Sandy’s Birth Story
Danielle and James' Second Birth with Hypnobirthing
Read the extraordinary story of how Daniel and James used their Hypnobirthing Tools to have another great birth with Through Birth & Beyond.
I wanted a refresher with Claire because of was worried that my second birth wouldn't be the same as my first. It wasn't. But it was just as calm, natural, and beautiful thanks to the hypnobirthing techniques Claire taught us.
It wasn't as obvious to me that I was actually in labour with Sandy. My waters hadn't broken and although my plug had been slowly coming away for almost a week, I hadn't had a bloody show or anything like that. However, on the evening of the 16th at around 8pm I started to have some early contractions. I continued to go about my usual routine until I tried to get some sleep, I realized my body had different plans.
As not to wake up the full house I took myself downstairs and did the majority of the early labouring on my ball watching Kevin Bridges...trying to laugh my way through my contractions.
At about 3am I decided we should maybe arrange to take my daughter to my mums. Still not totally sure I was in labour, but I didn't want to be in a situation where I was panicking for time, I wanted everything to be quite calm. By the time I'd returned from my mums my contractions had been coming in more regularly, and I was having at least 3 in 10mins at around 50seconds each… It was time to call the hospital, who asked me to come in.
We had a slight hiccup at this point, when we were 5 mins away from the hospital they rang to ask if we had left, as they had no labouring rooms available and were thinking of asking us to change hospitals. James was good at reminding me at this point to remain calm as he could see me start to panic a bit, knowing how quickly Rowan had come into the world, and knowing my next closest hospital was an hour in the opposite direction, I was quite concerned. They asked us to continue our journey to hospital and as it turned out we were the last couple to be accepted into the Vic that night, which meant we were left to labour in the reception area for around 20 mins whilst they got a room for us.
The midwife greeted us with the usual "are you sure you are in labour" which worried me as I actually wasn't convinced myself but was just trying so hard to be calm and breathe my way through at this stage. I was asked if I'd like to be examined, which I agreed to so I could be sure baby was coming. He was, I was 7cm dilated at this point which I was really quite surprised about but also really pleased I had managed to get this far birthing myself at home.
This is when time began to slow for me... After a short while I started to feel like I needed to push, so my two midwives came in and were preparing for this baby to come, however my waters still had to come first. The midwives could see the waters were ready to break and advised me to keep doing what my body was telling me to do, which was push. I began to get really annoyed with myself after about an hour of pushing through contractions, I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere and felt like because my waters hadn't broken, I was wasting energy. This is where James and my midwives were fabulous, assuring me that every push was helping and bringing my baby (slowly) into the world. James showed me photos and videos of our little girl which again just made me laugh and so happy, along with my own music playlist and a lot of moving about, this really got me through this stage.
We knew my waters had to come first, and the midwives advised they could break them for me if I really wanted but advised it was an intervention that might work but also might not and reminded me at this point of my birthing plan to have as little intervention as possible, so I agreed to carry on doing what I was doing. I also didn't want any pain relief, as at this point, I wasn't in any pain, I just was feeling enormous pressure.
At around 8am after what felt like a lifetime my waters came in one massive gush…I think the whole room rejoiced at this point. Things changed pretty rapidly from here, my baby was coming, and he was coming fast. I really needed James at this point, it all got pretty intense, and I needed him to reassure me that everything was fine I was doing well and that I could do this, which at this point I promised him I absolutely couldn't and I "needed everything to just stop for a minute".
Of course, I WAS doing it, and at 8.18am Sandy entered the world weighing 8lb 11oz and was handed straight to me for skin to skin. His cord remained attached for a good 3-5 mins to allow all the blood to flow to him. James cut his cord, the midwives helped deliver the placenta and we enjoyed our golden hour.
The knowledge and support Claire gave us throughout both our pregnancies were invaluable and so empowering. They say no two births are the same which is just as true for me, but thanks to Claire and hypnobirthing both my births were exactly as I wanted and practiced for them to be.
Danielle and James - 1:1 hypnobirthing course
