My husband and I used Hypnobirthing skills we learnt from Leanne for the birth of our second child and I cannot recommend her enough!!
With my first I had all the drugs available and I felt out of control and a bit scared. Labour this time around was so smooth, manageable and drug free – it was still as intense and painful as my first labour but using our techniques I could remain calm and just breathe though it all. So much so that I couldn’t believe it when she popped out!
So much calmer and an absolutely empowering and amazing experience. It was so gentle I also recovered very quickly afterwards – bonus!
Absolutely worth every penny. Leanne is so lovely too. We loved our sessions and now I’ll have this fantastic birth experience for life!!
I wrote this to Leanne on the day I gave birth:
We did it!! It was AMAZING.
I was relaxed and calm enough to watch my first daughters swimming lesson at 8:30 this morning while having surges every 3 minutes for a minute at a time. The swimming pool was quite quiet that morning and I sat at the edge and focussed on the calm water as I breathed calmly.
We knew things were moving along and we didn’t have time to take my daughter home, so Tim and I then took our daughter for brunch, to keep up our energy and because we knew it wouldn’t be too long before we went into Stoke Mandeville hospital. I was up out of my seat and walking round the shopping centre every 3 minutes, breathing and moving through the surges.
At 11:30 we went to the hospital where my brother in law collected my daughter and then my husband and I had a walk around the grounds looking at the flowers, hugging and getting the oxytocin going again.
We went to the birth centre at midday where they checked me in. I asked them not to tell me how far along I was, I didn’t want this to be my focus, but they told my husband I was 4cms dilated by holding up 4 fingers when I wasn’t looking.
They were amazing – after some pacing and leaning I found a great spot kneeling on the floor leaning on a funny curved bed and my midwife sat on the floor near me, staying quiet and supportive, never mentioning pain relief, just saying supportive things at the right times. Tim was on the other side of me reading the relaxation scripts you gave us and rubbing my back, he laid my birth affirmation print-out right in front of me.
My midwives got the birth pool running straightaway. I got shivery at one point, which I now realise was transition. At this point Tim started reading the down breathing script, even though I wasn’t sure where I was in the process – but it turns out he was spot on!
I had gas and air at that point, and 4 surges later my waters broke and I felt pressure in my lower back and an urge to push. The pool wasn’t ready because the water was still too warm, but our baby wasn’t waiting for anyone! Our midwife told me to go with my body, so I just gently breathed the baby out. She was born at 13:47. It was incredible!
I brought our baby out from under me – a girl! She’s 6lbs 8 and perfect. She was so quiet and calm as I scooped her up, I’m not sure she realised she was born yet!
We’re home already and elated about the whole experience.
I loved being present for the whole birth and trusting and going with my body, especially breathing her out. The midwife said it was such a beautiful and calm labour and birth and we were a really great team. She said we had to make sure we told you how it all went!!
We really can’t thank you enough for this incredible dream birth experience, which we will now have for life!!!