First signs, I’d had some acupuncture, then early the next morning 1am my waters broke. We went to hospital and they sent us home for 24 hours to see if anything happened naturally. Unfortunately it didn’t, despite me trying everythinggggg!! We went back in 24 hours later at 1.30am as advised. When I arrived they said, “You’re here to be induced. ” I responded saying, “I’m here to talk through my options regarding induction.” They looked shocked but we waited and spoke to a lovely doctor. We discussed risks and remembered the BRAINS acronym learnt in our Hypnobirthing course. After a detailed discussion and a step by step walk through, we decided to be induced by the hormone drip, starting on low dose and see how we went.
My midwife was lovely, she was so supportive of the hypnobirthing, and I felt so comfortable with her. She offered me the birthing ball even though I was not on the ABC midwife led unit , and couldn’t use the birth pool as I was hooked up to drips and continuous monitoring, I felt really relaxed.
I put one ear phone in and Lloyd asked them to dim the lights and he sprayed our Neil’s yard spray periodically around the room- everyone commented how nice it was. My mum was there too who previously was sceptical about hypnobirthing but is now a huge fan!!
I had listened to the sea of serenity and nature but decided I preferred just the music in the end. I had listened to them so much during pregnancy it was clearly deep rooted in my sub conscious. I was having surges build up slowly over time but I was so “in the zone” the midwife got another colleague in to check, I could hear them saying I wasn’t having any even though the drip was up quite high so I took my headphones out to let them know I was Haha. They were very impressed and asked what I was listening to “because it was clearly working” I told them about wise hippo and one of them was reading the book.
The Midwife told my mum how impressed they were with how calm and relaxed I was, with the induction and surges that close together.
All of a sudden the surges got way more intense, I had gas and air for a bit. They had examined me and I was 1cm. By then I was quite uncomfortable so I opted to have epidural. Because at the beginning I had asked all about the procedure and what happens I felt like I could make that decision with knowledge and because of that I was very calm about it all. When they next examined me 2 hours after, I was 10cm, I pushed for an hour and baby heart rate was going up a bit they were saying they would have to get doctor soon for instrumental birth but I was determined. They did episiotomy ,again I know what it entailed so I was happy for them to. I turned off the hypnobirth music and decided to not be so relaxed and needed to take action. I pushed him out and Arthur was born at 9.15pm 12 hours after I started the drip weighing 9lb 2!! He is absolutely perfect!
The hypnobirthing gave us both such a positive experience. It really empowered me and Lloyd too, as he was able to be so involved and saw his son be born which he says was just amazing.
He’s a happy baby, feeding well and I am loving being a mummy. I think the hypnobirth experience really empowered me and Lloyd too, as he was able to be so involved and saw his son be born which he says was just amazing. He is so proud of us.
It was definitely the right birth for us on the day and we want to thank you for all your support and guidance. I will definitely be recommending wise hippo to any future mummies. I still listen to the instrumental mp3 to get off to sleep quicker when I’m trying to nap.
