Over the course of my hypnobirthing journey, I had a clear vision of the birth that I wanted to experience which was a calm and relaxed water birth without pain relief at our local midwife led unit where I was also born.
I spent a lot of time watching videos of hypnobirths and visualising the experience I would have. By the time I was 36 weeks I felt calm and confident about birth and I was looking forward to meeting my baby.
Unfortunately at 36 weeks my birth plan changed due to a positive group B strep result. Whilst I had no other complications I was now deemed high risk and would need to give birth on a consultant led unit. At that point the use of water as pain relief began to look increasingly unlikely.
I was very upset but I used my hypnobirthing affirmations to move past my disappointment. I would have the right birth for me and my baby.
On 9 February, two days before my due date I had a lovely relaxed day. I went to the cinema to watch La La Land and then attended a hypnobirthing relaxation class.
After the class I realised I hadn’t felt my normal pattern of my baby’s movements and decided to be checked at the hospital assessment unit. I was given the all clear but due to the proximity to my due date I was asked to go back to the assessment unit the next day for further monitoring. At this stage I expected to be home by lunchtime and had already arranged to go swimming.
Following my appointment at the assessment unit the recommendation was that I should be induced. My husband Mark, who was also my birth partner, discussed the reasons for the recommended induction and explored other options available to us. I had never wanted to have an overly medicalised birth and had always felt concerned about an induction.
After gaining all the relevant information we felt comfortable and agreed to proceed with the induction late on 10th February at which point Mark was sent home for some rest. We were informed that inductions often take a couple of days to get going. Five hours later I awoke with stomach pains which I guessed might be mild surges. I managed to breath through the pains using the surge breathing for about an hour. At this point the surges were becoming increasingly frequent and too intense for me to manage on my own.
My midwife examined me and I was having six surges every ten minutes as a result of the induction drugs causing hyper stimulation. An hour later, at 6am, I was 5cm dilated at which point Mark was called and I was moved to a delivery room.
My surges were so frequent and intense I was really struggling to keep focused on my breathing and I felt myself beginning to panic.
Luckily Mark arrived 20 minutes later and this gave me a huge boost. By this point I was also fully dilated and ready to breath my baby out. Mark was able to get me refocused on my breathing and helped me into an optimal position to birth my baby.
Unfortunately at this point some special circumstances arose and it became imperative for my baby to be born quickly. The doctor prepared Mark and I for an instrumental delivery. Mark was aware this was not something I wanted so he worked with the doctor and myself to give me a chance to breath my baby out naturally.
It worked and at 6.59am on my due date Sebastian Matthew Wilson was born naturally without pain relief which was exactly what I wanted from the outset.
Although my experience was difficult and intense and very far removed from the calm birth I had planned and wanted, Mark and I managed to use the techniques from hypnobirthing to remain in control and achieve a natural positive birth.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say how fantastic the staff at Heartlands hospital were. Both before and after Seb’s birth they offered me so much support and were respectful of my preferences.