A two for one birth story! Mala and Lucas attended my group hypnobirthing course in Dartford for the preparation of their first birth back in 2022. Mala also attended my weekly pregnancy yoga classes and my pregnancy day retreat. Once her baby was born she also attended my mum and baby yoga class in Dartford. Recently Mala was back in pregnancy yoga in preparation for baby number two. What an honour for me to have had her in class for so long to help prepare for her growing family.
I’ve attended Colleen’s Hypnobirthing class back in 2022 alongside with pregnancy yoga, pregnancy retreat, mum and baby yoga and back at pregnancy yoga with my second! I wouldn’t have been able to have the both birth outcomes in my control had it not been for the knowledge my partner and I gained through the Hypnobirthing course.
My latest birth was with my Baby Boy born at 41 weeks on the 22/01/2024 weighing 9lbs 3oz! Leading up to the birth I had a growth scan for suspected small baby then suspected large baby and two episodes of reduced foetal movements. As I had reached my estimated due date I had been booked into a sweep and induction, neither of which I wanted but I kept the appointments. During the first episode of RFM I self discharged once my partner and I went through the risks. We agreed that as the movements checked out fine, there wasn’t a point of me taking up a bed space, unmonitored waiting on an unknown ETA to be seen by the Dr who was attending a major incident at A&E just to go through induction options. I’d rather be at home resting and come back if anything changed which is exactly what I did for the second episode of RFM.
This time as it was another episode we decided to wait for the consultant who was happy to discharge me knowing that I had a sweep and induction booked in, and I had mentioned that like last time if anything changes I’d naturally come in. Luckily the community midwife couldn’t make the sweep appointment which was a blessing as two days later (the day of my induction) I went into labour naturally!
The morning of 22/01 I had mild period like cramping I thought it was a false start to labour. I decided to hoover the house and go on a 15 minute walk in the garden whilst listening to Colleen’s Hypnobirthing mp3s. I surprisingly wanted to be left alone all morning. Around 1:30pm my cramping became stronger so I decided to time them and it turns out they were three contractions every ten minutes so we called the hospital and were asked to come in to be examined. My husband and I made our way to the hospital and were finally seen at 3pm. Just before the examination she said well if you’re not in established labour you’ll have to come back in a couple of hours. At this point I still wasn’t sure if I was in established labour but I knew I couldn’t go back out for a couple hours with no gas and air.
Upon examination I was 5cm dilated and as I had two episodes of RFMs I was taken to the delivery suite than the birthing pool which in someways took the pressure off me for being able to ask for an epidural if I wanted it. Once we arrived at the delivery suite my surges became stronger and I requested for an epidural, the midwife was sorting the paper work out when my husband noticed there was a change in me and asked if I needed to push. Turns out we had no time to administer the epidural as the baby’s head could be seen. After a few pushes and a rush of midwives coming in my baby boy was born at 5:04pm with only gas and air as a pain killer! All throughout this process I kept in my mind “I grew this baby I can birth this baby” I truly believe in birthing affirmations that helped us keep calm and focussed.
With my first birth – I’ll keep it short but I went into triage on my due date due to a bit of bleeding. The Dr came in to tell us to get ready for a c-section. My husband and I asked what the risks and benefits were something which we felt empowered to do since Colleen’s Hypnobirthing course. It turned out we could have the option of an induction and have baby monitored, which is what we agreed to instead. Skip forward almost over 24 hrs to finally being dilated enough for my waters to be broken and in the delivery suite. Baby then seemed to be in distress and the same Dr was called in to discuss an emergency c-section again. In the meantime my husband who has been the BEST birthing partner knew how frightened I was of a c-section kept calm and asked me to try and change positions. Upon doing so I had the sudden urge to push, the midwives reluctantly checked how dilated I was and turns out I was ready and again I had a very quick and calm delivery of baby boy on the 03/06/2022 at 07:50am!
All through this we kept calm and focussed, practiced breathing techniques and stood our ground on what we wanted within reason after understanding the risks. Huge thank you to my husband, he’s been brilliant throughout both births and Colleen who has always been there to guide us throughout both of my pregnancies! I still can’t believe that I’ve had two natural births. My biggest fear was having a c-section because of the recovery, so thank you Colleen!
