are just so glad we got our time with you before you retired.  You have changed my relationship with anxiety not only in relation to birth but to life in general and you have helped keep me calm and have confidence in myself as a mother, and for that we will be eternally grateful.

Wishing you all the very best for this next chapter of your life. You can leave your work knowing you made such a positive difference to the world and changed so many peoples lives for the better.

Thank you again Peter. 

Chris, Kate and Isla