This week’s birth story comes from Isma and Michael in Wakefield, who practised hypnobirthing with Abby Watson of Love Your Birth.
“My ideal birth involved me having a water birth, my labour starting without any intervention, labouring at home for as long as possible before going to the hospital and using a tens machine as pain relief, as well as gas and air if I felt I needed it.
The reality was that I was a couple of weeks over my estimated due date, so myself and Michael made the decision to be induced. We received a phone call in the early hours of the morning asking us to come to the hospital for our induction. After induction we were sent home and we decided we’d do what we could to bring on labour without any more intervention.
A walk and bouncing on my birthing ball did the trick. As the afternoon approached my surges had started and and by the evening they seemed stronger and more regular, so we made a phone call to the hospital who told us to come in.
As we’d been induced it was the hospital’s policy that I needed to be monitored before we could go ahead with our birth choices. The monitoring had given the midwives cause for concern; this teamed with meconium in my waters meant the water birth I’d wanted was out of the window, and now a c-section was being discussed.
A c-section is something I had not considered as I’d been a low risk pregnancy. It’s also something I had feared because of the spinal block, but thanks to the tools hypnobirthing had given us the fear didn’t take over. I reminded myself of some of the birthing affirmations: to trust my body and to let go of the things I couldn’t control, and focus on what I could.
This along with the breathing techniques I had learnt, and visualising the birth calmed me and filled me with endorphins, ready to welcome our baby girl into the world.
If it hadn’t been for hypnobirthing I would look back at my birth and think of it as all the things I didn’t want – but instead I focus on all the positive things and the control we had over it.
Thank you so much Abby!”
Isma and Michael, Wakefield.
