Connecting to my unborn little one, Lisa

In preparation for the birth of my third child, I wanted to work on having a connection with her when she arrived. I wanted to be fully present and alive in that moment. I wanted to be less fearful of labour, during labour and wanted to be more within my power, so sought tools to help me prepare for labour and birth.

Robyn’s birth preparation course was just beautiful, each session a delight. It gave me the space to express and explore and connect and move and dance and be centred be with my partner (completely) and feel moments of deep connection with my baby and experience her wisdom and beauty, this being filled with love.

What stood out for me, amongst the wonderment of dance and sound, birth regression, art, meditation, exploration of birth and all I gained from these was a collage and within that a profound discovery -. I was so blown away by Robyn’s skill at facilitating, like a musician, just perfect.

As my pregnancy progressed I wanted to work on connection so asked to do a guided meditation with Robyn. The meditation was so deep, intense, the time so focussed passed quickly. I discovered my own birth – I was induced and was fighting, holding back from being born and in the birth I was not met – there were too many people, my mother was distracted – I did not incarnated properly, did not come down to earth fully. This explained much. My unborn child as a message, turned my head towards her = be present. In other meditations, she’d said the more love there is the more love there is – there is enough love. Thank you little one. Great one.

My labour was so fast and progressed with each contraction, that I didn’t get a chance to centre or apply any techniques for labour though they were useful for my excruciating after birth contractions, for days afterwards.

And our babe’s arrival was so sudden and unexpected, her presence, her beingness, her realness left Ivan and I laughing in delight, in amazement and wonder and connection and love. A sense of utter presence which we could hold. Our midwife wasn’t able to get to us in time, so it was just Ivan and I and this new new being.

In the weeks and months that followed I have been able to hold my small beautiful little child and look deep into her eyes and see and be met by the magnificent beautiful love soul being God within and say yes hello I know you and fill to the brim with love and tears and emotion.

Jeanette

Robyn took a very bruised and battered pregnant me and gently wrapped me up and prepared me for birth and the incredible journey of single motherhood. Through her subconscious healing and regression sessions she enabled me to embrace and heal my past, giving me the precious gift of welcoming my baby into my life without fear of subjecting her to any subconscious baggage that I have been carrying around. Robyn embraced me and my journey with unconditional love, acceptance, caring and incredible, gentle wisdom. In short she gave me the gift of a clean slate that I so needed. Empowering me through love and compassion, I am truly blessed to have met her.

Lisha

After giving birth naturally twice before, this third birth experience was the most fantastic gift for me. My first two births were completely medically led - I had to have forceps deliveries with episiotomies, and an epidural with my second child, after an 18hour labour! Much trauma for both me and my two daughters. Since attending the course, and with the help of Robyn, and a midwife (as opposed to an obstetrician) present at the birth, the birth of my son - this last experience, was unbelievably beautiful! The labour progressed so quickly, which I believe was only due to the fact that I was totally relaxed through each contraction and the rests in between. I would not have been able to have been this relaxed without the presence of my Robyn, as she was able to continuously bring me back to a state of absolute relaxation, enabling me to visualise the opening of my birth passage and the progress of the birth that each contraction brought. I could literally feel the baby moving down with each breath. I can honestly confirm - having had the past two experiences that I've had - that tension prolongs labour and increases pain, whereas relaxation has the direct (extreme) opposite effect! The benefits of having such a birth have been amazing for both me and my baby. He is so much more relaxed and content compared to the first few weeks with my first two. (One might say this is because I have more experience this time around - I definitely say it's due to the peaceful birth experience we had!). The first time I heard him cry was when he was given the vitamin K injection. My recovery was incredibly quick. Not having had to recover from stitches and the after effects of an epidural, 12 hours after delivery, I literally felt as though I'd never given birth! My advice to moms-to-be: use the course material to the best of your ability; as far as possible, have no doctors present at the birth; trust your body and know that the only control you have is to relax and hand your body over to the process!

10 months later...

I am still totally convinced, by the nature of my children, that their births have had an extreme influences on who they are and how they relate to the world. The traumatic births of my girls definitely seems to have scarred them in ways so difficult to pinpoint, and yet so clear for me to see. Both my girls have an inherant fear of the world, and both carry and enormous amount of insecurity with them. They fright readily, cry a lot, and both seem to have a sense of trauma about them that is impossible to justify otherwise. I totally understand that there is no way to prove this is a result of their births, and that many factors could bring on such characterisitics. I feel vaguely silly even, stating it so matter of factly on paper, yet in my whole being I just know that it all began with their birth stories. The comparison of Max’s birth experience to Cheyenne’s and Dahlia’s really left no doubt in my mind that it had nothing to do with the nature of boys and girls, but in fact of the beauty and peace of his birth.

Angela

I only attended the classes about 1 1/2 months prior to the birth of my baby-boy, so I guess I'm a good example how these techniques can work even if you haven't had 6 or more months to practice.

What I remember clearly is how my whole attitude towards my body and its abilities changed, almost as if someone else emerged who had been sleeping for a long time! I felt much more self-confident, stronger, both in a physical and emotional way. Although I was in hospital for the birth (mainly because my husband felt more secure with the potential medical backup), I felt like I could have a homebirth by the time our baby should be born. The birth itself was very quick and at one point a bit overwhelming, but the whole time I felt 100% supported by Robyn who has a wonderful, gentle, but focused way of guiding one. Zachary was born within an hour and didn't leave us a lot of time to apply too many techniques, but that turned out to be my most valued experience: that with the course you learn to really trust your body to do what millions of female bodies have done throughout the evolution of human beings, you learn to let go, and your body actually does it all for you!

This sense of awareness hasn't faded for me yet, I am really proud and thankful to have given birth!

Zachary has been a very calm and happy baby. He is my first child so I can't compare him to other babies (of my own!), but he just speaks for himself, there hasn't been any unnecessary trauma. I would recommend these courses to any pregnant woman who wants to have a natural, safe, and easy birth and is looking for a warm-hearted, sensitive person to accompany her on her and her baby's journey through pregnancy and, of course, birth!

Giselle

The affirmations really worked for me, in the weeks leading up to the birth they protected me from everyone's horror birth stories and during the birth I had I was so clear and unshakeable in my belief that everything was going to be ok and that I was going to have a good birth. The breathing techniques really helped me to relax in between contractions and the classes were much more useful than antenatal classes in making me understand what my body was doing at each different stage of labour.

Patty

Mama Bamba classes provided a space and a time for me to slow down, connect with myself, and from there to connect with my baby.
When Sophia was born I felt I knew her already. A sacred bond had been formed before she was born and Mama Bamba has a lot to do with that.
The classes were a beautiful marriage of the physical and spiritual aspects of pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood. They birthed in me a deeper trust in myself, empowerment and a feeling of strong inner and outer support.

Sally

Even though I never experienced natural labour or birth, I still feel that I benefited enormously from the course experience. I learned about relaxation and breathing which helped me cope with the discomfort and stress of the Caesarian section. The techniques that Robyn, my instructor, taught me also really helped speed up my recuperation afterwards. I would recommend the course to anyone having a baby, regardless of how many babies they have had. The evenings spent learning to relax enabled me to sleep incredibly well afterwards, and helped me psychologically plan for and to emotionally bond with my unborn son. I don't have any living parents, and the support I received from Robyn gave me enormous confidence in myself as a mother and really made up for the lack of parental input throughout the earlier stages of my pregnancy.

It was an amazing experience and I have already referred as many people as I can to Robyn, in the hope that they will benefit as much as I have from her care, knowledge and support.

Many thanks

Anne

The birth was one of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget how perfect it was. I am so glad to have had an opportunity to do it in such an empowering and relatively pain free way. It has contributed to a wonderful start to Daisy's life and to our life together as a family.

Mandy-Lee

I would like to thank you so much for the integration therapy session I was able to have with you following reading The Mama Bamba Way.

The book was for me an absolute gift and blessing to have received in the beginning of my pregnancy of our first child. I consider myself to be a conscious person but on reading your book realised I was learning so much about the gift of being a woman. On reading each chapter, I found muyself saying how empowered I was feeling as a result of these insights. - most of which have been lost somewhere along the way. This whole experience has been embraced with such appreciation and as a result of your book I feel even more excited about the process of birthing a new life with the use of my body, mind and baby. I cannot begin to thank you enough for the time you took to share your experience and hope that your book will become a text book for all the mothers to be.

With much love