Sam & Davey Birth Story
My pregnancy was an incredibly special time that I’ll always look back on fondly. I was challenged in ways I wasn’t expecting, but I learned so much about my mind and body in the process.
In the early months, the thought of labour terrified me, and that fear grew after a vasovagal response to my first Anti-D injection. I wondered how I’d have the strength to make it through labour if I couldn’t even make it through an injection.
It was on that day that we met Robina. She’d overheard that I was feeling nervous, so she explained Hypnobirthing to us and invited us to look into the course.
I have a history of anxiety so it was important for me to have a really good physiological understanding of birth as well as techniques to keep myself calm and confident leading up to and during labour, and the course gave us both of those things.
We learned so much about birth, our minds and my body.
Once we’d completed the course I felt 100% confident about giving birth. I can honestly say any fears I had disappeared and were replaced with excitement.
I was 41+3 when I made the decision to be induced. It was something I wanted to avoid, but I had a strong feeling something wasn’t quite right (which turned out to be true). I had the balloon inserted on the Monday night and on Tuesday morning I was woken to have my waters broken. The oxytocin drip was inserted and surges started not long after.
We pinned our opening rose to the wall along with our 3D scan of Summer and some beautiful pieces of art that some of my closest friends made for us to welcome her into the world. I had my lavender essential oil diffusing and used only the TENS machine for pain relief.
I was managing the surges with the surge breathing we’d learned while listening to the birthing affirmations and I felt so empowered. I couldn’t believe my own strength.
The surges were regular for hours, but my cervix just wasn’t dilating. At about 5:30 pm the doctor noticed swelling on my baby’s head and concluded she was stuck. As much as I didn’t want one, she confirmed an epidural would be my only chance to have a vaginal birth, but even with the epidural and another three hours of surges, my cervix had only opened a further centimetre. It was then that I was prepped for an emergency caesarean.
David and I were both incredibly calm considering. We were so supportive of one another, kept smiles on our faces and had a lot of laughs with the anaesthetist.
Theatre was a shock to my senses. The dozens of people, bright lights and cold air on my bare skin threw me initially, but I knew I was in incredible hands. Our midwives were so beautiful and stayed past the end of their shift to be with us for the birth. I practiced my calm breathing as I lay on the table and soothed myself enough to enjoy the experience.
Seeing my daughter for the first time was the most incredible moment of my life. Had it not been for Hypnobirthing and all the relaxation techniques we’d learned, I’m certain the experience would’ve instead been traumatic.
Although things didn’t go as planned (do they ever?), Hypnobirthing allowed us to face labour with knowledge, confidence and excitement.
Not even an emergency caesarean could wipe the smile off my face or the excitement I felt to meet our baby girl, and that’s thanks to Robina.
I would 100% recommend Hypnobirthing to anyone having a baby! I can’t speak highly enough of the positive impact it had on myself, my partner and our birthing experience.
