A Calm Birth

When I was pregnant part of my hypnobirth practice was reading stories of calm births from mothers who had positive experiences and as a first time mom I wanted as much information as possible! Hypnobirthing allowed me, someone with a pathalogical fear of birth to have a relaxed, all-natural, drug free birth, here's exactly what happened!

Wednesday 03:00 I woke with cramps and spent an hour in the shower (any excuse for a long shower though!) before sticking on my hypnobirthing CD and going back to bed to relax.

Wednesday 07:00 Our alarms go off and I am glad to tell Fred that birth is starting!!!! Hurray!! I can't believe I'm looking forward to this! Fred heads off to work and I spend most of the day watching Netflix and having baths, sometimes both at the same time! I listen to my hypnobirthing tracks and meditate throughout the day too, any time I have a 'scary thought' I check my board and repeat my favourite birth mantras. I think my surges ease up for a few hours during the morning and early afternoon, they build up again as the evening approached.

Wednesday 17:00 I demand Fred return from work as I'm starting to get a bit alarmed that something would happen and I'd be on my own, birth was the one time I had no problem demanding what I needed! For the next few hours the surges are stronger but were still nothing more than a mild period, they were completely manageable and in no way frightening. That said, I could easily have worked myself into a state by 'expecting the worst', using the hypnobirth techniques keeps me focussed on the moment which honestly was never that bad!

Wednesday 18:00 I chill out again with Fred home, he puts on George Ezra as a break from constant mantras! George Ezra was one of my anchors (something used in hypnobirth that is familiar and that keeps everyone calm and feeling positive), his music reminds me of our wedding and I'm feeling really happy and excited.

Wednesday 20:30 The surges have stepped up a gear now and are more intense but never overwhelming, the strongest ones make me stop, lean over and take a deep breath, the milder ones make me wonder if they are even surges! Several time I say "Should it not be worse than this?!" We eventually leave for the hospital when our contractions app switches from showing "consider leaving for the hospital" to showing "call an ambulance immediately", we like to live dangerously!

Wednesday 21:00 We arrive in Craigavon Midwifery Led Unit and the midwife examines me and says I am already 4cm. Hurray hypnobirthing had worked so far, I was almost half way there with no agony or fear! In fact I'm still really excited, and even stop to snap a take the piss photos on the way...how are East and West in the same place?! Our midwives are lovely women who are familiar with hypnobirthing and happy to let Fred and I lead Alfie's birth, this is really important to us and I never for a moment feel like we are out of control or being overlooked. After getting up to the ward I spend some time settling in and unpacking before I need to lie down and concentrate on breathing, this was when all of the hypnobirthing techniques became essential, Fred started up the affirmations and I repeat them quietly to myself, staying calm and 'in the moment'.

Wednesday 22:00 At about 10:00 the midwife runs me a bath which is so wonderful, I spend a good hour and half in there and even fall asleep between contractions! While the contractions are happening I fall into the habit of counting them, as each starts I slowly start to count, when I got up to 15 I begin counting back to 0. This is an improvised hypno-technique that came to me the moment, there will be a few of them! This one works as it allows me to visualise a 'peak' that I am to counting up to and keeps me looking forward to relaxing again as I count myself back down. Mind games!!!

Thursday 00:00 Our midwife suggests moving back out of the bath to prepare for Alfie's entrance, from now till his birth I use the birthing stool with Fred behind me for support, I found it very comfy! Things were getting stronger, I'm reluctant to use the word painful as that doesn't describe the feeling well - standing on a plug is bloody painful but birth is more like being immersed in a sensation, its not a massively pleasant one but neither is it one that makes you want to thrash around and scream swear words at the top of your lungs. Fred is now required to use ALL of the support tactics he'd been taught. He applies pressure to my lower back, I cannot explain how wonderful this feels! He alternates between using his palms and thumbs depending on what stage the surge is at. Poor Fred, for about four hours all I did was bark single words at him! "Thumbs......Palms.......Water......Gas & Air.......Story" His stories are AWESOME! He goes wildly 'off script' and ends up inventing the best stories about me, Alfie, our dogs and the lovely afternoons we are going to spend together in our own garden, he fills each story with the sound of bird songs, the smell of flowers, bees buzzing around us, the feel of the sun on our skin. They are amazing, so detailed and so distracting which I really need, I'm spending so much time imagining these glorious summer days that've no chance to dwell on the surges.

Over the next few hours the surges really take over and make my body do what needs done, which is good and bad, at least I can't procrastinate! All I really have to do was not get in the way!

I did have one moment of panic when I realised it was too late for epidurals or caesarians and that I had to get this baby all the way out all on my own! But Fred kept me concentrating on the garden and my breathing and that moment passed. The worst time was the last 20 minutes, Hypnobirthing doesn't advocate pushing (though does advocate calmly and with all the facts making whatever decision is best at the time) and I DID end up pushing for those last minutes as Alfie had gotten himself into a slightly uncomfortable position and wasn't all too happy.

Thursday 01:55 Alfie is born! Thanks to hypnobirth I have defied an entire life time's worth of birth related TERROR to have an easy, quick and happy labour. At no point did I experience earth shattering agony or paralysing fear, I didn't ever feel out of control and I was entirely confident throughout. Birth is hard and fairly sore (but then so is the gym?!) but I shudder to think what it would have been like without Fred and our hypno-techniques, the whole thing was so chilled that Alfie didn't even cry when he was born!