Birth Story by Elke, Hypnobirthing Mum
“With continual inhales of clary sage and being on the toilet, things picked up super quick, Nina within the hour would be there. Lisa told me to feel, as I would feel Nina’s head bearing down, doing this gave me the extra strength I needed…“
I had been anticipating our little Nina would come before her due date, so certain, I was only off by one day (Pierre, my husband, spot on). Nina graced us with her arrival 10 days early and I couldn’t have felt more excited that she was on her way.
My water broke 9pm the Saturday, I laboured at home for roughly an hour and a half before I called my midwife (I am in the MGP Midwife program through GCUH), to let her know my surges were pretty consistent. Much to my dismay, my midwife was not on that weekend, so it went to the next midwife on call. I instantly panicked (even though I knew this was a possibility) I was thinking ‘oh no, what if she challenges my birth plan, what if this, what if that, what if…’ Pierre instantly reminded me about all our techniques and that we had in fact planned for this and we are prepared.
So with that in mind, I got back in the zone, I jumped in the shower and had a stool which I was leaning over. At 01:30 my surges became so intense, all I could do was breathe through them, the Midwife agreed it was most likely time to come. Pierre, mom and I made our way to the hospital.
When we got there, Pierre immediately got her to read my birth plan and as anticipated as if it were my midwife, she was all for my plan and did an initial exam (the only exam). I requested not to know how far along I was, turned out I was already 6cm. I laboured in the shower and toilet for a further two hours with hot water running over me, at this point the pressure became immense and I was ready to get in the bath.
Once in the bath, things began to take a bit of a turn… Everything slowed down, at this point I was exhausted and began losing faith in myself, I started thinking I don’t know if I could do this (mind you I was also thinking simultaneously, you can’t have drugs, no intervention!! You promised yourself that you could do it) my husband even asked if I wanted gas, I think I just didn’t even answer him, but nonetheless my husband became my pillar at this point. At one point I was so out of it I thought my essential oil was my water bottle! Lisa, the midwife suggested to perhaps go back to the toilet/shower, to which I did without thinking as I knew I could just return to the bath.
With continual inhales of clary sage and being on the toilet, things picked up super quick, Nina within the hour would be there. Lisa told me to feel, as I would feel Nina’s head bearing down, doing this gave me the extra strength I needed to bring our little girl into the world. I got up from the toilet with the anticipation to hop back into the bath, however as I did that, I instantly felt I didn’t want to move, I was having Nina right there I decided. As I was standing my legs began to buckle and Pierre had to support my weight as Lisa caught Nina.
Having my mom there was such a comfort as well, though I don’t recall speaking much to anyone knowing my birth support was there helped immensely. From the outside they told me I did extremely well, however there was certainly points where I felt I didn’t handle it well at all and I was failing, but I think I should give myself more credit and be kinder to myself.
Our little Nina was born at 5.45am Sunday the 21st May 2021. She weighed 2.84kg and is 49cm in length. I am so in love.
This was an absolutely amazing 2 day course! With all the unsolicited advice and comments people give you, whether it be intentional or unintentional, it can really be overwhelming especially for a first time pregnancy. Kate has really given me and my husband the tools and most importantly the confidence for a positive birth, no matter how it may turn out. Highly would recommend this for any first timers, it has definitely eased my mind.
Join my Gold Coast Group Hypnobirthing Course
