HypnoBirthing® UK

[sammiej86]

Right, now where do I start?! From the very beginning of my pregnancy I thought I would always end up having the labour and birth from hell, but little did I know!!
I visited the NEC babyshow in May and entered a competition that as first prize was a hypnobirthing course. So, as you do, filled out the form and walked away, then 2 days later I received a phone call saying I’d won the competition! I don’t win anything but I began to think that maybe this would be the start of my good luck.
A few weeks later a lovely lady called Lee arrived at my house, having not a clue of what to expect we sat down and started chatting about what I was expecting, my partner was asked what he expected and before we knew it our first session was pretty much over. Lee left us with some exercises to practise and a relaxation cd to listen to every day as by this point I was 36 weeks – a little late but hey ho we began practising straight away.
The following week we learnt more about breathing and how to relax even more, but I was suffering from itching that seemed to get worse when I tried to relax. Lee told me how to block it out using the control room technique and it didn’t work completely for me but I felt that I was in control of it rather than it being in control of me.
The weeks flew by and before I knew it I was approaching 41 weeks! I grew more confident day by day as I was getting better and better at the exercises and breathing techniques. My partner and I were getting much closer and it got to the point where he only had to stroke my arm and I ould instantly feel myself relaxing.
The Friday before my induction date I wasn’t feeling right in myself so went down the hospital to get checked out. As it turned out my baby’s heart rate was really high and the doctors were about to start prepping me for theatre – here the nightmare starts I thought. I won’t get the lovely calm labour I have been working towards, somebody wanted to take that away from me. Then one doctor decided he wanted to try and artificially break the waters to start labour off, and after that the baby’s heart rate dropped right down to normal levels so they took no further action. They kept me in overnight for observation and my waters went at 3am.
The following morning I was sent off to go for a walk and when I returned I was experiencing terrible back pains. The midwife told us to get ready to go down to the labour ward as I was 2-3cm dilated. This was it, prepare for the gruelling journey ahead.
Upon arriving in the labour room I put on my hypnobirthing cd that I had been practising with over the last 5 weeks and began breathing and relaxing. After another examination the contractions really kicked in. I tried a bath, a birthing ball but kept being put on the bed to be monitored because of the baby’s heart rate the night before. So that’s where I stayed. After 2 1/2 hours I felt I was ready to push, the midwife was shocked to discover I was fully dilated after this short period of time and with it being my first baby! I began pushing and after 1 hour my beautiful baby girl was here weighing 9lbs.
I didn’t have any tears. I didn’t need an episiotomy. I didn’t have an assisted delivery. The only forms of pain relief I used were a mamatens machine and gas and air.
I largely put this down to the hypnobirthing coaching I received from Lee. I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t tensing up during the contractions. I was letting my body do what it was made to do. To birth.
I had a really great birth and thoroughly recommend the hypnobirthing course. I still use some of the relaxation techniques I learnt for the labour when Jess gets really upset and it calms me down and as a result calms her. She’s a very good baby and sleeps well, again I think a result of all the practising I did before she came along.
Thanks to Lee McCormack and if we have anymore children I would definitely use this again.

[Caz81]

That's a great story, thanks for posting! Every time I hear successful hypnobirthing stories it makes me feel even more confident about my turn

Congrats to you and your family