Hi Hannah,
I gave birth early this morning to our son Jack. It was such a beautiful birth. I really wish I had a video of the whole experience to share with you as it was a perfect hypnobirthing experience.
I laboured at home for a while. I was using your tens machine from around 8 or 9pm and it certainly helped me breathe through the surges. I then went to hospital with Simon and my doula Kelly around 10pm, and went into a MGP Birthing room where I used the bed at the highest level to lean on.
I just kept my eyes closed the whole time and didn't find the ride to hospital or admission too much of a distraction from what I was doing, even though we had to go through the emergency department first. I walked the whole way from there to the birthing and assessment unit as it just felt right to help baby get down. I would just stop along the way to breathe through my surges.
We had the room dim with fake candles and Simon just played the Affirmations mp3 on repeat. At around 11:30pm I got into the water. I just really was in the zone with breathing through my surges. It was so calm and quiet the whole time. The affirmations track really helped keep me focused.
I did everything with my breath I really felt my body doing what it needed to do, and felt baby move down. The pushing just started so naturally. It was intense and an effort still, but I just worked with my body instead of against it and it was really amazing. I felt so proud that I just breathed my way through the contractions and trusted my body.
Baby crowned in the water but then I lifted my bum up too high and his nose broke the surface of the water so I had to stand up for the final push! Simon and I both delivered him together standing over the water. It was crazy to be able to reach down and pull him up onto my belly with his cord still attached. He was born 12:50am. It was really relaxed after that and we kept the cord attached until it stopped pulsating which I was so happy about.
Anyway... I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful experience it was and how much the hypnobirthing techniques helped me. I really couldn't have asked for a better birthing experience.
Kate and Simon.
Birth story and photos shared with permission. I was lucky enough to work with this family for two hypnobirths - Kate and Simon completed my group course a few years ago for the birth of their first son Patrick, and then we did a private Refresher session as they prepared for the birth of Jack.
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