Hypnobirthing second time experience

by Gemma

When contractions started at 36 weeks, I was expecting another premature baby, however, it was a false alarm. I crossed my fingers I'd make it to term (37 weeks) to be in with a chance of a birth at the Birth Place. 37 weeks came and went, 38, 39, 40, 41 weeks went by... with two further false alarms and a hospital appointment booked for 20 Oct to discuss my options. I now worried about going over the term limit for the Birth Place!

On Friday 17, I'd been having twinges, but had been so uncomfortable for weeks that I put it down to pregnancy pains. Shortly after Grandma left for a visit, Sam and I went to bed around 11pm. Sam fell asleep but I quite quickly realised the twinges had turned into very regular, quite intense, surges.. it was actually happening! I woke Sam up at midnight and we quickly packed the car (for the fourth time!) and headed to my parents house to drop Willow off. Mum and dad were relieved to hear that we were heading straight for the Birth Place as they knew it was the real thing!

We left my parents house about 1.30am and drove to the hospital, stopping every 3 minutes or so along the way to breath through the surges. We walked through the hospital, stopping for every surge, towards the Birth Place. I decided to take the stairs (4 flights!) over the lift (yes, I still have a fear) and arrived at the Birth Place at 2am, quite out of breath!

The moment we stepped through the doors of the Birth Place, I felt an overwhelming sense of calm. The lights were low, the midwives were relaxed and friendly and the general ambience was refreshingly quiet. Sam and I were shown to a family room, with kitchen, sofas, fruit, biscuits, milkshake and tea! I sat on a birth ball in the room whilst we waited for the midwife to book us in.

We were then taken to an assessment room by the midwife (a world apart from Triage I went into with Willow). She was very sweet and had read our 'Birth Preferences', noting that we were practising Hypnobirthing and she said that she had dealt with a couple of other hypnobirths, but apologised in advance in case she used any 'incorrect' words. This was very reassuring for both Sam and I, as I knew that I could be in full control of this labour and birth. I agreed to be examined just once initially and I was almost 6 cm dilated and in established labour. I was still calmly breathing through each surge, aware the intensity was rising.

The midwife showed us to the Daisy room, where we settled in quickly. The room was amazingly calm and relaxing. I was using my hypnobirthing techniques to breath through the surges and felt very in control and calm.

I spent a couple of hours alone in a corner of the room 'in my zone' on my birth ball holding onto some wall bars, listening to calming music and using a TENS machine during each surge. Sam was sat in another chill out area of the room, reading a book and chatting to me intermittently. The birth pool was filled and ready, but I wanted to stay on the ball for as long as possible so I'd really appreciate getting into the water.

The midwife spent most of the time sitting quietly in a corner, occasionally using a mobile monitor to check baby's heartbeat. I can't say I noticed her being there, which was lovely as I was not interfered with at all.

When I got into the pool it was so pleasurable to feel warm and weightless. Sam joined me for support, fed me banana, water and gas and air. The surges got stronger and I quite quickly felt the urge to push, at which point the midwife was not in the room, so I told Sam he needed to get her as the baby was coming!

My waters broke and very shortly after, the baby’s head came out, but it took two surges before the body came out which was a very strange sensation as I could feel her moving around under the water! Then, one last push, and there she was (5:05 am) The midwives passed her through my legs and I held her close. We were all talking until I pointed out we didn’t know whether she was a boy or girl, then took a look and was really shocked to see we had another girl! She was very calm and alert, just like Willow, and didn't cry.

I held her on me until the cord stopped pulsating, then the midwife cut the cord at which point Sam took her for skin-to-skin time whilst I delivered the placenta out of the water. The midwife checked me over (more gas and air required) to confirm I had no tears, which was a great relief.

She weighed 9lb 6oz! A chunky one. Once I showered, I held her and she fed for the first time.

I can truly say that it was an amazing experience, I felt totally in control thanks to using the hypnobirthing techniques I'd used with Willow and practised during pregnancy with Mabel. The Birth Place is a wonderful, if not, perfect environment for birthing mothers and the water is the best form of pain relief. I'm so happy that I have had two positive births and I enjoy sharing my experiences with expectant mothers who have only heard negative birth stories.