This week’s birth story comes from the lovely Wendy who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Karis Johnson of Open Hand Birthing, in Switzerland.
Thank you for sharing such a positive birth story with us!
“Just do a c-section, it’s so much easier and quicker!”
“I could never push the babies out, I tried and tried and failed, after so many hours they still had to vacuum your brother out, which distorted the shape of his head!”
“Your vagina is gonna tear!”
“I didn’t feel any contractions and didn’t know your sister was ready to be born. Luckily I went in for a checkup and they realised she was in distress and did an emergency c-section to get her out.”
These are some of the stories I grew up with. The women in my family were always big fans of C-sections, none had ever given birth successfully vaginally before, at least not unassisted.
So many years of constantly hearing about the problems and difficulties they encountered in childbirth had made me a huge nervous wreck when it was my turn. However, I knew I wanted a natural birth, but I was scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to. My 1st child was induced as my amniotic fluid was running low 5 days post due date, and 24 hours after labour started, he was out. However the pregnancy and labour were stressful and filled with doubt. I listened to and obeyed everything the doctors and midwives told me (even if I wasn’t comfortable with it) as I felt clueless and helpless, despite having attended a hospital pre-birthing course. I also often felt like the doctors and midwives were not taking me seriously when I voiced out my concerns to them.
With my 2nd child, I attended a hypnobirthing crash course with Karis. As a 2nd time mum, I wasn’t really expecting to learn that much, I thought I had learnt all there was to learn. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! I went in with a completely open mind, and let Karis work her magic. She covered so many topics, from hormones to affirmations, and by the end of the course I felt completely empowered and relaxed about what was to come. My 2nd child also had to be induced (EDD+8) but this time I was the one who made the call and I felt in control. I took the entire process at the pace that I felt comfortable with, and I only accepted the suggestions from the midwife that I wanted to accept. For instance, when they wanted to manually break my waters, I told them not to. And soon after, they released on their own! I remember being so relaxed during the contractions that I was walking and dancing around the room while waiting for my cervix to dilate further.
My baby girl arrived 5 hours later, to a present, calm, and relaxed mama! It was such a beautiful experience, my husband and I both burst into tears of joy when she popped out! Thank you so much to Karis for helping turn my birth experience around and for teaching me the skills that resulted in such a wonderful birth!
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
Sign up for our FREE Hypnobirthing Videos here or get in touch with one of our instructors here.
You can find out more about Hypnobirthing in Switzerland here.
