At week 41 and still no sign of baby, I was starting to feel fed up. Chris and I had tried the ‘natural’ things to bring on labour with no result. We had been offered a sweep at 40 +3 days, which we had politely declined.
At 41 +2 days, around 7pm I had cramping which progressively become more powerful. I used the breathing techniques learnt in hypnobirthing to remain calm. The comical side of this happening was Chris sat at the table sorting through different screws and bolts arranging them into size order while I shouted yep when a surge came and ok when it had gone – he had downloaded an app that worked all the timings out for us.
We eventually called the hospital and were told come to come in if we felt we needed too. Chris and I decided we would hold off as we were feeling relaxed and that we had this all under control.
When we eventually made our way to the hospital arriving at 0230am, we were taken straight into a birthing pool room, I was thrilled as I had hoped for a water birth!!
We explained to the midwife we were Hypnobirthing and gave her our birth preference list. She was beyond accommodating and allowed us to prep the room with music and low lighting. It’s hard to explain but it was all very calming and relaxing.
My surges soon changed and I felt the urge to bear down, Chris encouraged me to remain focused. This was the part I knew would be challenging and hard to stay focused through. I remember Chris looking me in the eyes and saying not long now! I was excited that I would soon meet my baby and ecstatic that I had done this with just some gas and air. Unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan and on assessment we were told baby had shoulder dystocia and monitoring baby was a little difficult.
My little boy came into the world with a little help that we hadn’t anticipated but because of the Hypnobirthing this change to our birth plan was taken in our stride.
I remember telling myself over and over throughout the whole experience “remember the breathing”. I truly believe that without the knowledge and techniques we gained from Liz via the Hypnobirthing sessions this really would have been such a different experience!
Chelle & Chris