This week’s birth story comes from a lovely lady, who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing course with Anna Owen from Rock your Birth covering Worcestershire. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us!
“I woke at around 5 am with mild surges, by 6 am I was pretty sure labour was in progress, so I took a shower and started focusing on my breathing. I was able to enjoy a cuddle on the sofa with my daughter whilst watching some TV getting the all-important oxytocin flowing until Grandma came to collect her.
At around midday we decided it was time to call the hospital, we went straight in and were monitored in triage for half an hour whilst they ‘checked whether I was actually in labour’. I was obviously far too calm and eventually agreed to an examination to confirm what I already knew, at 5 cm dilated they agreed that yes, it was happening, and I was taken through to delivery.
We had a fantastic midwife who was totally onboard with our birth preferences. She even put a sign on the outside of the room stating, ‘Hypnobirthing mother please knock before entering’. (I would recommend printing one out to give as part of your birth preferences as everyone was really respectful and we were left alone most of the day).
Nick got to work setting up the room, moving furniture, putting my pillow on the bed, positioning the birth ball and plugging in my essential oil diffuser. I needed to be hooked up to a monitor to keep tabs on the babies heartbeats but the leads were long enough to allow free movement and with my wireless headphones on I swayed and danced around the room listening to the MP3s and the playlist Nick had made me.
I spent the next few hours focusing on my breathing, in my own little world of calm. Nick was amazing, calm, controlled, remembering all the techniques Anna taught him, bringing out the sheet of suggested positions, making sure I was changing positions to help guide babies down and keeping me hydrated throughout.
I consented to a check at around 7 pm which confirmed I was 9 cm dilated and I decided it was time to get up onto the bed. With the bed positioned so headrest was almost vertical I was on my knees leaning over the top of the bed and soon felt a lot of pressure then a rush as my waters for Twin 1 broke. Things then started getting very intense and I felt her coming. The waves became more intense and powerful, my body was bringing my baby to meet me and all I had to do was focus on relaxing and breathing. With a few puffs of gas and air to help with the final stages my baby girl Amélie arrived just before 9 pm, the cord was short but I was adamant I wanted her to stay attached to her cord until it stopped pulsing so Nick went to her on the bed and then had her on his chest as things started to ramp up again. Six minutes later her brother Harrison arrived, at speed, headfirst (we’d been expecting a bum as he was breech but had somersaulted after his sister was born and arrived headfirst!).
I can honestly say it was one of the most empowering experiences of my life. Considering I had been so anxious at the prospect of a hospital birth at the start of our journey I am so pleased at how it all went, I am sure without Anna’s calm guidance and the calm birth school techniques I learnt it would have been a very different experience”.
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