HypnoBirthing® UK

[Lara Stevens]

i wanted to share our great experience. i was very nervous when i realised that i was expecting twins. i had had one boy a few years ago which was relatively uncomplicated, but was very worried about growing and safely giving birth to two. a local hypnobirthing practitioner was recommended to me and my husband and i decided that it would be worth the money. we did the five session course in february and have been pretty good at continuing our relaxation and visualisation techniques. i found it was really useful in the later stages of pregnancy, particularly if i had a hard days teaching.
at 35 weeks our scan showed that one of the babies had turned breech. our obs said that we would need to have a monitored labour if we wanted to deliver naturally. that i would def need to have an epidural to turn the baby after the first one was born. i was very disappointed but wanted to do what would be best for a healthy baby. we were booked in for induction in two weeks.
meanwhile i tried different methods to try to turn the baby. i focussed on visualisation and spent time on all fours on the recommendation of my midwife. something worked because at our next scan at 37 weeks, the baby had turned back to heads down. i was keen to have the babies before they turned again! so we kept our induction date for two days later. over the next night and day, my husband and i tried many methods to start labour naturally; curry! pineapple, long walks, cleaning, nipple and clitoral stimulation. all with no effect.
on wednesday morning we arrived at the hospital, armed with our scripts and music. we were put into one of the smaller rooms and when we asked for the room with the pool our midwife had to argue for us as many of the profs didnt think that we should be given the opportunity to use the pool as we would be medicalised and constantly monitored. she argued our case well and we moved into a very comfortable room. the midwife attempted to break my waters but founnd it very difficult as my cervix was posterior (not far enough forward) she asked one of the doctors to do it. he tried and it was painful so my husband asked him to wait for 5 minutes while he relaxed me. it was great how quickly i managed to relax in that environment. the doctor looked sceptically on until my husband told him i was ready. it was still uncomfortable but i was much more able to cope with it and he managed to break my waters. the doctor later came back to ask zack about the techniques he was using - he was very impressed. so the process began at 10am.
my husband andi went for a walk outside and it soon became clear that i was having regular waves. i used breathing and felt very comfortable. we went back in at 11 and spent and hour using the the music and relaxation scripts. we quickly got into the habit of stopping the script we were using when i had a wave and focussing on blue mist blowing around my tummy and out through my mouth, taking the feeling with it. we used this all the way through. at 12 my midwife checked and although the waves felt a lot stronger i was still only a few cm dillated.
we decided it would be a good time to use the pool. the relief that floating in the water gave was brilliant. my midwife showed me different positions to lie that she knew would ease my discomfort. zack got in the pool with me and was a constant source of reassurance, using the rainbow script and the blue mist to great effect. he also reminded me of the birthing affirmations which really resounded in my head; e.g what a natural process it all was. how each wave was bringing our babies closer to us. i had one really strongly intense wave which made me sick.
at 2 the midwife was concerned because she had finished her shift and being ordered to go home. the doctors outside the door was pressing for me to be given syntoconin to speed up the process. i was really disappointed but could understand. i must admit i thought that if i hadnt progressed very far id quite like an epidural! i was coping then but didnt know how much longer i could keep it up. then the midwife noticed that i had a 'show', told me to get out of the pool to check and discovered that i was 9cm dillated. so it was all action stations. the doctors were shooed away and miwife had to stay and finish then!
the last stage for twin 1 was 8 minutes long. i tried birth breathing but found an irresistable urge to bear down. the midwife had to tell me to stop as he was coming too quickly. our first boy was born at 3.20, all slithery and crying. he was placed on my tummy. we had about 5 minutes to look in amazement at what we had created. then it was time to focus on twin 2. my waters were broken. this time i had no urge to push and was shying away from the waves rather than going with them as i had been doing. i think he did most of the work himself and with just a few strong birth breathing, our second boy was born at 3.50.
i was given an injection to speed up the delivery of the placentas. that was also quite hard to get out! and without the incentive. but i was done and couldnt believe that we had managed it with no pain relief, no tears or cuts. i cant say that it didnt hurt, or that hypnobirthing was entirely responsible for our natural birth. it was definately a strong cog in the wheel, as was our midwife, the pool, especially my husband.
alfie weighed 5lb10
brook weighed 6lb8
it has been 6 days since they were born and they are the loveliest babies anyone could wish for. we are tandem breast feeding and although brook had trouble at the start with latching on, both are now feeding really well.
we feel like we have had the most wonderful experience. and feel extremely lucky that it worked out like that when it could so easily have been different.

[LadyBug]

Wow - what a fantastic birth story! Well done to you & a warm congratulations.

[eleanorcopp]

well done you ! that is a fantastic story , sounds like you and your husband were an amazing team , and that you both attracted all the right people to be around you and you and your babies had an amazing experience , being a midwife in the NHS and a hypnobirthing practitioner I would say hypnobirthing was very responsible for alot of that !
Eleanor

[ockysmith]

What a wonderful story Lara. Would you consider forwarding it on to Marie Mongan to read? I'm sure she would love to receive an email from you - it's not often that you hear of an intervention free waterbirth for twins! you can mail on hypnobirthing@hypnobirthing.com.

Congratulations again and enjoy your boys, I have 3 boys also and it's a wonderful family to have .

[kanamorita]

well done that's a great story.