Hi all, I’d like to introduce Yvie Asha, and share our birth story (apologies in advance for the epic post, but it was not straightforward!).
Our little one made her surprise arrival on October 22nd, at 37+1. It was by no means the birth I had imagined whilst listening to the birth rehearsal MP3, but The Calm Birth School techniques helped me cope with all the unexpected turns my experience took. I woke in the early hours to my waters gradually releasing, and was advised to go to the birth center to be checked as I hadn’t experienced anything resembling a surge, on arrival I was told that my waters had gone & that if I didn’t go into spontaneous labour by 8pm I would have to return to be induced.
This was obviously the threat my body needed as my surges started almost as soon as I left the hospital at 2.30am. These continued at regular intervals throughout the early hours – and I used TCBS breathing techniques and some of my favourite affirmations & visualisations while my husband slept. By 6.30am the discomfort still felt much like bad period pain, but surges were much closer together. We returned to the hospital at 8.30am, with surges every 2-3 minutes, fully expecting to be sent home again, as the surges did not feel anywhere near as uncomfortable as I thought they should.
The midwife also expected to have to send me home & had to get a second opinion upon examining me & finding me already fully dilated. Apparently I wasn’t acting like someone going into the 2nd stage of labour, especially as baby had turned during the first stage and was now back-to-back – so thank you for that Suzy & Hollie, the techniques obviously worked! They didn’t have a birthing pool available, but I kept as upright as possible leaning forward to encourage baby to turn, and tried to breathe her out.
Unfortunately, she ended up facing sideways & little progress was being made. I was asked to agree to continuous monitoring as baby’s heart rate was dropping with each surge. This meant that I was left in the dreaded flat-on-my-back position, & because baby wasn’t moving I was asked to try forced pushing. This didn’t help either & after a total of 3 hours in second stage (with no need for pain relief, I might add), the midwives were forced to involve the medical team. At this point baby’s heart rate was dropping scarily with each surge, to the point that my husband & I actually thought it had stopped. So there was no hesitation when intervention was suggested (despite my original objections to anything other than a ‘natural’ birth).
I was taken through to theatre and given an epidural (in the middle of a surge), and after a failed attempt to turn baby’s head, I ended up having an emergency C-section. Throughout all of this I remained calm, and feeling in control of the experience. My perfect little rainbow baby girl was born at 1.25pm, and scored 9 & 10 in her Apgar tests, despite such a traumatic and dramatic entrance to the world – another thing I attribute to being able to keep calm throughout. So thank you again to Suzy, Hollie & The Calm Birth School! You helped a natural worrier, who is prone to anxiety attacks, cope with what could have been a very stressful and negative experience. I fully believe that this allowed my husband to stay calm throughout too, and also helped with my quick recovery from the operation (up and about within 24 hours!). xXx
To see how you can create your own calm birth please sign up here: www.thecalmbirthschool.com/freehypnobirthing-2016
