“Here is our story of the hypnobirth of our Beautiful baby boy… Lumi Alexander Cohen, who came into the world on 20.07.19 at 03.28 via C Section at 40 weeks gestation and 5 days.
My partner Josh and I did a one to one Hypnobirthing class with Janet and I can honestly say I’m pretty sure our story would be a lot different if we hadn’t… there would definitely have been a lot of freaking out!!
Janet has been an amazing support for us both during pregnancy, labour and after the birth of our boy, and we will be forever grateful.
Our ‘plan’ was to have a lovely homebirth… pool was hired, affirmation board set, towels, liners all ready to go, even down to snacks for the midwives!!
Lumi had been breech for a long time, and I was booked in for a scan at 37 weeks to check if he had turned, and he hadn’t. I was then “offered” a C Section at 37 weeks… yes, 2 days after the scan.
I was so disappointed that the homebirth I had planned was out of the window and a C Section was the preferred ‘option’ I was given. Natural birth was so important to us and I hadn’t planned on any pain relief let alone surgery!
Because of my hypnobirthing tools I decided I would coach myself into going for it and having a vaginal breech birth.
I had a lot of support from Janet, and the consultant I was under. I practiced my relaxation and breathing daily which really helped, and visualised how empowered I would feel having a vaginal breech!!
I politely declined an ECV, had moxibustion and reflexology, did spinning babies exercises, but he was very comfy where he was- and I was absolutely ok with that 🙂
On the Thursday morning I started feeling twinges, that became quite regular and stronger by the afternoon, I thought this is it! Off we went to the hospital that evening to be then sent home after an examination as nothing was happening yet.
On Friday my surges were much stronger and my waters broke at around 5pm. My surges were then coming every 8 minutes and were a lot more intense. I stayed very active for those 48 hours and used my breathing for pain relief.
On Friday evening around 6pm off we went to hospital, in the active birth room and we were met by the midwife I had seen the night before and the consultant, which I was so happy about.
My partner Josh and my sister (who has also practiced hypnobirthing) were with me until 2.30am on Saturday morning, helping me to stay relaxed, helping me with my breathing. We used aromatherapy and had a very dark room playing Riverdawn (The background music to Katharine Graves Hypnobirthing)
My consultant and I made the decision at 3am that it would be best to go in for a C Section, as Lumi’s heart rate was dipping after every surge, and he seemed distressed. It just wasn’t happening for us!
I felt disappointed that I couldn’t have the natural birth I’d hoped for, nonetheless I knew I’d tried SO hard and stayed unbelievably calm- I definitely have my hypnobirthhing tools to thank for that!!
Lumi was born via C Section at 03.28 and it truly was the best moment of our lives!!
All the staff were amazing and knew how much we wanted a natural delivery- they followed our birth plan as much as possible- we still had delayed cord clamping, lots of skin to skin on delivery and a calm, peaceful labour with minimal intervention.
I can honestly say I wouldn’t change a thing- and would definitely encourage ALL to practice Hypnobirthing- as it prepares you for every possible outcome!!
Already excited for my VBAC (not just quite yet though!!)
💙💙“ Sophie Thompson 🤱🏼