"We are utterly convinced that Hypnobirthing was a significant factor that enabled us to have the birth that we wanted"
Dear Lyn,
I hope you are well, we’ve been meaning to write for a week but I guess you know what it is like when you have a baby – you don’t get round to doing anything that you mean to!
We wanted to write and tell you our birth story and also to say a massive Thank You for all of your help and guidance–my birth was absolutely perfect and everything I had hoped it would be and we are putting a lot of that down to all the things that you taught us and the knowledge and skills that we gained from working with you.
Otto Isaac McDermott made his way into the world on Wednesday 26th March at 15:44 at QA hospital. (I will write an edited version of our story for you to include in your HypnoBirthing packs and send it over when I have a minute……whenever that will be!)
It all started in the middle of the night on Monday 24th, I was woken at about 3am with period type pains that were coming about every 10 minutes but they were quite mild. I got up and bounced about on my birth ball whilst drinking a chamomile tea wondering whether this was going to be the start of labor or not, (How very British of me!!). I went back to bed after about an hour and dozed until the morning but was still getting the pains. On Tuesday Trevor went to work as normal and I went for a walk down the seafront and did some shopping and then came home and tried to nap in the afternoon but was still getting the pains on a regular basis. At this point they were still quite mild but regular enough that I couldn’t sleep properly.
When Trevor came home from work we had a curry and after that I could feel that the pains were getting stronger and so we deduced that this was probably the real thing! (I do now wonder if my body was hanging on for Trevor to get back from work before it started progressing). We started watching a comedy DVD but at about 9pm I decided that I wanted to have a bath, which was lovely, Trevor stayed with me and we just chilled out for a while. After that we snuggled in the bedroom listening to relaxing music and the birth affirmations and relaxation CDs. We did ring the hospital and they told us that the midwife unit at St Mary’s wasn’t open that night because all the midwives were at QA and so if I wanted to go in, I would have to go to QA. I knew that St Mary’s opened at about 8 am so thought that I would hang on as much as possible at home and wait it out.
All through the night the contractions were getting stronger but they weren’t getting any closer together. Trevor did the deepening relaxation and read out some of the other relaxation scripts and we just chilled out in the bedroom. I had planned to be as active as possible but as I knew that this would be my second night in a row without much sleep I just tried to rest as much as possible. I had another bath about 5 in the morning (and I now think my water’s broke in the bath but at the time I thought I was just losing a bit more of my mucous plug which I’d started to lose at about 3 in the morning) and afterwards we tried to get some rest!!! I managed to sleep in between my contractions and Trevor was timing them as they were getting more and more intense. Sometimes I was dreaming that I was having contractions so was telling Trevor to start timing before I realized that I was actually dreaming!! All this time we were still listening to the CDs and the birth affirmations were so helpful in being able to manage the intensity…I knew that each contraction would bring me closer to meeting my baby and that it would take 4 breaths and they would be over so I could have another micronap!!!!
I spoke to my friend Emma on the phone mid morning who told me that it sounded like I would be meeting my baby very soon. Trevor was amazing at reminding me to relax, breathe through the contractions, relax my shoulders and my jaw and generally tell me to keep going!
At about 2 o’clock I said to Trevor that I thought I needed to go to hospital as the intensity was getting a bit much and I wanted some help. The hospital had previously said not to go in until the contractions got to 5 mins apart and at this point they were still about 9 mins apart but we rang them and told them that we were coming in anyway.
By the time I got downstairs and was trying to put my shoes on, they were coming every 3 minutes and I started feeling like the baby was coming. As I was in the car, I was saying to Trevor that it felt like the baby was coming out and he offered to pull over but I just wanted to get to hospital as I didn’t want to have him at the side of the road! The traffic seemed horrendous and I was starting to panic a little as it seemed like he would be arriving very soon.
We got to the hospital and Trevor ran off to get a wheelchair….typical that there were none around and I was desperately trying to walk into the hospital…..I was shuffling along at a snail’s pace and a nurse saw we were struggling and asked whether we needed help – Trevor said that we could do with a wheelchair and she went to look for one but there were none around. Trevor noticed a porter with a wheelchair with an old lady in it and asked whether he was using it! I carried on shuffling towards the door and the second that Trevor noticed the old lady’s bottom was out of her wheelchair he ran over and grabbed it from the porter (it was a bit like a carry on film!!!). The porter then ran after Trevor and they got me in it and wheeled me into the midwife unit at about 1520.
A midwife called Penny Cox introduced herself and we said we were hoping for a water birth so she said she would need to examine me to see where I was at first. She did one examination and said I was fully dilated and she could feel the baby’s head and that there wasn’t really time for a water birth. She managed to read our birth plan and I said that I wanted to be on all fours so they moved me round so I could lean on the back of the bed. I did ask for gas and air but she said it may make me feel sick so I decided not to have any. She was listening to the baby’s heartbeat and noticed that it was a bit erratic – as we had had a heart trace the day before, Trevor was able to tell them that we knew that the baby had a very low base heart rate and so it may sound erratic but was probably ok. Penny told me that she had read our birth plan and although it had said no coaching in the second stage, words to the effect that I needed to listen to her so that we could deliver the baby safely. I tried to concentrate on the J breathing and I think within 4 breaths, the head was out and with the next breath a baby was passed through to me and Trevor told me that it was a boy. Words cannot express the feelings I had when I held my baby for the first time, he had arrived so quickly after us arriving at the hospital that I was in a bit of a daze but the love I immediately felt for him was immense.
Otto was breathing and cried when he was born but I managed to turn round so I could hold him skin to skin and we waited for the cord to stop pulsating before Trevor was able to cut it. Otto did have to be checked over as his breathing was a little labored but he was returned to me as was found to be fine. Our midwife was amazing and totally respected all of our wishes, considering we had so little time to get to know each other I trusted her implicitly and couldn’t have been happier with the care and guidance that I received whilst in hospital. I managed to give birth with just paracetamol as pain relief and I didn’t have any tears or grazes and hardly lost any blood so I was over the moon about how things had gone – we think that the HypnoBirthing was instrumental in us being able to have the birth that we had hoped for so Thank you again for everything that you taught us.
Otto is perfect and a very chilled baby – he sleeps a lot and we have to wake him to get him to feed but he has already provided so much joy to us and it is only a week since he was born, I can’t wait to see what adventures lie ahead for us, I know that this is just the start of an amazing journey.
We are utterly convinced that HypnoBirthing was a significant factor that enabled us to have the birth that we wanted for Otto. We are already telling everybody about you and recommending your services. We know you have no shortage of previous clients’ success stories, but we are more than happy to speak with prospective clients who are deciding whether or not to try your course. Trevor is more than happy to speak with any doubting dads to be should they have any questions.
If you are ever in Southsea and want to pop in for a coffee and a cuddle you will always be welcome!!!
Take care
Love Rach, Trevor and Otto
Xxx
