Birth Story by Laura, Hypnobirthing Mum
“I pulled our beautiful baby out and onto my chest from the water at 5.27am. It was truly an incredible experience… People told me there was no way to prepare for what childbirth would offer, and that anything I had practiced and learned would quickly go out the window. This could not be further from the truth!“
This was my first pregnancy, so even though I was very unsure what to expect I did have an idea as to how I wanted to birth. I wanted to make sure my partner and I were on the same page and geared for a positive labour, understanding all potential scenarios and prepared for whatever curve balls might be thrown our way.
I finished work at 36 weeks due to sever fluid retention, and 5 days later at 8pm my waters released. We were able to reassure ourselves that all was ok, and to relax and wait. I phoned our parents to let them know they would hear from us only when they needed. We went to bed to get some rest, but by 9pm early labour started, so I went to the living room to let Anthony rest.
By 10pm he was up with me as he could hear that active labour had started. He began timing my surges and soon realised they were already quite frequent – around 3 every 10 minutes, lasting 1 minute.
I had found most comfort kneeling over the back of the couch. The house was dark, no sound or lights aside from a dull lamp. I had been listening to the playlists provided by the course frequently in the months leading up and had planned to use them, but labour progressed faster than I had expected and it didn’t cross my mind to play them at this point. The only noise was Anthony calmly reminding me to breath during every surge, which was incredibly helpful (funny how one can just suddenly forget to breath!).
By 11pm I was moving between the bed and shower. Resting over a medicine ball with the water running on my lower back, a towel on the shower floor to save my knees. I was nervous about being in the shower so early on but at the rate I was progressing it was what I needed. Anthony was using the pressure points in my feet during surges, which helped as a distraction.
He called our midwife to let her know I had almost reached 4 surges within a 10 minute period, each lasting 1 minute. She listened to my sounds and advised we try to stay home a little while longer. At 1.30am the pressure and sensations shifted and intensified quite drastically and my sounds had changed (only in hindsight and after speaking with my midwife later I realised this is where I transitioned) and not long after I was sitting on the toilet backwards involuntarily pushing (thanks for this hot tip Kate!)
Anthony decided it was time and made the call to head to the hospital. I remember not wanting to leave as I didn’t want the surges to slow down or regress. I was so determined to not let that happen, (looking like a crazy person, luckily not many people around at 2am) I put my eye mask and headphones on before heading out the door – now I was listening to the birthing tracks I had been playing leading up to birth. We knew it was 10 minutes to the hospital, and kneeling on the back seat facing the headrest I counted 4 surges on the way there – so I knew it was working!
To keep me progressing my midwife had me walk from the carpark to the birthing suite (I had no clue at the time given the eye mask) but was guided and supported during surges by Anthony and the hand rails.
Once in the room I went to the bed and kneeled over the back, the position I had been in most labour. No vaginal examination was performed as my midwife could tell through watching and listening that I was fully dilated. Later she had said that watching me rise to my tippy toes during surges on the walk was a strong indication baby was ready to come.
Baby’s heart rate was a little too high to go straight into the water. My midwife suspected this was due to dehydration, so with Anthony’s permission they give me saline via intravenous, reassuring him it was not a form of induction but to hydrate me and baby. I also drank 2 litres of water. 20 minutes later baby’s heart rate was down and I was able to get into the bath. I was somewhat aware there was conversation happening around me, but not once was I asked a question or did I feel the need to know what was happening, I had full trust in my support team, which was so important.
By 3.30am I was in the bath. The birthing suit is dully lit, LED candles had been set around the bath and a speaker playing a playlist I had made. The weightlessness enabled me to rest on my side for a bit, but ultimately found most comfort on my knees again. After a short while my midwife felt progression had slowed, so suggested I try another position. I moved into a deep squat with Anthony supporting me under my arms from outside the bath.
I pulled our beautiful baby out and onto my chest from the water at 5.27am. It was truly an incredible experience. We also chose not to find out the gender, so holding her up when the midwife was calling “what have we got what have we got?!” was extra exciting.
There were 3 other people involved in my birth from start to finish – not a bright room of people coming in and out, no one asking me questions, no poking or prodding or monitors or cords. I was left wholly and solely to focus on my task at hand.
People told me there was no way to prepare for what childbirth would offer, and that anything I had practiced and learned would quickly go out the window. This could not be further from the truth! It was perfect and we could not have been more prepared. I practiced what I had learnt and I am so incredibly proud of myself. I can’t thank Anthony enough for his full loving support in being open to trusting the process and allowing me to have a wonderful birthing experience (and doing his jobs so well – yes, they have jobs!).
And of course, Kate and the program! Her warm demeanour, passion and enthusiasm for educating mothers and fathers on all things labour is one of a kind. It is so much more than just breathing your way through, the science and history behind it all is so incredibly interesting and makes perfect sense.
The 3 of us can’t thank you enough, and will be doing a refresher next time round.
Join my Gold Coast Group Hypnobirthing Course
