We loved Reds charisma and personality... she talks about pregnancy and giving birth with such an enthusiasm that you can feel how much she cares about the mommies and the babies – and also about the daddies!!! For the mommy ~ she makes you feel that you are going to experience something extraordinary and that you can do it all by yourself! That your body is a temple that is designed for giving birth and that there is nothing to fear! And I was surprised to discover about myself in labor that I wasn’t afraid! For the daddies ~ she made my hubby feel that he is an active part of labour – not just in the audience! She reassured him to be my advocate – to speak to doctors and nurses on my behalf – so that I can totally concentrate on birthing our baby! Because of Reds knowledge, expertise and strong feel about the PRO’s of NATURAL BIRTH we had a good contrast to the medical point of view of our doctor, so that we could make well-informed decisions about what we wanted and what we didn´t.
Andrea & Jonas
I liked the way Red presented the concept that pain during birth is OK, and even beneficial! The hypnobirthing book seems to give the impression that all hypnobirths ‘should’ be painless.
K. X.
We took the full series again even though we had taken it for our first baby also I loved simply taking the time, at least 2-3 hours a week, to tune in to the baby, together with my husband (without my little boy around 🙂 ). Becoming aware of what is happening inside, seeing it from the perspective of the baby. Since it was a refresher, most of the topics were familiar to me. The humming/sounds were new and very helpful! The tips and awareness regarding diet and eating well and diverse (and how that affects the unborn child) were very helpful and influenced my eating and drinking habits.
Marjanne
Having a private midwife for my 5th pregnancy was a great experience. The antenatal appointments at home were so much more convenient for the whole family than going for hospital check-ups with 4 children. Red was great at involving the kids too. They would even try to feel where their little brother’s head was! Having longer appointments gave me time to ask all my questions and address any concerns in details. So different to a doctor’s room where I would only spend 5-10 minutes. During the pregnancy, I felt generally better than the previous times because more attention was given to my iron level and general diet. During the home birth, Red was very patient, even though I had a really long pre-labour. She gave me all the time I needed to labour as I wanted to. There was absolutely no rush and she ended up spending about 9 hours (!) with me to make sure I was completely well before she left. This was the first time that I could labour and birth a baby exactly as I wanted to. I had the most restful day at home after the delivery. Not being woken up all the time by hospital staff was a big bonus.:) I’m really thankful for the wonderful midwifery care I received!
Agnes
As a dad I liked Red’s upfront teaching style-honest, direct, with humor which further increased my awareness of my role in the process. Most books or programs do not really address the role of the dad in a meaningful way. Energetic, upfront, and frank in her views about the birthing process while remaining respectful and diplomatic.
Seger
Hi Red, wanted to thank you for all the expertise you shared with my husband and I as well as your positive attitude! Today our little girl was born with no interventions; in fact we arrived at the hospital just in time for her birth! You gave us the confidence we needed to achieve a natural birth, so thank you!! Xx
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Midwife led care for us was absolutely the right decision, we loved it and it made the whole pregnancy, birth and postnatal period so enjoyable because we had total confidence in you. We both found you so supportive and genuinely caring, much more so than we experienced at hospitals. There are loads of things that we loved about it all, so it’s hard to pin down some specifics but some of the things we loved best about it were: – That it was always very positive and we had total confidence in your expertise to pick-up quickly if there was anything a bit amiss, but that it wasn’t so invasive as hospital-based care. Every time I went to the hospital (before we met you,) I seemed to have endless scans and they would then use lots of jargon that I didn’t understand, which made me uneasy and feel that there could be things wrong, when the reality was that I was doing great in pregnancy! – That midwife led care always gave us options, and that the care was tailored to us. When we were deciding on things, you would give us our options in simple English and then let us decide. That wasn’t our experience in hospitals as we often felt that we were being ‘pushed’ to take a particular ‘package’ and that it was quite confusing. – The birth well, that was just completely awesome! Definitely one of the most euphoric and extraordinary experiences of our lives. It was everything we hoped it would be. And more. For us having a home birth with midwife-led care was just wonderful as we could do all the postnatal checks etc in the warm and familiar comfort of our home. You were just brilliant at doing all the checks and work so quickly and competently, but also calmly to keep the atmosphere we wanted – brilliant 😉 The postnatal care was invaluable!! Those first few days were a whirlwind getting to grips with breastfeeding etc and having you be able to come to the house and talk through any issues was just such a help! – We loved how you talked to Jake in the womb too 😉 Lots of love, N xx
Nicole
During my pregnancy Red was my midwife for prenatal visits and helped me to plan for our birth. She was thorough, gentle, and caring. She always goes the extra mile to provide support in whatever area is needed – whether that’s emotional, diet and exercise, or natural remedies to help with pregnancy symptoms. She highly respects what each woman and family wants for their birth, and supports them in that. While providing the knowledge she has to support a healthy mother and baby. I loved working with her, as the care she gives, as a midwife is so much more than what I got from my obstetrician. I highly recommend her care!
Amy
My birth experience in the hospital was very traumatic so naturally when I came home with my baby I felt very shaken and my nerves were all over the place. I remember the first night was tough and Red came over the next day. Having her visit me at home was a Godsend! She is a very kind and compassionate human being and I really needed to be able to discuss my birthing experience with her. It was very cathartic for me. As a firth time mom it can be a very stressful time and knowing that I could reach out to Red was extremely reassuring. Not only did she help me with the initial things like how to burp a baby and helping me with improving my latch when breastfeeding. I also loved her massage and bathing technique for my baby, such a repository of knowledge. I love Red’s approach — she is very gentle and supportive and helped me to feel confident about my mothering skills.
A. R.
What we liked most about the classes was that there was active discussion and videos of positive, beautiful births to really counter all of the negative, screaming images that we see and can easily become hard-wired into our sub-conscious. I also really liked that it wasn’t a really dogmatic approach, and you kept stressing that Hynobirthing can be done in hospitals, even if you end up getting a c-section or whatever, you can keep the principles in your mind, but crucially you haven’t FAILED if that’s what happens. I think that’s really important because a lot of the natural birth rhetoric I found actually quite dogmatic and daunting for expectant mums. It was also great that Red would mention about really beautiful births she’s been at over the weekend before the class or whatever, because it really made it seem possible, not just in the videos. We also found it hugely helpful to have your experience as a midwife brought to bear on the class to as often you would add extra medical and research dimensions that weren’t in the book.
Nikki & Oli
