Emma and Matt did the complete hypnobirthing course with me in 2020 to prepare for the birth of their daughter. As first time parents they wanted to learn more about how to prepare and what their choices were for birth. Emma kindly shared her birth story with me and was happy to share it here.
Baby Nell arrived just 4 hours before her due date! In terms of the birth it's actually been really therapeutic to write it down. So sorry it's a bit of an essay!
My waters broke at home at 6.30am when I stepped out of bed and it was pancake day so I made Matt and I pancakes for fuel. Popped into the PRUH mid morning with affirmations playing in the car, and they confirmed my waters had broken and let us go home.
Surges started in car on way home, and when we got back I was using a birthing ball and tens machine and breathing. All helped but it was getting intense and Matt was timing the surges and announced we had to go back in already. Did not enjoy that car journey but the tens machine helped.
The Oasis midwifery led unit was warned ahead of time so let us straight in at 3.30pm. I started using gas and air while they filled the pool although it made me feel a bit nauseous so I only did two breaths per surge. They didn't examine me for a while but when they did I was 5cm dilated. Had a nice float in the pool trying lots of positions as the surges got much stronger and then at some point the midwife guided me to start pushing - which felt much better to me than the surges!
Matt was amazing and encouraging this whole time - completely with me breathing through every surge, feeding me water, and handing me the gas and air. I was making all the noises by this point!
I pushed for a while but not much was changing so I got out of the pool and tried some positions on the bed. After another period of time I was still struggling with her head, so the midwife asked if I would like an episiotomy to help with the last bit. Matt was immediately ready to defend a 'no' from me as this had been one of my big fears but actually I felt I needed the help and accepted. One more push and her head was out, the rest of her followed on the next push. She was 9lbs14oz (completely unexpectedly!) which might explain why I had been struggling!
I had planned for a physiological 3rd stage but actually just wanted the placenta out so asked for the injection to speed things up.
They thought I had a 3rd degree tear that would need theatre repair, and then when I was in theatre they realised I was hemorrhaging as the placenta was not intact as they had thought it was, but because I was surrounded by all the experts they were able to fix the situation immediately and they also downgraded my tear to 2nd degree once they had a better look.
Overall I feel incredibly positive about the birth. I had the calm time at home I wanted, I laboured in lovely warm water, and birthed her naturally in the environment I wanted. Matt was just as informed as I was, and was my complete champion/support/defender throughout. Every decision was ours and made with robust knowledge of the pros and cons, thanks to your course - I am so thankful we did it.
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