Hypnobirthing is not something that can be ‘sold’ to you. You need to have the desire to explore it and want to learn more! Here is a stunning birth story from one of our clients who did just that. After attending an antenatal course and a 3 hour hypnobirthing workshop with Bump2baby Reality she was empowered to make the right choices for her and her baby. Her partner was able to support her physically, emotionally and environmentally during the whole journey.
We hope this story will inspire more women to explore using hypnobirthing for their labour and birthing journey.
“My birth story, I hope it will inspire another mum to be to go down the hypnobirthing route and have as much a pain free delivery as possible.
I went to work as usual on Wednesday morning and it was not until around 10 am that I started feeling some tummy pains. Not having had any Braxton hicks before, I had no idea whether they were contractions or just an upset tummy. I put it down to something I must have had last night and didn’t think any more about it.
It was not until after we had dinner and were watching TV that the discomfort came back. They were more like sharp pains very similar to having gas! As we went to bed at around 11:00, I leaked a bit of fluid on the bed. That raised the alarm for my partner and in spite of me reassuring him that I felt fine and doubted baby would arrive this early, I was in my 35 weeks, he insisted upon packing my hospital bag and a second one with baby essentials (ready just in case).
By 1a.m. I kept having the upset tummy sort of pain and called the hospital to have a better idea of what was happening. The midwife at the end of the line concluded that it must be a tummy bug since all I felt like was going to the loo, which I had been couple of times already! I was told to call back if ever anything changes. Based on this advice, I persuaded my partner to go back to sleep as if anything was to happen that night, he needed as much rest as he could possibly get. I stayed in our living room (downstairs), sat on my birthing ball and for some reason decided to listen to my hypnobirthing mp3s. I still didn’t think that I was in labour. The hypnobirthing mp3s always managed to make me feel relaxed and fall asleep in no time. I kept listening to them and as and when I felt any pressure/surges I would get on my ball and visualise beautiful air balloons flying away as I exhaled. I suppose the amount of practice that I had put into practicing hypnobirthing, made it all seem so natural. I didn’t need to think about visualisations, it just came to me at that point. Surprisingly I even managed to nap in between the surges.
At around 3:30 am, I noticed some blood as I went for a wee and I started to get concerned. I woke up my partner and we phoned the hospital again with the latest update. We were told to come in this time as the situation looked more serious. By the time we got our belongings ready and reached the hospital it must have been around 5a.m. I was initially seen by the midwife who had me hooked up to a machine to measure the “contractions” and then had a vaginal examination done by the gynaecologist. They both confirmed that it was a “show” and I had already dilated 3 cm to 7 cm maximum. At this point the doctor said – you are going to have your baby today, you are already in labour! We pretty much got freaked out as we hadn’t prepared ourselves for the arrival of our baby at that early stage. We were then taken to the labour ward and electro straps were put around my belly to monitor baby’s heart. Helen, I remembered you told us that the hospital had mobile straps which permitted moving around the room and I asked the midwives to get me those. I wasn’t too happy at being asked not to move around and to stay in one place. It is more easily said than done during surges. I found walking around the room helped me to be on top of the pain and whenever the surges got intense I would ask my partner to apply pressure on my lower back or massage my back as I leant against the bed or furniture. This simple gesture brought me much relief as the pressure applied stopped the pain from escalating. He also put on the hypnobirthing mp3s which allowed me to have small naps in between the surges. The night shift staff was changing and before leaving the midwife told us we weren’t having the baby that day as I wasn’t feeling the contractions yet and was too relaxed. I chose to ignore her comment and kept on practicing my ‘up’ breathing.
Partner’s comment – There was a lot of activity outside as we were by the nurse’s station and there were other ladies shouting in pain – I took it on me to control the environment and closed the door and took note every time a midwife change occurred – confirming who is supposed to be the dedicated one looking after my wife. I also asked for a birthing ball and to be made aware of any medical advice they had as the wife was not in a frame of mind to take notice. I had to choose my timing to share the information and the right encouraging word with mother to be.
As the surges became more intense, I was asked to lie down in bed since the midwives couldn’t get the mobile straps to work. They asked me whether I wanted the gas and air. Lying down was quite uncomfortable for me and I thought I would give the gas and air a try, if it helps to take the discomfort away then why not. But to my utter surprise, I actually felt more pain when I was on it. I gave it a go three times before deciding it just wasn’t for me. The visualisations were giving me much more relief whereas the gas and air was just accentuating the pain. As the surges became more and more intense, I felt like pushing but lying on the bed wasn’t making it any easier. I kept going with my visualisations and as you mentioned before Helen, there were times I did have to switch between visualisations and it helped to have practiced more than one (and almost every day since our hypnobirthing course). With each surge I had to push myself up from the bed and soon my arms ached and it started tiring me out. The midwife asked whether she could do another vaginal examination, to which I agreed. She sounded surprised as she said I was 9 cm dilated and baby’s head was only 3 cm away and she could feel it. She told me I was so quiet and calm she had no idea I had reached that far and asked me whether I felt like pushing to which I replied positively.
Knowing baby’s head was coming down gave me a massive encouragement and I climbed down from the bed and told the midwife, I will need the mobile straps now. She got them strapped on, which she couldn’t do earlier as they weren’t charging and they had to change the machine. I asked her to lift the bed as I wanted to use it as a support to squat. As the next surge came, I kept telling myself, I am expanding, I am getting larger and larger to make space for my baby, I am expanding and baby will slide through. I also used the J breathing that we were taught and imagined baby turning in the right position at the right time when coming out. The midwife then told me she could see the top of baby’s head and it seems she has lots of hair. My partner was still massaging my back and applying pressure points. With the second surge, I hummed as I breathed out and baby’s head appeared. I had my eyes closed as I didn’t want to be distracted by what’s going on around me. I could hear the joy and exclamation that baby had already opened her eyes and was looking around, and then I heard her first cry. The midwife held baby’s head as I concentrated on the third surge and baby’s body slid out. I had no tearing and didn’t require any stitches. Baby self-latched and took to breastfeeding instantly as soon as we made skin to skin contact and she was very calm. As I thanked the midwife for looking after me, she replied, on the contrary thank you for allowing me to see such a wonderful delivery, it is probably only the second time that I have seen such a calm delivery.
Partner’s comment – Mother was a very strong and determined to have stayed calm. I was not too sure of what to expect and my positioning with respect to applying pressure on mother’s back. The midwife Laura was great in always communicating that she will work around us at all times and as a team our wonderful baby girl was born.
