Hi Melissa,

I just wanted to send you an email to say thank you for your amazing Hypnobirthing course.

My husband David and I took your classes in May last year and we welcomed our precious little girl, Alba, in September.

*Warning: long email ahead! But I just didn’t want to skip any details! 🙂

Needless to say, we had a beautiful, calm and very positive birth experience just like you said we could.

The Waiting Game

As did her older brother, Alba came a little past her 40 week estimated ‘due date’. After doing your classes, I was very upfront with my OB about not wanting to be induced (something I did with my first, and although I was still able to have a great natural water birth, I wished I didn’t). At 40+2 he still recommended we schedule an induction for the following Monday as he was a little worried Alba had stopped putting on weight. Trusting my OB I agreed and did everything possible to try bring on labour naturally over the weekend. Clary sage, fear release meditation, lots of walking etc etc. I kept having light surges in the afternoons but by the time I went to bed they would go away.

Sunday came around and I just felt so disappointed about having to be induced again. But after chatting it through with Dave and my mum, I decided to call the maternity ward at John Flynn and let them know I wasn’t going to go ahead with the scheduled induction. The midwife on the phone was so supportive and suggested I come in the next day to check the baby’s heart rate and make sure everything is still running smoothly. However, that night I stopped feeling the baby’s movements and I got a little worried. I called the hospital again and they said to come in straight away. I spent about an hour on the heart monitor and although her heart rate was a little slow for the first half an hour, it eventually picked up and they were happy to send me home. They still requested I come in the next day as scheduled.

I went back to the hospital the next morning, they once again checked Alba’s heart rate and everything checked out ok, but my OB said he would like us to consider induction by Thursday if she still hadn’t come. I trust my OB immensely so I agreed, but I had a feeling we would be able to do this on our own before then.

Showtime!

That very night I started getting some light surges. I was so excited! I was still in a little disbelief as I’d been having light surges every night week but I had a feeling this time they were a little different. I went to bed with the Rainbow Mist track playing to try get some rest. At 4am I woke up, had a shower, called the hospital and my mum to start making her way over to come look after our 2 year old.

Mum got to our place by 5am and we were at the hospital by 5.45am. My surges were getting a little more intense by then, but I would just stop and breathe through them focusing on the feeling of going over waves.

Once we got to the hospital, we went straight to the birthing suite. Once there, they again hooked me up to the heart rate monitor machine (which is hospital policy) but it didn’t bother me – I just kept focusing on my breathing and listening to Rainbow Mist and the affirmation tracks. Yay, this was finally happening! I was so relaxed, I kept thinking they were going to send me home! While on the monitor, they started running the water in the birthing pool which helped me relax even further by focusing on the sound of running water.

At 6.45am my OB arrived. The heart rate monitor was again showing a really slow heart beat and my OB was concerned the baby had passed the meconium and her slow heart beat was a sign of distress, so he requested we break my waters. I was still feeling super calm and I agreed. Thankfully the waters were clear so there was nothing to worry about and I kept labouring as planned. I finally moved into the water which was an amazing feeling of relief.

She’s Nearly Here

The surges were really close together by this stage and my midwife gently advised me that the baby was in a posterior position so I might feel a bit of extra pressure on my back. I knew what this really meant but I tried to keep it out of my mind. I just kept focusing on my breathing and trusted my body knew what to do. My husband kept up the light touch and I got on all fours with my belly resting in the water.

A few minutes later I was crowning. Just as that happened, the coffee and tea lady barged through the door offering tea and coffee despite our ‘QUIET PLEASE’ sign on the door. Again, thanks to my deeply relaxed state I didn’t let that get to me (I actually internally laughed in disbelief remembering you mentioned this same thing happened to you!)

And then just a few moments later at 8.30am, Alba was in our arms! The midwife and my OB were blown away. Alba turned right at the very last second! My OB even said, “it’s a shame we didn’t film it, this is the type of birth everyone hopes for!”

I held our baby girl in the bath for a while to allow time for the delayed cord clamping. I then handed her over to Dave for some skin to skin while I got out of the bath and my OB examined me. No tearing! Yay! I tore quite a bit with my first and this was something I was really really really hoping to avoid this time. I was even more ecstatic!

Happy and Healthy

Looking back, I truly believe Alba’s heart rate was always so low because she was just so relaxed! Six months on, she is still SUCH a relaxed, happy baby! Everyone comments just how happy and content she is all the time.

I’ve never felt so empowered and so in awe of my body. Thanks so much Melissa for sharing your passion and enthusiasm for Hypnobirthing! You are truly making a difference in this world.

I also just wanted to let you know, the midwives at John Flynn were absolutely amazing for both my births, but in particular for this one advocating my Hypnobirthing preferences. They were so supportive and encouraging of all our preferences – one of them even got in a bit of trouble from my OB because she stood her ground on my request not to have a VE! The head midwife/nurse also came to see me the next day because she’d heard about my wonderful birth experience and wanted to learn more about it and see if there was anything the hospital could do to help future mums also doing Hypnobirthing. We agreed on a bigger and brighter ‘Quiet Please’ sign on the door 😉 and perhaps some flame free candles and some aromatherapy scents for the room. They already had a large speaker available with an iPhone doc which was super handy for the meditation tracks.

Thanks so much again Melissa. If there is anything else I can do to help other mums be sure to let me know.

Kindest regards,
Maria