I’m thrilled to have been invited to speak at the GOLD Perinatal Conference 2018 later this year.
The title of my talk is “How to prepare women for a fear-free birth” and I can’t wait to share my thoughts on this. I’ve been working with women helping them to clear their birth fears for nearly four years now, but in truth, I started before that.
My first fear-clearance job was me, which was nearly eight years ago.
When I was pregnant, I didn’t realise it but I was tokophobic (tokophobia is the extreme fear of pregnancy and birth). During my second trimester, I decided to try and clear my pregnancy and birthing fears. At the time my plan was for a c-section because I simply couldn’t face the thought of a vaginal birth. But after two months of fear-clearance, I changed my birth plan to home birth and that’s what I got; an incredible pain-free birth experience. It was hard work, but it was amazing!
After having my first daughter, I spent a few years working with clients on their fears, stresses and anxieties, but it was as my role as a business coach. It was only after my second daughter arrived that I was I was called to work in the area of birth and pregnancy.
When I was breastfeeding my newborn daughter, I was being emailed by women I didn’t know asking me how I’d had a fear-free birth AGAIN. I’m not quite sure how they heard about me though! So what started as long email responses, became the draft of my book, Fearless Birthing. The draft of my book was the inspiration behind the Fear Free Childbirth podcast; I thought I’d share ideas in the book as a podcast for the pregnant women who’d emailed me and were still waiting for my answers! The podcast then took on a life of its own and I parked the business I had at then time and decided to focus my energy on this instead.
So to find myself now invited to speak at the GOLD Perinatal Conference 2018 is really exciting. IN the last few years, I’ve developed the Fearless Birthing birth prep approach which includes
1. My Fear Clearance Method
This is the Head Trash Clearance Method and an emotional clearance method that I’ve been using, developing and refining for over eight years
2. The Fearless Birthing Preparation process
My talk at GOLD Perinatal Conference 2018
Here is an outline of my talk: How to prepare women for a fear-free birth
“Fear of childbirth is thought to affect up to 50% of women. In some women, this fear is so strong that they choose not to have children. For those who do, their fear will most likely have an impact on their birth choices and their birth experience. Helping a woman to reduce her fear of birth can be transformative for her experience as a new mother as well as for the family. Reducing fear in women can also contribute to reducing the healthcare costs associated with CS delivery and post-natal mental health.
In this presentation, Alexia Leachman will explore the nature of fear of birth, and its most extreme relation, tokophobia. She will discuss where fears come from, why birth isn’t always the problem, and how we can help women to overcome them so that they can go on to experience a fear free childbirth.”
Alexia supports families planning pregnancy and birth. She helps them to overcome their fears and feel calm and confident about birth and pregnancy.
Alexia also trains birth professionals in the Fearless Birthing, a unique approach to birth preparation that is ideal for those who have fears around birth.
- Erin’s Tokophobia Healing Journey - 6th March 2024
- How Unhealed Tokophobia Can Affect You In Unexpected Ways - 27th February 2024
- Overcoming Birth Trauma: Heather’s Journey to Positive Birth - 14th December 2023
