Harry's Birth

Dear Andy,

Initially I thought hypnobirthing would be a bit 'hippy' for us but my cousin raved about it so we attended your classes. As the classes went on I lost the fear I had about 'labour' and began to look forward to the event that would allow us to meet our beautiful baby.  I felt more in control.  My husband also felt more relaxed about the birth.

My contractions started about 11pm at 38 weeks and a day.  I stayed at home until about 4 am - my husband helped me to visualise my safe place, I breathed through the contractions and my dog even sat by me and gave occasional kisses!  I did have a somewhat complicated birth experience as my baby was face up so I had extreme pressure in my back and had to have a vaccuum and episiotomy so he could be turned and brought out safely.  I ended up going through the gas, then pethidine, then an epidural as I had an undesirable urge to push when I was only 7 cm dilated - I was told if I did push that the cervix would get swollen and I would have to have a caesarian section.  My husband stayed close the whole time and talked me though each contraction, and even though I used the pain relief options I still found the hypnobirthing really helpful - I continued to fill and let my coloured balloons go, visualise my happy place and generally felt that I could cope with what ever turn my birth experience was going to take.  My baby boy harry was born at 13 13 the next day (8th of Feb 2008) - he had the cord twice around his neck and after having him on my belly for only a few seconds he had to be resucitated and was whisked away to the special care nursery for observation.  I felt incredibly alone and robbed over the next few hours without him.  My husband brought me photos on our digital camera from the nursery.  After that 'hiccough' I finally got to see my son - 2.9 kg, and I was so in love.  I honestly think the hypnobirthing really helped me stay at home longer, and also cope with the fact that my 'labour' hadn't turned out the way I had desired ... my little boy is now 4.5 months old and absolutely gorgeous (I know we are all biased about our own children but I am so in love!) 

An interesting observation made by my midwife later was that she had rarely seen a couple so close and supportive of each other through the birth experience - she wondered what nathan had been whispering in my ear during the contractions - when I explained we had been doing hypnobirthing she was excited and impressed by the bond we had shown during the birth of our son.

Thankyou for all your help and guidance Andy, and as I said - even though I ended up using all the drugs and had an instrumental delivery, I really think the hypnobirthing helped to keep me calm through each part of the journey, helped me cope with the decisions I made and the turns the delivery took, and also helped me to bond with my son before, during and after the birth.
I am attaching a photo of him at four months old.
Love Lona