Thank you to Fiona and Nick for sharing their Calm Birth Experience with us! This lovely couple attended a one to one session with Jenie Scholes from Empowered Bumps who is based in Southport, UK for the birth of their third child.
This was my third baby and my second baby using hypnobirthing.
Since having my little boy 18 months ago I had carried on researching birth and my rights and choices particularly about induction. Both my previous babies were born 16 days overdue both via induction. I had tried to hold out with my second baby and did decline induction once but the pressure I felt by medical professionals was too much, so I agreed to induction again. It was a much more positive experience thanks to hypnobirthing, but I still had regrets and wish I had waited for baby to arrive when they were ready.
So, this time round I had moved area I found one2one midwives and immediately felt different, I was supported in my decision to wait until baby was ready and I was supported in my decision to have a home birth. I then found Jenie and her pregnancy relaxation classes which helped me focus on my hypnobirthing techniques and have time to focus on this pregnancy because life at home was busy with two children.
Me and my husband did a refresher course with my fabulous previous hypnobirthing teacher Abby and then Jenie did a fantastic one to one session with me and Nick teaching us lots and lots of really practical tools and also teaching us about the use of aromatherapy for childbirth.
I was totally prepared and armed with so much knowledge and tools. My due date came and went, as expected, I got to 43 weeks and began to really feel the pressure from everyone! Everyone apart from Nick, Abby, Jenie and Susie my midwife – these were the only people who didn’t think I was insane for choosing to be pregnant for this long!
At 43+3 my waters broke we were all so excited, I thought it was finally happening. But 24 hours went by and still nothing, the hospital were now aware of my situation and put huge pressure on me to induce. I wanted to wait 48hours after my waters breaking to give my body and baby every chance to go into labour. The 48 hours passed, and I agreed to go into hospital and be induced at 43+5.
As soon as I got to hospital, I put all my knowledge into practice I made it clear to the consultant and midwife exactly what I wanted and didn’t want. I decided that I would be in charge of when the drip got turned up and by how much it was increased, and I also decided that once I felt that my body was contracting regularly and efficiently I would turn the drip off. The drip went in at 11.00pm and I got in my hypnobirthing zone with the full support of my husband.
I asked for wireless monitoring so that I could move freely, and I asked for the lights to be dimmed, the machine to be muted and the midwives to only intervene when I wanted. All my decisions were respected. All these things I was totally unaware of with my first baby and they absolutely made all the difference. My surges were completely manageable but after 2 hours they were getting very intense, so I asked for some gas and air to help me manage my breathing remain calm and keep adrenaline away, I thought I still had a long way to go. I began to feel the urge to push at the end of each surge, so I asked for the drip to be stopped and began to use my down breathing.
I was on the birthing ball and then I decided to get on the bed on all fours, I asked the midwives to do an internal at this point because I felt like things were really progressing. No internal was needed as the head was already crowning. I couldn’t believe I had done it; a couple of big pushes and he was out. It was absolutely the most amazing experiences of my life I was so proud of myself and what I had accomplished I was so grateful for my supportive husband and for hypnobirthing. My birth was only 3 and half hours and I truly believe this was because I had waited for my body to be ready instead of letting the hospital decide when my baby should come.
Thank you so much to Abby and Jenie for helping me achieve this amazing birth, it was completely empowering.
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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