This is a powerful positive birth story shared by parents who attended my Complete Hypnobirthing Course in the spring. It's a perfect reminder that any birth as the potential of being a positive and empowering experience, and that Hypnobirthing is for ALL births - particularly if your journey is not exactly the one you had initially 'planned' for.
"M and I wanted to update you on how the birth went; and how much everything we learnt during the hypnobirthing course with you helped us to have an incredibly positive birth experience, despite everything not quite going to plan.
I ended up in hospital at approx 30 weeks pregnant as we thought the baby was moving a little less than usual. After doing a scan, we were told that baby was fine but was measuring a little small for her gestational age (7th percentile). The hospital said that they wanted to monitor her with additional scans on the run up to the birth. We had another scan at approx 35 weeks which showed she had moved to the 12th percentile which the consultant was happy with, however, they decided to do a final scan at 37 weeks and baby was back in the 7th percentile and the consultant was concerned that her growth was slowing and my placenta might not be working as it should. We then had a very honest conversation with the consultant who recommended that we had an induction at 39 weeks due to potential risks to baby of going beyond this. Because of what we had learnt with you Charlotte, we felt confident and empowered to question the consultant and learn more about the options available to us, but ultimately we decided that we would go ahead with the induction as we didn’t want any additional risk to our baby. However, it was really hard coming to terms with having the induction as it meant that aspects of my birth plan such as using the pool and being home for much of the process had gone out of the window, as I was told that I had to stay in hospital from the point of induction so that baby could be monitored throughout. But we decided to focus our energy on what we could control and focused on getting things ready for our birthing room (lights, nice smells, pillows etc) and listening to the audios and relaxing playlist. We were determined to make it a positive experience regardless (as we had learnt on the course that things often don’t go to plan ).
However, little did we know that things were about to get a little more crazy! We were booked for an induction at 39 weeks (which coincided with the hottest day ever on record). We were told that it was common for inductions to be delayed by a day or two and so when we received a call on the Monday morning to say that our induction wouldn’t be that day due to there being too many people booked in, we didn’t think much of it, and were kind of glad that I wouldn’t be giving birth in the heat!!. However, after being told every day that our induction would most likely be the following day, we received calls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning to say that there was still no room to bring us in for the induction and that they couldn’t tell us when it would be due to unprecedented demand. By Thursday, we were starting to get anxious and upset given what the consultant had said to us about the risks to baby of going to full term, and because we kept mentally preparing ourselves to go in, only to be told that it wouldn’t be that day. On Thursday afternoon we got a call from someone at St Michaels to say that they still didn’t have room to bring us in, and in fact, no hospitals in Bristol did. The only option that they could give us was to go to Exeter for the induction ad birth, and that if we did want to go, we had to decide there and then as they had a slot for us that afternoon/evening. At that point I got really upset, as the thought of driving for 1.5 hours to somewhere we didn’t know was quite overwhelming. However, after talking about it, we knew it was the only option which would give us some certainty and control over the situation, and it would bring us closer to meeting our little girl. So, we jumped in the car with all our bags and made the journey down the M5 to Exeter.
When we arrived at the hospital, the staff were immediately so welcoming and incredibly sympathetic of our situation. We arrived at around 6pm and they induced me (pessary) at approx midnight, talking me through the whole process and answering any questions that we had. I was told that the induction might take a while to work, and that it might not be successful (requiring a hormone drip as a second line of treatment). I was also aware from the consultant, and generally, that inductions could make things a bit more prolonged and painful, but decided to keep a positive mindset - knowing that whatever happened would lead to us having our beautiful girl in our arms. The staff very kindly arranged for us to have our own private room so we could get some rest overnight.
At about 4am I woke up with what felt like mild period pains, which became more intense surges as time went on. At about 5am, I woke M up and decided to ask for some pain relief. They gave me some paracetamol and asked if I wanted to have a bath to help with the surges. I said yes, but by the time the bath was run, I felt too uncomfortable to stay in and had to get out. After a couple of hours of surges which very quickly had got more intense, I asked M to call for help as I wanted to discuss where I was in the process. Given what we had learnt with you about the process of birth, my feeling was that my labour was more advanced than I suspected the staff on the ward thought, given how close together the surges were and how long they were lasting. Unfortunately, the midwife took a while to get to us as they were doing their changeover, and in the meantime, I started to feel a lot of pressure and the urge to push. By the time the lovely midwife arrived, I told her that I thought the baby was coming, and so she asked if she could examine me to see how dilated I was. She asked if I wanted to go for a wee first, and as soon as I sat on the toilet I felt a rush of water and my waters broke whilst I was sat on the toilet!!. I then managed to get on the bed so that the midwife could check progress and she very quickly said that she could feel the baby’s head so we would need to do straight through to delivery suite!
I gave birth to our beautiful girl and immediately had her placed on my chest as requested in my birth plan. It was the most wonderful moment of my life. N was born at 10:08 am - only 10 hours after induction and after only 5 or so hours of "labour". The whole experience was so calm that M was able to watch her being born and eventually cut the cord.
After I was wheeled through to the delivery room, the midwives advised that I could push when I felt the urge to do so. I remembered what we had learnt with you on the course, and kept in mind that the pushing was really just letting my body do its thing and what it was designed to do. I talked to the midwives about the best position to be in and felt so empowered at this point, using every surge to get us closer to our baby being born and every break between surges to prepare mentally for the next. I knew that this phase wouldn’t last long and kept really focused on having our baby in my arms. About 50 minutes after arriving in the delivery room, I gave birth to our beautiful girl and immediately had her placed on my chest as requested in my birth plan. It was the most wonderful moment of my life. N was born at 10:08 am - only 10 hours after induction and after only 5 or so hours of "labour". The whole experience was so calm that M was able to watch her being born and eventually cut the cord. We didn’t get chance to set up the room as things happened too fast, but did manage to have our trusty playlist playing on my phone throughout .
Despite the birth experience not initially going as we thought, we are sure that what we learnt on the course helped us to remain in a positive mindset, and I’m sure that then helped the birth to go more smoothly.
We want to thank you so much Charlotte. Despite the birth experience not initially going as we thought, we are sure that what we learnt on the course helped us to remain in a positive mindset, and I’m sure that then helped the birth to go more smoothly. M was also the best birth partner I could have asked for, and I know that he gained a lot of knowledge and confidence on what to do from the course. He was incredibly supportive and calm throughout and became the point of communication between myself and the midwives during surges, which enabled me to stay ‘in the zone’ and work through each one.
Thank you for being such a key part of the wonderful birth experience that we had."
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