The Back ground
In all honesty, I couldn’t have asked for a more positive birth experience. But, this is something that did not come naturally to me and if you had spoken to me at the beginning of my pregnancy, I was far from positive and calm. I think this was partly due to the current climate we find ourselves in, in the midst of a global pandemic, but I believe it was also down to the pressure I had put on myself to have a successful and healthy pregnancy and labour following a long period of trying to conceive. We all hear the horror stories of difficult pregnancies and labour, so why should my experience be any different, especially after all the problems we had up until the pregnancy.
It all started with our struggle to conceive. It had taken three years of actively trying, ovulation apps, fertility tests, examinations and doctor’s appointments. In February of this year, we decided we would finally give up trying to conceive naturally and try IVF instead. Shortly after making this decision we conceived naturally and I found out we were pregnant just as the nation was about to go into lockdown.
Obviously we were over joyed at the news after waiting so long, but then came the announcement of restrictions at hospital appointments. No partners allowed at scans or midwife appointments, no antenatal classes, no support groups. Basically no form of guidance for new expectant mums. After our struggles, I was obviously feeling very overwhelmed at this lack of support. It also didn’t help with other mother’s sharing their birth stories of how awful and painful labour is and how scared I must be feeling not being able to have my husband there for the full labour (which is not accurate for South Lakes Birthing Centre, thank goodness!)
Hypnobirthing
Luckily one of my friends was also expecting her second child at this point and suggested hypnobirthing to help me with my anxiety. I had never heard of it before and in all honesty, thought it would be a load of twaddle. However, the more I read about it, the more it made absolute sense to me. The key to a positive labour, is to remain calm and positive yourself. I contacted Kerry and we arranged 3 virtual sessions, which took us through the concept of hypnobirthing, the different stages of labour and vital breathing techniques and positive affirmations. By the end of the course, I had blocked out all negative emotions and felt ready and excited to have my baby. Hypnobirthing made my pregnancy a much more enjoyable experience and I was finally able to be calm throughout and looked forward to the birth.
My Labour
I went into labour at 39 weeks + 2 days after following advice from Kerry, which included techniques on how to induce my own labour, such as eating dates, drinking raspberry leaf tea and going for long walks. The surges started at 10.30pm on a Sunday night and were quite mild. It felt like period pains and the pain was mostly in my lower back. I wasn’t sure whether I was in early labour or not, so sent my husband back to bed and I went downstairs and caught up on ‘I’m a Celebrity, get me out of here!’ The pain came in short waves and was very sporadic. I was calm during this period and rocked gently back and forth on my birthing ball, diffused some clary sage oil and paced the living room floor when there was a change in the surge.
As the surges became stronger, I began listening to my affirmations and started my breathing techniques, all whilst taking a long hot bath. It became uncomfortable lying down after some time, so I moved to an upright position in the shower. What felt like minutes actually turned into hours and before I knew it the surges were coming thick and fast, it was 5.45am in the morning and after my husband woke, he was keen to get me up to the hospital after finding the surges were more than 3 in a 10 minute period. He phoned the birthing centre and they said they would examine me to see how far along I was.
On arrival at the hospital at 6.30am, I was warned that if I wasn’t 4cm dilated, it was likely I would have to return home. As the pain was still bearable at this stage I accepted that there was a good chance I would be going home. To my surprise, it turns out I was 8cm dilated. A shock to both me and my husband, considering I had no form of pain relief up until this point!
The midwives soon located me a room with a birthing pool and it wasn’t long before I was on gas and air. My waters wouldn’t break, which was preventing the baby from coming, so after a couple of hours I requested to get out of the pool and for my waters to be broken by intervention. At this stage, I found it more comfortable being on the bed and I finally gave birth to our beautiful baby daughter at 12.08pm.
The Birth
The birth was very calm and relaxed, the baby’s heart rate was steady throughout and I didn’t experience any tears or grazes. I put this down to everything we learnt in our hypnobirthing classes. All the breathing techniques, affirmations, perineal massage techniques, positive birth stories all led to the most positive and successful labour. I couldn’t have asked for a more positive experience. So if any one were to ask me whether I would recommend hynobirthing…my response would be ‘hell yes’ and I will definitely be returning for a refresher session when we decide to have another child.
