Thank you to Helen and Ben for sharing their calm, hypnobirthing, forceps birth with us.
Enjoy.
‘I signed up for Talking Babies hypnobirthing course because a close friend of mine had a 39h labour and I thought there must be ways I can somehow prepare my mind to have an easy, swift, natural birth. Well, here we go… 🙂 My contractions started just after 1am on 2.09 and Amelia was born 1.22am on the 4.09 so 48h later!
The contractions slowed down in the first 24h and picked up again just before midnight when we went into the Alongside Midwife-Led Birthing Unit (highly recommended). I had been diagnosed with Strep B during pregnancy so the midwife on duty said I have to go to the Consultan-Led Delivery Suite. I was like no-no, I had been told beforehand I can give birth in The Midwife-Led unit because they can do the IV antibiotic there and I can even give birth in a pool keeping my hand out of the water (I have a big fear of hospitals, needles & blood, I fainted every second time I had to give blood or get an injection during pregnancy). They checked their updated policy and came back to us with good news and took me to the Midwife Led unit. I was 4cm dilated and in established labour.
We were in the Midwife Led unit for 16 hours from then. I was hypnobirthing and didn’t use any pain relief. As practiced I was breathing in for 4seconds and breathing out for 8 seconds during contractions and shortened it to 3sec/6sec in later stages – golden thread. I just kept focusing and telling myself it’s temporary and Ben kept massaging/stroking my lower back at every contraction. I had some yoga & meditation music going during the time this was happening. I used the pool for a bit which was super relaxing but maybe didn’t help to increase the contractions?!
To my surprise I had no idea that in between contractions you feel almost normal. That was a lovely relief. The most comfortable position for me was standing up leaning against a bed – arms on a birthing ball and the most uncomfortable – lying down.
I did not feel fear once.
After 16h & almost feeling the urge to push I was examined and had dilated only another 4cm (1cm an hour is norm/average). By that time I was knackered. The contractions were consistent but not speeding up.
The doctor recommended to put on oxytocin drip to speed up the contractions and to get me fully dilated – I was taken to the normal delivery suites. I had not had any pain relief until this moment & I decided to go for epidural as I knew the drip will increase the contractions pretty rapidly. In my birth preferences I had written down that I consent to epidural & C section if need be. The baby’s health is the most important. As I was transferred into the hospital side and suddenly all these anaethetists/doctors were around me – I just said to myself – SURRENDER, trust them, they are doing this job every day and help women to give birth. If our bodies don’t do it naturally – we still have the opportunities to get the baby out safely. I told them all about my fear of hospitals & needles and everyone looked at me in awe as they hadn’t seen such a calm person in labour before. Heh. 🙂 After several hours on the oxytocin I had dilated to 10cm and started pushing. The midwife was called away several times and it was just me and Ben at times. It was great, he kept putting a cold towel on my forehead & chest trying to cool me down. I pushed hard for 2 hours but the baby didn’t move. Apparently her head position wasn’t right. Another doctor was called in & advised we’d need to prepare for forceps, ventous or C section to get her out safely. I was happy with any option as long as my baby was healthy. The operating theatre was prepared.
Luckily in theatre they managed to turn her head and after few pushes and a slight help with forceps our baby was out 🙂 ❤ All throughout the labour the baby was very happy and the doctors had no concerns.
I felt safe and loved and my consent was confirmed for every action taken.
The hardest bit was the length of it as I barely ate and didn’t keep well hydrated in the beginning. All I can advise for future mums – do some research so you know the possible scenarios, stay calm and focused, breath in and breath out. Trust yourself and people around you 💜💜💜
Love,
Helen, Ben and beautiful Amelia’
If you too would like to empower your self with knowledge and skills to stay calm like Helen and Ben I would love to have you on the next Talking Babies, Midwife Led Antenatal or Hypnobirthing course. If you can’t decide which – many sign up for both!
Click here for current courses with availability
If you have enjoyed reading Helen and Ben’s Birth story read more! All the birth stories on the Talking Babies Blog are positive and if there some unclear intervention Midwifery guidance is provided at the bottom.