HypnoBirthing® UK

[round_little_clouds]

I had a completely natural birth; no induction, no gas and air or other medications, no tears as in the kind that require stitches…it was very relaxing...I was more worried about the midwife not respecting my birth wishes than the birth ( as she had a limited understanding or application of hypnobirthing theory and we had to fight for my partner to hear all the rare "risks" that may never happen - instead of me.)

For me, the birth took 21 hours. For the midwives, they counted it as 12 hours because I first phoned to tell them at 1.00am 21st Feb. (the cheek of it!)

My story:
On Sunday 20th Feb 2011 I started getting regular surges starting 5.30pm, I was just watching TV, they started off 20mins apart, then 15, then 10.

By this point I realised I was probably in labour...when they were about 5 mins apart I went into the bedroom with mathmos lights, candles and relaxation music and started doing the surge breathing and deep relaxation, there was no pain, just a wave of crampy feeling.

Then I realised Aliens 3 was coming on TV and had watched the other 2 the nights before so decided to watch it...but I kept disappearing off to sit in the warm bath so missed bits...(had seen it before anyway). I wasnt really focusing on relaxing in between the surges.

My partner came in every so often to check on me. At about 1.00am the surges seemed to be 2-3 mins, so we called the Midwife (I for some reason thought that the baby would come pretty soon and was hoping the Midwife would get there as the baby was coming out).

She said she would phone at 6.00am and come at 8.00am when her shift started unless we urgently needed to call her. My partner went to sleep for a few hours after 1.00am and about 4.30am it felt like there was about a 30 second gap between the surges, it had been like that the last 3 hours. I felt really tired. It was too uncomfortable to lye down because the surges felt more intense that way and my head would suddenly drop as I fell asleep and awoke with a jolt every few minutes. It started to feel intense (8 out of 10) because I started feeling fed up and lost focus, then started thinking negatively and tensing with each surge. I didn’t want to disturb my partner by putting music on.

I knew I needed support so woke my partner up and he put a relaxation CD on and helped me refocus and the sensations dulled right down,(3/10)I was fine after that for the rest of the birth!

When the midwife showed up, she saw how I was completely relaxed and chatting and there was no sign of discomfort, I just went silent when the surges happened. She looked at my lower back to see if the pelvis bones had opened, then she told me she was sorry to say but she thought I wasn’t in established labour and was planning to go back to the hospital – basically she thought I was having practice ones and just couldn’t recognise It was not labour because was a first timer. I thought the baby must be nearly ready to come out – very disheartening to think there would be hours and hours before labour would even start!.

I asked her to do an internal exam to check and I was 4-5 cm dilated and my waters had released, maybe when in the bath! I don’t think she had ever seen anyone in labour look as chilled out as I was!

Things moved along steadily and about 2 hours before the baby came out my surges slowed down then stopped ( I think out of exhaustion)…which was nice to have the break but left me wondering how much longer it would go on for…I kept feeling the urge to have a bowel movement – she checked and I was 10cm dilated (it was the baby pressing on nerves)…by now everything had completely stopped.

I was so eager to meet the baby that I pushed her out with pure will and the midwife assumed I was having surges! It didn’t hurt, except stinging as the head came out. I felt something pulsing so had to get her out quickly. At 1.17pm Mon 21st Feb little Amethyst Moonstone Marsden Eatwell was born at my home…my dog was there except when she appeared!

Unfortunately the cord was getting compressed in the birth canal so she came out blue, floppy and needed vigourous rubbing, oxygen and suction as she swallowed and inhaled meconium, (baby poo) but was fine after that…at least most of the labour was as calm as possible. (I think my body must have detected that she wasn’t getting enough oxygen when the surges happened so my body stopped the surges – I think this is why it was so important not to use medications, so the baby and my body could communicate effectively)

I also did a lotus birth, which means we didn’t cut the cord, we left the placenta attached to the baby for the umbilical to drop off naturally…

In summary, I wouldn’t say it was completely painless (although I have had worst headaches or period pains than the whole process – except the 10mins where I needed to refocus), but it was comfortable and manageable. It was a challenge due to the length of time to constantly focus and not knowing how long I would have to focus for!

I am confident that if I were to do it again, I could manage to do it completely painlessly like hypnobirthing theory suggests is possible, at least for a large period of time if not the whole thing – I have met people who have done hypnobirthing painlessly… I know it definitely was the hypnobirthing because when I started thinking negatively and stopped doing surge breathing it really did become painful so I can see why people that don’t know hypnobirthing resort to drugs.

I have been told by lots of people that my baby is very chilled out and relaxed for a baby and am convinced its because I did lots of relaxation when pregnant - has anyone else doing hypnobirthing found this?

[mia]

A lovely story. Congratulations!

[rachana]

Now in its twentieth year, HypnoBirthing is a complete antenatal education. Our birthing classes are intended to help you have the most natural childbirth possible. Whether you are planning a home birth or hospital birth, HypnoBirthing can help.

HypnoBirthing is a rewarding, relaxing and stress-free method of birthing that is based on the belief that all babies should come into the world in an atmosphere of gentility, calm and joy. When a mother is properly prepared for birthing both physically and mentally, she can experience birthing her baby in an easier, more comfortable and even pain-free manner.
__________________________________________
natural birth