Rowan’s Positive Birth Story
Danielle and James’ Hypnobirthing experience for their first birth
Danielle and James asked me to support them as they prepared for the birth of their first baby. They had came to me following a recommendation from a friend, who had also done one of my Hypnobirthing courses. Danielle and James were absolutely amazing to work with and really bought into the fact that they held so much power when it came to birthing their daughter.
Discovery of Hypnobirthing
When we found out we were pregnant we were absolutely over the moon, we couldn't wait for our baby to be here, although I was a bit worried about the 'how' the baby was getting here bit. Before hypnobirthing if anyone asked, I always said I'd just be happy "going with the flow" when the time eventually came, which makes me giggle now!
My outlook completely changed when we went to visit friends who had just had a beautiful daughter. During conversation I asked my friend how she had got on during labour. Fully expecting to hear yet another horror story, to my surprise she said it had been the most amazing experience, and went onto tell me all about hypnobirthing, her experience and her time with Claire at simply beautiful birthing. We were both absolutely sold and got in touch with Claire that night to book our session.
Listening to Claire, I wondered what I had ever worried about, the science behind childbirth is so straightforward once someone explains it to you, and a lot of the common misconceptions were put to bed there and then. On the lead up to my birth I read lots of positive birth stories, listened to my mp3s and read and reread my hypnobirthing booklet to remind myself of the science behind childbirth and all of the breathing techniques and when to use them, along with watching my dog give birth to 9 puppies in the most peaceful and calm way... I was actually really excited to go into labour and put everything I'd learned into practice!!
When we found out we were pregnant we were absolutely over the moon, we couldn't wait for our baby to be here, although I was a bit worried about the 'how' the baby was getting here bit. Before hypnobirthing if anyone asked, I always said I'd just be happy "going with the flow" when the time eventually came, which makes me giggle now!
My outlook completely changed when we went to visit friends who had just had a beautiful daughter. During conversation I asked my friend how she had got on during labour. Fully expecting to hear yet another horror story, to my surprise she said it had been the most amazing experience, and went onto tell me all about hypnobirthing, her experience and her time with Claire at simply beautiful birthing. We were both absolutely sold and got in touch with Claire that night to book our session.
Listening to Claire, I wondered what I had ever worried about, the science behind childbirth is so straightforward once someone explains it to you, and a lot of the common misconceptions were put to bed there and then. On the lead up to my birth I read lots of positive birth stories, listened to my mp3s and read and reread my hypnobirthing booklet to remind myself of the science behind childbirth and all of the breathing techniques and when to use them, along with watching my dog give birth to 9 puppies in the most peaceful and calm way... I was actually really excited to go into labour and put everything I'd learned into practice!!
Anticipating Baby's Arrival
I woke up on the 29th of May and when I'd gone to the toilet, I'd noticed that some of my mucus plug had come away, I excitedly ran to tell James, but then gave myself a reality check and we decided not to get too carried away, labour could still be a while away yet! Throughout the course of the day my plug continued to come away bit by bit, and by the afternoon I started to get some really light contractions that felt like nothing more than really light stomach cramps. I continued on with my day as usual, we went for a picnic and even visited me in laws, all the while secretly logging the time between contractions - they had no clue!
My waters broke at 22.50, just as I was getting into bed, and more intense surges came after that. I grabbed my birthing ball and prepared myself for a long night ahead. It wasn't long before my surge counting app was telling me I was in active Labour. I called the hospital to let them know I was on my way and arrived at the hospital at 1am.
The midwife done an examination and to my surprise I was only 2cm dilated. She was keen to give me 2 paracetamol and send me home. James explained that from everything we had learned we believed our baby was coming and would prefer to stay. The staff reluctantly agreed (it was during the coronavirus pandemic so they didn't want people in hospital unnecessary, which is fair), gave me paracetamol and explained I could be in hospital for days, they would check on me in a few hours and see if I wanted to go home to labour there...
James, thinking we would be in hospital for the foreseeable, explained he was going to get some sleep, and we would get the room "hypnobirthing ready" when he woke up if we did decide to stay.
Rowan's Swift Entrance into the World
This was actually lovely, as brilliant a birth partner James is, this quiet time allowed me just to quietly and calmly birth my baby using all of my breathing techniques with no interruption. After an hour and going to the toilet for what I believed to be a "Number 2" 😳 (why would it be anything else I was only 2 cm dilated after all...) I noticed a lot of blood, so called the midwife to see if this was normal. She took one look at me and explained that things had definitely changed and went to wake James up as my baby was making a speedy arrival into the world.
James was an incredible support during that last stage. Thanks to our course with Claire he was really able to be present in the room and was absolutely the biggest help to me. He was coaching me to breathe properly, talking to the midwives on my behalf and encouraging me the whole time. Rowan arrived safely into the world at 4.13am with no time for the birthing bath to fill, any additional pain relief, or time for us to set up the room with lights and photos, but regardless it was the most beautiful experience for us both, and we were lucky it had gone exactly the way we had always wanted.