Mikaela’s Undisturbed 4.5hr Hypnobirth in the Water at Home

Birth Story by Mikaela, Hypnobirthing Mum

“I could feel the “ring of fire” as his head was coming out. Our little boy was caught by Cam [birth partner] and passed through to me at 7:50pm. My total labour was about 4.5 hours and I was involuntarily pushing for about 1.5 hours… I can’t wait to birth again at home. It was a beautiful, empowering experience.”

We met Kate for our first hypnobirthing session in her studio at 28 weeks pregnant. For the second session due to be the following week, we had covid, so at 32 weeks, we decided it was convenient for us to have Kate come to our home. My partner Cam, and I took away a lot of techniques from Kate to use in labour and how to advocate for ourselves in case we were in such a situation, although this was unlikely as we had booked a private midwife for a homebirth.

I finished work at 36.5 weeks and prepared for birth by setting up a birth space, writing my own birth affirmations, daily walks and trying to relax as much as possible. My phone was on do not disturb mode so as not to distract me from my relaxed zone, which I highly recommend to deter those “when’s the baby coming?” messages. Some days I ate dried pitted dates, had a cup of raspberry leaf tea and just tried to enjoy the remainder of my pregnancy. Each night I would fall asleep to the Rainbow Mist hypnobirthing track, and the two nights prior to giving birth, I had started some clary sage in a diffuser. I really enjoyed being pregnant, tuning into my baby’s movements and rubbing my belly. I felt lucky to have been well the entire pregnancy and did not experience vomiting, bleeding or cramping.

On my due date, I had mild cramps at 6am. Cam brought me a heat pack before he left for work and I slept deeply until 9am and they didn’t come back. I never told my midwife, whoops! I made breakfast, showered, took what I didn’t know would be my last bump photo, and did a few things around the house until about 130pm. I felt fine. Then I finally sat down to relax and watch ‘Call the midwife’, and I became so restless…

The “cramps” returned in the form of immediate, regular tightenings. I laboured alone in denial from about 2pm-4pm. I started with a heat pack in bed, and when that became ineffective, I kept moving from the bed to the toilet, (sitting backwards hugging a pillow) opened my bowels a few times, walking around swaying my hips, and lots of slow deep breathing. I felt relaxed. I was enjoying the peace and quiet and really went inwards. 

Cam came home from work just after 4pm to find me groaning through a surge in bed. He knew something was different when he saw call the midwife paused on TV. I cried when I saw him, and said “I think something is happening but I don’t want to get nervous or excited incase that makes adrenaline and affects my oxytocin.” He was so helpful setting things up, bringing me water and a snack. My entire labour I only ate a small bowl of grapes. He was giving me some light touch massage on my back and reminding me to relax and soften.

From the get go, I didn’t time the surges but maybe they were 4 mins apart lasting 20 secs, and by 5pm when we timed them they had progressed to 2 mins apart lasting 40 seconds, It was so exhausting. At this point we decided to finally call my midwife. She didn’t answer our two calls at 5:15pm. We also kept checking in with the birth photographer at 5:30pm, 6pm and 6:30pm. By this point I had taken all my clothes off, except a bra. I was so hot, started to become more vocal and had what I didn’t know were a few involuntary pushing urges. 

We got hold of the midwife by text for the first time at 6:10pm who said rest, hydrate lay down on my left side with a pillow between my legs as it might be a while longer or they might stop. He replied that they had been going for 4 hours already and she said to stay in touch regularly. I barely remember this so I think this was the beginning of my “transition”. I had no other doubts, ‘crisis of confidence’ or transition symptoms. I remember thinking once, I can do this, Ive done a half ironman and that was longer and harder than this. 

I trusted my midwife so I laid down in bed. Luckily I had told Cam to lay a towel down ‘incase my waters break’. Clear waters and the mucous plug released on the bed at 6:40pm and I continued pushing involuntarily every surge. It was so involuntary like dry reaching to spew, but downward energy. Cam messaged the midwife and she left home to come to us. I was thinking, surely my body can’t be making these pushing noises and urges already, its only been a few hours. I did my own internal check a few times to feel his head progressing down. 

My face felt so tense during the surges when I was involuntarily pushing and Cam said to relax my face, But I couldn’t, it was so primal. In between the pushing I was so relaxed again.

The birth photographer arrived about 7pm when the baby’s head was crowning while I was still laying on my side in bed. It was too dark for any photos there and I’m glad my space wasn’t interrupted by having the lights turned on. I decided I wanted my perineum under water, so Cam started filling up the pool. Somehow, I managed to walk to the 50+ metres of our long house to the birth pool and got onto my hands and knees in there. In the pool, I noticed it was awkwardly quiet and in between surges, I asked Cam to play Spotify (Taylor Swift radio). 

My midwife arrived about 7:40 and greeted me gently. She asked if she could check my blood pressure and I said yes, in between surges because they’re too intense to move for her during them. But, the birth photographer told her the head is coming out, so the midwife changed her focus. In between another surge, I asked if Cam could catch him, so I heard them talking about what to do. I could feel the “ring of fire” as his head was coming out. Our little boy was caught by Cam and passed through to me at 7:50pm. My total labour was about 4.5 hours and I was involuntarily pushing for about 1.5 hours. 

I wasn’t offered, and didn’t require the synthetic oxytocin injection. After about 10 mins in the pool I walked very shaky from adrenaline with my babe to the toilet and the placenta fell out into a bowl straight away. Cam held our little boy while my midwife checked my perineum and assessed blood loss. She said I had maybe a 200ml loss, and a first degree tear that didn’t require stitches and has now healed naturally. Within two hours of the birth, I was showered and in bed, skin to skin with my new baby. No one asked to hold him, “check him” or take him. He was weighed at 3.4kg and measured when the midwife returned in the morning. I had a few days resting in bed with Cam bringing me food and water, I only got up for the toilet. We didn’t have any visitors for 3 days. We kept the placenta and umbilical cord attached for 6 days and Cam cut it at day 6 as it became very cumbersome. I can’t wait to birth again at home. It was a beautiful, empowering experience. 

Kate was an amazing facilitator of the Hypnobirthing course. The little attentions to detail were so lovely, like greeting couples individually, atmospheric room with diffuser and dim lights, morning tea snacks, and great communication before and after the course. The content really sets you up for being knowledgeable about your body’s natural ability to birth, managing any possible home, hospital or surgical scenario or intervention for birth, including your rights and consent etc. Kate provided so many tools to make labour and birth so calm, natural and relaxing, and guided us through multiple medications, exercises on the birth ball, pressure points and massage. We were able to take part in one day in the studio with a group and the second day a few weekends later in the comfort and privacy of our home. I would definitely recommend Kate to anyone looking for a positive birth experience.