Gorgeous baby Maya
We thought we should let you know that Maya River Tozer was born on Monday 26th February. She arrived a month early but weighing 6 pounds 13. We've attached a few photos.
We had quite a few shenanigans in the build up with reduced movements and Tania having unexplained proper contractions as early as 28 weeks that the doctors/midwives didn't think were normal Braxton Hicks.
So that meant quite a few extra trips to Frimley Park and even a handful to the labour ward where Tania had multiple fetal fibronectin tests - including one that was 248 at about 7 months!
So baby was obviously keen to meet us in a hurry. We hung on to 36 weeks but it did mean we couldn't use the Mulberry Suite. We were already quite prepared for that and being in the labour ward previously really helped in terms of prep.
For the labour, Tania managed to cope just on gas and air for almost the whole 16-hours. She did have pethidine near the end but only because progress was potentially going backwards. She was firm on not having an epidural.
Maya did need ventouse at the very end but arrived all in one go and very healthy. Tania and Maya stayed in hospital for six days as she was premature and Maya had a slight bit of jaundice. Also so they could avoid the snow I think! It arrived on the day she was born and melted away just before we all drove home so Tania never saw it!! Bar some breastfeeding troubles, Maya's doing brilliantly and looks nothing like an early baby. She's already well over her birth weight.
We were playing the hypnobirthing tracks right up until labour day and even used them during the labour as well as some of the raw music you gave us. They definitely helped Tania and between us we really focused on the breathing techniques throughout the whole labour.
Even though we were in the labour ward, the midwives were great at trying to meet our needs. We saw very little of the doctors and made a very relaxed atmosphere in our room. They respected our birth plan as much as possible and tried to always allow us time to weigh up our decisions.
We wouldn't have been able to make the birth plan without your advice and I'm sure Tania would have had an epidural if it wasn't for hypnobirthing. The techniques definitely helped make for a more relaxed birth and a chilled out (most of the time!) little one now.
Most of all we found the course helped during quite a tricky pregnancy. It helped reduce anxiety while allowing Tania to focus on caring for our baby. We had been told by our consultant we would never be able to have children naturally and were quite far along the IVF process when we found out Tania was pregnant. So that combined with some of the shenanigans along the way meant hypnobirthing helped bring down the stress levels.
Thanks for all your help. We've recommended your course and hypnobirthing generally to plenty of others.
All the best,
Matt, Tania and Maya