As promised, I thought I’d let you know how my labour went. Thanks to your Hypnobirthing course, I used the techniques you taught us to enable our Hypnobirthing home birth.
I was 4 days past my ‘due date’, as you may have seen from my Facebook moaning!
The long wait is over
I started having period pains on the Friday night at about 8pm, so I knew things were starting. Dan put the pool up ready to be filled for when I went into established labour (pic below). We got all of my twinkle lights ready and laid out, my lavender scent oil diffuser prepared and the speaker ready to play my music. Our birth environment was set!
We headed to bed around 10pm. By 3am I had woken up with strong period pains which I knew were surges. I tried to hang out as long as possible before waking Dan as I had a feeling it would be a long day. 5am came along and my surges were getting stronger, lasting around 45 seconds every 5 minutes or so. I woke Dan and phoned the labour ward to alert them that things were starting and to get a community midwife on board.
By around 6am our midwife had arrived.
Using visualisations to calm myself
My surges were coming every 1 minute lasting around 55 seconds! They were very intense, without any downtime to recover from each one. Yet, throughout my surges I managed to go into my own space. I pictured the lemon tree we talked about in our sessions with you. Taking my mind elsewhere, I imagined how it would feel and taste to pick a lemon and cut it open.
For some reason, I was also picturing my beautiful little doggy Ellie. She had sadly passed away the previous month! I didn’t expect to do that. Yet, it really helped to focus on the details, like her fur, how her eyes looked and ears. It sounds strange, I know!
I knew that each surge was one closer to meeting our baby. This definitely helped me to focus. Our midwife promised me she wasn’t going anywhere, which was also comforting.
A around 10am my midwife examined me on our bed and told me my cervix was still round the back. I did feel a bit deflated. My surges were so frequent and strong, I felt things were moved further along than they were. I reminded myself all you taught us and tried not to think about it or let this be my focus.
Extra comfort measures
I decided to have a bath and focus on getting back into my calm Hypnobirthing breathing in place. The bath really did help, I was in there for around an hour I think . Our midwife said I was so calm and collected, I barely said a word to anyone.
It got to around 11-12pm and I was now 6-7cm dilated, which was a huge relief.
My surges were coming on so strong that I asked for gas and air. It really helped to take the edge off of the pain and helped me to focus more. Our midwife left Dan and I together on our bed, so we could just be in the moment together. Dan was such a help, talking me through each surge and stroking my hand. I had my eyes closed the whole time. I focussed on my breathing techniques. It definitely did get harder as the surges grew.
12:30ish I knew I was ready to push. Our midwife asked if I wanted to get in the pool. By the time the pool was ready, my waters had broken. Unfortunately there was meconium present in them. Our midwife explained the birth pool wasn’t advised due to the meconium. I was a bit upset by this, but not as much as I thought I would have been. If I hadn’t attended your Hypnobirthing course, I wouldn’t have been as clued up on what had happened and I would have definitely freaked out.
Our midwife called for an ambulance and explained that it was now recommended for us to continue birthing in hospital.
Mothers Intuition
I knew I wasn’t going to make it to hospital, our baby was on it’s way. I did struggle a little, baby got a little stuck. However, with our midwife and Dan’s support and encouragement, I got on all fours. There was some focussed pushing and a lot of positive Hypnobirthing affirmations spoken by Dan for encouragement. Our baby arrived into the world 20 minutes later. It was both a little scary but totally amazing at the same time. Using Hypnobirthing to home birth kept us all calm.
The burning question was what sex our baby. Our midwife told me to turn around and showed me. We were both totally convinced we were having a girl. I thought I would be a bit disheartened that we had a boy but I couldn’t be happier; I wouldn’t change him for the world!
Hospital Transfer
The ambulance arrived and took me and baby George away to hospital on blue lights, as a precaution. He struggled with his breathing when he first arrived so had to be put on a tiny nebuliser. He was checked every hour for 24 hours which was frightening, but thankfully he was all okay.
Even throughout the labour when things got tough, our midwife kept checking his heart rate inside my tummy. He was so calm the whole time; never did his heart rate increase or slow down. I think because I was as chilled out as I could have been, it helped him stay calm. I have your course and Hypnobirthing to thank for that!
Thank you
So there you have it – another positive Hypnobirthing home birth story. Even when it got a little frightening at some parts. I’m so grateful that you were so highly recommended to us on Facebook. My pregnancy and birth honestly wouldn’t have been the same and got through it as well as I did without visiting you!
If you would like to learn more about how Hypnobirthing can help your pregnancy and birth click here or to book a course complete the contact form including your phone number.
To read about more Hypnobirthing home birth story’s from Brighter Birthing parents, take a look at these: