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From Finance To Birthing Babies: Westport Educator Changes Career Focus

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Westport resident Cynthia Overgard is the first to admit becoming an expert in childbirth education and the postpartum experience was never on her radar screen.

Westport resident Cynthia Overgard.

Westport resident Cynthia Overgard.

Photo Credit: Zuzana Daure

A corporate executive and adjunct professor of finance at UConn, she didn't think much about birthing until she married, became pregnant and realized how ill-prepared she was for the experience.

“Fortunately I’ve always been a research junkie,” she said. “Research guided my every decision – including the decision to take a class in HypnoBirthing in order to fully explore my options.”

A Ridgewood, N.J. native, she said her analytical mind immediately went to work asking -- and then answering -- questions related to traditional birthing practices and policies. 

After birthing two children quickly and naturally, which she attributed to HypnoBirthing, she became a certified instructor to both deepen her education and become an advocate and educator for others.

Twelve years later, Overgard has published internationally on the subject and has been hired by more than 1,200 local couples seeking a more informed birth. Her center, HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, located in Westport, has become a thriving educational and social community.

She's also trained and certified by Postpartum Support International and created a professionally-moderated support program and social network for postpartum moms through Life After Birth.

“Life After Birth has become so much more than an extension of the HypnoBirthing practice,” explained Overgard.

“It's perhaps the most rewarding thing I do – having a profound and immediate impact on the lives of women during a period of life when isolation and overwhelm become the status quo.”

For more information, go to www.HypnoBirthingCT.com and/or  www.LifeAfterBirthCT.com.

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