Lauren's Hypnobirth - Lincoln's birth story

** Lincoln Brown - 29th June 2016 - 3.98kg - Family Birth Centre **

I stumbled across hypnobirthing when I joined a Facebook group at 12 weeks pregnant. I’ve always wanted to have a water birth and wanted it to be as natural as possible, so once I read the Info about it I knew I wanted to give it a go. I started my classes a bit late due to my husband working away but once I got to 32 weeks he started working closer to home again and Laura accommodated us into a group class. I went into the classes with an open mind and even though a part of me thought it would be a group of hippies chanting and smelling weird oils I decided to give it a good go! I’m so glad I did. After my first session I realised that it’s all common sense and makes perfect sense to trust our bodies. There was no pressure that if we didn’t achieve a natural birth that we had failed in any way, and everyone was lovely and normal !

I had my last session on the Sunday and felt ready to have my baby! I listened to the affirmations and practised the visualisations and also went to yoga and had a few floats to prepare myself mentally. I really didn’t know what to expect but knew that I was excited about the birth and didn’t fear it.

I had booked into a birthing centre and the midwives there completely supported my choices. On Wednesday the 29th of June I woke up at 8am and felt a bit queasy. I put it down to not having had much sleep but after I had a cup of tea I vomited it straight back up. Afterwards I started getting some tightenings in my tummy but assumed it was a bit of a tummy bug and, after an hour, I realised they were starting to form a pattern.

I text my midwife to let her know and said I should call in if it started to progress more. I carried on pottering around the house for another couple of hours and thought I was probably in very early stages and wondered if my baby would be here before the end of the week. Around lunchtime I decided to have a bath and listened to some hypnobirthing tracks. Once I started to relax and listen to my body I realised that the surges were starting to get quite close and stronger. They weren’t painful but I had to concentrate when they happened.

I called my husband and he came home. I told him to have a shower and get lunch before we decided what to do next. I still hadn’t lost any of my plug or waters so thought I would stay at home for as long as possible. However once I got out the bath things started speeding up and I felt like I should get to the birth centre. I rang ahead and they asked me a few questions and suggested I stay at home a while longer but I had a feeling I should get there soon.

They agreed to me going in as we live over 30 mins away and we could always go home again if needed. The car journey wasn’t the most comfortable as I was sat down and wanted to be upright, I listened to “Surge of the sea” on the way which is my favourite track and found it helped me get through the car journey.

Once we got to the birth centre, I was taken to my room and the midwife asked if I would like to be examined. I agreed as I wanted to know if my instincts were right and the surges seemed to be pretty constant now without much break between. We all got a shock when she checked me and told me I was already 9cm. She disappeared to get the pool ready and I sat on the floor and breathed through the surges. Ryan did the light touch and applied pressure during surges – I don’t think I opened my eyes once.

By the time the pool was filled up, my bod was involuntarily bearing down and I had no control over it. It was a strange sensation and I just went with it and trusted my body and didn't try to stop it. My waters were still intact and were starting to come out like a water balloon. I was comfortable on the floor cross-legged but the midwives said if I wanted the pool I had to go now. I made my way across the hall and got into the pool. The water felt amazing and I moved around until I got into a comfortable position. I carried on with my breathing and was completely unaware of my surroundings and who was even in the room.

All of a sudden I felt a different sensation that was still not painful, but different. I heard the midwife say that the head was out and to get ready to see try baby! I told my husband to go and catch him and he went round to the side of the pool and Lincoln was born into his arms. Still inside his waters. He brought him up to me and laid him on me and the midwives removed the membranes from around him. He was so peaceful and didn't even look like he realised he was born. We stayed in the pool until the cord stopped pulsating and then we went back to our room for some rest.

After a while, I was check and I was informed that I had quite a nasty tear which I didn't even realise at the time. I hadn't felt any pain like you would have expected. I would have to to up to the hospital and go to theatre for a repair. I feel this is where the hypnobirthing got me through something I wasn't expecting. I started to feel quite panicked and really didn't want to have the surgery, especially as it was to be done under a spinal. I started going over our affirmations and the relaxation breathing and felt much better about it. I had the surgery and before I knew it I was cuddled up in bed with my gorgeous boy. He was and still is amazingly calm and everyone comments on how content he is.

Although things didn't go as I imagined afterwards, I am so thankful that I got to give him the entrance to the world i did and if anyone also me how the birth was I can honestly say it was the most amazing and empowering moment of my life. I really did feel like Wonder Woman that day! Everyone is so quick to share their horror stories and I think everyone should know that birth doesn't have to be scary - we were made for this! Even is you need intervention or things don't go as planned, then the mindset that hypnobirthing gives you can prepare you for that and not let you dwell on it.

Thank you Laura for giving me the opportunity to have this experience and I will be talking to everyone I know about Hypnobirthing!