Steph & Andy's 3rd Calm Births baby!

Here the lovely Steph & Andy share their third Calm Births baby experience! You can read their first birth story here.

Hello!

I finally got round to writing up Ruby’s story - Calm Births Baby #3!

I’d had a very uncomplicated pregnancy, and always wanted a home birth, so once I got my husband on board (after our hypno refresher with Hannah, who was the one to convince him 😂) I was absolutely thrilled and we got the ball rolling.
The local home birth team were amazing from the minute I self referred to them, despite me being technically out of guidelines due to a high BMI and previous PPH.

We had plain sailing up until I hit 38 weeks, when my midwife felt that baby was oblique, with the head in my hip rather than pelvis. I decided I wanted to take up their offer of a scan to check, and the sonographer deemed me to have polyhydramnios at that point.

That started a cascade of fussing from consultants, insisting I had to deliver on the ward with a bedside scan and continuous monitoring. I had over an hour on the phone with one scoffing at everything I brought up, and constant scare tactics about bleeding and cord prolapse, but no real facts or support for my choices. It didn’t help that my lovely midwife was on annual leave and not back until my due date, but her supervisor absolutely smashed it out of the park with stepping up to help me and in the end I got it in writing that if I went into the ward, I’d get my water birth with intermittent monitoring. The consultant from the phone call agreed to my plan as part of an MDT meeting (I think mainly because I was adamant I wouldn’t go in otherwise).

Baby was due on Thursday 10th March and I laughed with a mum on the school run that Monday that I was the most pregnant I’d ever been. Secretly though, I had a hunch baby would come on the 9th, as my boys were both born on the Wednesday before their due dates, and I do love a matching set.

I was in a foul mood all day on the 9th, I was uncomfortable and couldn’t settle to anything. I had a show first thing in the morning before dropping my eldest at school but then nothing else happened. (My husband told me later that he spent the day frantically wrapping up at work as he knew I was having the baby that night or the next day).

It got round to the evening and I was still grumpy. We bathed our boys and my husband went to get them in bed, and I realised I’d been having a few period pains that were now distinctly tightenings. I timed a few and they were 45 seconds every 3 minutes, but not painful and so I thought this was early labour if anything at all. The boys decided they wanted to go to my mums so we whizzed them out of bed and round the corner to her, then came home to eat toast. I rang labour line while my husband sorted the pool out.

Still tightening every 3 minutes but no real pain. Breathing more to make sure I didn’t get too excited, and I decided to play myself the affirmations. About 8pm (just as the liner went in the pool) I rang labour line, as once my labours establish, they go FAST. They informed me home births were suspended and they’d let the labour ward know I was coming in. I had a bit of a wobble at that point but I then decided to ring the ward to make sure my special plan was definitely in place, which it was, and moved to my yoga ball to bounce it out to my affirmations.

My husband made me a cup of tea and sat down to drink a coffee about 10pm when all of a sudden I decided we needed to go. Now. (I have form for this, poor Andy didn’t get coffee or breakfast the day we had our oldest either 🙈)

We are less than 5 mins from the hospital and I had 2 strong surges in the car, and I suddenly remembered I should be breathing properly. It took a while to get up to the ward, as I had to stop and blow all the surges away, but once there we were met by a lovely student midwife* who walked us to the exact same room I’d birthed both my boys in. We were met by another midwife and they’d both very clearly read and were on board with my birth plan. (I did hand out my laminated copies of birth plan b, The Hospital Plan, just to make sure).

I was still having plenty of surges and was needing to breathe through them but chatting fine in between. I think the midwife didn’t know what to make of me, as my body clearly said “established labour” but my attitude didn’t 😂 I asked if we could have the pool filled and asked for a VE to check where I was.
The student midwife was very clear about getting proper consent at every stage, and at one point I heard the other midwife gently correct her from saying “contractions”, to using “surge” instead as that’s what I’d written in my plan. It was lovely to feel so respected!

At 11.09pm, I was 5cm and getting in the pool. I joked to my husband that I had an hour to have this baby, and then I’d get my matching set. Surges were about every 2 minutes by now but still only lasting about 45seconds. I commented on how this wasn’t like either of my other births, and the midwife replied “well your body knows what it’s doing and it’s clearly doing it right!”

From there, things were quick. At 11.20 my waters went, and the student midwife came to check baby’s heart. There was a minute where she couldn’t find it, so the midwife came in, and I knew she’d been looking in the wrong place as I could feel baby in the birth canal but didn’t want to come out of the zone to talk to them, as I was mid ocean visualisation 😂 The midwife found it right away and clearly knew we were close.

A bit of time later, I was kneeling at the edge of the pool and breathed out the head. (My notes say this was 11.32pm, but I’d asked in my birth plan not to be told the time or how long I’d been in the second stage unless I asked, so I didn’t know that at the time). Then all my surges stopped and the midwife asked me to change position to help the shoulders out, which I did. I knew instinctively I wanted to sit down with my back to the edge, so I did, and as I was moving I felt baby turn, so I knew we were close. I felt my body bearing down, so I used my down breathing and at 11.39pm (in the same position and room I’d birthed her biggest brother), Ruby was born.

The student midwife brought her straight to my chest, where Andy checked and said we had a little girl this time. I was feeling on top of the world and had absolutely no bleeding. The midwife told me the water was probably the clearest she’d ever seen! At that point I asked when I could leave, and the midwife did say that ideally she’d like me to birth the placenta first 🙈 We had loads of skin to skin in the pool and though I had the injection for a managed third stage (part of my birth plan), there was no pressure at all to get out or cut the cord. We waited for white, then my husband cut it and I decided to get out. I got the shakes really badly so I decided to give Ruby to Andy for some snuggles and once I’d stopped shaking, the student midwife did a quick check for tears (none!) and showed us the placenta. I think that’s when Ruby was weighed as well. Although she didn’t look it, she was our biggest babe at an impressive 8lb9oz, and my fastest labour, at a clocked 1hr48mins.

Ruby had been very chilled and quiet up to that point (perfect little hypno baby), but then decided she urgently needed a snack, so we got her latched on whilst I ate some toast and drank a cup of tea. After a good long feed, I handed her back to daddy to grab a shower, then repacked our bag, dressed Ruby and told the midwives we were off.

We were at home on the sofa having another feed at 3.37 (whilst daddy built the crib 😂) and her delighted brothers joined us at about 10am. And I was back on the school run the next day, feeling like I’d bounced right back to normal.

Although it wasn’t our planned home birth, it really was the best home birth from home experience, and my hypnobirthing and just the general support from Hannah has been invaluable in all our births!

Best wishes and with many thanks,

Steph, Andy, Zach, Dom and Ruby!

*Staff names have been witheld

A healing VBAC story

Hi Hannah,

Hope you are well.

I thought I'd let you know Lewis David Cass arrived yesterday at 145pm weighing 9lb 1oz!

I have to admit I was sceptical but open minded to how much difference hypnobirthing could make but all I can say is wow. I had early labour contractions on and off since Thursday morning, ramping up to 2/3 in 10 during Saturday night, but I was able to relax/dose in between them.

We arrived at the hospital at 9am 5cm dilated, 2 hours later my waters went and very quickly after that I was 10cm and pushing. So not only did I achieve my VBAC but I felt so calm I did it all with just a tens machine and a paracetamol!

It was a complete different experience to Chloes birth and I can't thank you enough for giving me the confidence to believe in my body, I'm so proud!

Kind regards

Danielle

A positive C-Section Story

 When I became pregnant with our first baby, both my husband and I were nervous about the birth. I was worried about losing control of my body and being in a lot of pain and my husband was worried about not knowing what to do during labour and feeling like a "spare part". Calm births with Hannah was recommended by a friend to help us understand the process of labour and birth and to give us ideas to do both during pregnancy and labour. 

We both loved the course and over the weeks we felt more in control and positive of giving birth to our baby. I enjoyed listening to positive affirmations every morning when I got up and listening to the ocean relaxation before going to bed. We also regularly started using the breathing phrase "I breathe in calm and my body and mind relax down" whenever we started to become anxious. 

At 37 weeks, our obstetrician discussed with us that a natural labour may no longer be the best option for both me and the baby and that we needed to consider an elective c section. This was due to a blood pressure issue that I had developed later on in pregnancy and there was a concern that my heart would be unable to cope with labour.

Following this, I met again with Hannah to discuss how I could adapt what we have learnt in her sessions to support me during the c section. We also discussed options I could ask for during the c section to help me to feel more relaxed. After speaking with Hannah, I started listening more to the shooting stars relaxation as the part around worries about giving birth was really powerful and it allowed me to let go of the worries I had. My husband and I made a visualisation board which had pictures of happy memories, pictures of the beach to help with ocean relaxation (this was still a favourite), pictures of our baby scan and of the nursery. We made a playlist together of music to listen to whilst we were waiting and music to listen to during the section. We thought classical music would be helpful but wanted a fun twist so we included the jurassic Park and Harry Potter theme tune. We also started to think about the activities we could do together whilst we were waiting as we had found out a few days before that we would be the third in the order assuming there were no emergency sections. 

 On the day of the c section, we went in to hospital feeling excited as we knew we were meeting our baby that day. We were taken to our room to wait in until it was our turn. Maria, our midwife for the section, came to meet us and go through pre op information. We explained to her that we had been doing hypnobirthing and wanted to have as much of a calm birth as possible. She was very supportive of this and discussed with us our different options. She also explained that our obstetrician and anaesthetist were also advocates for hypnobirthing and so would be supportive. She offered to put some lavender essential oils on some cotton wool on my wrists and place them in a way that wouldn't hinder the anaethetist which I agreed to. We also agreed that she would give us a 20 minute warning before I was due to go in to theatre so I could listen to the ocean relaxation prior to going in. The midwife went on to tell everyone that would be present in the theatre that we were doing hypnobirthing and how we would like them to support us during the c section. 

 The midwife also offered to put the catheter in before going in to theatre. This would mean that it would be in the calming atmosphere of the room rather than in the busy theatre and it would allow me to feel more at ease as I would not be in a vulnerable position in front of other people. I agreed. I found it really helpful to use breathing phrases whilst it went in with my husband stroking my hand. It was uncomfortable but not painful and I was grateful that it was done in our own room. 

Following this the anaesthetist came in to put the cannula into my hand. She was a lovely and nurturing woman, who was reassuring and asked if there was anything she could do to support the birth of our baby. She answered our last minute questions. I was due to have a spinal block rather than an epidural due to my blood pressure. The anaesthetist explained that this would mean I would not feel any pain but I would still have some of the sensations of touch on my skin and not to worry that it was not working. The theatre nurse also came in to check my details and explained that I would be asked to answer the same questions a number of times (name, dob, why I was there).

 The obstetrician next came in to check if we had any last minute questions and to explain some last minute details. She offered to give me some drugs that would help with blood clotting and would mean that I would have less bleeding following the section.

 With 20 minutes to go, the midwife ensured no one would disturb us. We listened to the shooting stars track together and then looked at our visualisation board. By the end of the 20 minutes, we were excited to meet our baby. 

 We walked round to the theatre with the midwife and my husband and I laughed about needing to carry my "pee bag". My husband put on a theatre gown, cap and shoes. 

 Although I had seen pictures of a theatre, the actual theatre I walked in to still surprised me and the sudden clinical feel to the situation raised my anxiety levels. The theatre nurse provided reassurance and helped me to get on to the bed. This required me to climb up a few steps in order to get on to the bed. The anaesthetist came over to explain that she would now do the spinal block and I would need to lean over a pillow in order to curve my spine. She warned me that I would feel a sudden pain. My husband came over and took my hand and started talking to me about our agreed visualisation about being on a beach in Barcelona. I did not feel the needle go in or the spinal block drugs and was surprised when I was told I could lie down. My husband then moved to sit down next to my head and a screen was placed up so I could no longer see from my neck down. The anaesthetist explained there would now be a slight delay as I already had the catheter in which is what usually happens during this time whilst they are waiting for the spinal block to take affect. Pumps were then attached to my legs so that my legs would have the stimulation of walking and this would ensure no blood clots were formed. As the spinal block was starting to take affect, I started to feel over heated and incredibly dizzy. My husband noticed that I wasn't looking well and asked the anaesthetist if everything was OK. She noticed that my blood pressure had significantly dropped and started to give me various medications to help counter act it. This did start to raise my anxiety levels so the anaesthetist offered to start playing our music and my husband prompted me to use our breathing techniques. To check the spinal block had worked, the anaesthetist sprayed a cold spray on my arm so I would know how cold it should be. It was then sprayed on my leg and although I could feel the spray, I couldn't feel the temperature of it.

 The c section started and we had our music playing and my husband sat talking through our visualisation to help me to focus. The obstetrician popped her head round the curtain at one point to praise our music choice and asked for it to be turned up as she was enjoying it. I was warned when there would be some pressure to help maneuver baby out. It felt like incredibly hard pressure on my chest, apparently baby was comfy and had wedged their feet up into my ribs. We were told when the waters were about to break and we heard the rushing sound of water and then our baby crying. We had asked staff not to tell us the gender of the baby as we wanted to see for ourselves. The curtain was dropped and our baby lifted for us to see. We had a beautiful baby girl and she was born to Jupiter by Holst. Although my husband quickly changed it to the circle of life from the Lion King. We waited briefly whilst they did delayed cord  clamping and pushing remaining blood to baby.  The midwife then brought our baby girl over and put her skin to skin. Prior to lying down my gown had been loosened so the baby could be easily placed on my chest with the gown over the top of her.

The next 30 minutes flew so quickly. My husband and I were left alone to be with our baby girl whilst they completed the stitches they needed. My baby girl was briefly taken away whilst I was moved from the theatre bed to a ward bed via a slide (great fun). Whilst this happened my husband looked after our baby, took her to be weighed and cut her cord. She was then brought back to me for more skin to skin we moved up to the ward.

 The c section was a lovely experience for both me and my husband and I look back on it with fond memories. What we learnt from Calm Births really helped us to prepare for the birth of our baby and helped us to feel empowered for the birth that we wanted. What we learnt has also continued with us into parenthood. We use the phrase "I breathe in calm and my body and mind relaxes down" all the time, especially on days when parenting feels hard. I've also continued to use the relaxation tasks to help me to get to sleep at night.

A positive C-Section story

Hi Hannah, how are you? I hope you had a good summer? Piers and I had a baby boy last month – the 4th August! I was in hospital for 5 nights to be induced, but ended up having a c section. It was the complete opposite to what I wanted but I don’t feel it was a negative experience.

We had a growth scan at the end of July which showed there was little growth in 2 weeks and the dopplers had dropped out of normal range. Charlie was still fine at this point but our consultant and midwife both advised bringing the pregnancy to an end as there was now greater risk of Charlie becoming in danger and we wouldn’t necessary have enough time to act on it before anything fatal would happen.

So at 38 weeks I decided to try to be induced as I could still have a vaginal birth. I had the balloon, 1 application of the hormone gel (then Charlie decided to move position…thankfully Charlie moved back into position!) and then had my waters broken.

I got into early labour and it was all very positive – I was enjoying the experience. Within a few hours Charlie was showing signs of distress – movement reduced and heart rate dropped. The doctor advised to stop and have a c section before it becomes an emergency. At this point I was only 3 cms dilated and the doctor said that Charlie wasn’t going to cope if we continued as he was already showing signs that he wasn’t.

I’m glad I decided to have a c section at this point as it was still a calm environment and we were given the time and space to make the decision. We listened to our affirmations during surgery and it was a lovely moment when the surgeon lifted Charlie up to us and no one said anything – we could just have a quiet and emotional moment.

This was nearly 5 weeks ago now and I’m recovering well. Charlie is very calm and contented so far. I do feel very lucky!

Holly x

My favourite kind of birth story!

Why is this my favourite kind of birth story? Because Poppy and James had their first Calm Birth with baby Matilda back in 2017, and used their techniques again for their second amazing positive birth with baby Arthur this week! I love it when clients tell me their news, it just makes my day. You can read Poppy & James’ first birth story here - I often read it out in class as it’s so lovely.

So this is the message I received from Poppy after Arthur’s birth:

Hi Hannah, this little beauty has arrived!

Thank you so so much for everything, again, honestly we feel absolutely blessed to have had two wonderfully positive birth experiences at RBH.

We managed to channel confidence we had from Matilda into this week, despite going a week overdue with talks of sweeps and inductions, and I kept the mantra that baby will know when it's ready. Just needs a bit of extra cooking!

And sure enough, we stayed at home on Wednesday having had contractions less than 10 mins apart since 7am and got to the hospital 9cm dilated and he was with us within 50 minutes of arriving!

The triage Midwife even poked her head around the door because she couldn't believe how calm I'd sounded on the phone deciding whether it was time to go in or not. Another incredible birth to add to your repertoire, we are truly thankful x

Esme's positive birth

A gorgeous letter from first time parents Lucy & Nathan reflecting on the birth of their first daughter.

Although it's now over a year since Esme was born, I wanted to write and say a huge thank you and tell you how grateful I am to you. Its always been a big regret that I didn't say it at the time, after she was born, and I think about it often, so I thought it was better late than never :)

The hypnobirthing training you provided was so invaluable to me and my husband. Without it, I whole heartedly believe I would not have had such a calm and positive experience during the labour and birth of our daughter Esme. I should also add that it would not of been possible without the amazing midwifery staff at RBH too. They were phenomenal and I couldn't of asked for better care, from start to finish.

It was a fairly lengthy labour, but I was able to stay bright throughout and using your brilliant breathing and humming techniques I could manage the pain, and did not end up requiring any pain relief. It also meant that whilst Esme did take her time to come out, she  also remained relaxed, according to the heart rate monitor, and so nothing escalated and she was born naturally. Nathan was brilliant and, despite unfortunately suffering from anxiety generally, during labour and the birth he stayed calm and was a great support in many ways.
So all in all when Esme entered the world, it was into a calm and positive environment and for that I will always be eternally grateful to you. Hannah, you really do deliver on the 'Calm Births'!!

It really was such a great start, and I felt such an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everyone that had helped me to have that positive experience. Which is why I still feel terrible that I didn't write to thank you at the time, when you had played such an important and pivotal part in that. I didn't experience any lows when my milk came in and generally my hormones just stayed stable over the course of the following weeks. I really do believe that this is down to having a calm birthing experience. That's not to say that we didn't have our ups and downs, but being able to cope with those was so much easier, without spiking hormones.

And thankfully, we are all still doing well and Esme is a happy little bunny, which is wonderful.
So, just to say again, a huge thank you to you and heartfelt gratitude for all your help.
All our best wishes,

Lucy xx

The quick arrival of baby Chester

Just wanted to let you know about the safe arrival of our beautiful baby boy Chester! 
I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful our delivery was! 
I started having contractions at home at 9pm Friday evening, after about 30 mins I put the tens machine on and was using my breathing techniques wondering around the house, very quickly they were two minutes apart lasting about a minute each time, but they just didn’t feel strong enough!

Then my waters broke at 10.10pm and I noticed there was meconium in them so we went into hospital to be monitored. When we got to the hospital around 11pm I was 8-9cm dilated- they took me to delivery room and before they had a chance to hook me up our baby boy was ready to come out and I started pushing- I did panic then and get in the gas and air, he was born at 12.12am in the 9th March! 

I’m 100% sure that the hypnobirthing helped with our speedy labour and delivery, luckily there was meconium in my waters or I may have ended up having him at home or in the car on the way there!
I will highly recommend Calm Births to anyone that asks, I believe it helped me stay calm and believe in my body, and the mountain breathing really helped me to concentrate during contractions instead of just panicking, I believe it helped to distract from the pain as I was concentrating on getting my breathing right.

 
Thank you again! 
Kim, Ricki, Sue, Etta and new baby Chester! 
Xx

Lucy & Marcus' first baby

A really lovely first birth story from Lucy & Marcus who took the two day intensive course before having their gorgeous baby girl (and also a fantastic photo of Millie at the bottom!!!) x

"Lucy and I were lucky enough to meet our new arrival on 31st May @ 23:12. She was 6 days overdue but weighed a lovely 6lb 5oz. We had a really great birth, Lucy woke that morning at 5am with bad back ache / tightening of the bump, this came and went every 30 minutes up until 4pm. She had then had her sweep with the midwife (she was 2cm dilated before the sweep) that pretty much kickstarted her labour. By 19.30pm the pain wasn't bearable with TENS / back rubs, so we went into the hospital to thankfully find she was 4cm dilated (I don't think they would have persuaded her to go home again). With an active labour on lots of Pilates balls by 21.30pm Lucy was already 8cm dilated... We then moved to the birthing pool, again to have an active labour we were able to welcome our new arrival in the pool at 23:12. Lucy managed to give birth using just gas and air (plus TENS earlier) - our hypnobirthing course came to good use to keep Lucy relaxed throughout. Other than Millie coming out like superman at the last minute causing a small tear, the water and perennial massage beforehand made birth relatively straight forward, albeit still very painful for Lucy.

We both wanted to thank you for all the knowledge and wisdom you were able to share on our hypnobirthing course - the knowledge certainly helped us understand and prepare for labour and birth. We used the affirmations, and relaxations through the whole labour which Lucy says helped and I was able to refer back to my notes on using the positive re-enforcement to help her stay relaxed. We will certainly be recommending you and the course to all our friends!!!

Many Thanks,

Lucy & Marcus

A lovely home water-birth story

A really inspiring story from Louise & Ben who opted for a home birth for their first birth x

I just wanted to let you know that our gorgeous Max finally arrived on Friday morning and he is perfect! 9 days late and a bit of a whopper at 8lb 8oz! Ben and I can’t stop looking at him, we’re completely overwhelmed!!

I managed to have my water birth at home so he arrived safely and soundly in our kitchen. No tearing or cuts so no stitches required and no pain relief at all. Ocean relaxation was on repeat from the time the first contractions kicked in around 1am until he arrived just before 11am after less than an hour of pushing at the end. It was intense and obviously painful but I did my hypnobirthing breathing all the way through which kept me in the zone and calm enough that I was almost at the transition stage by the time the midwife arrived, no examination necessary.   I have no doubt that the focus and calmness (plus the pool at the end) is why I am not sat here with stitches now and why the Labour was relatively quick. The Midwives were amazed for a first birth!

Thank you so much, you helped me take control of something I felt extremely anxious about and now I’m sat here looking at me beautiful boy feeling like the luckiest person alive!

Lots of love

Lou x

Matt & Tania's positive first birth

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

Helen & Luke's positive C-Section story

Helen with proud big brother Dennis & baby Edie.

Our little girl arrived safely on Thursday 8th February, her name is Edie Jude Thompson, weighing 6lbs 10. Dennis has been taking his big brother promotion very seriously, with lots of cuddles and kisses (and she almost had a taste of cornflakes on day 2!!). 

I had my cervical stitch removed at 36 weeks, using the breathing techniques. This was pretty painless and the midwife assisting the consultant said how relaxed was during the short procedure. Fast forward a week and a half, I felt that ‘trickle’, we made our way to Frimley, to be told it wasnt my waters and we were sent home. But I knew it was, as it continued to leak all afternoon, so back we went that evening, to have confirmed it looked like my back waters were leaking.  We went home to see if anything happened and were booked to go in for an induction the following morning. They started me off with the gel, we went for a long walk, had a sleep, but nothing happened :(

Next was the hormone drip. I really didn’t want to go down this route as this was where I felt I lost control during the birth of our son. I listened to the playlist you gave us throughout and managed 13 hours without pain relief (even managing to doze on and off). I only used gas and air for some examinations. I was having 4 contractions within 10minutes and was examined one final time, just coming up to 48hrs since my waters broke. I still hadn’t dilated passed 1cm. The consultant said my cervical stitch, which had done a great job getting us to bang on 38 weeks, had somehow caused the scar tissue from my previous Lletz procedures to fuse together and it wasn’t budging.  Fast forward an hour and our beautiful daughter was born via C-section.  

I had 3 midwives during this time and all 3 were extremely supportive of the Hypnobirthing and made many comments about how calm and controlled I was throughout. These were the two words I used during your course when we were asked about our wishes for our births.  As our 3 year old would say “job done”. 

I have to add also how well it equipped Luke this time round, he was amazing and supported my decisions, spoke for me when he needed too and was just an absolute rock throughout. The course could not have prepared him better, which added to the whole positive experience.  

Thank you so much for your amazing course! I was sceptical having given birth once without using Hypnobirthing but so glad we stuck with it. It didn’t go to plan, but the techniques and tools given to us by you, made the experience and one that I can remember. 

Thank you again!

Sam & Tom's second baby story

First of all we want to say a big thank you for the amazing course and for all your help and advice in the run up to the birth. The course not only really helped during the birth but also before the birth which we have shared below.

At the beginning of my pregnancy, we were placed under a consultant so that we were monitored more closely as our first daughter was 5 weeks premature.
At 34 weeks, the consultant advised us that the baby was measuring big (likely to be around 10lbs at full term) and recommended that I was induced at 38 weeks to avoid the baby "getting stuck". I was very uncomfortable with this as I wanted a natural delivery and wanted the baby to come when it was ready but, despite voicing my concerns to the consultant, it fell on deaf ears and it was said that it would be "convenient" to be induced, and that we could "organise childcare" for our daughter.  Following those comments, we asked if there were any serious risks to myself or the baby and it came to light that there was not so we agreed to review the baby's size closer to my due date in the hope that the baby would come naturally by itself.

The worry of induction however meant that my blood pressure increased significantly and sadly the consultant put doubts in my mind as to whether I could give birth naturally and that the baby could get stuck. Having completed the course I knew that I shouldn't be having these doubts so I continued practising the relaxation techniques and easy breathing each day and I found that the more I did them, the more I relaxed and believed in myself again which really helped my blood pressure to come down and keep me calm.

Fortunately, my waters broke naturally when I was 38 weeks + 5 days at 23.35 and I began to experience the early stages of labour. We headed to Frimley and they kept me in the labour ward as my waters had broken. We had 24 hours for labour to begin naturally before the risk of infection increased. But despite my waters only being broken for a matter of hours (and there being no immediate risk to me or the baby) the midwives were pushing the idea of getting induced saying, "why not get the baby out sooner now your waters have broken" and "you don't want to be stuck on a ward waiting for something to happen do you?"
Still feeling very uncomfortable with induction given there were not any risks at that point, I insisted on wanting to give the baby a chance to come naturally (just like it had with our first child once my waters had broken) and fortunately within a few hours I was in active labour.

The labour itself did not entirely go to plan. The baby was back to back and was triggering frequent and painful contractions. At its peak I was contracting 8 times every 10 minutes, getting breaks of only a matter of seconds between contractions. The easy and mountain breathing techniques along with listening to the relaxations helped massively in allowing me to zone out and getting through the bulk of these contractions, although I did use gas and air towards the end.

I got to 6cm dilated but unfortunately, due to having so many contractions and constantly having the urge to push, my cervix became swollen and I was no longer dilating. After discussions with my husband and the midwife, we took the decision to have a 'mobile epidural' to prevent the urge to push and allow the swelling to die down. Because it was only a small dose however, I could still move around and still had the ability to control what I was doing.

Fortunately, the swelling went down and baby Oliver was born about an hour later at 11.35 on the 20th January, weighing a fairly weighty 9lbs 10ozs with no further intervention. So it was a quick and intense 12 hours from when my waters broke to when he was born. The goddess breathing really helped me push him out, especially when they told me I was seconds away from needing an episiotomy if he didn't come out shortly which I wanted to avoid if possible. Despite being told this, I kept calm and continued with the goddess breathing and out he came.

Although there were a couple of curve balls experienced during the labour, the breathing and relaxation techniques taught during the course helped both me and baby Oliver keep calm throughout the birth. The midwives also commented on how calm and happy Oliver was throughout the labour. My husband Tom was also a huge help during the labour and with him being familiar with all the techniques meant he could guide me through where necessary.

We are now 2 weeks into this wonderful journey of having Oliver in our family and he is still a very calm and relaxed baby. Having a calm birth we feel played a big part in this.

Although it turned out differently to my birth plan, we were always open minded with what could happen however, I think had we not done the course, things could have turned out even more differently, perhaps with more intervention which just shows how invaluable the course was to all three of us - myself, Tom and Oliver. The course made a huge difference for me in particular both before and during the birth and I am so pleased we did it! I cannot recommend the course highly enough. Thanks so much again Hannah, you were a fantastic teacher!
Love Sam, Tom, Rosie and Oliver xxxx

Kirsty & Dan's story - a phobia of hospitals and an Induction.

Kirsty & Dan's story is amazing. Kirsty began the course with a severe phobia of hospitals,  feeling very anxious about going to hospital to give birth. I recommended a combination of my Hypnobirthing course and some one to one Hypnotherapy with the amazing Louisa Chipperfield. Below is the message that Kirsty sent me after the birth of their baby:

Just wanted to say a massive thank you for the recent HypnoBirthing course we attended and for all the advice and support you gave us. As you know this was our first pregnancy and we joined the course to understand more about HypnoBirthing particularly as I have a severe phobia of hospitals and we hoped some relaxation techniques might help. We found the course extremely informative and helpful and really enjoyed being part of a small group as there were just three couples on our course.

Due to some concerns our consultant wanted us to be induced and we agreed although this meant more time in hospital than I would have liked, but found the relaxation techniques worked well. The induction worked and things moved quickly for us. Our labour was only 3 and a half hours but the midwives wanted me to push very early when I knew I wasn't ready. The HypnoBirthing techniques we learned meant I could zone out from my surroundings and just focus on Dan and the baby and relax myself until I felt ready to breathe the baby down. This extra time meant that myself, my body and my baby were ready when I wanted to breathe and I am sure that this is why I ended up having just one stitch. Eva was born quickly and although extremely alert, she was happy, calm and quiet. We were told shortly after the birth that as things went so well, we should consider having our next baby at home. We were also later told by our community midwife that she heard from the hospital that we had a 'text book' birth. 

Dan found the course and techniques very helpful in understanding what would happen and also how to support me. We did not attend any NCT classes as we felt your course provided the information we needed in a clear and non confusing way. 

To our delight we have stayed in touch with the other HypnoBirthing couples on our course who have been a great support to us and we feel will be great friends. 

So we would like to say a big thank you again for everything. We can not recommend your course highly enough and we look forward to seeing you at the next HypnoBirthing event!

With love Kirsty, Dan, baby Eva and Dillon xxxx

The lovely birth of Harry

First time parents Emma & Stewart sent this lovely note after the arrival of gorgeous baby Harry, testimony to the fact that even if baby has other ideas for arrival, Hypnobirthing techniques will see you through:

"Thought you may like to know that Baby Boy Simmonds arrived yesterday morning at 8.15am weighing a very beautiful 7lbs 1oz. We are absolutely besotted & he is Daddy's mini me!

Although the labour didn't go fully to plan the hypnobirthing was an absolute godsend! I went into labour at 10pm on Monday evening & the surges came thick & fast almost immediately which wasn't quite what we were expecting! Very intense from start to finish. Thanks to the calm breathing & techniques you taught us I managed to completely zone out with no clue what was going on around me as I was so focused, I managed to go through the whole process with no pain relief whatsoever & was already 7cms by the time we got to the hospital at 3am. Unfortunately by about 4am I was loosing quite a lot of blood & they were concerned about baby therefore I had to have my waters manually broken so they could monitor his heartbeat through his head so that I could still move around. I ended up actively pushing for over an hour & a half & baby just wasn't playing ball so I had to have an episiotomy to avoid them having to do an instrument assisted delivery which did the trick & he finally made his entrance into the world. A true testament to the hypnobirthing techniques, despite the complications he truly was born a calm baby! When he finally made his appearance into the world he barely made a sound & we enjoyed some lovely skin to skin time & he fed beautifully about an hour & a half after being born. He has so far proven to be a lovely relaxed baby boy, long may it continue!!!

Thank you so much for all you taught us, just goes to show that even when things don't quite go to plan the mind & human body really are incredible!

Look forward to seeing you at baby yoga in the new year! Have a lovely Christmas with your family.

Emma & Stewart xx"

The Calm Home Birth of William

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

Natalie & Tom's lovely first Hypnobirth

Ethan Oliver  made his arrival on Friday at 12.25pm, weighing 5lb 7oz.

The birth was perfect and everything I had hoped for. When I have a little more time on my hands I will share our experience with you in a bit more detail but just to give you an idea of how you helped me...When I arrived at the Rushey Centre at 9.30am I was going to be sent home as the lovely midwife felt that her years of experience could tell that i wasn't in 'active labour' and that the pressure I was feeling was because the little man was back to back. I wasn't showing the usual first time mum 'signs' of having contractions.

I requested an examination as I wanted to know how far I had come along from a visit earlier in the week and she couldn't believe that i was 4cm dilated!!!! Waters broke at around 10.30am and then I was moved from a room in to the delivery suite by 11.15am. Ethan artived with a little help from gas and air at 12.25pm! 

The midwives said I was a 'textbook' birth and couldn't believe that for a first time mum how I worked with my body so well. My labour time was recorded at just over an hour!!!! They also suggested for baby 2 a home birth (food for thought!)

All that you taught us about breathing, working with your body, surges and hormones made complete sense. We thanked you at the time but the thank you now seems far more apt and it is a genuine gratefullness that you are so passionate and knowledgeable about calm,positive birthing that this made my birthing experience so enjoyable and wonderful. And as you said in the sessions, Ethan as a hypno baby is so chilled out and content! 

Tom was wonderful on the day and did exactly the right things for me and Ethan (and still is - I'm now on night 2 of a full 6 hour sleep thanks to daddy doing the night shifts!!)

Natalie, Tom and baby Ethan xx

Poppy & James - a lovely first birth

Matilda Florence  decided to surprise us with an early arrival on the 7th October! 

My waters broke naturally on the Friday night at 10.30pm and managed to labour for 16 hours at home with our rainbow relaxation, baths, fairy lights and bouncing on the gym ball until Saturday afternoon and we went into the Rushey Ward at about 2.30pm already 7cm dilated (with carefully packed hospital bags still in the car!!!) 

Within the next 20 minutes I was fully dilated (with only a very short burst of a gas and air!) and our perfect little girl was born naturally at 17.27, weighing 7lbs. Everything moved so fast we didn't have time to run our water birth in the end but all the techniques learnt with you meant we felt in control of the situation and Matilda has been such a calm, content baby so far we wonder how much we can attribute this to our relaxed outlook on her arrival into the world! 

I am still listening to my relaxation when I'm trying to catch a few extra minutes of Zzzz as she snoozes too and it is working a treat.

Thank you for all your help and hard work, we will be recommending these techniques to anyone who asks and definitely will use them again in the future if we are blessed with a brother or sister for Matilda!

Best Wishes,

Poppy, James & Matilda x

Baby Marley - an undiagnosed breech birth

Marley Adelaide was born 19th July, at 11.07pm. She weighed 7lb11.

I will start by saying the best advice was not to have too definite a plan as in a way the opposite happened. However she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and had a lovely calm entry into the world.

On Wednesday lunchtime I felt my waters break. When I looked it turned out she had been to the toilet inside me so after calling the hospital I drove myself to the maternity unit as they wanted me in as quickly as possible. This is where I used the breathing techniques to keep me calm. Pete arrived and we moved around the room, laughing, massaging, generally feeling excited rather than apprehensive. He kept reminding me of the affirmations and we felt ready.

The doctor asked for a final ultrasound and she turned out to be breech. They explained my options but due to the risk of her swallowing the meconium they advised that a caesarean was needed. Again I took this calmly and we continued with the relaxation techniques.

Maternity was very busy that day so I experienced about 8 hours of surges before we went to the theatre. Despite the fact she was back to back I managed to breathe through until the very end when I had some gas and air.

Again in the theatre I stayed calm, Pete using the massage techniques. And then she was here. She immediately seemed relaxed and happy and was given straight to Pete whilst they closed me up.

In the room afterwards she latched straight on for a feed and I truly believe she had a calm birth. She had not swallowed any meconium which was a relief.

She is struggling a bit to latch on now and is always hungry so breastfeeding is proving a bit of a challenge but again I am using breathing techniques and the midwives are helping with positions. She has a small tongue tie so we are keeping an eye on it.

Thank you so much for helping us with all of the techniques and giving us knowledge. It made the birthing experience perfect, even though unexpected.

I hope to try some of your mother and baby classes when everything is healed.

Thanks again, Vicky and Pete and baby Marley xx

Cheeky Huxley's arrival!

I just love this story from first time parents Fallon and Chris, and cheeky monkey Huxley who had his own plans!! 
 

"We hope that you are well and sorry we couldn't make your coffee morning on Saturday. We have some very exciting news as our little one decided to join us early and arrived on 19th May. He was born at 4:54pm and weighed 6lb 10oz.

With the help and support from your group we felt confident enough to try for a home birth. Had you said that to us before the course I would have probably laughed. The thought of giving birth simply terrified me and I definitely viewed it as a medical procedure.

After your course I felt so much more comfortable and confident about giving birth and for the first time I was genuinely excited about meeting our little one.

Everything started really well and developed really quickly, I was 8cm with in 3 hours which even shocked the midwife as well as myself. We had hired a birthing pool which was wonderful and I managed without pain relief right until the end.

Unfortunately it got a bit complicated at the end as Huxley was in an awkward position and wouldn't come out so we were taken into hospital. It wasn't until we had the scan at the hospital that we realised he was undiagnosed breech (cheeky monkey). We then discussed our options and decided that a c-section would be the best way forward.

Even though this isn't what we had hoped would happen it was still the best experience and we felt prepared for any direction that our birth would take.

Huxley is perfect and we still can't believe he is here!

I will certainly be recommending your course to anyone I know who is expecting. In fact I have given the book and CD to my sister who is due in 6 weeks with baby no.2. I'm hoping it will help her as much as it helped us. Although she might be cutting it a bit close!

Thank you again and I hope we can make the next coffee morning so that you can meet Huxley 😊

Best Wishes 

Chris, Fallon & Huxley 

Baby Frankie's Calm Hypnobirth

Despite our homebirth plan not working out due to baby's size & position I still managed to use the Hypnobirthing techniques to stay calm and relaxed through most of labour especially while in the early stages at home. On transfer to hospital it was discovered I had a very high level of meconium in my waters and therefore after a 20 hour labour and only progressing to 4cm with most of that being with 4 in 10 surges we considered all factors and it was decided that the safest option was for Frankie to be delivered via c section. Despite the meconium and discovery of an infection in my womb the section was carried out calmly and we were 100% informed of what was happening and going to happen meaning we still felt totally in control. 

I found the Hypnobirthing techniques valuable throughout pregnancy and not just during labour & birth. The practice we put in leading up to the birth allowed me to have a calm and relaxed pregnancy with an added bonus of helping with gaining extra sleep leading up to the big day! We both also found the course very informative in terms of options available and allowing us to feel we had more control of our birth plans and wishes. 

Hope to join you for another gathering later in the year. 

Thanks 

Terri, Charlie and baby Frankie.