This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple Erin and Jack who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Charlotte Inkpin of Hypnobirthing with Charlotte, covering areas across Braintree, Essex.
Thank you for sharing the early arrival of Teddy with us!
“After a very relaxed and pretty straight forward pregnancy at 32 weeks we were told I had obstetric choliosis which led to regular monitoring and being told that our baby would more than likely be arriving earlier than expected through induction. We had hoped for a natural water birth at our local midwife led centre. We had already started our hypnobirthing journey with Charlotte and the techniques we learned from her helped us massively in overcoming my anxiety with how our preferred labour would change.
When I was 35 weeks pregnant, I felt what I thought were my waters releasing at home in the evening at around 8:00pm. I went to Broomfield to be examined, I wasn’t experiencing any surges but as I was preterm, and we believed my waters had released I was advised to stay that night on the day assessment unit. As the night progressed, I very quickly began to experience surges, the midwives weren’t sure if I was actually going into labour as they had assessed me not long ago and was told I showed no signs of labour as I wasn’t dilated when I was examined, and they were not 100% sure if my waters released. Eventually I was examined again around 1:30am by a doctor who confirmed I was 5cm dilated and I was eventually moved to the labour ward where my partner could join me. Everything was happening very quickly but with the tools I had learned from Charlotte I was able to try and stay as relaxed as possible, especially in the first few hours when I was alone experiencing the surges. Once on the labour ward we made our room as calm as we could adding in soft lighting, relaxing music and calming scents. I was able to use the breathing techniques to get through the surges and I felt so relaxed that at times I was able to fall asleep between each surge. As labour progressed, I was able to rely on just my breathing techniques alone to help me through the surges. Our midwives knew we were practicing hypnobirthing and listened to my requests for our birth specifically not offering pain relief unless I asked for it.
Labour had progressed very quickly but then slowed right down, it was recommended to me to have the hormone drip to help, previously I probably would have just agreed straight away however I felt confident to suggest we wait a little longer, this is something Charlotte really helped me with in advocating for myself. Things however didn’t progress, and I then agreed to have the hormone drip. I was then 10cm dilated not too long after. I was pushing for almost 2 hours when I was advised to go to theatre for a forceps delivery or potentially a caesarean. Even though I began to panic I was able to ground myself with the support from my partner and using the hypnobirthing methods we learned from Charlotte. Our birthing environment dramatically changed however I knew this was the safest place to be for our baby to come into the world. Our baby boy Teddy William born was born on 27th August by a forceps delivery exactly 1 month before his due date. We learned that the cord was wrapped around him which meant he was being pulled back up every time I was pushing.
I found everything I learned from Charlotte invaluable for our pregnancy and labour, especially given that our baby arrived earlier than expected. I felt confident in making decisions and even though we didn’t have our plan A birth we were able to make it a positive experience for us and our baby”.
I really believe if I hadn’t used hypnobirthing our birth would have been completely different and potentially traumatic for us all.
.
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
