This week’s birth story comes from a gorgeous couple, who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing refresher course in with Liz Stanford Owner of The Calm Birth School. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us!
When I found out I was expecting my second child I decided to book a refresher with Liz. Two years before I had attended group hypnobirthing sessions which helped me to stay calm and focused when my first birth didn’t go quite the way I had envisaged (I had hoped for a water birth on a midwife led unit and ended up having an induced birth on a consultant led unit).
Second time round I had no real fear about the birth itself as I knew I would be able to cope using the Calm Birth School strategies. I did, however, have some anxiety around being induced again as during my previous labour I had a very strong reaction to the induction drugs which resulted in my husband only attending the final 20 minutes of the birth!
The refresher with Liz made us more confident that we were in control and empowered to make the right decisions for us using BRAINS if an induction was suggested. It also refreshed our memory of the Calm Birth School breathing techniques and affirmations.
Three weeks before my ‘guess date’ my consultant agreed that I would be able to give birth on a midwife led unit which I was thrilled about. He suggested that I start to have sweeps from 39 weeks in an aim to avoid an induction. Once 39 weeks came around, I spoke with my midwife and we agreed that she would only attempt a sweep if she thought it would get things going. Over the next two weeks we met 4 times and on each occasion, she felt a sweep was not going to trigger labour and therefore I decided she should not attempt it. This did leave me somewhat demoralised as I felt I was heading towards induction territory with no signs of spontaneous labour.
However, things can change very quickly! 5 days after my guess date I felt completely rubbish all day. I carried on as normal, but I felt really down (which I put down to being 5 days overdue). At 5 pm I picked my son up from nursery and came home to cook dinner. By the time my husband arrived home 45 minutes later I thought I might be in active labour. We called the on-call midwife and I was delighted to hear that it was the midwife who had been visiting me. We agreed to meet at the birth unit for her to assess how my labour was progressing.
My husband dropped our son at my mum’s and by the time he arrived back my surges were 2 minutes apart and very intense. I remained calm and concentrated on my breathing during the car journey to the birth unit (which is thankfully very close to our house). We arrived at 7.10 pm and Rex Mark Rafferty Wilson was born at 7.29 pm. Other than the midwives having no time to turn on the tap for a waterbirth, it all went exactly as I had wanted, and we returned home before midnight that same evening. Getting to sleep in my own bed was heaven.
I would really recommend the Calm Birth School, even for those ladies that have given birth before. It gave me so much more confidence and kept me calm and in control even when it looked like our baby was going to be born in the footwell of my husband’s car!
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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