Evie’s Birth Story
Rebecca’s positive birth using Hypnobirthing
Read the extraordinary story of how Sarah used her Hypnobirthing knowledge to birth two babies, 16 months apart.
On Friday 12th March, at 37 weeks, I was woken during the night by strong cramping in my stomach and lower back. This lasted through the night on and off, but I put it down to false labour as it had gone by the morning. On the Saturday night, the same happened again although this time the cramps were much more intense and lasted around 6 hours. As they were more intense, I went downstairs to sit on my birthing ball, keeping in upright, forward leaning positions and used the breathing techniques through the contractions. Again, they were sporadic and had gone by the morning.
The next morning, I felt very ‘off’ so I started to suspect this might be very early labour. I knew from the course in order to help labour along I should keep my Oxytocin levels high, so I continued about my weekend, meeting family for an afternoon tea, doing some calming skin care and watching a comedy with my Husband. By 7pm that night, the cramping had started again, but this time it was different, and I knew I was having proper contractions. I decided to have a bath to try and help me relax whilst they were still sporadic, and then moved onto my birthing ball when I felt I needed to be more upright and moving around. Each time I contracted, I used the breathing techniques and found myself managing really well.
By 8:30pm they were coming roughly every 3 minutes and were lasting around 1 minute each time. I wanted to stay at home as long as possible, so we continued to time them until I had been contracting that way consistently for an hour.
By 9pm my Husband suggested we both try to get some rest, so we went upstairs to bed. By this point, my contractions were starting to get a bit stronger, so I left him in bed and continued to remain standing and swaying, which was the only way I found helped the pressure in my lower back. At 9:30pm I woke my Husband and said I thought we needed to go to the hospital. He wasn’t convinced we needed to go so early, knowing my wishes to stay at home as long as I could, so we held off. However, just 15 minutes later, my waters broke, and the contractions became much more intense.
My Husband knew it was time to leave as he walked into the room with me ‘mooing’ (and from our course with Claire he knew this mean we were entering the next stage of labour). I called the hospital and had contractions whilst on the phone. They said we could come in to get checked so we did.
When we arrived, we were taken to our room on the consultant led unit due to episodes of reduced movements in pregnancy. This wasn’t where I’d hoped to give birth, and the birthing pool wasn’t available which I had requested, but I felt confident I could still have the birth I wanted. Little did we know, we wouldn’t have time to set up the room with fairy lights and tea lights as planned as baby girl wasn’t staying put long!
Due to reduced movements, the midwife was keen to have me on constant monitoring for baby’s heart rate. I was adamant I didn’t want to labour lying on my back on the bed and made this clear to the midwife, and she supported my decision to be upright and mobile with the monitors, so I agreed to have them.
An hour later, I began to struggle but my Husband was there to remind me to breathe properly and was excellent at providing support. He used light touch massage, back pressure and gave me plenty of cuddles and kisses to keep my Oxytocin high. This was the point where I started to say, “I can’t do this,” which we knew meant I was in transition stage. Again, he was the best support I could ask for.
I started to feel my body pushing during contractions and let the midwife know. She told me to try and resist so not to aggravate my cervix as I wasn’t ready yet. Trusting my body, I continued to tell them that I needed to push, and my Husband advocated for me. I agreed to another cervical check, and she found I was actually 10cms, only an hour after being 5cm dilated – much to her surprise!
I had been standing, leaning over the bed up until this point, but with stronger contractions and urge to push, my legs began to buckle underneath me, so my midwife helped me onto the bed, leaning over the back for support.
I began to push, firstly using the down breathing technique. However, baby was coming down the birth canal and then moving back up after each contraction. My down breaths weren’t quite strong enough to get her further down and the monitors were struggling to pick up her heart rate and because of this, the midwife asked if she could place a scalp monitor onto baby. We knew the risks, and although it’s not something we wanted, we agreed as they were unable to monitor her otherwise. I’m glad we did as it picked up that her heart rate was dropping significantly, and they advised me that they needed to get her out quickly. At this point, I started to push more forcefully and within a few pushes, our baby girl was passed to me, through my legs for immediate skin to skin. I couldn’t believe I had done it, and just on Gas and Air.
Due to previous surgery, my wish to birth my placenta naturally was riskier so I agreed to have the injection to help it along. We waited until the cord stopped pulsating and my Husband cut it. I delivered my placenta very soon after with no complications. They checked me over for tears and it was found that I needed to go to theatre and have a spinal. The spinal was one of my biggest fears that we worked on with Claire during the course. My Husband stayed with our daughter whilst I was taken to theatre so at the time of receiving the spinal, I used mindfulness and breathing to keep myself calm, and I found this really helped me cope with my anxiety.
After I returned from theatre, I was given our daughter back for further skin to skin and she had her first feed within 2 hours of being born.
My labour wasn’t what I expected, nor what I had planned. We didn’t have time to set up the room, or use some of the techniques we intended to, but I can honestly say I’ve been left feeling like it was such a positive experience. When I look back at my birth, it was very quick and intense. But it was the most empowering thing I have ever done!
The help and advice Claire provided us with was invaluable as it allowed us to have the most amazing birth experience. We will be forever grateful!