Community Highlight: By Your Side

4 hours ago

4 min read

Mamas and Birth Educators launch new program for pregnant moms at KAUST

KAUST Moms and By Your Side founders Minaal and Sanne

Imagine showing up to run a marathon having done no training, no preparation, and no practice. Many pregnant moms are faced with a similar reality when it comes to giving birth.

Mothers can enter into labor and birth with very little to no information on how the process actually works, how to manage the pain, what medical options they have, and how to handle the many layers of pregnancy and postpartum.

Enter By Your Side: founded by Minaal and Sanne, both KAUST moms (from London and Austria, respectively), fully qualified, certified birth educators offering helpful courses to moms-to-be at KAUST.

After using hypnobirthing to help with the births of their own children here in Jeddah hospitals, Minaal and Sanne were both inspired to equip other moms-to-be at KAUST and beyond with those same tools.

Hypnobirthing includes relaxation techniques and breath work to help with pain management during birth and labor. (To learn more about hypnobirthing: click here.) Both Minaal and Sanne agree that in addition to those tools, the greatest benefit of taking a hypnobirthing course is the mental preparation it gives you before giving birth.

"I do look back and think positively on my birth," Minaal shared. "I had autonomy and confidence, and knew the information leading up to the birth. I knew what questions to ask my doctors and could confidently say no...I had so many tools."

Even if you've planned every detail of how you hope your birth will go, it is impossible to guarantee a certain outcome. However, preparing yourself mentally can give you the tools you need for any situation.

Sanne shared about the birth of her first son:

"I arrived at KAUST clinic at 11 pm in labor," Sanne said. "And realized that my baby had to be born right away or I had to do a C-section. After taking an ambulance to the hospital, my doctor agreed to give me 20min to try and give birth naturally. I could have panicked, but I held onto my calm and feeling of trust. My baby was born at 9 am, healthy, and I didn't end up needing any interventions. It was a really positive and empowering experience."

Minaal and Sanne founded By Your Side to give moms that same confidence and calm they both felt in the births of their children.

"We’ve been doing birth for thousands of years," Minaal shared. "But over time we’ve lost trust in ourselves. Learning and doing a course helps you gain that trust back in yourself...And it gives you that sense of empowerment and strength."

Included in that mental preparation is learning about birth itself. As birth coaches, Minaal and Sanne are trained to guide participants and their partners through creating a birth plan, practicing natural ways to reduce pain, and achieving an overall confidence and peacefulness in birth.

Beyond mental prep, By Your Side also offers pregnant mothers the opportunity to meet other moms and build community.

"Pregnancy and postpartum can be very isolating, but you're not alone," Minaal said. "Even though many of us are away from friends and family, you do have a village here; don’t be afraid to ask for help," Sanne shared.

*KAUST Health also offers quarterly workshops for pregnant women. By Your Side is an additional community-started resource.

So what does By Your Side offer?

Pregnancy Relaxation Courses

Four 1-hour Relaxation sessions (550 SAR)
For pregnant women in all trimesters

Imagine walking into a dim room; candles are lit, calm music is playing. You lay down after a long day of work at home or in the office, tired from also carrying and creating a new life as a pregnant mom.

Slowly, all the heaviness and weariness fade away as your birth and hypnobirthing educators lead you through verbal affirmations and deep breathing. You let go of fear and anxiety and replace those feelings with peace and calmness, learning tools that will help you both now and for your future birth experience.

Message @ByYourSide on Instagram for more information on their next relaxation course

Hypnobirthing Course

Through "Love Your Birth"
12 hours of teaching over 4 sessions
Total Investment: 2,800 SAR
Recommended for pregnant women in their 2nd or 3rd trimesters along with their partners.

Minaal and Sanne are both fully qualified/certified birth educators by FEDANT (the Federation of Antenatal Educators) and accredited by the CTAA (the Complementary Therapists Accredited Association).

"Do your own research. Do the birth prep; it’s not enough to just say I want a positive birth," Minaal shared.

"We just want to get this information out to as many women as possible," Sanne said. "The preparation we got (through this course) was so powerful for my husband and I. It gives them (your partner) a way to participate in the pregnancy - this is a chance for them to get involved."

Click this link to sign up: https://form.jotform.com/262921706665463