My Hypnobirthing Experience

A newborn photographers hypnobirthing experience.

I have wanted to share my positive birth story and hypnobirthing experience for some time now.

After using hypnobirthing for the birth of my first son Finley, I knew it was definitely something I wanted to utilise again when I fell pregnant with our second. I came across the Positive Birth Company through Instagram and purchased the online course when I saw it was reduced for the day! Even though I had read a hypnobirthing book in the past, I found the course SO extremely useful and learned even more about the science of hypnobirthing. My husband Ben found it really useful too and we listened to the mp3 tracks most evenings which helped us to relax and sleep.

My first baby was born on his due date, after a VERY long latent stage, so I was half expecting to go into labour early or at least on time, especially as I had been having Braxton hicks on and off throughout the third trimester. But my due date came and went with no baby arriving. I saw my midwife on my due date (Tuesday) and he was fully engaged so we knew it could be soon. I suffered through my whole pregnancy with SPD & sciatica so I treated myself to a due date pregnancy massage by the lovely Claire from Light Touch Massage Therapy which was amazing!!

My Birth Story

How it started

On the Thursday afternoon I was kneeling on the floor in the lounge tidying up my three year olds toys with my dad, who was checking in on me and I felt a trickling down my legs. I had just been to the toilet so I was pretty sure it was my waters, although I wasn’t expecting it to happen (my waters broke in the birthing pool last time). After going to the toilet the trickling just continued, so I put on a pad and called my husband to come home from work! I started having cramps pretty quickly and then very mild contractions, which continued throughout the evening.

We decided to go to bed around 11pm as they were still fairly mild, after a few hours they intensified so I went back downstairs to bounce on my ball and started using the Positive Birth Companies ‘Freya’ app to time the contractions. By 5am they were every 3 minutes and lasting 50 or so seconds so I called the labour line and was told to head in ASAP, there was a room waiting for me.

At the hospital

I was examined at 5.30am and was only 3cm dilated, but for some reason this didn’t upset me at all. I was using my up breathing through the contractions and coping fine, so I felt prepared for things to intensify. The next few hours I walked around the room, using the birthing pool and a chair to lean on. The midwife had brought in some aromatherapy oils, which helped to keep me in the zone. Ben was great and reminded me to breath and relax my body as much as possible. I was also still using the Freya app, which helped a lot!

At 9am I was 8cm dilated so they started filling the birthing pool for me. I was starting to struggle a bit with just the breathing and was ready to get in the pool! As soon as I was in the pool I had a couple of very intense contractions so asked to use the gas and air. It wasn’t long until I felt my body trying to push, the midwifes said to go with it. The gas and air helped a lot, although I started to feel a little panicky and emotional at this point. I think this was me going through transition. My hubby Ben and the midwifes really helped to calm me and I knew there was no turning back. I had come this far and it was time to tackle the final hurdle!

The final push!

I used my down breathing and was only pushing for about 12 minutes and out he came! Born at 12.17, Bowie Ken, weighing 8lb 14oz. There was more crying and also shaking, but it was amazing to hold my baby boy and such a relief! His cord was huge so it took Ben a few goes to cut it. The placenta then came pretty quickly which was a relief.

After The Birth

The after pains were pretty uncomfortable and at the time felt almost harder than the actual labour. But once I had some painkillers and rested for a while they were much better. I had a small tear so needed some stitches but made use of the gas and air again. After some food and a shower we were ready to take our gorgeous boy home that evening!

The best part was that we were in the same room as when I had my first born, almost four years before. This was also a water birth, so both my boys were born in the exact same birthing pool. What are the chances!

Using hypnobirthing and the Freya app was absolutely the best thing I could have done. This definitely helped me have the positive birth I had hoped for!

I wanted to share my story as I believe positive birth experiences should be shared as much as possible.  So that mummas to-be can hear about the amazing birth experiences that ARE possible! I firmly believe that hypnobirthing plays a huge part in this, I know it certainly did for me.

So if you have been thinking of giving hypnobirthing a go I say just DO IT! You have nothing to lose and it could just make the world of difference. If you have any questions at all about my experience or fancy a chat then please get in touch. I LOVE to chat all things birth and babies.

Sophie xx