This week’s birth story comes from the wonderful lady who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Laura Phillips of Calm Birth and Beyond covering Bridgewater, Somerset, UK.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful birth story of your gorgeous baby boy!
I had my baby on the 7th of November on the labour ward at Musgrove Park Hospital.
Before attending Hypnobirthing classes I was really quite anxious about the unknown of labour.
Afterwards though, I felt ready and was actually becoming quite impatient waiting for my labour to finally begin!
In the lead up to my labour, I had a sweep at 38+4 as my cervix was slightly open and I was beginning to get tightenings. My waters then broke at 38+6 in the middle of the night which soaked myself, my partner and our bed!
We then called triage on the maternity unit and they told us to come in to be examined. As I wasn’t in active labour I was sent home to bring on labour naturally but unfortunately that didn’t happen so I had to go back that evening to be induced.
My labour began at 8pm on the 6th of November on the labour ward at MPH after being induced on to a hormone drip. At this point I was excited to finally be meeting my baby, but I was also a little disappointed as my birth plan and water birth had gone out the window due to having to be induced.
I started off the first few hours with no pain relief but I wasn’t dilating very fast, and the contractions were getting stronger so I started with some pethidine that made me a little sleepy and then ended up having an epidural after 8 hrs and only being 4cm dilated.
I managed to get to 9cm dilated by 9am the following morning but at that point my baby had the cord round his neck, so the doctor then made the decision to opt for an Emergency C section. At this point however, the midwife had sent my partner off for a walk and some fresh air as she didn’t realise the doctor was going to make the decision so quickly, so he hurried back and had about 30 seconds to put some scrubs on before we were taken down to theatre.
Throughout my whole labour though I was lucky to be supported by 2 midwives both shifts. The reason for this was because the nightshift midwives were a student and a normal midwife and then the takeover midwives in the morning were 2 normal midwives but one of them was on her first shift back after maternity leave herself so she was being supported just in case but they were all lovely!
The biggest thing that Hypnobirthing helped me with was my breathing, concentrating on my breathing techniques helped me zone out and cope with the pain. My partner also supported me with this and was pretty chilled himself.
Although they class it as an Emergency C section once your down to theatre it is actually quite a chilled experience, everyone that was in the room introduced themselves and stated what role they played and everyone was bubbly and cheery.
In the theatre I was still able to do skin to skin with my baby which was lush (even if he did wee down my face as they lifted him over the drapes!) and I was able to keep hold of my baby the whole time they were stitching me up and doing what they needed to do.
Meeting your baby for the first time is just magical and there is no feeling quite like it!
Once I was stitched up and ready to leave theatre, I held my baby all the way back to the ward and then had tea and toast which was amazing!
Most of my labour was taken out of my control but I feel Hypnobirthing helped me prepared me for that, especially with the breathing techniques and the positive attitude it gave me.
I would go through labour all again as although it hurts, it’s a magical experience and I would certainly attend Hypnobirthing for each pregnancy to prepare myself mentally as I truly believe that’s key.
If you want to create your own positive birth you can start today!
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