My Hypnobirth Story
After the birth of my son in 2010, I went on to train as a hypnotherapist and was pulled towards working with pregnant women in particular.
My son was born in March 2010. He was a planned home birth but unfortunately, during stage 2 he became stuck and distressed and I was transferred via ambulance to the hospital. Once at hospital after being catheterised and having an episiotomy he was delivered. The whole experience for both myself & my husband was very traumatic and it affected us for quite a long time afterwards. I felt like I had handed over my control to other people once we were in hospital and I was very detached from my baby for quite some time afterwards.
When it came to us having our second child, our baby daughter was born in May 2013 under completely different circumstances. Being a hypnobirth Practitioner, I had trained many couples on the benefits of using hypnosis for childbirth and I was eager to practice what I preach! Both myself & my husband wanted a home birth and, even though nothing could be guaranteed, we were determined to have our daughter at home.
I had spent a few months leading up to her birth listening to some of my own recordings which all my clients receive on the course (a little strange listening to myself but I soon got used to it!). I also worked through the course with my husband who was very supportive and found the course content fascinating.
My due date came and went but I stayed very calm and trusted that my baby would come when she was ready. Despite well meaning comments from friends and family about 'being overdue' and even the midwife mentioning that if she wasn't here by day 12 then I would be induced I stayed calm (this incidently was something which wouldn't have happened and I would have refused on the understanding that if baby and myself were OK then there would have been no medical reason to interfere)
3 days after my due date I started to have a few niggles but nothing significant. They felt more like period pains which were barely noticeable. We spent that day, Saturday, with family celebrating the 1st birthday of my gorgeous little nephew. We returned home around 5.30pm and on the way home I had 3 more powerful sensations and had a feeling that my baby was ready to make an appearance. I felt very excited about what was to come.
We spent the following few hours having something to eat and getting our 3 year old ready for bed. I was getting more twinges, but again nothing that was unbearable. I assumed that this was the start of things happening and could have the next day or so until baby made an appearance. I put my son to bed around 7.30pm and watched a little bit of tv with my husband whilst we discussed some of the techniques that he could support me with. We both felt very excited and wondered when our little lady would make an appearance. We joked that it couldn't be that night as it was our nephew's birthday and didn't want them sharing a birthday!
I called triage around 9pm to let them know that things had started, very slowly and irregularly, and the midwife was very understanding but told me that it was still early days and until things were more regular to get some rest so I took myself to bed. I started listening to some of the recordings again which I had on my phone. During the time I was listening to the recordings I was aware that the sensations now were becoming more regular and more powerful but I carried on breathing them away, visualising my balloon whilst repeating to myself, 'I trust my body, it knows what to do.'
My husband came to bed around 10pm and I asked him to start timing the contractions. Between 10pm and 10.50pm they had gone from 20 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart and then things really started happening! My husband called triage again who told him that the midwives were on their way and we made our way downstairs so as not to wake our little boy. My husband called his mum to come over just incase our little boy woke or if, heaven forbid, we ended up being transferred to hospital. I remember feeling a little overwhelmed at the speed that things were happening but kept saying to myself, 'I trust my body, it knows what to do.'
Just after 11pm, whilst coming down the stairs from the toilet, I had an overwhelming urge to bear down and push. This was the only time I panicked a little bit as I couldn't understand why I had that feeling already as surely I had only just started in labour??
Due to the speed of the labour, I didn’t actively have time to practice any of the techniques but my husband was reminding me to stay calm and trust my body and that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t resist or fight anything, even though at times it was a little overwhelming. I focused on my daughter and could actually feel her coming down which was incredible (I had nothing like that with my son as I was lying on my back with my legs in stirrups, the complete opposite to this time, kneeling on the floor against the sofa) I breathed her down and didn’t push, which again felt incredbly empowering. At one point the midwife was giving me instructions to push and I did for a moment and it felt so wrong, like I was working against what my body was trying to do. My body pushed her down all by itself, I just stayed calm and as relaxed as I could.
My husband and mother-in-law very nearly delivered the little lady. She was born in the living room at 12.27am, only 35 minutes after the midwives arrived. I had absolutely no pain relief as there wasn't time. The whole labour was under 2.5 hours! (I had been saying for months that I would have a short labour and had visualised everything going well and quickly!) Our gorgeous little princess was 8lb 6.5oz and had an Apgar score of 9 after only 1 minute.
By 2am everyone had left and myself & my husband were in the lounge with the fire on and lights on low just starring at our baby daughter. Amazing!
To say that I had the birth experience that I could have only dreamt of is an understatement and I know, without question, that using all the techniques and listening to the recordings had a MAJOR role in that experience. I tell all my clients to stay calm, confident & in control and that's exactly what I did!
Our baby daughter is so calm and relaxed. She is feeding great and sleeping really well, already sleeping 6-7 hours from 3 weeks old and is generally a very easy and placid baby, the complete opposite to what my son was like. I know her entrance into the world will have had a huge affect on her as a person and I am so delighted that I could experience the ultimate in natural birthing!
My son was born in March 2010. He was a planned home birth but unfortunately, during stage 2 he became stuck and distressed and I was transferred via ambulance to the hospital. Once at hospital after being catheterised and having an episiotomy he was delivered. The whole experience for both myself & my husband was very traumatic and it affected us for quite a long time afterwards. I felt like I had handed over my control to other people once we were in hospital and I was very detached from my baby for quite some time afterwards.
When it came to us having our second child, our baby daughter was born in May 2013 under completely different circumstances. Being a hypnobirth Practitioner, I had trained many couples on the benefits of using hypnosis for childbirth and I was eager to practice what I preach! Both myself & my husband wanted a home birth and, even though nothing could be guaranteed, we were determined to have our daughter at home.
I had spent a few months leading up to her birth listening to some of my own recordings which all my clients receive on the course (a little strange listening to myself but I soon got used to it!). I also worked through the course with my husband who was very supportive and found the course content fascinating.
My due date came and went but I stayed very calm and trusted that my baby would come when she was ready. Despite well meaning comments from friends and family about 'being overdue' and even the midwife mentioning that if she wasn't here by day 12 then I would be induced I stayed calm (this incidently was something which wouldn't have happened and I would have refused on the understanding that if baby and myself were OK then there would have been no medical reason to interfere)
3 days after my due date I started to have a few niggles but nothing significant. They felt more like period pains which were barely noticeable. We spent that day, Saturday, with family celebrating the 1st birthday of my gorgeous little nephew. We returned home around 5.30pm and on the way home I had 3 more powerful sensations and had a feeling that my baby was ready to make an appearance. I felt very excited about what was to come.
We spent the following few hours having something to eat and getting our 3 year old ready for bed. I was getting more twinges, but again nothing that was unbearable. I assumed that this was the start of things happening and could have the next day or so until baby made an appearance. I put my son to bed around 7.30pm and watched a little bit of tv with my husband whilst we discussed some of the techniques that he could support me with. We both felt very excited and wondered when our little lady would make an appearance. We joked that it couldn't be that night as it was our nephew's birthday and didn't want them sharing a birthday!
I called triage around 9pm to let them know that things had started, very slowly and irregularly, and the midwife was very understanding but told me that it was still early days and until things were more regular to get some rest so I took myself to bed. I started listening to some of the recordings again which I had on my phone. During the time I was listening to the recordings I was aware that the sensations now were becoming more regular and more powerful but I carried on breathing them away, visualising my balloon whilst repeating to myself, 'I trust my body, it knows what to do.'
My husband came to bed around 10pm and I asked him to start timing the contractions. Between 10pm and 10.50pm they had gone from 20 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart and then things really started happening! My husband called triage again who told him that the midwives were on their way and we made our way downstairs so as not to wake our little boy. My husband called his mum to come over just incase our little boy woke or if, heaven forbid, we ended up being transferred to hospital. I remember feeling a little overwhelmed at the speed that things were happening but kept saying to myself, 'I trust my body, it knows what to do.'
Just after 11pm, whilst coming down the stairs from the toilet, I had an overwhelming urge to bear down and push. This was the only time I panicked a little bit as I couldn't understand why I had that feeling already as surely I had only just started in labour??
Due to the speed of the labour, I didn’t actively have time to practice any of the techniques but my husband was reminding me to stay calm and trust my body and that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t resist or fight anything, even though at times it was a little overwhelming. I focused on my daughter and could actually feel her coming down which was incredible (I had nothing like that with my son as I was lying on my back with my legs in stirrups, the complete opposite to this time, kneeling on the floor against the sofa) I breathed her down and didn’t push, which again felt incredbly empowering. At one point the midwife was giving me instructions to push and I did for a moment and it felt so wrong, like I was working against what my body was trying to do. My body pushed her down all by itself, I just stayed calm and as relaxed as I could.
My husband and mother-in-law very nearly delivered the little lady. She was born in the living room at 12.27am, only 35 minutes after the midwives arrived. I had absolutely no pain relief as there wasn't time. The whole labour was under 2.5 hours! (I had been saying for months that I would have a short labour and had visualised everything going well and quickly!) Our gorgeous little princess was 8lb 6.5oz and had an Apgar score of 9 after only 1 minute.
By 2am everyone had left and myself & my husband were in the lounge with the fire on and lights on low just starring at our baby daughter. Amazing!
To say that I had the birth experience that I could have only dreamt of is an understatement and I know, without question, that using all the techniques and listening to the recordings had a MAJOR role in that experience. I tell all my clients to stay calm, confident & in control and that's exactly what I did!
Our baby daughter is so calm and relaxed. She is feeding great and sleeping really well, already sleeping 6-7 hours from 3 weeks old and is generally a very easy and placid baby, the complete opposite to what my son was like. I know her entrance into the world will have had a huge affect on her as a person and I am so delighted that I could experience the ultimate in natural birthing!