“Stella is now quite an alert baby, is able to self-settle fairly quickly and we’ve developed a beautiful breastfeeding relationship. I believe a lot of this is largely due to your classes and I have been proud to advocate Hypnobirthing to other women in my mother’s group.”

STELLA’S BIRTHING DAY

Aaron and I attended your Hypnobirthing classes back in February. We chose to attend Hypnobirthing initially because we had quit smoking several years prior using hypnotherapy and as I tend to get quite anxious during situations I have no control over, this seemed like the perfect avenue for us.

Following your first class, we immediately felt empowered about how we would prepare for Stella’s birth and were amazed at how many choices we didn’t even know we had. We immediately downloaded the rainbow relaxation cd which I listened to diligently on my ipod every night. Aaron also read through the rainbow relaxation script as well as the deepening scripts on a regular basis and I soon found it quite easy to get in a deep state of relaxation with Aaron reading to me, so much so I often fell asleep when we were practicing! This was our saving grace as we purchased our first home and moved house 6 weeks out from Stella’s birth (yes, I know you said so many people do this – we were no exception!).

So now here is the story of Stella’s arrival.

Friday before Stella was born, I was in full blown nesting mode. I cleaned the whole house, top to bottom, changed our bed linen and even made sure I shaved my legs! Saturday morning I woke at about 4.10am with some discomfort, but didn’t think too much of it, other than I may have overdone things the previous day. That was until about half an hour later when I felt what I was sure was another surge. I started to get excited because I wasn’t due for another two days and I was adamant that I didn’t want to be overdue and had already discussed with my OB that induction was a no-go until at least 12 days past my due date.

Sure enough, the surges continued throughout the day. They were quite bearable, and I even went to my next door neighbour’s Tupperware party in the morning as it was my first chance to meet the other neighbours in our new street. They were excited when they discovered I thought my labour had started and I had been having surges throughout the morning!

The surges continued throughout the day and started to become more regular after lunch. I kept active, moving from side-lying on the couch to leaning over my birthing ball and leaning and swaying against the wall through the surges. With each surge, visualising the blue ribbons drawing up helped me through the first part of the surge and then I visualised floating down the back of a cool, crystal blue wave on the second part of the surge. Aaron also read to me the deepening script with the hand dropping and also read through the rainbow relaxation. He also read out affirmations that I had selected and reminded me to keep my face and hands relaxed with surge. I had phoned the hospital to let them know things had started, but as my surges weren’t regular enough and I hadn’t needed to take any pain relief, the midwife said that it was likely I’d be at home all night and once the surges were at least 5 minutes apart regularly, to give them a call and come on in.

Finally at about 10.30pm, I felt a strong pressure and heard a pop as my waters broke – it was at this point things got more intense! Aaron phoned the hospital and they said it was best I headed in. We had a long 30 minute drive into the hospital and by the time we arrived and moved into the birthing suite, it was 11.30pm. After a quick examination, the OB indicated I was already 8-9cm dilated. The drive to the hospital and a less than Hypnobirthing-friendly midwife unnerved me and I found it very hard to get back into my nice relaxed state. Aaron kept talking to me though, helping me with my breathing and continuing with affirmations. I admit that I did crumble and asked for pain relief, but because I was so far dilated, this was no longer an option.

I decided to sit on the toilet as this felt most comfortable and natural to help breath Stella down. I eventually moved to the bed at the strong suggestion of the midwife who said the side lying position with Aaron supporting my leg would be best. Initially I wasn’t keen on being told what to do, however once I moved to this position, she indicated Stella’s heart rate had dropped and we needed to work to help Stella out quicker. This goes to show you also need to be open to the midwives suggestions.

Although the midwife was telling me to push, I blocked her out and kept birth breathing and visualising the “J”. Once Stella started crowning, it was only 3 short surges and a few loud noises from me and Stella arrived. The OB was happy to comply with our delayed cord clamping request, although as Stella’s cord was quite short and she only reached onto my lower belly, they allowed it to pulsate for as long as they could before they had to clamp and cut so Stella could move onto my chest for skin to skin contact. We still got a couple of minutes of pulsating cord blood though – very happy!

Stella is now quite an alert baby, is able to self-settle fairly quickly and we’ve developed a beautiful breastfeeding relationship. I believe a lot of this is largely due to your classes and I have been proud to advocate Hypnobirthing to other women in my mother’s group. I’ll definitely keep practising the breathing techniques and look forward to doing it all again with our next bub!

Thank you so much for the knowledge you imparted not only to me, but to Aaron. I couldn’t have got through without his support and techniques he learned in your classes.

Amber & Aaron, Brisbane