Contact Vicki
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Contact VickiThank you to Rory for sharing his experience and it is brilliant to hear how he viewed the effectiveness of hypnobirthing and his role leading up to and during the birth of his son.
My wife Katie was diagnosed with gestational diabetes early in the pregnancy.
Due to meticulous diet control, she lost a heap of weight while carrying bub and only needed minimal insulin support towards the end of the pregnancy. However, with baby measuring a week ahead at 36 weeks, we made the decision to go ahead with being induced once we reached the 39 week mark.
On 29th December, my wife Katie and I checked in at our birthing hospital King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth to prepare for the induction of our first child at 39 weeks.
The room was great – spacious, beautiful views outside, good window blinds and a nice big private shower.
Our midwife and her student colleague were fantastic from the start. They ensured that Katie had a wireless foetal heart monitor.
They read, discussed and supported our birth preferences.
Most importantly, they left Katie to focus on herself and gave me the space to support her.
Katie’s waters were broken artificially at 8am. Intense surges started almost immediately. We were preparing for a long and arduous process of being induced, so the speed at which things followed was a surprise.
Katie didn’t sit still from that point until it was time to bring our baby into the world. She moved into different positions, used the shower for pain relief and focused on her breathing to get her through the surges.
She used no pain relief, and willed herself through her labour using the techniques we learnt at the hypnobirthing classes.
At 11:35am on 29th December, Katie birthed our son Clark just three and a half hours after having her membranes released (waters broken).
He was perfect from the moment he arrived.
He was 50cm long, 3.42kg in weight, with a nice patch of hair.
Mum, Dad, sister and nanny were there at the moment of his arrival.
Katie breathed him down slowly and he was in the perfect position and ready to arrive.
It was the most beautiful and perfect of moments 24 hours later, the three of us were back home and adjusting to life with our new little family.
Although I was a bit of a skeptic at the start of our hypnobirthing journey, the tools and information we gained helped Katie to have a positive birthing experience under very intense circumstances.
We would recommend hypnobirthing to anyone having a baby.
As a new father, I felt knowledgeable of what was happening and confident to lead the birthing process for the two of us.
Katie found the breathing and visualisation strategies enabled her to deal with a high level of discomfort. While we didn’t follow every aspect of our hypnobirthing training, what we did pick for our “toolkit” was vital in having a positive birthing experience.
Katie also adds:
We are over the moon with our little man.
I think the affirmation along the lines of “I will have a positive birth no matter what path it takes” were so important to me as the education Hypnobirthing provided crossed with a very strong trust in the midwives and my husband’s support enabled me to feel safe and secure and have my labour progress.
I cannot stress enough how amazing the staff at King Edward were and every time I mentioned I was a Hypnobirther they were always excited and positive.
Labour was the most intense experience of my life and it’s still a bit of a blur. If I hadn’t done the Hypnobirthing classes I believe the feeling of no control would have overwhelmed me and shut my labour down.
I am a teacher, and I teach my students about the importance of self-talk and resilience and my goodness I was having some interesting conversations in my head during surges!
But the same thoughts came up again and again….“it will pass” “breathe through it” “this is my baby coming to me.”
My husband kept me grounded and was like the best coach you could ask for in the most important match ever.
The midwife recognised the transition phase from a distance and quietly let me know it was time to start bearing down. I couldn’t believe it, so much so the time between surges near the end were spent convincing me it was really happening!
I had delayed cord clamping, a long time skin to skin and baby wasn’t measured or weighed until 2 hours later.
He found his own way to his first feed and hasn’t stopped searching since.
Thanks again Vicki!
Rory & Katie,
December 2016
If you have any questions or would just like more information please don't hesitate to get in touch by clicking the button below and filling out the contact form.
Contact Vicki