Zoe's Hypnobirth - Taj's birth story

** Taj Bloomer - 23rd December 2015 - 3.91kg - Fiona Stanley Hospital **

I first started my hypnobirthing classes with Laura at 30 weeks pregnant and I continued to practice the techniques learnt during the remaining of my third trimester. On December 21st 2015, I was admitted to Fiona Stanley Hospital to be induced as I was already 40 weeks + 11 days into my pregnancy. I felt calm and well prepared going into hospital, I was ready to finally meet our little man. I had packed all the hypnobirthing essentials including the hypnobirthing cd’s, birthing partner’s cheat sheet, the aromatherapy relaxing lavender spray mist, and our birth plan.

Before the medical induction, I had tried every natural induction method possible. I made the decision to have an induction massage with Laura on Saturday the 19th of December, which successfully started my urges. The surges started Saturday night through to Sunday although; my body did not advance into more intense urges. The massage did allow me to redirect my energy on the final days of my pregnancy and enabled me to prepare for my upcoming birth.

The induction of my labour started on the Monday night and this allowed my waters to break naturally at 1700hrs on the 22nd of December. At this stage I was 1cm dilated and I was so excited that FINALLY I was in labour after waiting for almost 2 weeks post my due date. During this initial stage of birthing I found relief from the use of breathing techniques and gentle rocking motion on a fitness ball. My husband, Dan also played hypnobirthing tracks in the background and sprayed the room with lavender mist for aromatherapy. If I needed it, he would use the soft touch technique to help with the surges.

At 2030hrs I was transferred from the postnatal ward to the birth suite and I met my midwife Vicky who would look after me during my birthing. I was then told that I was dilated to 2cms. I found the news of this to be emotionally difficult to hear. After this I started to doubt my ability to birth my baby and felt that I could not last to 10cms. Dan really helped me to refocus myself and reminded me that I was able to do it and to not give up.

Due to being medically induced I was restricted in what I could do during the birthing, and so unfortunately I was unable to have the water birth that I so desperately wanted. My midwife, Vicky, suggested other methods such as hydrotherapy, which worked as instant pain relief and helped me relax further. I also found the use of heat packs applied to my lower back helped. With the use of these techniques I did not feel the need to use other methods of pain relief, however, I did use gas and air to help me as the surges intensified.

My birth partner, my hubby, Dan, was amazing. He gave me so much strength. He stayed within metres of me during the entire labour, fulfilled my every request: giving me water, applying lip balm, placing heat packs on my lower back, telling me how wonderful I was and how well I was breathing. I continued to progress in the labour throughout the night. I do not recall how long each surge was or the rest periods between them. I just listened to my body and zoned into my breath.

By 6:30am the next morning I reached 10cms dilated and I felt the urge to push. At that time Vicky was on break and the covering midwife called her as I had reached 10cms and was ready.

Unfortunately, I experienced a prolonged 2nd stage of labour and later experienced complication in the delivery known as shoulder dystocia. Although, this resulted in a stressful ending to his birth, both Taj and myself recovered without any lasting complications. Taj was born a completely healthy baby boy at 0952hrs on the 23rd of December without the need of special care nursery. After his birth I did skin-to-skin contact for 2 hours. I felt amazing with so much energy and felt completely pain free.

Even though my labour didn’t unfold exactly as I imagined it to, labour was still a very positive experience and it has taught me many things. Hypnobirthing allowed me to have a relatively drug-free birth with only the use of gas and air. Our birth story is one that I am forever grateful for and obviously immensely proud of. I personally believe that the hypnobirthing classes educated my husband to be confident and calm during the birth, which was reassuring to me.

My son is now almost 5 months old and he is truly a hypnobirth bub as he is very relaxed in his nature, content and he is quite observant of his surroundings. I would highly recommend hypnobirthing classes to any future mums wanting the best for themselves and their babies. Best of luck to all you hypnobirth mummy’s- you can do it!