Birthstories:

From an article in Express and Echo 21st of February 2005.

After a difficult birth with daughter Amelia three years ago, Marika Dowse was worried about how she would cope with her second pregnancy. Luckily the 37-year old, from Kennford, found out about the Natural Active Birth Classes at Heavitree, and her second birth with Poppy, now one year old, couldn’t have been more different. “I wanted an easier time”, said Marika. “I had a good pregnancy and I was hoping for a homebirth, but I ended up having a 39-hour labour and coming in to hospital in an ambulance. I had an epidural, venteuse and stitches. By the end of it, I couldn’t feel the contractions. I was very depressed afterwards, and it took me about three months to recover healthwise.

 Second time around I was initially very frightened – I knew what to expect and how much it hurt”. After spotting a poster in the hospital after a scan, Marika started attending Karin’s classes. “I came along not knowing what to expect, but I found it was my once a week sanctuary”, she said. “It was very relaxing. Listening to how everyone was feeling or their suggestions was very useful. I learned about the position of the baby – how to hold yourself, and how to make space for the baby. My husband, Mark, came along and found it invaluable.

The second time we went for a home birth and it was very, very different. It was very relaxing – we were very calm and did lots of moving around. The first time I was stuck on a bed. This time I moved and we did breathing and Mark was helping the whole time. I never thought I would chant, but when the pain was so great the chanting was amazing. The first time I was sucking on the gas and air and breathing in every time it hurt. This time I learned to breathe out the pain. When the midwife came we were in control of things in my birthing pool. Within 20 minutes Poppy arrived – before the second midwife came. The midwives were gone within the hour and I didn’t have to have stitches. Within four weeks I was running and playing squash. I felt much better. It was a really positive experience.

Mum-of-four Vicky Maddren found the classes so useful, that she went along throughout three of her four pregnancies. “I came to Karin’s classes for the youngest three of the four babies. I thought it would be a good preparation for the birth and a way of making me feel more in control. I had my first baby in hospital in 1997, and it was a good birth. But I thought that the classes would give me more of a feeling of control, and of how the birth might go second, third and fourth time round. Karin's approach is different. The yoga, the meditation and the relaxation help you relax before, during and after the birth. Having done it four times, I would say it’s a key skill in parenting and childbirth. It helped me a lot. The last three births were at home.

Karin gave me the confidence to feel I could cope with a homebirth”. According to Vicki, the most important aspect of the classes are helping her to trust her body. “The classes helped me understand the birthing proces, so that when it’s happening it takes away the fear”, she said. “I was frightened the first time, but I understood it was natural. The more frightened you are, the more painful it is. I’m not planning to have any more children but if I did I would definitely come back”.

Birthwise Devon for pregnancy and birth, natural childbirth, natural child birth, natural birth, prenatal yoga, pregnancy yoga, natural active birth, pregnancy massage, empowered childbirth, pregnancy classes, antenatal classes and alternative birth. We run classes in Newton Abbot, Exeter and Ottery St. Mary.