Hypnobirthing classes
First baby, not a clue about birth or even how to care for a baby, so booking sessions with Kerry was the best thing we ever did. My initial thought was that hypnobirthing would involve holding crystals whilst chanting the baby down the birth canal with voodoo rituals – It’s really not. Hypnobirthing is powerful and enabled me to have a calm and relaxed birth, which is exactly what I set out to achieve.
As someone who has only ever experienced surgery once, I started to develop anxiety throughout my pregnancy at the thought of possibly having a Caesarean. I would wake in the middle of the night, genuinely frightened. At our first session, I made Kerry aware of how I felt. Openly speaking about my thoughts helped as it allowed me to get upset.
Kerry then spent time talking through the different stages of labour, as well as introducing the calm breathing techniques to provide me with the confidence to understand and trust my body. It really is amazing to see what the mind is capable of with the right training and guidance.
Labour
There was only one moment when it nearly all fell apart – 5:30am, I was starting to get tired from being awake near on 24 hours and the tears started to fall. I had my husband by my side to remind me of our goal, the reason behind every surge and the importance of staying strong and getting back on track. Birthing partners – I highly recommend you get amongst this course and take in every aspect, as birth is team work!
12:19pm, nearly 12 hours of labour and 20 minutes of active labour, Oscar Dean Wardman was born.
Unfortunately little Oscar needed further care once he was born. I remember being stood outside intensive care in hysterics, but I also knew I had to stay strong for our precious baby boy. As a team, myself and my husband, we breathed our way through the tears, calmed ourselves down and headed back to our boy’s side with a positive mindset.
I set out to naturally breathe our baby into the world and this Mamma did just that. The most wonderful and magical experience. I don’t believe my birth would have been as perfect as it was without the use of hypnobirthing. I feel proud to say that following the birth of Oscar, the midwives who helped deliver him actually praised me on how relaxed and in control I was, never once did mine or Oscar’s heart rate drop throughout. I owe so much to Kerry for every single bit of help and advice she gave to both me and my husband, Ross.
