Yes, it sounds ‘out there’ and trust me there are PLENTY of people who will tell you to shut up and ‘just take the drugs and get on with it’ but I can honestly say that my labour was pain-free, calm and nothing like you’d ‘expect’.
Using hypnobirthing I changed the way my mind chooses to see childbirth. By normalising and believing childbirth shouldn’t ‘hurt’...
I must admit, I had my doubts. I thought trying to change years of this belief (saturated into your brain by other mums, movies and OBEM) would be impossible. But it clearly worked...
My contractions started Sunday 2.30am. Mild sensations that I knew where coming and going like ‘waves’. I immediately thought ‘Yes! a surge... my baby is coming!’ choosing to view my surge sensations as positives, not something I should tense, and fear from!
Once they started to feel more ‘substantial’ I started using a breathing square, a technique that allows you to remain calm and in control of the surge. This breath became my best friend right through to Monday at 3pm when I finally decided to go to the hospital. Only to realise that I had indeed FULLY dilated when I had got there.
The midwife who checked me was so shocked as I was so calmly dealing with contractions, not moaning.. just going inward and using my breath to endure the surge that would last 60 seconds, after such time I’d return to normal. Having not broken a sweat.
I was then taken into the labour ward, where my husband set the mood. Closing the blinds, popping on the fairy lights, playing my chilled out music and spritzed around some calming essential oils. This kept me relaxed and left me feeling in control of my birth environment and my surges where just as ‘easy’ to control.
My midwife told me they would wait an hour then we would start to push. I was told I’d be given an hour of pushing time and then a doctor would come in to assess the progression (assumably due to my Gestational Diabetes).
As I started to push we could sense that we needed a bit more help. So my midwife asked to rupture my waters, I was fine with this. This didn’t hurt at all, and it was funny to feel how warm my waters where!
Pushing was easier after my waters broke but it was an hour later and no sign of baby! The doctor came in and examined me, the decision was made to move to theatre due to baby’s head position to try forceps.. if that failed then a c-section.
Up until this point I was extremely happy with my labour, so I was disheartened - and the reason I took hypnobirthing classes was down to fearing a c-section. So I kept using what I learned to remain calm and accept that my baby had decided to be difficult and that as long as he arrived safe it was ok.
In theatre they had prepped me. Using a spinal block. The hospital staff were all so very lovely. Helping me through contractions that by now had taken over me... I had gone past ‘transition’ and now my body was pushing regardless of what I wanted!
Once I was prepped and ready the surgeon who had been monitoring me and baby made the decision to go straight to a c-section as baby had a slow heart rate (bradycardia). Luckily I was all ready to go, as this situation was considered a ‘category 1’ the most urgent of c-sections. At the time I had no idea how serious things had gotten, the staff did well to keep me calm, as panicking me wouldn’t have helped the situation.
The c-section took hardly any time. Baby was out within moments. I could hear his first gurgle-cries, and immediately sobbed myself.
Unfortunately, baby had some difficulty breathing when he was first born. So I didn’t get a cuddle. He was taken off to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for the support he needed, with a quick glance as he headed out of the room. This was sad for me, as you can expect but in the grand scheme of things I’m just so thankful that the surgeon made the call he did.
After surgery I was trembling uncontrollably but fine. Surprised at myself at how brave I had been. The hypnobirthing and breathing techniques had helped me get through what some might find a traumatic birth experience.
Baby boy spent three days in the NICU. He progressed really well, despite a challenging start to life. Visiting baby in the NICU, again was challenging - emotionally and physically I was drained. Again the hypnobirthing allowed me to keep positive even after the birth.
As you can see from my story above I’m not saying hypnobirthing will make your birth easy, as things happen that are out of your control. But, what I am saying is that using hypnobirthing you can remain in control in how you respond, react and rise to the challenges presented to you.
Honestly, give it a go. You have nothing to lose. I want to remind you that I didn’t require any pain relief, not even a sniff of gas and air. And I’m NOT someone with a high pain threshold, I’m not particularly brave or tough... I just believed in my body and focused on my breath..anyone can do it.”
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