‘My wife was so angry after the cesarean: at the midwife, doctor and me. She was determined to have our next child at home. The doctor had told us that both she and our baby would have died and I was absolutely freaked by her anger. How could she be angry? She felt that all the interventions from the castor oil the midwife told her to drink to start labor, to being told by the midwife to push when she didn’t feel like it, to the doctor telling her she wasn’t big enough, were responsible for the outcome. Everything made her angry and she stayed that way for 3 years. She told me that if I didn’t support her then I didn’t love her. I did love her and our child. She didn’t seem to realize that I was terrified the doctor had been right and that she was being too emotional.
She learned about The Pink Kit information and did the work religiously. We fought all the time. She told me to stay out of her face if I didn’t support her choices. ‘It’s my body!’ But she was carrying my child. As the time got closer, we fought more. The care provider finally had us sit down and work out a strategy. First, she had to be willing to get medical help if she felt that she or the baby needed it and she couldn’t be stubborn. Second, if I didn’t feel as afraid and tried to get closer that she won’t push me away.
Anyway, she had our baby at home. She had done heaps of the Internal Work and really knew what positions kept her opened. She realized so much about the last birth and what neither of us knew about her body. This time the baby was 1 lb 3 oz BIGGER than our last child and slid out after 6 contractions in 2nd stage. I caught the baby, ham handed and all.
What did I think right after the birth? Why does everyone make it so complicated, it’s like taking a big crap. How do I feel? Well, we’ve certainly healed heaps in our relationship and when we have more, I’m going to help prepare her body as soon as she gives me the nod. We both believe that if we had known this information before our first birth that it would have been an entirely different experience.’
Jose D.
Birthing Better Birth Stories From Grandparents:
‘To be with my son and daughter-in-law at their labor and be able to help in such a wonderful, specific way was beyond my husband’s and my expectations. Oh, how we wish we had had that information. Grandparents should give it as a gift to their children and grand children who are having babies. It was magical.’
I gave The Pink Kit to my daughter after her first birth. I had had 6 wonderful births and her first one was a nightmare and I grieved for her and what she had missed. She and her husband were religious about working together and they had the most amazing birth.
‘My son in law was having his first baby, but this was my daughter’s third. She wanted him to ‘catch up’ so to speak and I gave them The Pink Kit after being told about it by a midwife. I’ve become a wholesaler because I’m so impressed and I know so many other grandparents to be.’
‘My daughter tells me that I’m going to help her when she has her baby and that I’d better know The Pink Kit inside and out.’
Mr. and Mrs. Greyson
Pink Kit Stories … Odds And Ends:
‘My pregnancy in ’96 was textbook. Better! I anticipated every moment, even the minor changes as labor was near.I began to leak fluid and my contractions were inconsistent.It is my first, I felt I should be checked.I was 1 cm and was, in fact, leaking amniotic fluid. My doctor wanted to monitor my contractions. Soon,I was admitted and hooked up with Pitocin. Even after going to birthing classes, 6 cm with Pit was all I could handle. I requested an epidural. That was a piece of cake with a contraction at its peak. With the epidural, I felt one side of my body mostly. I was 10 cm finally 20 hrs. later. At 10 cm I pushed and pushed with little or no pain relief. I can say that my doctor was very disturbed at the nurse about that. HE resorted to the use of forceps and the vacuum. That was no picnic!
My contractions weren’t registering hardly! And I could barely grip my handles on my bed! At the moment of all moments, I was being wheeled away, and pushing all I could down the hall, I would greet my daughter with a mere kiss on the cheek with my arms strapped down at my side. 24 hrs. later Kelly was born! She was 7lbs.15 oz. scoring 9.9 on the apgar scale. She was so beautiful! And at that moment I was thankful for her health. Every tiny finger and toe. I nursed Kelly and held her close. As her heartbeat close to mine, I wished I could of ran the race myself. And then it happened. Every thought like If I arrived at the hospital later…. to If I toughed out the epidural. Why?
I’d like to say that I gave birth by VBAC to my son in ’99 but NO! Even though each prenatal visit was preplanned for a VBAC, my same doctor was clearly not in agreement with me. He was concerned with the risks of a rupture. I had some positive comments from my other doctors, but in the end, the meeting took place and they agreed that this was best. I can only say that I just gave in. It was emotional and I don’t know weak of me. Our son, Alex was born 7 lbs 11 oz. 9.9 APGAR score. I enjoyed their every moment and If there is any c-section quick recovering mama, I’m her! I’m seeing a new doctor now and we hope for another one soon. I’m nervous, anxious and have so many questions that need answers’.
Christie B.
‘I studied the pink kit and my husband was all for learning the different ‘positions’ especially if it was to help my birthing experience be drug-free, which was what I was aiming for. Our beautiful baby girl was born after relatively stress-free and drug-free labor. What an amazing experience! Go the sit bone spread! My husband was my rock, the men have to be involved! he kept my breathing focused and all contributed to our wonderful experience. I recommend the pink kit to every family who are willing to learn and be open-minded towards learning about their bodies. Hey!!
Girlie
My name is Kate and I have 2 Pint Kit babies! I would have liked to come with Wintergreen to your meeting but I have an important appointment at my son’s school that I can’t miss so I thought I’d write to you instead.
I feel very proud of the way I handled the births of both my boys.
I felt empowered and in control (most of the time) and when I lost it a little I was able to re-focus. I do put this down to the skills both Matt (my husband) and I learned by working through the Pink Kit.
Images portrayed on the TV of the screaming woman swearing at her partner don’t help when you are facing birth for the first time. Instead I think that society should expect women to learn how to give birth. I was told many times throughout my pregnancy that my body would know what to do, but how is that possible if my mind hadn’t connected with it?
The classes at the hospital were all about information and choices. The choice of hospital, pain relief, natural birth, caesarian etc, I really felt that there was something missing. Where were the breathing classes that my Mum went to in her day? We are expected to make choices but are not expected or given the opportunity to learn the necessary skills.
I believe that all pregnant women should have access to the Pink Kit to learn about their birthing body, mentally prepare for what lies ahead, and have communication skills and coping mechanisms in place before their birth. If you’ve done the work for yourself it will come naturally on the day. You’ll instinctively know not to tense up, and if you do start to feel tense you have the practiced skills to release that tension. If you don’t realize you are tensing up, your birthing partner will have learned to recognize your breathing signs and will know the best way to communicate that to you because you have practiced it together. If it doesn’t quite go the way you planned, you’ve learned the skills to adapt and cope with every eventuality.
Many Dads I know felt powerless at the births of their children, hated seeing their partners in pain and being unable to do anything to help. They felt totally unconnected to the birthing experience. If you do the PK work together it’s a shared experience. As a birthing woman you don’t feel like your out there on your own and your partner is providing very valuable support.
>All I can say now is I had two great birthing experiences and I look back on them with a sence of pride. For alot of my friends (who didn’t have access to the PK) it’s a very different story.’
Kate
Well, today I traveled up north to visit with my friends from New Zealand who now live in England. When they picked me up, Dave said that he had spoken to his daughter, Kate, this morning in New Zealand.
He told her I was coming to visit. She said ‘Tell Wintergreen that it’s 7 years today when our Pink Kit Tyler was born!’ Babies are born every day, so why should that comment be special to me? Well, Kate’s birth story is in the book in The Pink Kit Package (one of the eBooks of Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Course).
She starts her story off by saying: ‘Hello, my name is Kate and I’m 21 …’ She then goes on to say that Tyler was born weighing 10pounds 11 oz (or something close to that).Well, some babies are that big. Tyler also delivered ‘sunny side up’ … still in a posterior positive with a very untucked head.
Well, that’s a bit more unusual for sure. However, what is more unusual is that her 2nd stage was 5 contractions and she didn’t tear at all. So, this big baby came out of her easily and this was her first.
After the birth she told everyone that this was due entirely to her having done the Internal Work religiously in the last 8 weeks of pregnancy because she knew her baby was big.
Her midwife also thought the baby was big but because he was lying in a posterior position he was hard to feel. She never thought Kate would have almost an 11-pound baby! And so easily and without a tear and with a baby totally ‘unflexed’.
So, I do remember Tyler’s birth because this is a common story for women who take preparing for the birth of their child seriously.
Comments by Wintergreen
‘I am really interested in the Pink Kit. When I was pregnant with my first child, I borrowed a copy to read through. I did a little bit of it, but not enough. However, I did use one technique that most definately I think prevented me from having any intervention. (This is called ‘safety’ … This woman increased the safety of herself and her baby) I would like to know more and do more for subsequent pregnancies. A lot of women would not even know what the pink kit is, and I think it is really important for people to understand it.’
Amelia Robertson
Birth stories change the world. Here’s another woman’s personal experience with Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation course.
‘I gave birth to my second child using ‘The Pink Kit’, a multimedia resource that teaches women and men childbirth skills. It can be used by pregnant women, her partner, and their support and care providers.
I have shared the Kit with friends and we have discovered its benefits by putting the exercises and knowledge into practice. We found that we experienced smoother births that were shorter, progressive and that we had the skills necessary to deal with the pain and unforseen possibilities.’
Lynne Oustervelder
Birthing Better skills teaches how to ‘map’ your pelvis, use the breath to open through contractions, relax tension while experiencing pain, how your unique body shape and babies position impacts the choices you make in labour and how to artfully communicate what you need during the process.
Pregnancy is a changing evolving experience and Birthing Better was developed over 15 years by women and men working and learning skills for every conceivable possibility. The skills are practical and specific to individual needs.
Birthing Better skills have been found to be helpful for working with bigger babies , posterior babies, babies who stay ‘high’ in the pelvis and babies who are birthed after previous VBAC or traumatic births. Birthing Better skills deals with all these situations specifically. The skills alleviate fear in first time mums and dads as they gain confidence in their body and their ability to birth. It helps those who have had previous good births by being able to refine and deepen the experience.
All the information in Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation Online Course can be used regardless of circumstances such as home birth, water birth, natural or birth with intervention.
Comments by Wintergreen
We received this email today from a woman who met Wintergreen two years ago. Here are her story and our response.
Hi Wintergreen
My name is Melissa. I am a friend of J.M. We met close to 2 years ago at a lovely house in La Jolla, CA.
I do not know if you remember me. Anyhow, I have some feedback about the pink kit. The packaging looks different I was wondering if any of the content was changed? If so what was changed?
I want to tell you. I personally love the realness of the pink kit. Thanks to you I can hold my head up high when I talk about my birth. It was such an empowering experience. I find myself telling every pregnant person about the pink kit, friends, relatives and strangers. Sadly, I just don’t feel like it is enough. I would really like to share this information with more people. Do you have a teacher’s program or do you know of any way I can help spread this knowledge faster?
Thank you, Melissa
Greetings from W, where the sun is finally shining and spring/summer seems to be upon us. I have been thinking a lot about you recently as my husband and I prepare to welcome another babe into our family in the next week or so. As we have been reviewing the Pink Kit I think back to our email conversations while I was in Z and then afterward when we were at my parents place. And I guess I am just grateful for the advice and suggestions you gave me (us) and the way in which the Pink Kit has added so much to our understanding and preparation for childbirth. So, thank you.
I am feeling pretty good about the upcoming labour and delivery and made an interesting discovery last week while practicing the Hip Lift with my husband. This babe sits quite low in my pelvis and has introduced me to a number of nerves I didn’t know much about. It has also been leaning quite heavily on my inner left hip (near the sit bone).
These past weeks I have often found walking to be a challenge (which I do a far amount of to get the older one to and from school). I have been taking daily baths and right lying to try and get some relief. And then last week after practicing a left Hip Lift in the evening I found the next day (and since) to be so much better. The babe is still very low but has hopped off my left inner hip and feels more centrally placed. I felt so pleased to find the Pink Kit resources working for me even before labour has begun’.
Birthing Better was previously known as Birthing Better with The Pink Kit Method®.
Birthing Better skills were developed by moms and dads in the early 1970s in the US and used by many thousands globally in all types of birth. Birthing Better online birthing classes are housed in Common Knowledge Trust.