Birth Stories

Helen's Birth Story of Amelia Rosa – “Milly”

born 14.08.09 at 9.02am weighing 8lb 13oz (4.02kg)

Our new baby girl Milly was born in the water on Friday 14 th August 2009 after a 3 hour labour. She was well past her due date by at least 10 days and I'd been experiencing practice labour for a week leading up to her birth.

Throughout the week I'd been relaxing through any of the practice labour, breathing and listening to affirmations. I found the CDs very useful to get to sleep to – just like I'd found them very useful throughout most of my pregnancy. I felt I was well rested by the end of the week.

On Thursday night I went to bed with the usual mild practice surges (contractions/Braxton hicks) hoping that tonight would be the night. To be honest I was totally fed up of being pregnant – along with the constant pressure from friends and family enquiring as to when this baby would be born! I woke a few times in the night disappointed that nothing seemed to be progressing. However I slept soundly between 3-6am and was woken suddenly at 6am with a stronger sensation.

The surges weren't regular – some coming every 5 mins, others every 2 or 3 mins and some were long, some short. So I was unsure of where I was at. Nevertheless we called my Mum to come look after the kids and by 7.40am I'd decided it was time to start to make a move to the birthing centre.

Meanwhile I'd been focusing on breathing and relaxing through each and every surge; plus I had some breakfast and a shower.

We got into the car and towards the end of our 10 minute journey I noticed feeling pressure intensifying and very low down.

On arrival at the birthing centre at 8.15am my midwife checked baby and me, I was 8 cm dilated, baby had descended right down and her heartbeat was fine.

I got into the pool – bliss to be emerged in warm water. Phil used some affirmations and an anchor through the next couple of surges, but very quickly I felt the intensity and pressure increase and the need to breathe downwards. Our baby crowned and I continued to breathe her out – relaxing and letting go as much as I could. My body and my baby did all the work – all I needed to do was breathe through each surge.

It was truly an amazing experience to feel her head crown and feel it emerge – the water giving incredible support to my body. After her head was born one more surge and out came her body.

My midwife passed her to me, cord still intact and we just enjoyed watching her in my arms, waiting for the placenta to detach. It felt like a long time for this to happen as I felt this part of the process was quite uncomfortable, and it was harder to remember to breathe and relax when you have this new little person in your arms! Finally after 30 mins the placenta detached and was born, the cord was clamped and Milly had some bonding time with her Dad while I got out of the pool.

I then breastfed Milly, enjoying the surreal feeling of having had an incredible experience over the past one hour. A lot had happened in a very short time.

I feel incredibly grateful to have been able to give our daughter a gentle and calm entry into this world. Once again I credit the tools and techniques of HypnoBirthing that helped give me the knowledge and confidence to release, relax and let go. My body and my baby truly knew what to do. Plus - and very importantly I had the complete support of my midwife Kate, who is totally dedicated and committed to a natural birth experience.

Belinda's first birth to Layla, 18.03.09

On the morning of Wednesday, 18 March, I awoke knowing today was the day (it was of course Layla's due date).

I had a tiny amount of show around 5.30am and by 7.30am the first signs of surges were apparent. John set the birthing pool up in the lounge ready for our short labour ;o)

As we had planned for a natural complication free birth there was absolutely no doubt it wouldn't go as planned. I breathed through every surge, initially out of the water but then around 9ish I decided to hop in and enjoy the warm water. John called our midwife Carly around 10ish to let her know Layla's journey into the world had begun.

As yet my waters hadn't broken, or in hypnobirthing terms, the membrane hadn't been released. For 2 hours I breathed through surges in the pool with John helping me through them using positive language and verbal prompts we learned at hypnobirthing class, such as you and baby know how to birth naturally and in total harmony, trust your body, long, deep breaths and my favourite Breathe love down to your baby.

After awhile John called Carly again, and I also spoke with her to explain the intensity and timing of my surges. She suggested I get out of the pool to see if this would help them along a bit more. I chose to experience the surges in the shower or on the toilet the majority of the time out of the pool as I didn't like the pressure when not being in the water. John was my rock, as I didn't do any visualisation previously about working through surges out of the birthing pool, so at first was quite startled by the intensity of my surges. His consistent calming voice helped me through every surge, and I just continued visualising Layla coming down easily and effortlessly while breathing as calmly as possible and my cervix opening up like a flower.

Carly visited us around 12.30 to do an internal and to check Layla's heartbeat. Layla was as calm as can be and my membrane was still intact. I was only 2-3 cm dilated. This disappointed me as I thought I was a lot further ahead! Carly gave me some acupuncture to alleviate some of the pressure and to help me along, then left us to it, and just told us to call her with an update or if we needed her back. I stayed out of the water for at least 3 hours even though I wanted to go back in to the pool but Carly had given John instruction to keep me out as long as possible. When I did go back in, my membrane was finally released and I felt such relief. This was when John called Carly and she came to do another internal. I was 7cm (yay!) so Carly went to rest up in our room as she could see that John and I had everything under control. So back in the pool, and by now I was determined for Layla to be born asap! I was at the stage where I was saying to John that it hurt and I couldn't do it anymore. Of course I knew that I could, but it just helped to be a bit sorry for myself for taking the natural route lol. He was awesome, keeping me focussed on our baby and how awesome that she will come into this world naturally and drug free.

By now I just pinpointed on visualising Layla being born, that she was ready and we were ready to meet her. I actually felt like she was stuck, so I visualised seeing her travelling down the birth canal and her head appearing. Seriously soon after I could feel her and it felt like her head was hitting bone, well that's how I was describing it to John and my best friend Kylie who had turned up about an hour prior. Carly came into the lounge and her and John went to get some hot water to warm the pool up, and then Layla decided to show her head, I was so excited when I yelled out "her head's out!" Carly gave me some encouragement and then voila, our beautiful baby girl was born!

It was such an amazing feeling, seeing her arrive, John receiving her, and then Carly putting her on my chest. She was absolutely perfect and looking straight up at me. I birthed the placenta not long after, out of the pool, and John cut the cord after stopped pulsating, and we snuggled up in bed for her first feed soon after that. I only had to get 2 stitches.

It was absolute bliss, and was only 9 hours from start to finish (from when Carly measured me at 2-3 cm). I would do it again naturally in a heartbeat. So that's Layla's birth story, born March 18, 9.07pm, weighing a healthy 8pounds. By the way, the next day Carly actually told me that when she did my last internal my cervix was practically flapping around as I was ready, but Layla was nowhere near where she should be and she too thought Layla was stuck! So I'm so thankful for hypnobirthing and positive visualisation with the amazing support of my husband. We were an awesome team!

Jemma's first birth to Lily, 16.02.09

Jemma's birth story tells us how she gave birth to a whopping 10 pound 8 oz baby with no drugs or stitches and is good evidence that HypnoBirthing® and Yoga work well together.

”I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that we now have a gorgeous little girl named Lily. I had her on Monday (16th Feb) so she is still very fresh and I am still learning all her little quirks.

I had 3 days of latent labour at home which was really hard work. Contractions anywhere from 3 mins apart to 30 mins apart. It was exhausting. But I used every single contraction to visualise the baby coming down into my cervix. I also chanted my yoga breathing chant 'relax' and 'just this breath' in my head as I worked through the contraction and I swear that it made the pain go away. I concentrated so hard on my breathing and relaxing my muscles that by the time I got to the peak of the contraction I could deal with pain very easily.

After 3 days of heavy yoga breathing and positive visualisation I was exhausted but still feeling positive - they wanted to break my waters and get the labour ramped up. Thanks to all the contractions at home I was already 5cm dilated which was great as I knew that all the hard work I had already done had paid off. Unfortunately the baby was posterior so there was a slight worry about it not being able to come out naturally but I just kept positive and had a little word to the baby asking it to please use the contractions to get into the right position so neither of us had a rough time at the end with forceps! So my contractions went to 3 mins within an hour of my waters being broken and I just went into a zone so that when a contraction came I put my head down and chanted 'just this breath' while visualising my cervix expanding and the baby slowly dropping down. I stood up for most of my contractions which I found to be incredibly beneficial for the visualisation as you could really feel like you were breathing the baby down into position.

At one point I felt really exhausted as I had been standing for so long so I got into the birthing pool which was absolute bliss. My husband and I were chatting and relaxing with the lights off and the sparkly starry ceiling lights really made you feel at ease. The midwife came in at one point to monitor me and said that she was worried the labour was slowing down and that I wasn't progressing as with the stage of labour I was in I should have been a lot more agitated and not dealing with the contractions as well as I was. So she got me out of the pool to assess me and found that I was at 9cm which she was really shocked at as she said I was too calm to be that close to the birth breathing (pushing) stage.

So we got out of the pool and eventually got to the point where I could start birth breathing and my contractions slowed down so that I had about 3 - 4 mins between contractions - so the birth breathing stage was just over 2 hours.

My mum who was there for the birth said she couldn't believe that I was bearing down/breathing with all my might during a contraction and then in the minutes in between was chatting and making jokes. I swear its all thanks to Thai Goddess we do in yoga as well as the hypnobirthing visualisations.

But I really wanted to let you know that even though I wasn't a model hypnobirthing student I used some parts of it to really help me during the labour. It helped me to give birth to a whopping 10 pound 8oz baby girl with NO DRUGS! and NO STITCHES!!

It was an incredible experience and I just wish more pregnant woman could be encouraged to birth this way instead of assuming labour is only possible with an epidural! The Yoga Tree practice I did played a huge part too and I would recommend your HypnoBirthing in conjunction with yoga to everyone as I really think they compliment each other well.” Jemma, first time Mum to Lily.

Sara's second birth to Indeg 03.07.09

"We had the most amazing amazing experience... I felt things sort of start to happen about 5ish am on the 3rd of July baby was still sitting quite high and apparently it was baby making it's descent into my pelvis... So my husband and our 2year old and I just hung out most of the day, surges were strong but nothing too bad I was feeling quite comfortable, just listened to the c.d's and tried to relax and sleep as much as possible.

About 3pm we decided to pop in and see my midwife, she did a check (must admit here guys I was quite keen to see how far I was :0).  I was 4cm it was about this time we decided to send our son to nanas' house and Chris and I went back home watched a dvd and did some relaxation techniques.  I was quite big on the shoulder one deeply relax so we did that.  About 5ish pm things started picking up and although no real sequence to my surges I noticed about every 5th one seemed to be stronger than the rest, Chris and I did the glove relaxation, which I think helped a little.  The surges were strong but bearable (amazing experience enjoy every one of them ladies!!).  About 6ish pm we decided to make our way into hospital my midwife had said to wait until surges were about 3 min apart and although I wasn't timing them I was keeping an eye on how regular they were.  By this stage they felt a lot more intense and regular so we thought we'd better drive in as it's about a 10-15min drive.

In the car I put on my c.d through my ipod as I was nervous Chris might fall asleep ;) the car ride was an interesting experience and it was a bit harder to relax but the c.d helped a lot...  Once at the hospital my midwife who was amazing told us to put our c.d's on encouraged us to get comfortable and we decided she could do another check.... much to her astonishment and my amazement I was 9cm!!!!!  Which was exactly what I wanted I did not want to be in hospital for ages so this was just perfect....  

By this time the surges were quite intense but every time I had one on the breath out I'd raise my hand and Chris would do the shoulder technique which worked wonderfully on helping me to relax my breath through them.  Chris also used the prompts from the folder on what words to say etc at each stage we used the balloon filling up and letting go which was great.... Man was I letting those balloon's go!!!!

I did spend a bit of time in the spa which was nice but decided to bear down back in the room, my midwife was fantastic and left Chris and I to it, although when I did look up to see her she was also very focused on me and completely there if I needed her...  We had a trainee midwife who was there a lovely young girl so I'm pleased she got to see hypno birthing in action...  Bearing the baby down is the most unreal sensation I think I will ever experience, I don't really want to use the word again but amazing!!!!   I didn't think i'd know when to change my breathing from surge to bearing down, but your body is prepared and ready and you know.

I hadn't really spoken to my midwife about wanting Chris or I to receive the baby or tell us the gender as she had been at births the last 3 appointments I'd had with her so I hadn't actually seen her, but when the baby came out she just made sure the baby was safely out of me and onto the bed told me to turn around and pick the baby up to see what it was.... My god what an awesome awesome feeling...  I picked baby up and said "It's a girl!!" "I think isn't it".... I was sure we were going to have another little boy so what a delight to find out she was a girl!!!

So we got to hospital at 6.50pm and Indeg Lily was born at 8.30pm, hopefully I haven't bored you with the details but it was such a great experience such a joy to go through it and come out smiling at the other end... "

Jayne's first birth to Charlie, 27 th May 2009

The birth itself was really quite surreal, I had done a hypnobirthing course as I really wanted a natural, drug free birth for both of us. I had a show and started leaking water at 2pm and after visiting the midwife for a scheduled check up half an hour later the Midwife did a sweep on me to move things along as I didn't want the hospital intervening if my waters hadn't fully broken 24 hours later. She told me to keep myself busy for the rest of the Afternoon so both Jon and I went to the shopping mall and to Harvey Norman to buy a heat pump for the house.

My contractions started to intensify whilst I was in Harvey Norman so I went and found some massage chairs sat on those for a while and did my breathing exercises before heading home. Once we got back home Jon managed to convince me to sit down so he could time my contractions as he was concerned that they were getting closer together and the midwife had told him that he needed to call her when I was having three contractions in ten minutes.

I had pretty much zoned out of it by this stage so I didn't pay any attention to the look of shock on his face when he timed the contractions for 10 minutes and I had actually had four. He insisted on calling the midwife even though I was insisting it was too soon as it was 6pm by this time and all I kept thinking was that I would really like to watch the six o'clock news but this whole labour thing was making me pace up and down and want to keep moving or just sit on the toilet!. In addition to that I so didn't want to go into to hospital too early and have them intervene but I just let him go ahead and call her just to stop him worrying really!

The midwife didn't seem to believe him and asked to speak to me so I responded to her with yes/no answers as I was experiencing a surge throughout the conversation and she suggested that I go into the clinic so she could examine me before she headed back home for the day just to see if it was worth her travelling home for the evening.

Once we arrived at the clinic the midwives were waiting for me and made a bit of a joke of my face being that of a woman in labour, asking where my sense of humour was now and should they run for some hot towels! I basically looked through the three of them stuck my hands on the counter and breathed through another surge.

They all went quiet and my midwife suggested I get on the bed so she could examine me, I said to her please don't tell me I am only 1-2cm's dilated as these contractions are pretty full on. I can tell you I was pretty relieved when the voice came from between my legs actually you are 9cm's dilated and we really need to get you to hospital quickly (I don't think the midwife quite shared my sense of relief!).

We got back in the car after the midwives had put a pile of towels in my passenger seat and told me under no circumstances to push if I felt the urge to in the car, and so with the midwife in hot pursuit behind us we made the 10 minute journey to the hospital.

We arrived at North Shore Hospital and after escorting me up to the Birthing suite Jon went back downstairs to park the car. I stripped off (and so began the demise of my dignity) into a hospital gown and insisted I needed to go to the toilet (not for a wee) to which the midwife assured me it was the pressure of the baby not my bowels.

I told her I didn't care I wanted to sit on the toilet and so sit on it I did, after about half a minute I felt a strange sensation called in the midwife (again what dignity) who entered the bathroom to be greeted by the what seemed to be a tsunami that was indeed my waters, membrane and all exploding into the toilet bowl / up in front of me etc!!.

I was told in no uncertain terms to get off the toilet and into the other room as the baby was literally on his way down, I got onto the bed feeling absolutely elated as the sensation to push had taken over the sensation of pressure and I just wanted to get the baby out (in the nicest possible sense of course).

Problem was Jon was nowhere to be seen as he was still parking the car and Charlie's head had started crowning at this stage, after a desperate call by the student midwife on the mobile Jon reappeared with all the bags and was told by the midwife he could see his Son being born if he would like to move down the other end (again my dignity!).

Jon looked extremely shocked but this was soon forgotten as he saw Charlie's head crowning again and after about six pushes Charlie came into the world at 7.36pm with one of his famous cry's and apgar scores of nine just 25 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.

The memory of it will stay with me forever as it truly was the most wonderful experience of my life, I can only describe the crowning as a stinging sensation and when Charlie was finally born he literally slipped out of my body, I will never forget the sensation. He was put straight onto my breast and started feeding straight away whilst I spoke to my Mum, my In-Laws and my Brother who were all in England . As you can imagine they were all pretty shocked as Jon had only called them all less than an hour earlier when we were on our way to hospital.

As I say it was all pretty surreal and the adrenalin really kicked in a few hours later when I was in the hospital bed by myself after Jon had gone home and I recalled the events of the Afternoon and Charlie's subsequent birth.

It was an amazing experience which I totally put down to the hypnobirthing techniques I practised and the only thing I will do differently next time is to have my next baby at home as I really didn't enjoy being in hospital away from Jon and away from home.

So there we go my birth story in all its glory, it's a bit of a novel but you hear so many stories about nightmare births I think it makes a nice change to read about a positive birth story. Four months on Charlie is the most amazing baby, he is so chilled out, has been sleeping through the night since he was three months and quite honestly gives me looks and smiles that convinces me he has been here before!. He took to breastfeeding from day one like a duck to water, is absolutely thriving and is chomping at the bit to start on solids.

I thoroughly recommend Hypnobirthing to any expectant Mums out there it made my labour and Charlie's Birth the most amazing experience I have ever encountered and I am so looking forward to delivering my next baby in exactly the same way (but at home next time!)

"It was such a great experience - such a joy to go through it and come out smiling at the other end... "

Sara