Our gorgeous little girl Alexandra arrived at 4:58am weighing a healthy 3.95kg.

As you know at 35 weeks we were told she was in full frank breech position. We tried acupuncture, moxa sticks, swimming, hypnosis, but due to her larger size and limited time to work with, we had an external cephalic version performed at the hospital to put her into the correct head down position. Hypnobirthing came in very handy then as we opted for no drugs – I used the hypnosis tracks to get into a relaxed state and focused on my breathing.  It was a success!  The midwives even commented that I made the right choice with opting for no drugs.

Flash forward to 41 weeks and 2 days into the pregnancy, knowing I was booked for an induction the following evening we decided to try another old wives trick to bring on labour naturally and used castor oil. I’m not sure I’d recommend it as it was quite a violent way to start things off (think extreme diarrhoea all night), but it did the trick.  In the early hours of the morning, I felt period like cramps, and by 9 am I was having surges every 3 – 4 minutes.

We got ourselves to the hospital whilst I listened to positive birth affirmations and hypnobirthing meditations through my earphones, and found at arrival we were 3cm dilated – good progress, but not yet enough to go into the birth suite.  During this time I found being on my knees leaning against the bed the most comfortable option to breathe through the surges.  My husband was invaluable as he talked me through breathing and was a supportive rock throughout.

By 1 pm we were ready to go and entered the birth suite.  Unfortunately, I did not understand at the time what OP meant with her positioning, and as labour continued I felt like my back (tailbone) was on the verge of breaking and I was incapacitated.  We wanted so badly to have a natural drug free birth, but kept thinking of the affirmation “I am willing to take whatever turn my birthing takes” and opted first for gas and air with a hot shower – more of a distraction than anything.  Then we moved onto morphine which did a good job of putting myself and baby to sleep and stalling labour, but did very little for the pain.  Ultimately we agreed an epidural was the most appropriate option for my body.  Now I understand that OP is where her spine faces my spine and we discussed this in class – it is incredibly painful and I take my hat off to any woman who gives birth in this position!  The epidural worked magic and meant I was more calm, positive and relaxed for the rest of the birth.

The whole time we had either positive birth affirmations going, or the music track.  Around 3am the following morning the midwives were tracking baby’s heart and seemed concerned – they went to check progress and found she was only 2cm from exiting the birth canal!  But we had to stop everything as my temperature had spiked – most likely a reaction to the drugs, as I was shaking throughout.  Tests later revealed no issues.  When we were eventually told to start pushing around 4am, the midwife was amazing as she used heat compresses and talked me through timing the pushes and breathing which I felt the hypnobirthing practice helped with as well.  45 minutes of pushing and she was born!  Just like those birth videos shared in class, there was nothing but elation as I was just so happy to see my baby girl!  She was perfect and I couldn’t believe she was finally here!  Welcome to the world baby Alexandra!  We love her so much!

Thank you so much Melissa for guiding us on this journey and opening our minds to a positive, flexible birth!  Xo

Sarah, Phillip & Alexandra