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24 Nov 2022
Our amazing birth experience!
My waters went at 5am, we utilised tools learnt on our hypnobirthing course and stayed as calm as possible. As I had group B strep so we knew we had to go in once they had gone for IV antibiotics, hypnobirthing taught us to be prepared and to be relaxed so we had a few days worth of snacks, films and home comforts packed expecting a long labour.
We both showered and drank a quick cup of tea in bed ready to take on our birth. With a quick stop for a McDonald’s breakfast we arrived at the hospital at about 7am. We went to triage and my contractions started straight away, I had low platelets throughout pregnancy so I had a blood test on arrival to check whether I could have an epidural or a spinal in the case of an emergency.
Having been advised by the anaesthetist a few weeks prior that it was unlikely they would drop below the threshold level we didn’t really give it too much thought. We weren’t timing my contractions and the intensity snuck up from nowhere, I had been there for about an hour and a half and the midwife asked if I’d like an examination. She struggled to reach my cervix but reckoned about 3cm, it didn’t seem like much longer and the contractions felt like they were every 3-4 minutes already.
My mom called and I said we would see how we went without her, I put the phone down and immediately burst into tears and asked my partner to make sure she came. Bad news followed as my platelets had dropped but I was in too much pain to let it worry me, hypnobirthing had encouraged me and my partner to have discussions about the worst case scenario that we wouldn’t have had without it so I didn’t feel anxious or worried. I had also mentally prepared that an epidural would be out of the question and that a general anaesthetic may be necessary in an emergency. So keen to keep adrenaline at bay we asked about other pain management options briefly and carried on breathing through contractions.
They managed to cannulate in-between them and I had a dose of codeine followed quickly by the gas and air. Time slipped away and they wheeled me to the delivery suite (I had hoped for the MLU but due to my complications this was overridden at the last minute). Again I didn’t let the change of plan get me down, I used tools such as my happy place and breathing techniques etc to keep me calm. I was examined again and she reckoned 7cm but again she wasn’t sure but I was - I knew I was ready to push. My Mum arrived and the midwife told me to listen to my body. I’m not sure how long exactly I was pushing for but the pain was intense, it was like an out of body experience - people were talking to me but I couldn’t hear a word, until ‘episiotomy’ was shouted by the midwife and I shouted back HELL NO and pushed him out with the next contraction.
Our beautiful baby boy was born at 11:53am weighing 7lbs exactly, I was not feeling great after hyperventilating on the gas and air slightly so after about 5 minutes of skin to skin I passed him to Dad. My Mum held my hand while I got stitched up and I knew our baby was in good hands. It was the most amazing experience ever and I get sad to think it is all over- I would rewind time and do it all again if I could.
As the birth was quick my little candles and aromatherapy oils didn’t have time to make it out the bag unfortunately but all the other elements of hypnobirthing definitely played their parts. My partner said that he felt in control, we were really worried how he would cope as he is not a fan of blood or needles but he says hypnobirthing really prepared him- he was amazing and watched the whole thing, he even cut the cord which is something he had previously said he didn’t want to do.
I would say hypnobirthing really prepared us both and definitely played a part in our quick labour - we had a plan and also knew what we wanted should things go wrong so I was able to encourage oxytocin not having to worry about the unknowns. I would recommend hypnobirthing 100%, I felt so empowered throughout the whole process of pregnancy and birth because of it.
Imogen and Sam - Stourbridge, Worcestershire