The upcoming inevitable birth of our baby was very exciting. It was however a little daunting when I really deep down thought about the birth and the more I thought about it, the more nervous and anxious I felt. I put a lot of thought then into how I wanted my labour to go and what the birth of my baby should ideally look like. I discovered Hypnobirthing through my hospital and after further investigation decided that hypnobirthing was what I wanted. I wanted a relaxed and happy birth with fewer medical interventions. I wanted it to be as natural as possible.
My pregnancy was great, textbook even. I did hypnobirthing classes and practiced the rainbow meditation and birth breathing daily. When I was 40+3 at a routine check-up my baby bump was measured under what it had previously been. I put this down to the baby dropping down lower, however here came the dreaded word induction. Avoiding this with all of my power I opted to have a more natural ‘sweep and stretch’ to help labour come on without drugs. It also meant that I could go home and be in my own comforts and natural environment.
After an uneventful night I set out baking a cake, tidying up and doing my daily household chores. I started feeling some stomach upset around 12pm and put it down to the cramping they had told me I would get from the ‘stretch and sweep’. This continued for a few hours which didn’t bother me, I kept moving and doing what needed to be done. At 3pm I felt more uncomfortable. I cancelled an acupuncture session I had planned to help bring on labour and I sent my husband instead in case we need her in the future. I was confident I wasn’t in labour though as I was timing the, what I now know were contraction and they were not getting stronger or closer together. Due to the fact that I felt like I had more of a stomach upset I kept going to the toilet. Until the point where I felt like I couldn’t get off it. A sudden pressure came on and the ‘waves’ or contractions intensified and my water broke.
Without my husband by my side and unable to contact him I called a neighbour who was studying to be an obstetrician. Days earlier she had given me her number ‘just in case’. While on the phone to her she timed my contractions and realised things had escalated very quickly. My contractions varied between 1-3 minutes suddenly. Unfortunately, she was at work but sent her husband in to me who stayed with me and called the ambulance which instructed me to get off the toilet and onto the floor or bed. Thankful I was wearing a maxi dress I got off and went onto the bed throwing towels down just in case. I was still in disbelief that I was having my baby in that moment. My husband then got home minutes before the paramedics arrived.
The paramedics wanted me to get onto the gurney and I politely instructed them that this was not a drill, I didn’t just need a lift to the hospital, all bets were off the baby was crowning. Very quickly on inspection they too came to this conclusion. Using all of my hypnobirthing birth breathing training our baby was out four minutes later. Thankfully safe and sound I was very lucky he was in the right position and the umbilical cord wasn’t around his neck. I can truly say that birth breathing helped me get my baby out a lot quicker and safer. I never felt tired or out of breath. Although I had a very quick labour I feel like hypnobirthing prepared me mentally to deal with many situations and help my husband and I understand what we did and didn’t want to happen.
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