Making informed choices to suit your set of circumstances

Making informed choices to suit your set of circumstances for your birth is one of the key messages I promote in my Hypnobirthing Classes.

It’s also important to note that two women can look at the same set of circumstances and make completely different decisions. It doesn’t make one right and the other wrong.

In this birth story shared by Lauren, who is one of my Hypnobirthing mums, she reflects on how well she laboured, but her baby just wasn’t moving down and her “bearing down breaths” just weren’t enough to get baby out, which led to her baby being born via caesarean. Lauren used her BRAIN technique to ask all the right questions, to get the answers she needed to make an informed choice for the next step, when things weren’t progressing, and then her birth plan changed, but she dealt with these changes really well and her baby was born into a positive, calm environment.

 

Here is her birth story:

On 15th Jan 2020 I was 41+5 and agreed to finally get induced. I was 2cm dilated when I went in at 7am so they broke my waters and connected me to the drip.

We pulled the blinds down, had lights dimmed, door closed, sprayed our essential oils and I put my EarPods in and started listening to the hypnobirthing tracks.

I rotated between Surge Of The Sea, Baby Come Out and my Affirmations (also found on the Surge of the Sea track).

I had my husband do the light touch massage during each surge till they got stronger then I had him use a handheld massager (Homedics Quatro Mini Massager) on my lower back and I needed this with every surge.

 

The midwives respected our birth preferences and when they came in the room they were quiet and whispered all questions to my husband so as not to disturb me.

Even during monitoring I managed to stay relaxed and focus on my breathing. I bounced on the fit ball, stood leaning against the bed swaying back and forth, got on all fours and was also sitting on a chair or the edge of the bed. These were the positions I used to bring me comfort during labour.

 

I was in labour for 12 hours then once fully dilated I was on all fours to start bearing down with each surge. The midwives supported me with my bearing down breathing for an hour and a half, but baby wasn’t moving down. They explained to me that although I didn’t want to I needed to hold my breath and push as hard as I could. I tried their way of “pushing” for an hour but still baby wouldn’t move down and they explained caesarean section was our only option as baby wasn’t far enough down to use forceps or vacuum.

I agreed to a caesarean section so at 10:15pm they moved me into the theatre room and at 10.44pm our son was born weighing a healthy 9.8 pounds.

 

 

 

 

The day after the birth a midwife came in and said I was the talk of the ward as the midwives were impressed with how calm I was and were all hoping for a natural birth for me.

Although the day didn’t go quite as planned we were prepared for any path our birth may take and I believe due to the hypnobirthing I was relaxed and so was my baby resulting in a positive birth experience.

Lauren & Stuart
2020

 

If you would like more information about my Hypnobirthing Classes Perth, please CLICK HERE

My name is Vicki Hobbs and I am a Childbirth Educator (Back to Basics Birthing), Hypnobirthing Practitioner, Certified VBAC Educator, Remedial Massage Therapist specialising in Pregnancy & Postpartum Massage, Birth & Postpartum Doula, Certified Placenta Encapsulator, Hypnotherapist, Aromatherapist, Reiki Practitioner and Life Coach. I am a serial workshopper and learner, so that I keep up to date with new research and information so that I can provide you with up-to-date resources. My focus has always been on the mind, the body and the emotions and how they all need to be in balance for harmony. You can subscribe to my newsletter by adding your details in the box on the right-hand side and when you do, I will send you a free relaxation meditation to help you feel calm and relaxed. I am based in the northern suburbs of Perth and can be contacted by email at [email protected] or CLICK HERE to go back to my Resources Page for more great articles and information.