Hello. My name is Lea Mason and I teach Natural Childbirth classes in Bomaderry (Nowra), Australia. My husband, Spike, co-teaches with me and loves to address the 'bloke' perspective. : )
We feel priviledged to be able to share with families in the journey of preparation for birth.
Many experiences throughout my life have brought me to the place I am today - being able to help mothers and fathers prepare for the joyous birth of their precious child.
As a teenager I observed an obstetrician for a week, as part of my high school work experience program. I am grateful for this early 'de-mystifying' of the medical world. And I'm sure the experience fueled, or possibly started, my fascination with health and how the body works.
Then, working as a professional singer for 8 years gave me a great working knowledge of the delights and power of abdominal breathing. What an amazing relaxation tool!
I married and moved to the U.S. in 1995 and when I became pregnant with my first daughter a friend suggested Natural Childbirth. I'm so glad she did - because if she hadn't I would have just turned up at the hospital in labour and gone with whatever happened. I didn't know anything about preparing for birth. So I started reading everything I could find on Natural Childbirth. And a whole new world opened up to me.
I used The Bradley Method® to prepare, practising relaxation every night for the last trimester as well as eating a well balanced diet, and educating myself about how my body would work during labour. After all that preparation, I was totally confident about the birth and knew that my body was designed to do exactly what was needed to bring my baby out into the world.
Mira was born in Jan 1998 at Magee Women's Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA - after a 6 hour labour, with no medication. I spent the first 5 hours labouring at home and when I got to the hospital the nurses set me up in the birthing room and left me to it - since they thought I would be a while (I was lying on my side imitating sleep). What they didn't know was that I was actually in transition and when I said I needed to push they had to scramble around to get everything ready. After the birth they said, "You should teach other women to give birth this way." I didn't think about it much at the time but now I look back and realise that the small seed of a thought had been planted.
I moved back to Australia in 2000. And my life changed dramatically over the next couple of years as I divorced and re-married. When I was pregnant with my second daughter I heard about the Birth Centre at RPA Hospital - so I went there for my prenatal care and birth. I again used The Bradley Method® to prepare, wishing that I could attend the classes but there were no Bradley® teachers in Sydney.
Sera was born in Apr 2003 at RPA Birth Centre - after 3 hours of active labour, with no medication. I was in the Birth Centre for 2 hours and again surprised the midwife with 2nd stage. To an observer, a Bradley® trained mother looks like she is sleeping during the later part of 1st stage - but we are really working very hard at relaxing, focusing everything we have on breathing normally and relaxing every muscle in our body.
About 6 months later I started a Tuesday night meditation group at CafeChurch in Glebe. Every week I would facilitate this group, helping people to physically and mentally relax in a wonderful atmosphere of candlelight and friendship. On one particular Tuesday night, as I was meditating, the thought popped into my head, "I could do this exact same thing and help couples have a wonderful, natural birth." So I found out about training to become a Bradley® certified childbirth educator. Spike was into it! He had witnessed The Bradley Method® in action at Sera's birth and had felt dismayed at the birth stories he heard from unprepared women. He shared my desire to help others discover their inner strength and ability to birth in a dignified and joyous way. Off to the U.S. we went, to do the training, and now here we are helping couples prepare to bring their children into the world, safely and gently.
We had been planning to have another child and our trip to the U.S. was more productive than we realised. : ) So while teaching my first Bradley® 12 week series I was also pregnant with #3. Again I practised relaxation for the last trimester, along with eating right, exercising and yet more knowledge about how my body works during labour. I again went to the midwives at RPA Birth Centre for my prenatal care - all wonderful and supportive.
Ella was born in Dec 2004 at RPA Birth Centre - after 4 hours of labour, with no medication. I was in the Birth Centre for 3 hours (since my last birth had been quick I didn't stay home too long in case this one was even faster). I just can't imagine giving birth any other way. Being well prepared and confident, knowing how to avoid unnecessary pain, working with my body rather than against it, working as a team with Spike so that our family has the benefit of the bonding and trust that comes from sharing this awesome event that starts each child's life. And feeling empowered by the process of birth.
When I think about how each of my 3 girls have come into the world I am so proud of myself - that I gave everything I had, physically, mentally and spiritually, to birth them safely. And I love being able to provide the tools so that other families can also experience this life changing, life enriching, life giving way of birthing.