HypnoBirthing® UK

[Polly]

Hello!

It's a shame this forum is so quiet, but I thought I would add my story for others to read anyway.

I had read about hypnobirthing before I got pregnant and had always thought it sounded like a brilliant way to give birth. At around 30 weeks pregnant, my husband and I did three private hypnobirthing sessions with a practitioner and regularly practiced the relaxations exercises.

At 37+5, I went in to labour when my waters broke at 9.30pm on 21st November 2006. Because I still had a couple of weeks to go until my due date, I was taken a little by surprise, so we have the hospital a call and they told us to come in at our leisure to get checked over. We went in and I was examined and my husband explained to the midwife that we had been practicing hypnobirthing and she knew a little about it and immediately started calling the contractions 'surges' which I thought was great because she was talking my language! We were told that I was in latent labour and to go home until the surges were 3 minutes apart.

So we drove back home and within 2 hours we were back at the hospital as my surges had intensified very quickly. We were put in to a delivery room and we had a new midwife who read through our hypnobirthing notes (which we were given by our practitioner - in the panic of going in to labour so early we hadn't printed our birth plan!)

The midwife examined me and told me I was already 6cm dilated. This was by 2am. During my surges, I was doing the breathing we had been taught and my husband was speaking softly to me and telling me to remain calm and I was telling myself that what I was feeling was natural and my body was designed for this.

I carried on doing that until I felt the urge to push. Unfortunately this coincided with a shift change and so we got a brand new midwife who wasn't so au-fait with hypnobirthing. The previous one had just sat in the corner of the delivery room and left us to get on with it apart from the occasional check of my blood pressure and baby's heart rate. Before she left, she told me that I was the calmest woman in labour that she had ever met in 12 years of being a midwife!

The new midwife was concerned about the baby's heart-rate and so she hooked up an electrode thing to the baby's head because she wanted a more accurate reading than the external monitor was providing.

I have to say that the pushing stage took me unawares and I didn't feel like I was properly prepared for just how that would feel, so I started to panic a little and at that stage, the midwife started to intervene and telling me to push. I didn't feel that the J-breath was really doing anything for me, however it turned out that the baby was getting very tired and had decided to sleep!

I was pushing for over 2 hours and the doctors wanted to intervene with a ventouse because of the length of time it was taking but I was determined not to let them and the midwife kept telling them to give me more time. At the very last surge that they were letting me have before they intervened, the baby shot out of me like a bullet from a gun and took us all by surprise!

Anyway, I managed the whole labour without pain relief and would highly recommend hypnobirthing! Afterwards I felt refreshed and very 'with it', although I do have to admit to going to town on the gas and air whilst I was being stitched up - I suffered a second degree tear because of the speed of the exit!

So, my beautiful baby girl was born at 11:36am on 22nd November 2006 weighing 5lbs 15ozs and is now putting on weight at an extraordinary rate - she changes every day!

[gordon_mullan]

Just wanted to congratulate you on the arrival of your daughter and say what a wonderful story that is. Thank you for posting it.

It kinda proves the whole thing about just trusting your body, allowing it rest when it (and the baby) needs to, and nature will do just fine.

Warmest regards (and a Happy New Year) to you and your family.

Gordon

[minniemum]

I'm so surprised to read your chain of events, my waters went over 2 wks early and I too took ages to breath baby down, Scarlett was 5lb 9, the midwives were brilliant but as I was so chilled during the j breaths they did threaten me with hospital and a ventose...I thought not bloody likely and shot her out in the bathroom! I hope you are thriving and that your sleepless nights are numbered! Min