This week’s birth story comes from the lovely couple who attended a 121 Hypnobirthing Course with Charlotte Gillespie of Grow With The Flo Hypnobirthing across Aberdeen, Scotland within the comfort of their own home.
Thank you for sharing the arrival of Orla with us!
“Last Sunday I did get induced. If I needed the pessary, I was just going to keep going for daily scans to check the baby’s wellbeing, however I got there, and my cervix was actually more ready for birth than they expected! So, I was able to get the balloon catheter which is less invasive, and it popped out after 8 hours rather than 12-24 which again was a good sign.
Although I hadn’t planned for an induction initially, it was actually really positive and I feel like I stayed so calm the whole way through, just concentrating on my breathing and feeling relaxed as possible despite being in the Labour ward. By 5cm, I was in a lot of discomfort, but Matthew said he didn’t actually realise how tough I was finding it until I asked for the epidural when I hit a threshold and couldn’t cope with it anymore. I think the breathing and affirmations really helped me up until this point though and that’s why I didn’t seem like I was uncomfortable with each wave until it just got too intense. I also didn’t like the Gas and Air, so again although the epidural wasn’t part of my plan, I was relieved to have gone for it and just went with the flow accepting that it was helping me and was fine to use! Once it was in, I think I even dozed in and out of sleep (though I was quite out of it the whole time!!).
The induction went pretty quickly – usually it will take around 18 hours, but I was only 12 which was super!! For the final pushes at the end, I reduced the epidural so that I could still feel sensations and knew what was happening but giving birth didn’t feel sore at all. We’d planned this last part to take about 1.5 hours, but I was under an hour until the baby came out – I did push really hard though and felt very much in control!!
Although induction obviously wasn’t our first choice for giving birth and was a bit of a scary thought, the hypnobirthing really helped me stay calm, relaxed and in control. Ultimately, I think this potentially contributed to why it all went faster than expected since I wasn’t stressed. The worst part has been recovering from the small tears and stitches which is very bearable and could happen to anyone anyway and we now have our gorgeous Orla!!”
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