I had the pleasure of not only teaching Laura and Chris the Hypnobirthing course, but of being their Doula for the birth of their baby too. Their story is wonderful, and I was very honoured to be a part of it x
Our first baby, William Jack was born at home on Friday 10th November at 12.22pm.
We were recommended Hannah and her Hypnobirthing course by several friends and as we began speaking to Hannah we also asked if she would be a doula for us on the birthing day.
During the course of the pregnancy, we decided to have a Home Birth. We prepared by getting a birthing pool, attended several Home Birth support group meetings, practiced the daily affirmations and guided relaxations from hypnobirthing. We also met with Hannah a few times to discuss our birthing wish list, what we wanted her to do on the day, what we could expect to happen and so on.
I can honestly say that because of Hannah, I went into the experience with absolutely no fear whatsoever. I believe this feeling of excitement over fear made a terrific difference to the birth.
On the Thursday (2 days after the due date) I went for a walk with my mum and was aware of tightenings. I had felt them before but they were fairly regular so I did wonder if things may be starting.
Later that evening the tightenings continues and I had quite an upset tummy. We tried to go to sleep but by 2am I was too uncomfortable so had to get out of bed to move around. At this point we contacted the hospital for them to alert the on-call midwife. We also let Hannah know what was happening.
At 4am I decided I wanted Hannah to come over as the surges were around 3 in 10 minutes and getting more intense. Chris had been busy filling up the pool and I had all of my candles lit around me, gentle music playing and affirmation cards dotted around the room. It was so tranquil and peaceful. I sat on the birthing ball and made sure I let my entire body go limp with each surge which made such a difference to how they felt.
Shortly after Hannah arrived she suggested me getting into the pool if I felt ready to and read me some guided relaxation scripts which were lovely.
The pool was amazing to get into, so calming. I soon had the involuntary urge to push at which point the midwife was called. When Rachel arrived to see me already in the pool and pushing, she quickly called her second midwife, Debbie.
After a couple of hours of surge breathing, changing positions and the baby’s head moving down nicely, we all agreed getting out of the pool might be a good idea to try to help progress things.
The midwives were amazing the whole way through, I only had one check during the entire labour for them to assess where baby was/ how dilated I was. They discreetly checked the baby’s heart rate after each surge and he was completely happy. They didn’t disrupt my calm mindset or take me out of my zone at any point.
Once out of the pool and on the sofa, the surges slowed a little and we all discussed and agreed upon a small episiotomy. As soon as this was done, William’s head emerged. During the wait for the next surge there was a comically timed knock at the front door with a special delivery from the postman. If only he’d known what was going on behind the door! Then with the next surge William was born at 12.22pm and placed onto my chest. He briefly cried and then immediately calmed and looked around to take in the world.
William quickly latched onto feed and was incredibly content, alert and calm. Every midwife who visited over the coming week commented on his calmness.
We are so thankful to everyone’s involvement in allowing us to have the beautiful Home Birth we wished for. We truly believe the calm entry into the world has allowed William to be such a happy little baby and the hypnobirthing techniques undoubtedly allowed both him and me to stay calm during pregnancy and delivery.
I can’t recommend Hannah’s services both as a doula and hypnobirthing instructor enough. The skills you learn are life changing and having a calm Birth will shape both yours and the baby’s life in a magical way.
Thanks so much Hannah,
All our love
Laura, Chris and baby William xxx