HypnoBirthing® Hamilton
Our classes began
around seven months gestation with our second child. Both my husband and I had
read the book and began attending classes. Every night our “together time” was
spent lying in bed listening to the meditation tracks. Peter loaded up the MP3 player with my
favourite songs and tracks from the CD. We even recorded our own birthing
affirmations using some software that we downloaded and set it to some of my
favourite classical music. We wanted
this birth to be the beautiful, natural experience we had seen in the videos.
Unfortunately, our
daughter Charlotte decided to come earlier than we wanted at 31.5 weeks. We hadn’t quite made it to the end of our
classes (especially the part on the actual birth!) We did, however, use the techniques to SLOW
DOWN our contractions to keep baby in.
We were told that every day we could keep her inside would help her
lungs to mature just a bit more. Well,
when we arrived, the contractions were 7 minutes apart, 45 seconds long with
severe back labour. With some excellent
coaching, the right mood with our music and focussed determination, we slowed
the surges down to 45 minutes apart, 30 seconds long and completely
tolerable. By 7am the next morning, my
cervix had actually CLOSED 1cm! In the
end, fear, anxiety and stress caused me to lose focus as the “medical” team took
over and seven gowned people squeezed into the tiny room (respiratory techs,
OB’s, nurses, preemie specialists…etc.). It was NOT the birth I had dreamed about. Thank goodness our baby was fine and today is
a healthy and active two year old.
This third time, I was bound and determined that we would get our wish. Third time’s
a charm they say!
I was now a “high
risk” patient and under care of both my
The benefit of this
was that we were able to complete the full HypnoBirthing course and feel fully
prepared. A family friend that is a
retired midwife joined us at the classes and acted as our doula during the
birth. It was SUCH a benefit to have
another person there to support my husband as he coached me. Not only did she
know what to expect more than we did, she knew how to support without
interfering in our experience. Ann was a
godsend for us.
One of the critical
elements of the course is the structure to talk out all the detail that you
aren’t able to communicate when you’re in labour. For example, do you like to be
touched/massaged or not? It’s difficult to communicate those things when you’re
trying to be “in the zone”. The practice
sessions during the classes and homework to talk these things out really made
my wishes known to my support team and allowed me to rest and relax during
labour instead of direct the process ~ a very difficult thing for Type A’s to
do!
The birth was
everything that we had hoped for. I used
no drugs and had a bright, alert and relaxed baby boy at the end. I had dilated to 5cm two weeks before the
actual delivery, but was only 40% effaced, so the doctors let it go until baby
decided he was ready to arrive. When I
did feel I was going into regular contractions (4min apart/1 minute long) we
went to the hospital. That was 9am on Saturday morning.
The nurses said that I
was still only 5cm, but now 50% and having definite contractions, but not
progressing much. After monitoring for a
while (until 10:30) the suggestion was made to walk the halls, have some tea at
the cafeteria and see what happens.
Using the HypnoBirthing breathing I walked the halls, did stretches,
paused to lean against the wall to breathe through a contraction, but generally
kept moving around. It was quite manageable and felt good to be moving.
When we returned I was
still 5cm, but now 60% and we decided to break my waters at about 1pm. After that, I progressed smoothly and
quickly.
For me transition was
very difficult and it was probably the most challenging to not push before my
cervix was dilated. Resisting pushing is
like trying not to breathe; an unnatural act. The breathing, focusing and
releasing techniques and mostly my husband and doula helped me get through
it. Once I finally hit 10cm and the
baby’s head dropped it was like all the discomfort went away and I could
breathe again.
It’s hard to describe
the feeling, but once everything was “in place” my uterus relaxed a bit and the
contractions were no longer on top of one another. I recall the doctor saying
that I could push on the next contractions and I was breathing so evenly and
quietly that they asked if I was ok. I told them I was waiting for a
contraction. The room was quite still, I
could hear the music playing in the background, my aromatherapy essential oils
were rubbed on my belly so I could smell them and I simply went into a limp
state. I breathed as we had practiced so
many nights and my lower half went soft.
I can’t say that I really pushed so much as breathed Matthew out. When the nurses told me to “push” I simply
relaxed and gave the gentlest downward kegel to inch him along. The whole
“pushing” stage was a whopping 3.5 minutes and took only four contractions!
The experience was
calm, restful and everything I wanted. I held my husband’s hand as he looked in
my eyes and reminded me that I could do it.
Matt’s time in the birth canal was so short, that he came out with a
perfectly round head!
Matthew arrived at
3:45pm on December 12, 2009. By far, my
best Christmas present ever!
