This week’s birth story comes the lovely couple, Nicola and Martin who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Bryony Bugg of Beefearless Hypnobirthing based in Cyprus.
Thank you for sharing the arrival of Jasmine with us!
Prior to undertaking the hypno-birthing sessions, I was extremely anxious about labour. I was also blissfully unaware about how little I knew about the mechanics of labour. My first labour was long and exhausting and ended in an emergency c-section. I decided to try hypno-birthing because I wanted to do everything I could to avoid the same thing happening again. I wanted a deeper understanding of what was happening to my body and why. I wanted a sense of control and to be able to make informed decisions for myself and my baby. I also wanted my husband to better understand how to support me and to feel more involved in the birthing process. Hypno-birthing gave me all of this!
The sessions were extremely informative (far beyond anything I had received on the NHS first time around). The understanding I gained about my body, what would happen and why (along with the array of breathing techniques) was invaluable in making me feel calm and positive about what was to come. One of my favourite things during the sessions were our discussions around my birth preferences. These ensured that I had a really clear vision of what I wanted my birth to be, but also what I would want to do if different circumstances presented themselves. The discussions also ensured my husband also understood what I wanted. During these sessions Bryony ensured we understood that, as the parents/ patient we had the right to question the medical professionals if we were not happy about something. She also showed us how to do this in order to glean the information required to make informed decisions. This made me feel so empowered and in control, which was very important to me. Prior to beginning the sessions, I was not happy with some aspects of the care I was receive in. Thanks to the pep talks from Bryony, I felt empowered to take control and advocate for myself. I changed both my midwife and consultant, which was entirely the right thing for me.
My main priority for this labour was to be able to stay at home until I was established. My contractions began at about 5.30pm. I was fully expecting a long labour as this is what I had had with my first. I immediately began using the breathing techniques I had learned during the sessions. As with my first labour, the intensity of contractions ramped up quite quickly however, unlike my first, I was able to breathe through them and no-one even knew they were happening! By about 8pm, the contractions were getting closer together and more intense. I went into the bedroom and set the room up-lighting, nice smells, clean bedding etc- as we had discussed in the sessions. I also played the ‘Relaxation for birth’ MP3 which gave me something other than the surges to focus on. Doing all this helped to give me a sense of calm and control-I knew how to work with my body in labour, so the panic did not come as it had with my first!
As the intensity of my contractions increased, we started to try the different positions we had practiced. I found being on all-fours on the bed most comfortable. I rocked backwards and forwards with my contractions, while using the wave breathing technique. My husband was able to support me physically and emotionally thanks to all the discussions we had had and practice we had done. Whenever I felt the panic rising, I would say my favourite affirmation – ‘all is calm, all is well, I am safe’. My husband too could offer reassuring words and advice, again thanks to the understanding he had gained during our sessions. I was also able to rationalise my panic because I understood what was happening to my body any why!
By now, my contractions were coming very fast and with extremely short gaps in between. We called the midwife who advised us to go straight to the hospital. Grandparents were called and we were in the car by 11:10pm. The surges seemed to be merging, one into another, and I began to struggle with the dis-comfort and lack of space in the car. Thankfully, my husband had remembered everything we had discussed and practiced as part of the hypno-birthing. He was able to bring my focus back to my breathing and supported me to use the techniques we had learnt to work with the surges.
We arrived at the hospital at 11:30pm and by this point, I was feeling the urge to push. Again, I used the breathing technique I had learned in the sessions to help me through the surges. Things moved extremely quickly from this point. No sooner was I taken on to the ward, I was being transferred to the labour room. At this point, my husband began to advocate completely for me. We had discussed him doing this during the sessions with Bryony, so I was secure in the knowledge that he knew exactly what I wanted. Before I knew it, it was time to push. Again, I used the breathing technique I had learned for this. Two very effective pushes later and baby was born at 00:09!
When baby was delivered, the cord was around her neck so we could not have delayed cord clamping however, my husband was able to cut the cord. I had a brief moment of skin-to-skin contact, but baby was not breathing so she was immediately taken to be resuscitated. This took about 5 minutes, during which I was obviously terrified, but baby was soon back in my arms! Our golden hour was spent having skin to skin and feeding baby. I was so happy and more than a little relieved that I had had the birth I wanted, albeit somewhat faster than we had anticipated!
During labour, my husband was a fantastic support. During my first labour, he said that he felt out of control and somewhat of a spare part, not knowing what to do or how to effectively support me. Thanks to the hypno-birthing sessions with Bryony, this labour was a wholly different experience! Throughout the labour he was able to support me every step of the way, just as I wanted. He knew the breathing techniques I would be using as well as the different positions which might help. We had discussed at length what we did and did not want and, in the short amount of time between arrival at the hospital and delivery, as well as in the hours and days following the birth, he was able to advocate very successfully for myself and baby.
I would definitely recommend Bryony and hypno-birthing to any pregnant woman. Thanks to the sessions, I was so much better prepared for labour and birth than I had been with the first. The knowledge, understanding and reassurance I gained from our sessions were invaluable. I fully believe that the sense of control I felt in early labour allowed me to stay at home until I was in established labour and therefore prevented my labour from stalling, as it had in the first. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Bryony and am so thankful for the labour and birth that hypno-birthing gave me.
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