Cooper born 25 April 2013

“Second generation hypnobirthing mum ;)”

I can remember asking my mother when I was growing up what childbirth was like. She would always give me the same answer “Your childbirth experience will be whatever you decide for it to be, you can choose to have a wonderful birth”. It wasn’t until I fell pregnant that I asked my mum what she really meant by that and she explained to me that she had calm birthed my brother and I in the early 80’s. Unsure as to whether I would be able to do the same, I did some research and came across the Hypnobirthing Australia website and decided to enroll in one of the courses held on the gold coast. It turns out that it was the best decision I could have made in preparation for the birth of our son. Melissa is a fantastic teacher and provided my husband (Joel) and I with the skill set and confidence that we needed to calmly welcome our son Cooper into the world. Our little ANZAC day miracle. I would not call my case a “textbook” hypnobirth but I would like to share my story to show others that even though things don’t always go according to plan, you are always the one in control of your birth and we should all embrace that fact!

I awoke at around 3am on ANZAC day to what I believed to be regular surges but being a first time mum I didn’t exactly know what to expect surges to feel like. I decided to sit in our rocking/nursing chair and listen to the affirmations soundtrack on my Ipod. After about an hour I felt as though the surges were starting to become more frequent so I started timing them and was shocked to discover they were 2 minutes apart. This is when I woke my husband and told him that I thought I was in labour. He called the hospital because we live a good hour away and they told us to come in if we really wanted to but we might be sent home because I seemed to calm to be too far along.

On the drive to the hospital the surges were coming every 60 seconds or so and I just remember after one surge turning to my husband and saying “Do you really think I am in labour or should we just turn around and go home?”. Luckily he kept driving to the hospital 🙂 When we arrived at the hospital the initial midwife wasn’t very interested in our wishes and tried to hurry me down the corridor to the birthing suite when I was in the middle of a surge. I just remember planting my feet and concentrating on floating up over my surge but most importantly ignoring the small shoves in the back I was getting from the midwife!

When we finally made it to the birthing suite, 2 surges later :), she insisted that I lay down on my back on a bed in order to do the mandatory 20 minute monitoring. So after being pushed, pulled and strapped up, in came the food service asking what I would like for breakfast and asking my husband to order all our meals for the day, followed by a conversation between 2 midwives beside my bed discussing a broken thermometer. At this point I had completely lost my focus and I knew I needed to get off my back and to a quite space. The midwife wasn’t willing to let me off the bed so I insisted I needed to go to the bathroom and then………I refused to get off the toilet hahaha 🙂 Luckily at this point her shift ended and the relieving midwife was familiar with hypnobirthing and was absolutely fantastic. She left me sitting on the toilet because I was happy there and even brought the monitoring equipment into the bathroom to finish the 20 minute monitoring period. She would occasionally poke her head through the door to see how I was going and started to get the large pool ready for my water birth. At this point my husband had set up all our ‘hypnobirthing tools’ and was standing ready and all excited to be of any assistance he could. I can just imagine his disappointment when all I wanted was for him to stand in front of me so I could put my hand in his pocket and remain in complete silence hahaha poor guy.

After about another hour my obstetrician arrived and needed to check how dilated I was which I wasn’t planning on having done but my doctor said it was important for the health of the baby so I agreed to it. I’m not sure who was more shocked, myself or him, when he exclaimed I was 9cms dilated. At this point I was moved to the birthing pool which was the most amazing and relaxing feeling. So much so that I would 100% recommend a water birth to any expecting mum! By the time I was set up in the pool my obstetrician had left and told the midwife to call him when I was further along. After about 10 minutes both my husband and the midwife noticed the change in my breathing as I had started to breathe my baby down. The midwife came over to check me and felt the head coming out. All I can remember at this stage is hearing loud footsteps and her calling down the hallway “I need another midwife in here, this baby is going to arrive before the doctor does”. My obstetrician did make it back in time and our gorgeous son Cooper was born at a healthy 4.12kg and 55cms long at 9:46am after a 6 hour labour. The 2 midwives that were present for the birth and my obstetrician were all shocked at the fact that I had just calmly delivered a 9 pound baby, without tearing! I just kept repeating “Melissa taught me” hahaha and my husband explained we had done a course with Hypnobirthing Australia.

I have attached a photo, from our professional photo shoot, of our happy little hypnobirthing baby ” Cooper Jackson!

The most important message I can give to expecting mums is to take control of your birth! Even when you are met with situations you were not expecting or wanting, at the end of the day, you are in charge and have the right to a beautiful calm birth!!

Good luck to all the future hypnobirthing mummies