Baby Harper Rose, 7 lb 2 oz
I woke up at 5.30am on Friday morning with what I thought were relatively strong Braxton Hicks, which were coming every 20 minutes or so. These contractions continued all day without getting any stronger or more frequent so I spent the day seeing patients and cleaning the house as I had planned.
I went to bed about 11pm and woke again at midnight realising my waters were breaking. I phoned the hospital and they asked me to come in to be checked, they confirmed my waters had broken and that I was about 2cm dilated so we headed home for the evening.
Back home I put my hypnobirthing cd on along with some aromatherapy oils and spent about 45mins alternating between cat pose, using my birthing ball and a standing squat, by which time the contractions were coming one on top of the other and were really strong. I was still able to focus on my breathing and remain relaxed(ish) but I had definitely lost my sense of humour!!
By 2.30am and after much discussion, my birth partner convinced me to go back to the hospital (I didn’t believe I was dilated enough and couldn’t face the car journey, my birth partner on the other hand was rightly convinced I was pretty close to delivery).
On arrival at the hospital I got straight into the birthing pool without even being examined and the midwife told me to do whatever felt right for my body. Very soon after arrival I was pushing and 30 minutes later Harper Rose was born at 4.52am weighing 7lbs 2oz with no interventions, no pain relief, no tearing and less than 5 hours after my waters had broken.
The midwives were really supportive of what I wanted to do and the fact I was using hypnobirthing techniques. I had low lighting, everyone was calm and quiet and my hypnobirthing cd’s were playing throughout the birth. I felt in control and able to cope throughout most of the birth and whenever I did question myself I could hear the words of the Hypnobirthing tracks reminding me what to do or what was happening.
The birth certainly wasn’t painless but it was relaxed, natural and a very positive experience for me, baby and my birth partners.
Thank you again for everything, I really cannot praise the hypnobirthing techniques enough, I felt so in control and confident that I could birth my baby naturally and I know that my birth partner felt they were totally able to deal with everything during the birth and to explain exactly what I wanted and why. My birth partners knowledge of the different phases of birth and in particular transition (which I went through at home) meant they were able to coax me into the car and to the hospital!!
I would love for as many women as possible to use the techniques and have a similar sort of birth experience to me.
