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.

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

Emily & Kristian's story

Emily & Kristian decided to use hypnobirthing for the birth of their third child, and had a wonderfully positive experience.

I just wanted to send you a few pictures of our new bundle. Robin Rakauskas.

We had him 3 days early on the 16th November (a Friday, so Kristian got his wish!) Labour went really well, he was born at 21:10 in the evening with no intervention and gas and air. He weighed 7Ib 14oz and we are all besotted with him.

We played the hypnobirthing MP3’s throughout the entire labour (it started Thursday evening) and I used the breathing techniques to help me through the contractions. Kristian was incredible and encouraged all the techniques throughout the entire labour and kept reminding me to relax my shoulders and count down.

Recovery has been fantastic as the labour went so well and little Robin is the most chilled of all my babies and everyone comments on how alert and quiet he is. We are very blessed.

Thank you for helping us achieve the labour we so desperately wanted third time round. I can safely say that it was my final labour experience and we are most definitely complete with our 3 boys Frank, Zachary and Robin.

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

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