Thank you to Rose for sharing her birth story with us.
“Friday evening (41+3) I started getting twinges so we walked to Walthamstow for dinner (spicy food, wine, serotonin, tick, tick, tick!). when I got into bed that night they started getting more intense and by midnight I needed to be stood up.
I was listening to the tapes, breathing, and had a bath and by about 3am they were frequent, lasting a minute and very intense. they stayed like this for 3 hours and after speaking to the helpline we got a taxi to Homerton.
We had to stop a few times in the hospital for the waves to pass but when they examined me we were all were surprised that I was only 1cm dilated. 1CM! they said that the baby might be back-to-back but thought with how I was presenting, that my baby would be with me by the end of the day. So, we went home, I had a little cry but just got back in the zone with the help of your MP3s! They were less intense during the day but I was still unable to sleep properly or eat much. I was taking paracetamol though.
Saturday night was the same- they got intense and stayed like that. there was a new pain though that felt different- my lower back was spasming because of his position. Back in to Homerton on Sunday morning to be told I was now 2cm dilated. this time I accepted the co-codamol! We were sent home repeatedly, during the day the waves slowed down to one every 5-10 minutes but not enough to sleep.
By Sunday evening I was a bit delirious and kitted myself out in the spare room with pillows on a chair to nap on, water, your mp3s and some others I’d found (by this point I’d been listening to your voice almost continuously for 48 hours!). I was managing on my own but by 3am I needed some support from Patrick (who’d been amazing and by my side from the start). The waves were, and always had been, quite manageable but it was the pain from my back that was causing me the most discomfort.
Monday morning I was already booked in for an induction so went along. The lady was mildly bemused that I was there as I was clearly in labour! She sent us upstairs where they examined me again and I was….2.5cm! By this point I was beyond feeling disheartened or sad and just really didn’t want to be sent home again.
We were admitted and had a wonderful midwife who said that, as I was clearly in lots of pain, she would like me to consider some stronger pain relief. Oh my god. that epidural was amazing. Phenomenal. It did take 3 anesthetists to put it in (awkward back?) but it was bliss to not be in agonising pain. During the uncomfortable procedure, I was breathing and talking my way through it. I repeated something along the lines of: “it’s okay, it’s just pressure. it doesn’t hurt, it’s just pressure” for the entire time- the power of words!
After that it’s a bit of a blur but I had my waters broken at some point and again was so grateful for hypnobirthing. My midwife said that it might be a bit uncomfortable so I put one headphone in and tuned into an MP3. It was brilliant to be able to zone out to somewhere different- to quickly be able to disentangle myself from the stressful situation and go to a place of calm and really slow my breathing down. It was a particularly unpleasant sensation- in fact I think that procedure was the worst out of all of them but hearing your voice was great.
I also had the hormone drip but by 10pm I had only dilated to 6cm. the doctors started to suggest a cesarean and, after waiting for 4 more hours to see if I dilated any more, I finally went into surgery on Tuesday morning. By this point by body had been in labour for nearly 80 hours. I was absolutely exhausted and, I think, a bit in shock by it all.
Going into surgery I started to shake and felt really anxious. During the first 10 minutes of surgery Patrick and I blocked everything else and everyone out. He got in really close to my head, held my hands and helped me to count a 4-4 breath to try and stay calm and relaxed. He said some of the affirmations to me and made me repeat them. We continued with this even when the surgeon asked “what’s that noise?” and the anesthetist said “they’re doing hypnobirthing breathing”! We carried on until our beautiful son Henry was held up to us. Patrick cut the cord and he was placed on my chest. Needless to say, we sobbed and sobbed to finally be at the end of the journey and have a perfect little baby.
So, despite an absolutely mammoth labour when nothing really went as expected, it would have been even more difficult without hypnobirthing. We used it at every stage and people often commented on how positive and calm we were. Being able to dip into the MP3s, breathing and affirmations was incredible. What a toolkit to have! it would have been very different without it. I also found your videos on FB really useful and positive too especially during weeks 39, 40 and 41…..just waiting and waiting!
Nissa was an incredible teacher in Leyton and her positivity was wonderful to be around. She’s a real asset to the CBS.
Thank you thank you thank you to both of you. Rose x”
If you’re based in Leyton and looking for in person classes please check out Nissa’s website http://www.thehypnobirthingmidwife.co/ and if you’re unable to make the classes, remember we have you covered with our video course. Try before you buy with our free classes here
