Charmagne and Will. April 2022

My mind in complete disbelief of what had just transpired.

Pregnancy

For the first two trimesters of my pregnancy, I very much felt like my usual self. I felt really good and at times, didn’t feel pregnant at all. I was deemed low risk and besides the standard discomfort and swelling towards the latter stage of my pregnancy, I would say it was relatively smooth and complicated-free.

How did you feel about giving birth? 

I think like any first time mothers to be, you are always a little bit anxious/scared about the birthing part as it’s something you don’t know. I was no exception. I wanted to inform myself and equip myself with as much knowledge as possible . I thought there were only ever two ways to deliver a baby 1)via C section or 2) with an epidural.

Why did you look into Hypnobirthing?

I had read about hypnobirthing online from a couple of social media pages I follow and when a friend of mine who lives interstate mentioned she had enrolled herself to a course, it convinced me to do the same.

How did you find the course? Google.

How did you feel about giving birth after learning about Hypnobirthing?

Ready. Excited. Prepared. Like I was about to be initiated into a sacred ritual. The birthing videos at the start of each class really helped me visualise the kind of birth experience I wanted to have.

What did your partner think about all of this?

William was a wonderful support partner. As soon as I mentioned hypnobirthing, he said YES. Anything I needed during the course of my pregnancy to help prepare for our precious cargo to arrive, he was ready and willing to do.

Early Labour

My waters broke at 1030pm on Wednesday 30th March. William and I were sat on the couch watching tv , (I was lying on my left hand side to help with baby positioning) and William had started to apply acupressure on my hand. After a few minutes, I felt like a trickle of pee that just wouldn’t stop. I raced to the bathroom and figured ”that must’ve been my waters”.

At this stage, I had not had any surges yet. I waited a few moments to see if the trickling of water would stop but it didn’t really. So I phoned my cosmos midwife who suggested we come into the hospital to monitor baby’s heartbeat.

I felt excited and not knowing what to expect, was hopeful that maybe I had already started to dilate/ was having surges without realising (ha ha!) I would soon come to find out that I would definitely FEEL surges! I was in the hospital for monitoring for about 30 mins before the midwives advised we could go home and get as much rest as possible. My waters were still a healthy clear colour and baby’s heartbeat had not changed. We would wait for me to go into active labour naturally in the next 24 hours and if that wasn’t the case, I would be induced.

Active labour

By the time we were back home and in bed, it was 2am. Usually baby would kick when I placed my hand on my belly but that morning, I was a bit paranoid that baby’s movements had changed, so we went back to the hospital for monitoring at 5am (waters still pink/clear at this stage). We were reassured that baby was still doing well. At 8am we were back home again and played the waiting game. At around 1130am on the 31st March, I started to feel mild period pains. I put on my tens machine and kept it on the whole day, turning up the levels as the day progressed. We ordered Indian food for dinner that evening. At around 7pm, I recall my cramps started to intensify – this I would learn to find out were my surges. William started to play meditation music on the tv via Utube, and turned our fairy lights and salt lamp on. I’d go from couch to yoga ball to walking around the apartment and leaning against the wall and doing side lunges against the kitchen counter. I was able to visualise blowing up a balloon as my surges began to intensify and the balloon deflating. William had a timer going, monitoring how long my surges were lasting and how much rest time I had in between each. At around 11pm (or 12am)?, the surges were getting so intense that at one point, I remember asking William for a bucket for me to vomit in. I vomited. I knew that was a good sign that I was progressing. I was so tired already!! The surges just felt like they wouldn’t stop. I asked William to call our midwife Chloe . At this point my surges were every 3-5 minutes. William suggested we stay at home a little longer until my surges would be around 2-3 minutes. Chloe agreed and was happy for us to stay at home as we seemed to be progressing well. So we stayed a while longer at home. To be honest I had no concept of time at this point. I just remember focusing on my breathing, expanding my balloon (surge breathing) and visualising my cervix thin and shorten to make way for baby. At around 2am we had the go ahead from Chloe, who William had been messaging with the whole time, that we could start heading to the hospital and that they would have a room prepared for us when we arrived. Hallelujah!

I was dreading the journey to the hospital. I was already in so much pain and making noises I didn’t know was possible that I was sure I was waking up our neighbours. I had packed an eye mask in my hospital bag which I am so glad I did, as I was able to block out any distraction whilst we were driving and really just focus on my body and my breathing.

When we arrived at the hospital, I signed in and advised them that our midwife Chloe was expecting us. I was in so much pain. They asked for my name, address phone etc..I could still recite all this information quite clearly so I knew I wasn’t transitioning yet ha! A nurse finally greeted us and took us to our room. She asked if I needed a wheelchair and as much as I wanted to say yes, I knew the best thing to move the labour along was to move – so I said I’d walk. It was the longest walk of my life lol.

We finally arrived in our birth suite! I was so impressed with the setup of our room. It was set up with dimmed lights, fairy lights and a salt lamp, just like how we had prepared it at home. There was even a bathtub for me to have my water birth that I wanted with candles around. It looked like a wellness room.

How did you labour in hospital?

I lay on my bed and tried to get as comfortable as possible. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but William had started to put up our affirmation cards on the wall and set up our hypnobirthing playlist! I felt safe and secure in the atmosphere that was set up for me.

I asked Chloe for some pain relief as I was so extremely exhausted that I just needed a little bit of rest. She offered me the gas which became my saving grace!! The gas helped me relax and gave me more time to rest between each surge which is exactly what I needed. However, it also slowed down my labour. Chloe said I should try sitting on the toilet to let gravity help with baby descending. I made two trips to the toilet and back to the bed. The second time, I was able to take a portable gas machine with me in there. The surge breathing was vital to me getting through those surges. I was advised that they wanted to check my dilation before I proceeded to the bathtub. As the water would be so calming, they didn’t want that to slow down my labour . In my birth plan I had advised that I did not want to know my dilation whatsoever, but that William could be informed of my dilation and he would advocate for me as to what next steps we would take that would be best for both baby and I. After a period of time, Chloe had advised that I was ready to go into the water. I was hesitant to go/ make any changes to what I was doing because I was worried it would affect my progress. They asked me a second time if I wanted to go to the water and told me that it would be good for me. William said I should try it and I trusted him. Him and our student midwife Brooke , helped/carried me from bed to bathtub as I could barely walk on my own at this point. As soon as I climbed into the tub, I felt such a sense of relief and calm. The water was a perfect temperature

Birth

Tell me about when things changed and you knew baby descending.

William knelt outside of the bath as I lent on the edge , on my knees. I remember closing my eye and starting to sing a French song that William had made up that he would sing to my belly during my pregnancy. I remember William starting to cry. I J-breathed, beared down and made such animalistic noises and screams I hardly recognised. Multiple rounds of this went on and Chloe said to me, “ Charmagne just reached down and feel the top of your baby’s head”. I remember feeling the opening and feeling slimy little head. I was so in awe and in disbelief that she was right there! I started to talk to her – “Valentina, we’re ready for you. You can come out now. It’s safe.” Another J-breath and came the infamous ring of fire! Ouch!! And then, there was her head. William could see her face under water, reflected in the mirror that Chloe had placed under me. William started to cry some more. Chloe said to stop pushing as it would cause tearing if I pushed. I visualised my baby descending down the birth canal. I would breathe her down and trust that she knew what she had to do. She descended, just like I had seen in all the birthing videos from our hypnobirthing class. I scooped her up from the water and immediately placed her on my chest. I remember that moment so vividly . My mind in complete disbelief of what had just transpired. It’s as if the many hours of discomfort and darkness had completely dissolved and there was light! Her name was Valentina.

What happened after the baby was born.

Valentina cried for a brief moment as she exited the water and into my arms. As soon as she was in my arms she stopped crying. She was so calm. Our hypno bub was finally here ! Valentina and I went back to our bed and cuddled.  Skin to Skin. It was such a magical moment. I unfortunately had no energy left to birth my placenta and I was given a dose of oxytocin to assist . Chloe helped me birth my placenta out . I had a first degree tear and was stitched up quickly. I had the gas during this time while William did skin to skin with Valentina. Valentina was born at 6:37am on April 1st. We left the hospital at 230pm the same day and went home with our beautiful girl!

Afterwards:

How were the first days/weeks after baby arrived?

The first couple of days were so exciting. Valentina was so relaxed and calm. She did have jaundice and had to go back to hospital to be under a billy blanket for 12 hours. First couple of weeks was a big adjustment for both William and I and just getting used to the broken sleep was difficult. Valentina is now 15 weeks old. She is exclusively breastfed. She is calm ,happy , super smiley and a relaxed baby. She sleeps an average for 8-9hrs a night. We are so lucky to have her in our lives!

Did you draw on any HypnoBirthing techniques?

 Yes! I would listen to my affirmations meditation during the day and religious play our rainbow meditation every night before bed. The breathing techniques and visualisation tools from hypnobirthing was vital in achieving the positive experience we were able to have.

What do you think of the program now?

Would you recommend it? I highly recommend hypnobirthing and have recommended it to a few friends already as well as my brother and sister in law who are also expecting a baby later this year.