This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple Chloe & Chris who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Bryony Bugg of Beefearless Hypnobirthing based in Cyprus as well as running On-Line courses.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us!
My journey into hypnobirthing didn’t start with wanting a natural birth, when I first saw the advert, I dismissed it as too hippy as I had decided (because of fear) I wanted ‘all the drugs’. It wasn’t until Bryony explained what hypnobirthing really was that it peaked my interest. I’m a worrier and the amount of unknowns around birth, because it doesn’t seem to be taught to women anywhere, terrified me. I’d decided within a couple of days of finding out I was pregnant that birth was going to be the worst thing I’d ever experienced. Within 20 minutes of Bryony’s taster session, I’d realised this didn’t have to be the case.
My waters broke dramatically at 4am at 38w1d like you see in the movies – luckily, all over the bathroom floor for ease of clean up! After several minutes explaining what had happened to a very tired husband, we eventually called the midwife who advised we go straight into Hospital because of the risk of infection once waters have broken. My husband and I used BRAIN and because of complications during pregnancy it was the safest thing to do. We arrived at Hospital around 5:30am, I had no contractions at this point but had started to feel pressure in my pelvis. We got to the ward, the midwife completed her initial checks, my consultant confirmed my birthing plan and set out all my options for me as I’d asked him to, so I was well informed. I found out that because my waters had fully broken, I had 24 hours to give birth naturally before the risk of infection became too great. Then, we were left to see what would happen naturally. We dimmed the lighting, changed out the pillows for my own, watched the Office and ate my favourite snacks. We went for walks every few minutes and bounced away on the birthing ball…Nothing happened until 2pm! From 2pm I went from 1cm dilated to ready to push, I found that the contractions escalated and came so quickly that I didn’t have much time to think through my breathing techniques but because I’d practiced them so much I began doing them subconsciously and actually found I strangely enjoyed the contractions because I knew as they intensified that my little one was getting closer. I managed on gas air and air but the pelvic pain had increased throughout the day and at around 5pm after putting it off as long as I could I decided to have an epidural as I was in so much consistent and high level of pain that I wasn’t present to really experience the birth. The anaesthetic I was given was the lightest possible though so I still had use of my legs, could feel contractions and knew the sensation of feeling like I needed to push. My little girl was born at 6.48pm and given straight to me for skin on skin cuddles.
She and my birth were perfect for me – I have no regrets about any decisions I made because Bryony made sure I had the information and tools I needed to make informed choices throughout. I know I was fully in control of every decision and I knew what was happening in my body which allowed me to stay calm throughout, leading to 5 hours of active labour which I’ve been told is very quick for a first birth!
I cannot thank Bryony enough, she enabled me to have the positive experience I never thought possible and now I’m quite looking forward to trying again!
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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