Hello again, this is the title of an old film (1987) starring Shelley Long, a romantic fantasy-comedy, which I absolutely loved! It had been recommended to me by a friend, she knows me well. It’s about second chances, synchronicity and happy endings. Isn’t that we all wish for in reality, happiness and happy endings, I’m a sucker for them! If anyone knows where I can watch it again I would be delighted if you’d let me know!
How lovely is Autumn? We don’t really get autumn here in Malta but I do miss it, however I am hopeful to see some of it again soon. It signals the start of my favourite time of year as it heralds in my birthday (a biggie this year) and then Christmas, my all time favourite. I know, I know don’t start talking about Christmas just yet, but it will be here before we know it! It will come as no surprise to many of you that I have already started shopping. To be honest I never stop, if I see something I think is perfect for someone I’ll buy it at any time and put it away until then. The only problem with this is remembering where I’ve put things, as happened recently with a birthday present for a friend, still haven’t found it!
Well, September has been and gone. A much nicer month, for me anyway, lots of time with family and a lovely wedding, following all the necessary guidelines. Congratulations to my Godson, Dominic Borg Spiteri and his beautiful bride, Alison. So blessed to have got to share this special day with them both.
September was also the month that we celebrated my eldest daughter’s 30th birthday. It wasn’t how we had planned to spend it, sadly Sarah & Greg couldn’t be with us and they were very much missed. However, we made the best of the situation and had a ‘staycation’ in Malta, The thing is, living here you don’t really try out the hotels that much, so we had a 2 night stay at The Radisson, Golden Sands. I love that hotel anyway and it was a long held dream (that I didn’t know about) of Becky’s to spend a birthday staying in a hotel, so that was nice and we had a lovely, relaxing time, which was perfectly timed as Becky was set to return to work just a few days later, as most of you know Becky is a midwife and she is always looking to break the boundaries and to make pregnancy and birth more comfortable for mothers.
I am super proud of Becky, not only is she an amazing daughter, wife, mother, friend and midwife, she was instrumental in setting up the first student midwives organisation in Malta, and now she has also set up a new business Serene Starts Hypnobirthing and during these uncertain times too, but babies are still being born, life continues on. What is hypnobirthing I hear you say, Becky explains:
What is Hypnobirthing?
Hypnobirthing releases the fear and negativity that our society has instilled around birth. Replacing fear with calm and confidence. It’s not staged hypnosis, it can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do! In fact, any hypnobirthing course is filled with evidence-based information to facilitate choice and control. There is often the misunderstanding that hypnobirthing is a form of pain relief, and while it can lead to a more comfortable birth, it is in fact much more than this, it reforms your own personal beliefs about childbirth.
How does hypnobirthing work?
Hypnobirthing combines hypnotherapy and tapping into the subconscious mind, together with logic and reason. Hypnobirthing provides the expectant parents with a range of tools and techniques that reframe and reshape your innermost thoughts and feelings about birth, this then leads to a more comfortable birth, as the notion of pain is turned into power. It is also, the parents’ responsibility to keep practising the techniques learnt throughout pregnancy, for it to be effective.
Whats in it for the family?
For the mother; Hypnobirthing releases any fear the mother may have around pregnancy, labour, and birth, which facilitates a calm and positive pregnancy and birth experience. Without fear labour is much less likely to be painful and more likely to be a powerful experience. Furthermore, she is equipped with a sound knowledge to facilitate better decision making.
For the father or birth partner; Hypnobirthing gives the father a role during pregnancy and birth, very often fathers feel helpless during these times so by practising Hypnobirthing with the mother he is helping her in a way only he can, giving him more confidence and an enhanced role. As such he is better equipped to ask questions and access evidence-based practice. He may also start using the techniques learnt for himself in day to day life and in parenting. For the baby; the baby is born into a calm birth environment and with well informed parents. The baby is more likely to be a calm and contented child.
As a midwife, Becky has been focused on normalising childbirth since she started practicing in 2012. KGH complements well with this and her current skill set, together with her knowledge of the local maternity system and practices. Becky’s own birth experience has also given her a different perspective on pregnancy and birth and what she hopes to achieve with this is to work towards giving more expectant parents a calm, confident and positive birth experience.
If you know anyone that would be interested in this or for more information please contact: serenestarts.mt@gmail.com
As a mum I am proud of both of my girls and all their achievements. They have challenged, changed and shaped many of my views, bringing up two strong independent women, I may have done too good a job there, but no I’m thrilled that they are so strong and staunchly feminist, it is so needed in these times and it is my belief that we need to challenge the patriarchal societies around the world.
Well it seems we have the second spike of corona virus on the way, or is it already here??!! I had hoped it would be gone by now, wishful thinking I know! We all have to find a way through it as best we can. I do think if more people followed the ‘rules’ we might get rid of it a bit quicker! When I started this blog I had no idea that we would be in this situation and I hope this blog has brought a smile or a laugh, or helped in some small way. We must look for the good things in all of this, hard at times I know!
We will wait to see what’s up next, but one thing is for sure 2020 will not be forgotten!
Until next time….
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