Interview with Natalie Fuoco, HypnoBirthing Educator and Cofounder of ‘Live with Awareness’

Registered Dietician

| 3 min read

HyponoBirthing educator, Natalie Fuoco
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Natalie Fuoco to discuss her role in a new project, Live with Awareness. Natalie launched this project in partnership with other women business owners as a means of providing integrated alternative pre-natal care focused on wellness to women in metro Detroit. Natalie is a HypnoBirthing educator. If you’re like me you’ve probably never heard of HypnoBirthing, which is described as a unique method of natural childbirth education that relies on self-hypnosis techniques.

A Healthier Michigan: How did the idea of a Wellness and Birthing Center come to fruition?

There is such a need in Metro Detroit for a free-standing birth center. As birth workers, we continually hear pregnant women express their desire for a center that provides a peaceful environment that will also respect their birth preferences and other options, such as water birth. Live With Awareness understands the powerful connection between a healthy birth and a healthy life, and we are committed to providing wellness services for our families during pregnancy, birth and beyond. Our center will serve the many families that give birth there, as well as families that want wellness options such as chiropractic, massage, yoga, cranial-sacral therapy, and nutrition.

I know that you are a HypnoBirthing educator, but what exactly is that?

A HypnoBirthing Educator is a certified childbirth education instructor of HypnoBirthing, also referred to as The Mongan Method. HypnoBirthing childbirth education is a combination of relaxation, breathing, and visualization techniques that are used to control fear, thus pain, during childbirth. This helps women build confidence in themselves and their bodies by introducing ways to create deep relaxation, which allows the body’s muscles to work the way they are intended during childbirth.

What is the difference between giving birth at the hospital versus a wellness and birthing center? And what are the benefits of delivering at a place like Live With Awareness?

The biggest difference between giving birth at a birth center versus a hospital is that a birth center has more flexibility and incentive to follow the preferences or birth plan of its birthing mothers. Hospitals are obligated to follow a large number of procedures and protocols, and they are often not able to accommodate the custom birth experience many families seek. Hospitals operate within the medical model of birth even in cases of normal, low-risk pregnancy and birth, whereas a birth center allows the birth process to unfold naturally, only introducing medical procedures (such as inducing labor) if absolutely necessary and agreed upon by the client.
Our birth center is dedicated to ensuring that you have the most amazing birth experience possible. Your birth team will be able to give you customized care according to your birth preferences and needs. They will not be strangers that you are just meeting the day your baby comes into the world, but a family team that you will come to know over the many months of your prenatal care, and for many years to come with our wellness center services.

Learn More About Live with Awareness

You can learn more about the mission of Live with Awareness during one of their upcoming screenings of the new Ricki Lake documentary, More Business of Being Born, at the Emagine Theatre in Rochester Hills. Tickets are available on their website.

My Personal Journey

As a dietitian, I always knew how to eat properly during pregnancy, and have worked with many expectant mothers over the years, but there seems to be so much more to consider now that I’m experiencing my first pregnancy. What kind of experience did you have during pregnancy and birth? What choices did you make to ensure the best possible experience for you and your baby?
Photo Credit: Tatiana Vdb via Flickr

A Healthier Michigan is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit, independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
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