BINNIE A DANSBY INTERVIEWS...

HELENE'S BIRTH STORY

In this touching interview Binnie talks to Pia and Thorbiorn, previous attendees of
SOURCE Process training, about their daughter Helene and their experience of Helene’s Birth.

Binnie:  How old is Helene now?

Pia:Helene is 2 years old in April.  She has a sister, Maria, who is 4 years old and a brother, Jonas, who is 7 years old.

Binnie:  I notice in the video that the only thing that you said during your labour was "Yes" and later "There is plenty of time", it was translated for me.

P.:  Yes, yes, I think the "Yes", I had been working with rebirthing the year before in your training.  This "Yes" was really an opening for me.  "Yes" to the child, "Yes" to me. "Yes" to this process.  It was really nice just to say, "Yes" and to stay with this "Yes".  And "There's enough time", was about the fact that it was going really fast and my own birth was really fast, and I wanted to slow down, to be with this, "Slow down, there's plenty of time" to give birth.

Thorbjørn:  It was like a Divine experience, actually.  I feel like the way we worked together and the way the whole group was there, it was like a Divine event.  At all three births I have thought that this is really being with God.  We have always known exactly what to do and how to co-operate.  I would really like to experience more birth like that, if we wanted more babies.  It was extremely beautiful to have this experience in this way.  And to actually manifest what you want!  We were very conscious about what we wanted for this birth and everything turned out that way.

B.:  What did you do to prepare for your births, all of them? You say that you got what you wanted.  What would you say was important in your preparation?

P.:  We talked a lot about what we wanted, really into detail.  Then I read a lot of books.  Then I made regular rebirthing sessions during pregnancy, but I felt like I already knew it when I gave birth the first and second time.  It was really familiar to start rebirthing.

B.:  So how did the doing the breathwork support you, do you think?

P.:  It supports you in staying in the body, and to work with the body.  I think you close down when you don't breathe, so you open up and make this connection all the time to your body.  It’s a kind of safety all the time . . .I had the breath all the time.  When I would question, "Oh, what's going on", I would just be with the breath, and then it was just all the energy or pain moving around in my body, and I had some sounds that I made.  That felt good to me, not screaming just the sounds from the body coming up.

B.:  Thorbjørn, what do you think is the most important thing for the partner to be focused on while the woman is in labour?

T.:  The most important thing is to stay in contact with your partner, close in contact.  .  .  To not be afraid of what is happening, and to convey safety to her.  You are somehow a universal protector of what is happening, the shelter for your partner.  And, of course, to have big respect for the work she is doing.

P.:  I felt that you trusted me so much, really trusted me.  So I could just lean back and trust my body and this process.

B.: You have had three conscious births, three births where you have worked together.  Do you notice a difference between your children and other children that you meet?

P.:  They are really powerful!

T.:  They have a lot of energy! They have self-confidence, especially the last one.  "I want this, I go for it, and I deserve it."  It is so obvious with her, although it is obvious with the others, it is really obvious with her.  That's a big challenge!

B.:  Is there any advise that you can pass on to a couple who are moving toward a conscious birth, a birth where they are feeling all their feelings?

P.:  I think safety is the most important word that comes to me.  To give birth doesn't have to be at home or any special place, but a place where you are safe.  The father is very important, as well.  He has to be safe, too.  If a woman gives birth at home and the father is afraid and doesn't support her then she really has to be strong and do it alone.  I think a lot of natural birth work stops when you become afraid or disturbed by other things.  So, make the conditions around you and the persons around you so that you feel safe.

T.:  And I think it is extremely important that the father and mother talk it through, how they want to give birth.  They should go into details and discuss everything about the birth.  They should talk about all their feelings and say them openly to one another.  Remember that they are doing it together and to not feel any pressure to do it in a particular way, to do it in their own way, completely in their own way, no matter how and where and when.  That's important.

Interviewed by Binnie: PIA AND THORBJØRN INGERSLEV, ÅRHUS, DENMARK - 6 MAY, 2000