This week’s birth story comes from a gorgeous lady, who attended TCBS refresher course with Reena Chandarana from Enhance your Birth in Solihull, West Midlands. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us.
“Having had an amazing experience using hypnobirthing with my second child, I was definitely eager to repeat this with my third. But as my due date crept closer, I started doubting myself and doubting my body. I began to feel scared and a bit out of control of things, so messaged Reena to arrange a refresher course to get me back in the right head space. And I am SO glad I did! Reena reminded me of the importance of finding the time to listen to my affirmations and stop thinking ‘worst case scenario’ which is definitely what I was guilty of doing.
When it came to the day I went into labour, I’d had some pains in the night, but nothing consistent and nothing seemed to be getting any stronger. I text Reena having a bit of a wobble, and she was fantastic at saying exactly what I needed to hear: ‘You’ve got this!’
As nothing seemed to be changing, we presumed braxton hicks and headed to the shops. By the time we’d finished, there was still no consistency, but things were starting to get a bit intense, so my husband suggested we give the christening party we were due at that afternoon a miss.
Having got home, I felt perhaps this really was the real thing and maybe within the next 24 hours baby would be here. This was at 11.30 am. We rang my dad who came to get my 2 other girls. By the time he’d left it was just after 12 and I decided to ring the hospital. My surges weren’t lasting for 1 minute, but there wasn’t a 5-minute gap either and the intensity was ramming up. Within 10 minutes a home birth midwife had called me to say she’d pop round and see how things were. She arrived at 1 pm. During the next hour I played my affirmations several times, blocking everything else out and used some lavender spray on a flannel to keep me calm. (I would highly recommend doing this. The midwife also added frankincense as she said that helps to relax you so that might be something else to try.) At this point, my surges were pretty much non-stop. I really relied on a heavy, long out breath to get through each one and my midwife was fantastic at talking me through this and reminding me, ‘Just breathe through it.’ She also gave me a wonderful massage at the base of my back, applying pressure as the baby’s head moved down. This really helped!
My mum, having been present at my previous birth, knew exactly which affirmations worked best for me, so she kept reassuring me, ‘You’re one step closer, that one has passed now.’
By 1.54 pm I felt the need to bear down and the midwife simply said, ‘If that’s how you feel, give it a try.’ She was amazing at giving me the confidence to trust my body. As I pushed, my waters went. By 1.56 pm Margot Sparrow had entered the world. Two minutes of pushing and out she popped. The second midwife had barely had time to take her shoes off, and the first had only been in our house an hour.
Afterwards, I birthed the placenta naturally after about an hour, had a shower and sent my husband out to get fish and chips. I think I’d earned them!
Hypnobirthing is an absolutely amazing tool to have up your sleeve for childbirth. It gives you the power to trust in yourself and your body and to maintain a feeling of
control that can easily be lost in the throes of labour. I am definitely done now, 3 babies in 4 years is quite enough for this household, but I will forever be an advocate of both hypnobirthing and home birthing!”
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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