The Birth of Elissia - Second time mum, water birth on the labour suite
"Hi Debbie,
As promised, our birth story:
For my second pregnancy I really wanted to do a hypnobirthing course as I’ve heard so many amazing things about it. I googled and found the lovely Debbie, who I immediately contacted and arranged to attend a hypnobirthing course. Which was amazing! All Debbie’s teaching on the course and the subsequent tracks and literature that we were given were unbelievably helpful. During the day I would listen to the shorter track and each night myself and my husband would listen to the longer track.
One afternoon I went for my normal 3 mile walk, and when I came home I started to feel twinges. Immediately I put one of the hypnobirthing tracks from Debbie on, and day on my birthing ball. Although the twinges continued into the evening, the next day there was nothing to report! So both myself and my husband went to work. At 4pm I was due at the hospital for a growth scan, as there was concern that I was having a ‘big’ baby, so I met my husband there, had the scan and then waited to see a consultant. we spoke to the consultant and I told him I had been feeling twinges, he asked me what I would like to do and I requested a stretch and sweep (mainly because I had been so late with my first baby), which he agreed to. The midwife gave me a sweep, which I really focused on breathing through as they aren’t pleasant, and pop! My waters broke! Both myself and the midwife were soaked, and pretty shocked! After an hour and a half of monitoring, I was allowed to go home, where myself and my husband put our first child to bed and had some tea. About 30 minutes later I started contracting, they came on quickly and were really strong, but thanks to all the techniques I had learnt with Debbie I was able to calmly focus and breathe through them. We called my Mum to come and look after our first child and we made our way to the hospital. By this time the contractions were getting closer together and stronger, typically the weather was horrendous and so the journey was a slow one, but I kept focused and was able to ‘breathe, relax and let go’.
When we arrived at the hospital, there was no one on the birthing unit, so we had to go to the labour suite where I had to have a debate with a consultant and a midwife over having a water birth, as they were concerned about the baby becoming stuck, so they wanted to intervene, which I politely refused. Again, the mantra ‘breathe, relax and let go’ got me through what could’ve been a very stressful and upsetting conversation.
After half an hour I was allowed to get in the water, and within an hour our second beautiful little girl arrived!! I had no pain relief, no intervention and I had the birth I so badly wanted.
Just as an aside, baby was almost a whole pound lighter than the scans predicted, so had I gone with what the consultant and midwife wanted I would’ve had a birth that I didn’t want with unnecessary intervention. Thanks to Debbie and her positive affirmations and the knowledge that you are well within your rights to challenge, I was able to welcome my second baby into the world in the way I wanted to, so huge thank you!
And thanks again!
Krissy"
"Hi Debbie,
As promised, our birth story:
For my second pregnancy I really wanted to do a hypnobirthing course as I’ve heard so many amazing things about it. I googled and found the lovely Debbie, who I immediately contacted and arranged to attend a hypnobirthing course. Which was amazing! All Debbie’s teaching on the course and the subsequent tracks and literature that we were given were unbelievably helpful. During the day I would listen to the shorter track and each night myself and my husband would listen to the longer track.
One afternoon I went for my normal 3 mile walk, and when I came home I started to feel twinges. Immediately I put one of the hypnobirthing tracks from Debbie on, and day on my birthing ball. Although the twinges continued into the evening, the next day there was nothing to report! So both myself and my husband went to work. At 4pm I was due at the hospital for a growth scan, as there was concern that I was having a ‘big’ baby, so I met my husband there, had the scan and then waited to see a consultant. we spoke to the consultant and I told him I had been feeling twinges, he asked me what I would like to do and I requested a stretch and sweep (mainly because I had been so late with my first baby), which he agreed to. The midwife gave me a sweep, which I really focused on breathing through as they aren’t pleasant, and pop! My waters broke! Both myself and the midwife were soaked, and pretty shocked! After an hour and a half of monitoring, I was allowed to go home, where myself and my husband put our first child to bed and had some tea. About 30 minutes later I started contracting, they came on quickly and were really strong, but thanks to all the techniques I had learnt with Debbie I was able to calmly focus and breathe through them. We called my Mum to come and look after our first child and we made our way to the hospital. By this time the contractions were getting closer together and stronger, typically the weather was horrendous and so the journey was a slow one, but I kept focused and was able to ‘breathe, relax and let go’.
When we arrived at the hospital, there was no one on the birthing unit, so we had to go to the labour suite where I had to have a debate with a consultant and a midwife over having a water birth, as they were concerned about the baby becoming stuck, so they wanted to intervene, which I politely refused. Again, the mantra ‘breathe, relax and let go’ got me through what could’ve been a very stressful and upsetting conversation.
After half an hour I was allowed to get in the water, and within an hour our second beautiful little girl arrived!! I had no pain relief, no intervention and I had the birth I so badly wanted.
Just as an aside, baby was almost a whole pound lighter than the scans predicted, so had I gone with what the consultant and midwife wanted I would’ve had a birth that I didn’t want with unnecessary intervention. Thanks to Debbie and her positive affirmations and the knowledge that you are well within your rights to challenge, I was able to welcome my second baby into the world in the way I wanted to, so huge thank you!
And thanks again!
Krissy"
