Sharing with permission, Home Hypnobirth, first baby “Dear Janet, we are delighted to tell you that our gorgeous baby Molly joined us on the 5th Nov at 23:48, 6 days early weighing 8lb 1.5oz, another hypnobaby to add to your collection!
On Sunday the 5th I woke and thought my waters may have broken. With Guy still at sea I knew I had to remain calm so I relaxed at home making Christmas cards. I started to get a sore back and then cramping at the front soon followed, some friends came over for a cuppa so I stayed calm and enjoyed catching up on the gossip.
I then had a call from Guy explaining he had brought his ship into port and he was getting a lift home. I decided to call Helme Chase (Midwifery led unit) as I still wasn’t convinced it was my waters that had gone, as we were 6 days early.
Guy arrived home around 1700 and we jumped in the car to visit Helme Chase, by this time I was experiencing more powerful surges.
We got stuck in traffic so it took us a while to make the journey and to help me remain calm we listened to the “Magic Carpet” and “Positive Statements”. The midwife had reviewed our birth plan and knew we were hypnobirthing so was straight away supportive and using terms and phrases we knew.
She confirmed that I had a hind water leak and that baby was back to back. At this stage, following our plan, I agreed to an initial VE with the results being fed back to Guy, I chose not to find out how far along I was (it was now about 18:30 and I wasn’t in what the midwife would describe as established labour).
Armed with my hypnobirthing toolkit and confident that Guy had additional knowledge, we went home to relax and await the arrival of our daughter. When we got home (husband) ran me a bath, lit some candles and with “Riverdawn” playing I got in to soak while Guy stroked my arm. I focused on my “Upward” breathing while Guy read out some visualisations. I was in the bath for about an hour.
I moved to the sofa but couldn’t get comfortable as the surges were getting more powerful and frequent. Knowing our midwives would be at least an hour away we gave them a call. I got back in the bath while Guy prepared our “birthing suite”, he started pumping up the pool, putting out electric candles, using the lavender room spray and put on a hypnobirthing playlist.
He also brought me a drink of water with a couple drops of Bachs Rescue Remedy. At 21:00 our midwives arrived, I was still in the dimly lit bathroom and they quietly crept in. They asked for permission to listen to baby, so right from the beginning respected our birth plan and followed our hypnobirthing preferences.
At this stage we were using our “anchor word” to help my breathing and apparently Guy now tells me, I was throwing my head back and making guttural noises between surges. The midwife suggested we make our way down to the pool as it was now filled and ready and asked if I would like a VE prior to entering the pool. Keen to know how far along we were I agreed and made my way down to a bed in the birthing room.
Following the VE the midwife discretely told Guy I was “X cm” dilated (in our birth plan we had requested that Guy was to be given information regarding numbers throughout the labour), she checked with me but as I was now curious I also found out I was 7cm dilated (it was now approx. 23:30).
The midwife then suggested due to the urges I was getting to visit the toilet prior to entering the pool and I slowly made my way to our very small downstairs loo. I was still very relaxed and even laughed and joked with the midwives that I now had to back into the loo as I was too big to turnaround once in.
As soon as I was seated on the loo the surges changed dramatically and clearly this was obvious to all as Guy stopped making the midwives a cup of tea and both him and the midwife stood in the doorway of the loo. Guy started soft touch massage on my legs and I had an overwhelming feeling that my body had taken control.
Without any conscious pushing and much to everyone’s surprise a little head appeared between my legs. Guy and the midwife then swapped places and she encouraged me to stand. As I stood up another surge took over and with that our baby was born at 23:48 (it was a very impressive catch by the midwife).
Molly was placed straight on my chest for skin to skin contact and with some help I slowly walked my way across the kitchen to the bed in the birthing room. We were left initially for time together as a family and for the cord to stop pulsing.
After around half an hour (with a little instruction) I passed the placenta and Guy cut the cord. The midwives were incredibly discreet and monitored us from the doorway without interrupting this special time. I was checked over and required no stitches so enjoyed some tea, crumpets and an early feed for our baby.
The midwives packed up and left us, as a family for the first time around 02:30.
Upon reflection the Hypnobirthing techniques allowed us to have the exact birth we wanted, with no medical intervention. The process was calm, quiet and magical. In the days following due to the nature of the birth we have found ourselves confident, relaxed and entirely content. We cannot thank you enough for providing us with the techniques, information, confidence and support to allow us to start our family together.
We are all Hypnobirthing fans for life!”
Janet’s words: In my Hypnobirthing classes I spend lots of time on “birth plans/ preferences” and look at all options around vaginal examination (VE) and the implications of thinking about “numbers/ centimetres” on the subconscious mind 😉