We were a little sceptical at first because we very much had the stereotyped, Hollywood, view of labour. We went along to the classes, read the book and listened to the CDs. The classes with Andy were fantastic. If nothing else it was a great relaxation session! However, it turned out to be so much more. To eliminate the fear factor of labour and understand how your body works during labour was a real eye opener. We were still sceptical that this would all work because it's one thing to practice trance at home but in the midst of labour we were yet to understand it's ability and we didn't know if we could stay focused during the surges to implement the techniques learnt. Did it work? I believe so...even though everything didn't go exactly according to plan, I still wholehearted believe in the use of hypno techniques. What an amazing experience and I believe if you have a realistic view of the task at hand the hypnobirthing techniques can help to have an extremely positive experience.
This is where Andy came in! She was wonderful in teaching the techniques and was so honest, open and sharing of her own experiences it made me feel that this was actually all possible. Andy has a wonderful, caring nature and a passion for babies and what she believes in, which immediately put me at ease and allowed me to believe it was not unreasonable to strive for a painfree, natural birth.
So what happened? Well, Colin was convinced we would go into labour on the Wednesday after our due date. Our due date, Sunday 14th September, came and went as did Colin's prediction of the following Wednesday. In the last 2 weeks of pregnancy my blood pressure had started to rise so we agreed to be induced 4 days after our due date. Faced with the decision of being induced, I was trying to remain calm and not get anxious seeing that we need medical intervention already. So, of course, I called Andy and again she calmly chatted to me about the induction process and pretty much told me to relax and go with it and it will all be fine....she said "it's all cool" and nothing to worry about.
We went to hospital to start the induction process on Thursday night and were told that we would need to come back on Friday morning to continue the process.
I woke around 4 - 4.30am on Friday morning a little uncomfortable and couldn't settle back to sleep. I couldn't lie on my side and the back ache I had been feeling for the past few weeks had intensified. So I decided to get up and get ready, I figured I had enough time to get myself sorted, have a shower and breakfast in the coming 2 hours...plenty of time. My back started to really ache though and I had strange feelings in my tummy...well, maybe this was labour but I couldn't be sure (in hindsight of course it was labour seeing I had been induced the night before!) I stood in the shower for what seemed like ages and certainly used my quota of water that day. I just couldn't pull myself away from the warm water. We tried to time the surges and the time in between but I couldn't figure out when it started and when it stopped as my back ache clouded the situation.
With flannel in hand, pillow in lap and Colin beside me we got through the journey to the hospital. On the way to hospital Colin kept everything calm with light touch massage and using our Place in Nature. I vaguely remember walking into the hospital, waiting for the lift and heading to the delivery suite. We cruised past the desk, stated our name and went to Room 2, with the staff just thinking we were there for the next stage in the induction process. Colin set up the room and organised our little sanctuary with music and drinks. I spent most of the first 30 minutes with my head in a pillow leaning over the bench. Finally the midwife arrived and said "ok second application of gel" took one look at me and said, no, I think you're in labour. As the day went on, I had no concept of the time, just a mission to stay focused and breathe the way Andy had taught us to.
We arrived at hospital, 5cm dilated...which was great! Apparently the difficult stage over - from 1cm to 5cm and the rest was going to be quite quick.
Colin was constantly there....holding my hand, give me light touch massage or rubbing my back to help me stay focused. We had a playlist of hypnobirthing tracks set up on repeat which created a nice tranquil atmosphere. Pete was concerned with our baby's position and that she may not fit through my pelvis, so we needed to change positions. Any position change was uncomfortable for the first minute...and then it seemed fine after a while. I remember I spent a lot of time in one position and I kept thinking - drop your jaw, deep breaths, stay calm....drop your jaw...thinking Andy wouldn't be impressed if she saw me with my jaw tightly clenched...drop your jaw I kept saying. We managed to move the baby into the right position so that she wasn't coming out sideways. Basically it was a little scary when Peter said she might not fit through my pelvis cause I knew that it meant a c-section. But I tried to stay as calm as possible, continue the deep breathing, because I completely trusted our OB and knew that Colin would help make the necessary and safest decision for us.
Our midwife was also wonderful in the whole process. She knew we had done the hypnobirthing classes and never once mentioned drugs or pain relief but reminded me to focus on my breathing and remember to work with the surges.
Towards the end of our labour, my blood pressure was getting dangerously high so I needed medication to control it. But the rest of our labour was drug free which I was elated with. Despite small complications, our beautiful girl, Isabella was born, after only 7 hours of labour. Not only did we have a wonderful hypnobirthing experience, I believe we have a little hyno baby as well! She is a calm and happy little girl who is developing wonderfully.
For me, hypnobirthing is what you make it. It works on so many different levels and I have continually promoted it's benefits to friends, acquaintances and even strangers! Even if you take a small amount of it's teachings, the benefits in labour will be so much higher than otherwise would be the case. I can't recommend highly enough the hypnobirthing techniques and I believe everyone will benefit from them regardless of the birthing plan chosen or even unforeseen circumstances during labour.
Thanks to Andy for teaching us these fantastic techniques and also for recommending the use of the Epi-No which allowed us to leave hospital without any stitches!
Nicole Brown