I am a nurse and my husband is a physiotherapist both working in the NHS and are aware of the pressures that healthcare professional are under and the impact this can have on patient experience. But I want to share with you that there are many midwives out there that want to give you your wishes safely. I feel lucky to have undertaken the Hypnobirthing course with Anna as my midwife’s were aware of my wishes and my husband could confidently advocate for me.
I woke at 7am on my due date as my partner had recently started a new job and was cycling to work for the first time. I wanted to tell him to be safe and that I had some mild cramping so be on stand by the next couple of days. As I started to descend the stairs, my waters broke. I didn’t realise this at the time, I thought I had had an accident. After going to the loo more fluid left my body and it took for my husband to say “I think this is it”. He called the hospital to let them know as I was booked to go to the birth centre. They asked me to come in to confirm that my waters had broken. I put on the most inappropriate dress on and donned my sunglasses. I must have been a sight for sore eye.
At the hospital having flooded the car to my husband’s dismay they confirmed my waters had broken and suggested an internal exam. I declined and it was agreed I would go home and wait for my contractions to be more consistent and closer together. I knew I needed to keep eating and stay calm so McDonald’s on the way home sorted me out.
When we arrived home it wasn’t long before the contractions began and even shorter for them to become very frequently and intense. Initially I used the comb and breathing techniques. I knew I had a low pain threshold prior to labour which is why I wanted to use Hypnobirthing and following three miscarriages I felt I had something to prove in childbirth. Hindsight is a funny thing.
I was back up the hospital by 14.00 and they discussed a vaginal exam initially I was reluctant and they knew this. I was in a lot of pain and had a real need to strip off, scaring the lady in the triage bay next to me! They discussed my options and explained that an internal exam would allow for them to see how I was progressing, at this time I agreed and I was informed I was 1cm. I felt like I could had given up at this point. However I had Anna in the back of my mind telling me how strong I am from the mindfulness recordings. The nurses gave me the options of the birth centre for 4 hours to see how I progressed but advised that I may need to then be transferred if nothing moved forward in this time. I knew what I wanted and I was gonna stick with it.
So off to the birth centre I went screaming. I was very lucky to have a student midwife follow me through the journey and the matron midwife was going to ‘keep an eye on me’ as I was still only 1cm. The following day she informed me that as soon as she saw me waddling down that corridor towards her she knew babies arrival wouldn’t be long.
At 15.45 she advised another internal exam as I was screaming and talking tongues so my husband recalls. By this time I was 8cm and very quickly a bath was run and in I got. It was all a blur and I had to ask for my medical records to remind me of the order of events. The water birth was not glamorous but the amount of pain relief it gave me to sustain an all fours position was insane. As I mentioned my husband is a physiotherapist and he was flabbergasted and my stamina. Many times during this next stage I wanted to give up and kept screaming for them to “cut it out”. The midwife and my husband were fantastic they continued to communicate with me how I was doing and encouraged me to move around the pool.
By 19.00 Louie’s head had popped out and suddenly I was reaching down to pull him out the water. Here he was. I definitely felt informed, prepared and empowered for both my husband and myself to have our perfect birth.
I feel privilege to have had this experience and I can’t be any more grateful to Anna for providing us with this.
Looking forward to doing it all over again in the future.