HypnoBirthing® UK

[alisonmorgan]

I've been meaning to post this for ages...

Our son was born mid-March and I cannot emphasise too much how the hypnobirthing helped. Before the birth I had several people say, "oh you must be petrified/scared/worried etc". I was none of these things and just had a feeling it was all going to be OK. My blood pressure was also constant which my midwife kept marvelling at.

I woke up with contractions 7 minutes apart at 1.30am and wandered round the house till 8am just breathing and listening to the affirmations. My husband had no idea I was in labour until I woke him up at 7am!! I spent the morning in the bath (I had a home birth) and the midwife who came out was so impressed with how calm and relaxd I was that she went off to do her other calls and just left me her mobile number in case I wanted her.

I moved into the nursery at midday and the midwife came back. We were having conversations inbetween contractions which she just could not get her head around and I was just breathing through the contractions when they happened.

The last 2 hours were a bit tricky as the contractions went to over 3 minutes in length but the breathing saw me through the first half of the contraction and my husband was using acupressure points which took care of the rest of it (I highly recommend acupressure by the way).

I didn't really get the hang of the j-breathing and there was more pushing than breathing down going on but I was still really calm and relaxed between contractions and the midwives just could not get over it. The baby's heart rate didn't change at all during labour and when he was born at 4.10pm the first thing the midwives said was "what a chilled out baby, just like his mother".

I had no pain relief, not even gas and air. The placenta was out in no time at all and my blood loss was apparently very little. I had a tiny tear that didn't need a stitch and generally recovered from the birth very fast. My midwife was again amazed at how well I was doing and said she wanted to deliver my next baby. Ross is still a chilled out baby and is doing really well.

We will most definitely be hypnobirthing next time and hopefully I can get the j-breathing sorted.

[ockysmith]

many congratulations on baby Ross, it sounds like you gave him a great start!

Re.J breathing, I personally feel that it's more important that you instinctively work with your body and let your body birth the baby, which it sounds like you did really well so don't worry that you didn't follow it all by the book! being instinctive is what we're all about.

[Sandra Bailey]

Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your wondreful birth story here.

[alisonmorgan]

Thank you - the birth was a really positive experience.

Re the j-breathing. I was breathing down but the urge to push was absolutely overwhelming and it was quite painful at times. I don't mean that in a bad way, it was by no means unbearable and I knew it meant that my baby was well on his way to making his big arrival.

I think I was taken by surprise by it all. One minute the contractions were round my front and the next it was this overwhelming urge to push. With hindsight I don't think I had any transition labour and I was more expecting a gradual change from first stage to second stage labour.

I still find it quite amusing that I had no pain relief but my husband had to take 2 ibuprofen for his dodgy shoulder as it was hurting from leaning over me and pressing on the acupressure points!!

[LittleB]

Wow!

It sounds like an amazing birthing experience. Thank you for sharing it. Hearing stories like yours keeps me motivated when everyone around us is so negative about birth.

How did you learn about the acupuncture? It sounds really interesting. I want a homebirth too and I have been trying to decide whether to hire a pool or whether the bath is good enough. Did you find tha bath was adequate? I have this really strange feeling that I need to be on the ground floor to give birth and the bath is upstairs. Wierd I know!

[babyboos]

congratulations and well done