After watching the introductory video for the Online Hypnobirthing Australia Course – I knew that it was going to be useful.

I was fortunate to have a healthy normal pregnancy and the course – especially our visit from Nicole (our wonderful hypnobirthing practitioner) helped to allay the fears I had of child birth based upon the overwhelmingly negative stories I had been hearing all my life.

One of the affirmations I had on my bedroom wall during pregnancy was ‘my body has known what to do throughout pregnancy – it knows what to do for birth’. My husband Mark and I enjoyed using the resources and Nicole’s advice to prepare for an active hypnobirth and when the time drew nearer we were ready.

I often fell asleep listening to the hypnobirthing tracks and I believe the message ‘I accept whatever turn my birthing takes’ became absorbed into me. Mark and I did utilise many of the hypnobirthing techniques we had learnt during the first phase of my labour- affirmations, massage, acupressure, aromatherapy, breathing, we even watched a couple of episodes of Brooklyn 99 to get those endorphins flowing! These techniques alone with the addition of some gas about 8 or so hours in proved to work for a good 12-14 hours.

As circumstances required I had to be induced, and my labour ended after 24 hours with a c section and most importantly a beautiful baby boy Max ! Throughout the whole time my baby boy was never in distress, nor did my anxiety levels rise too high. Mark was an amazing advocate for me and I felt safe in the knowledge he was able to communicate our needs effectively with the medical team. We discussed the hypnobirthing c section birthing preferences with the dr who was able to reassure us that most of those preferences would be met, it was a good tool to have as we we were not prepared for the c section.

On Max’s first day we learnt that he had picked up an infection and he was placed on a course of antibiotics and transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit. It was a scary time for us, waiting for various test results to come back, but thankfully max responded well to treatment and the more serious infections were slowly ruled out with him eventually being discharged happy and healthy after 5 days.

During this period we used the BRAIN acronym for special circumstances in our discussions with medical staff, it was a handy tool to have when we were both running on little sleep and worried. So though our birthing journey had many turns, the only thing that truly matters is that my baby and I are both safe and well and looking forward to getting to know one another during this special time of life.

Amanda – Darwin

You can find your closest Hypnobirthing Australia Classes HERE.

Find out more about our Hypnobirthing Online Course HERE.