My second birthing experience was polar opposites to my first. My first daughter was born by emergency cesarean something I hadn’t really planned for or expected. I went into spontaneous labour and laboured for over 16 hours and through fear and anxiety my body wouldn’t open and my cervix was stuck at 4cm. We ended up with a cascade of intervention with a fill-in obstetrician who was not in line with our birth preferences which lead to the cesarean birth.

I dreamed of having a natural birth and so I was determined to do things differently for my second pregnancy. 

I needed to release the fear that came with my first birth and put all my trust into my amazing body that had already served me so well throughout my pregnancy. 

We knew we needed an obstetrician that was aligned with our beliefs and someone we could trust to guide us towards the outcome we wanted. We found that in Dr Lionel Steinberg. I also needed tools to help me to surrender to my body. Hypnobirthing was exactly what I needed, so my husband and I enrolled in the Hypnobubs Online Course and our work began as birthing mother and birthing partner. 

We began the course when I was 36 weeks pregnant and from then I listened to the affirmations track daily, as I walked, drove or  cooked dinner. 

I listened to the Surge of the Sea Track as i fell asleep each night. I used the Fear release track on the days I felt vulnerable and when fear crept in again. 

I was 40 + 4 days when I felt the beginning of my sensations. I was home alone with my 20-month-old daughter and without any panic, I began to diffuse my essential oils, turned on my affirmations track and sat peacefully on my fit ball until my husband came home from work. He took my daughter to my mum’s house and during this time the tightening and sensations began to increase and become more intense. As this happened I switched over my tracks to the surge of the sea and never turned off Melissa’s guiding voice until I had our baby girl. Melissa’s familiar comforting voice gave me confidence, peace and reassurance that I had this. With each surge, I breathed into it like a wave. 

As my surges became longer and closer together we were advised to come into hospital. Within 2 hours of my sensations beginning, I was in our birthing suite, breathing calmly through each surge. As I felt my baby moving down I needed to change my breathing and began to bear down each time, my body shuttering with each surge. My husband was the ultimate birthing partner, reading the birthing prompts, reminding me to relax each part of my body as my surges continued.

At this point, my obstetrician needed to check how far I was as my waters still hadn’t broken. I was 10cm dilated, so with my consent, he broke my waters and within minutes our baby girl was with us.

Hypnobirthing changed my life forever, to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) was an incredible and powerful experience. Without the breathing techniques, the amazing tracks to transform my mind I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did in such a calm and peaceful manner.

Thank you

Donna