I just wanted to let you know that Alivia Maree Jenner has safely arrived! And what a beautiful arrival she had to enter this world!!

On my due date (Thurs 27th Oct 2011) I woke up at 4am and noticed my birth show. Surges began soon after and were 10mins apart. They continued all day and were mostly quite bearable. I relaxed in different positions around the house and began my slow breathing which really helped. Brad and I double checked we had everything packed and ready to go in case we needed to make a dash to the hospital during the night. Surges continued all night and varied between 10 and 8 mins. I managed to get 1 hours sleep. 4am Friday morning surges began to speed up coming every 5mins and then some every 3mins. I continued to listen to my relaxation tracks and Brad would read me a script every now and then. Brad was getting a bit nervous as the day went on wanting to go to hospital but I told him I didnt feel/think that I was very dilated and I didnt want to go to hospital only to be sent home (we live 50mins away from Mater). So we continued at home till 5pm that evening and when the surges intensified, I decided we could go. In the car I lied down on the back seat and had Brad play the positive affirmations which was great. On arrival to the Mater I began vomiting with each surge. This made it extremely difficult to relax and focus on my breathing. During my initial observations the midwife heard my iphone playing the Hypnobirthing rainbow relaxation and became very excited asking ‘are you Hypnobirthing?’. Brad explained to her that we were. She did a internal and said excitedly ‘you are 3 cm dilated ” that’s great cause that takes the longest’. Meanwhile I was thinking ‘only 3cm!!’. The midwife suggested she let us go up to the ward so Brad and I could continue to focus on keeping me relaxed as she didnt want to send us to the birthing suite and have staff put pressure on us to ‘help things along’. We were up on the ward for 4 hours. While we were up there the surges intensified again and Brad read me a few scripts and began using pressure points on my lower back. We moved to the birthing suite and I immediately got into the bath. I was very relaxed in the bath breathing up with each surge thinking ‘blue satin ribbons’ (which is funny as I remember thinking to myself in the Hypnobirthing class ‘I dont think I’ll use that tool’) and then as a breathed out I was visualizing baby down and opening rose. The midwife we were assigned in the birthing suite had requested us as we had Hypnobirthing on our chart and she had hypnobirthed her first child. She was fantastic. She just left Brad and I to do our own thing and just checked on us every now and then. I moved to a couple of different positions, in the shower, on the ball, back in the bath but at 3am I wanted to be on my side in the bed. At 4am my waters released on a contraction and sprayed across the room I came out of my relaxation to giggle for a moment before the next surge came. It was soon after that I began to breath my baby down using the birth breathing. I was surprised at the intensity of the NPR. It took me a few goes at being able to breath with the NPR but once I got the hang of it our baby girl was soon crowning and I breathed her out in only three birth breaths. Brad cried and I was laughing with complete joy once our baby was born. Our baby girl had arrived and was birthed calmly, gently and completely free from any drugs. We were both on such as natural high. I was also super excited when the obstetrician reported that I didnt tear and I  managed to birth my placenta only a couple of mins after Alivia was born and didnt need the oxytocin injection.

Alivia took to the breast straight away and is an alert happy baby. She is very content and loves her food! My recovery has been amazing. I went back to gym 10days after the birth and am feeling fantastic (apart from a little sleep deprived!!).

During my labour my midwife keep telling me how amazing I was and I didnt really think anything of it until a couple of other midwifes popped their head in to see Brad and I in action. It was only then that I figured that they must be talking about us outside of the room. After Alivia was born the midwife told us that she was honored to witness the birth and felt guilty that she was going to be paid for a nights work when she didnt really do anything. This made Brad and I both feel very proud. So all in all a 50 hour labour and no intervention needed.  Thank you so much for your support ” I have friends all wanting to know more details about Hypnobirthing!

Tanya & Brad, Cedar Vale, Brisbane