How hypnobirthing helped me through

Whilst the birth I experienced wasn't what I had as an ultimate plan, I had also gone into birth with the mindset that I wouldn't let any variations upset me or stress me out and I would employ all the skills I had learnt during hypnobirthing regardless.

One of the most precious things we did for our family was go down the hypnobirthing route, whilst we left it quite late to attend I feel that we used it the entire way through labour and birth and it was invaluable.

All the midwives commented on how good my breathing was and I really felt good and in control. There were a few hours where I achieved the most incredible zoning experience I could imagine, I was so powerful and had my cervix been playing ball I know I would've gone the whole way in that wonderful bubble.

It was after I had been in labour for over 24hrs, I had been in the bath for around 2 hours and during that time, each surge was assisted by the water weightlessness and I could really get deep down breath into my body. I find it easier to achieve deep breathing on my back but as I was going through back labour, it was only achieved when I moved to the bath.

I would have a huge surge of heat at the same time and Tom spent almost the entire time with a small fan on me. This increased the sensations on my body, very similar in the way that the light touch massage works and I could feel myself going deeper and deeper.

I started to get a bit wrinkly after a couple of hours so chose to get out of the water and carried on labouring whilst leaning over the sink and staring into my own eyes in the mirror. This centered me so much and I could see my reflection so calm and serene that it took the experience deeper.

Each surge just increased the level of power that I felt and it was amazing, I was enjoying meeting each one and it really was an experience like nothing else. You can feel the natural hormones coursing through every vein in your body, it feels like you're being stroked by liquid silk, inside and out and, you feel soft and full and complete. This softness doesn't stop in the confines of your body, it radiates out of you in waves of energy and I found watching myself in this process was like nothing else, it stirs you deeper than you can imagine. The only thing I can compare it too is the effect of your newborn baby's stare, it drinks you in and takes your heart and sole in with it too.

Then the plot twist

Shortly after this I asked to be checked for progression as I was convinced I was well along. Unfortunately, I hadn't progressed at all and this really broke my concentration and did get me down quite a lot. Because of this, all my body's amazing work was knocked right back, right at the time I needed it.

I am slightly hazy with timings of everything at this point as I couldn't write it as I went along due to the frequency of the contractions. I think that it was prior to getting in the bath that I thought I had gone through the transition I talked about as it definitely wasn't after.  Either way, once I had been delivered this blow again I wanted to get back in the bath as the surges where so intense they were taking my breath away, which goes against everything you need for hypnobirthing. The bath just didn't offer me to relief it did before and I couldn't get comfortable.

The amazing ability of our bodies

The sensations were totally different now, I genuinely did everything I could to get back to where I was but it's a process, not something you can force.  It was just after this that my parents and sister came to see us and a midwife came in to discuss some pain medication.

She explained that what I was experiencing was my body working to turn Leo from OP to OA, ready for birth and my discomfort was causing me to fight against it, causing even further discomfort.

She said that the diamorphine would allow my body to relax and allow me to sleep a little,  thus enabling the process to work. I agreed that this was the way to go whilst trusting my body to do its thing.

Diamorphine dreams

I think dreams is a bit lenient, but it was a beautiful experience. So restful and chilled and whilst I slept my body completed its mission. Again, just one more thing I am so utterly blown away by.  It's incredible that it managed to turn him so effectively in prep for an easier birth.

About half an hour later we were down being induced and this whole process was pretty efficient. My body responded really well to the drip and his lordship was unaffected.

Induction prep

I had used my hypnobirthing breath and mental stability to prep for the induction and this helped no end. I was utterly exhausted though and this was the main hindrance for me. But without the hypnobirthing mental stability I would never have approached it the way I did. I felt safe, I felt calm, Leo's heaetrate was stable throughout everything and there was no stress outside of fatigue.

Post birth

Post birth I made use of the hypnobirthing to cope with the discomfort due to stitches and a 59hour labour and I now use the stability and serenity I have learnt from hypnobirthing to cope with the newness of parenthood and it's working wonders. Leo is super chilled and a really easy baby so that obviously helps, but I do wonder if he is super chilled as every part of my pregnancy and most of my labour was super chilled too.

The rest is history. If you have any stress in your mind around pregnancy and birth then do this, even if you don't have any concerns, do it anyway. It's a birth experience worth practicing for.