Birth Stories
Fiona's Birth Story
On a sunny Thursday afternoon at 39 and a half weeks, I had been resting my tired and (very) swollen body, keeping my feet up in an effort to reduce the throbbing I was experiencing. I needed a wee so went to the bathroom, but as I walked in the room I felt something leaking out. At this point I thought I had wet myself a bit due to the pressure on my bladder, and there wasn't much liquid so didn't think much of it. Over the next few hours, more and more 'leaks' were happening and so I called the midwife who inevitably told me that my waters had broken, just not in the way that this event is usually thought of.
As the reality set in about giving birth at some point soon, for a moment I forgot all about my hypnobirthing training and was overwhelmed with a sense of panic about not being ready or able to give birth. My husband had completed the course with me and talked me through some of the things we had been taught to remind me that actually, I absolutely could do it.
I had planned a home birth and the midwife had told me that if I didn't start having contractions within 24 hours, they would want to take me into hospital to induce me, so we went for a stroll to try to get things moving. By 11pm, nothing had happened and so we decided to go to bed. We expected to be woken in the middle of the night by labour but we woke at 7.30am. My very thoughtful baby had let me have one last good night's sleep, and almost immediately after I woke up the first contraction came. It was go time! I got up and dressed ready for a long day, but by 8.30am my contractions were strong and very close together. The midwife and my mum were called, and the rush was on to set up the birth pool (at this point we had no idea if we would get it filled in time!)
When the first midwife arrived, I agreed to a vaginal examination - I was already 4cm. Over the next couple of hours, I laboured in my living room intensely but wonderfully, alone with my birth partners. My husband was in the pool with me, encouraging me, and my mum was next to me with the gas and air. I had previously spoken to my midwives about my birth preferences and they supported it in the most wonderful way. They respected my wishes to be left alone unless needed and even pegged my washing out and did the pots!
At 11.29am on the Friday morning, in a birth pool in my living room, my beautiful Luna was brought into the world, lifted out of the water and onto my chest by my husband. I am incredibly lucky to look back on the experience with so much love and warmth. Giving birth has changed me in every way.
I quite honestly didn't have any time for any of the KGH relaxations during labour, but without the course I definitely would not have had the experience that I did. Everything I had learned was in the back of my mind and the people I had around me knew how best to support me.
Before the course, I didn't have a birth plan, I intended to go to hospital when my contractions started and do as I was told. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach for some people, but doing the KGH course made me realise that everybody is different and this wasn't the best option for me and my baby.
The days and weeks after Luna was born are a beautiful blur that was filled with an immense amount of love, and I have the pleasure of taking that with me as she grows up. I will forever be thankful of KG Hypnobirthing and to Lucy, who was my incredible teacher.
Emma's Birth Story
Following a previous emergency c-section that was quite traumatic, when I found out I was pregnant again I knew I wanted to have more control over my body, and wanted a much more positive experience when giving birth to my second. With my previous labour with my now 6 year old little boy, I was told I had to be induced at 38+5 weeks due to him measuring on the large side and me having a heart condition. After 4 days of attempted induction, I was finally able to have my waters broken and after a gruelling 19 hours in labour, I reached 10cm. Great, I thought, time to almost meet my baby! How wrong I was. The baby hadn't moved down far enough and they weren't sure why and I was told to wait to see what happened over the next 2 hours. At that point, a group of student doctors then came into the delivery room and it was only when one of them pointed out that the baby's heart rate seemed off that they realised the baby was in trouble and was, in fact, losing oxygen.
Everything happened so fast from then on and I was instantly whisked off into theatre, my husband was put in a side room not knowing whether myself or our baby boy were okay. They performed the surgery and our little boy was born. He wasn't breathing due to his umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck and was whisked away for treatment. At that point, my body was exhausted and I felt myself drifting off, I was terrified something awful was happening and started panicking, asking if I was ok to fall asleep, not knowing if my baby was ok. I wasn't and hadn't been in control throughout the whole birthing process and it took a long time to understand what happened and why. Luckily we were both fine after a week's stay in hospital, but I knew with my second I definitely wanted things to run smoother and to be in control as much as possible.
That's why I got in touch with Happy Mama, who explained what hypnobirthing was and how it had helped her have the birth she wanted. I'd already decided I wanted an elective c-section for a number of reasons, so wasn't sure if hypnobirthing was still relevant to me but Fiona reassured me that hypnobirthing is for all birth styles.
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On Monday 22nd April 2024, my husband and I set off to the hospital at 6am. I was weirdly calm and more excited than nervous. I felt ready. There were 3 other women before me on the list of elective c-sections that day, but was assured it would be before 1pm. At 10:30am, I started getting mild pains, which I assumed were braxton hicks. But over the course of the next 2 and a half hours they were growing stronger and happening every minute of so, almost back to back. As they were getting stronger I put the breathing techniques I'd learned in my hypnobirthing sessions to good use. I felt very much in control, calm and collected. My husband ended up asking a midwife to take a look to see what was going on. Ironically, the surgeons called me down around 5 minutes later and so we headed down. Just as I sat on the operating table my waters broke! Turns out I was actually in labour since 10:30am when my contractions started and I was that composed and focused I, nor did anyone else think I was!
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Our little girl was delivered shortly after 2pm, safe and well, and I remember absolutely every detail and felt a sense of pride that everything went as I planned. I recovered incredibly well, was out of the hospital in 24 hours and back home as a family, settling into family life as a 4.
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Hypnobirthing taught me that I have so many choices and am actually in control of a lot more than I thought I could be when it comes to delivering my baby. I felt informed, in control and at ease this time round, I only wish I'd have had the knowledge I have now back then!