Rise & Glow Blog | Positive Birth Stories & Hypnobirthing in Action!

 RSS Feed

Category: Darent Valley Hospital

  1. Positive Caesarean Birth after Induction at Darent Valley Hospital

    Posted on

    Hypnobirthing is for every type of birth. It's not just for natural births and water births, but it's also incredibly valuable for medicalised births. The most important thing is not the mechanics of how your baby is born, but how you FEEL about your experience before, during and after birth...

    > Did you feel in control?

    > Did you feel well-equipped?

    > Did you feel supported?

    In this Positive Caesarean birth story, first time Mum Aimi tells the story of how Hypnobirthing helped during her C-Section.

    Positive Caesarean at Darent Valley Hospital

    My birth wasn’t a physiological water birth as planned but in the end I was okay with that and felt well prepared for every eventually- much due to the HypnoBirthing course which went through all different birth plans including C section. I had written this ‘plan c’ using the template Laura gave us.  The techniques learnt in the sessions helped me and my partner throughout pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards. 

    As I approached 41 weeks, I was going for lots of walks, doing all the old wives tales and thinking ‘my baby will come when my baby is ready…’ I was calm and started to weigh up options. It was great talking to the other women from the course, using BRAIN and hearing their experiences of a sweep. At my 41 week midwife appointment, I decided to have a sweep. Not the most comfortable thing but using the up breathing technique and remembering ‘floppy jaw’ helped massively. I was 1cm dilated and went home for a long walk. I was getting some contractions and the mucus plug came away. I left the midwife by booking in an outpatient induction at Darent Valley Hospital two days later just in case .

    I got to the induction date, and after much thought and consideration of my options, I decided to go in. The midwives at the hospital were fantastic and spoke through options, never pressuring me into anything. I decided to go with rods- a non hormonal option that expands the cervix. I was still 1cm. Again breathing and staying relaxed, as well as birth partner support reminding me of these things, helped with this. I was happy I chose an outpatient induction and got to go home for a good nights sleep. I slept well and had some more contractions throughout the night. I played the HypnoBirthing tracks as I went to sleep. I had done this throughout pregnancy and so these made me feel relaxed and positive. 

    At 8am, I arrived back at the hospital to have the rods taken out. Firstly, I had a CTG to check the baby. During this the baby’s heart rate dropped and the midwife quickly went into action and I was taken to theatre. As I was wheeled there, I remember feeling calm and going through the positive affirmations in my head. My husband kept reminding me to breathe and did this with me. The baby’s heart rate went back up and I had a cervical examination. The midwife noticed something squishy that didn’t feel like her head. A consultant came to do an ultrasound and they couldn’t tell if the umbilical cord was in the way. We decided that the safest thing to do was a C-section rather than break the waters. I was 2cm now. 

    The midwives, consultant and anesthetist were incredible, keeping me calm, relaxed and positive. I can’t thank them enough. Throughout the whole C section I felt this way and continued with my breathing techniques. This was very grounding and helped both me and my birth partner to focus on something. He was amazing stroking my head and using the affirmations we had talked about in the course. He felt confident and informed of the procedure, having gone through it with my birth plan. We spoke through options with the midwives with skin to skin and delayed cord clamping being important to me. They offered to put on music however in that moment I didn’t want it and felt good just talking to my partner and breathing. The moment we saw our little girl over the screen was emotional and amazing, and so were the skin to skin cuddles with her rooting at my cheek looking for milk. Having arrived at the hospital at 8am, she was born less than 2 hours later at 9.57am! 

    Afterwards I found out that it was jelly from the cord that they could feel, and I was at peace with the birth and all the decisions made, knowing we had taken it step by step and were very considered in these.

    During my recovery, I even continued to play the HypnoBirthing tracks to feel relaxed and get to sleep for naps! I feel very fortunate to have had such fantastic support from the hospital, my birth partner and the techniques and people I met from the course.

    The best thing was feeling empowered, confident and in full control throughout my birthing experience. 

    Huge congratulations Aimi and Nikita on the birth of their beaby girl Eleni, and thank you for sharing your positive birth story!

     

    Do you want a Positive Birth too? 

    My antenatal Hypnobirthing courses are available both in-person and online, and are designed to be a fun and relaxing experience for you and your birth partner - a real highlight of your pregnancy.

    Find the perfect class for you: 

    Not sure which course is for you? Sign up to my next FREE Online Mini-Masterclass to start your journey to a glowing pregnancy, a positive birth, and the best possible start to parenthood!

  2. The Birth of Atticus: Positive hospital birth after being offered induction for suspected big baby

    Posted on

    First time Mum Becky was told throughout her pregnancy that her baby was measuring "big". After additional growth scans, she was offered an induction. Read about how Becky confidently made decisions that were right for her and her baby and enjoyed a wonderful positive birth. 

    My ‘dream birth’ was a water birth at the midwife led centre, with dim lights, calm music playing in the background, my favourite scent filling the room, pictures of happy memories and positive affirmations throughout the room and our baby boy’s ‘coming home’ outfit hung up in view. It’s safe to say that this vision I had pictured a hundred times in my head did not happen - but I still had an extremely positive experience full of happiness, calmness and laughter.

    First time parents Darent Valley Hospital hypnobirthing

    I knew that during pregnancy I wanted to work on my mindset about birth. I started by reading - after all knowledge is power. I read a positive book about birth which went through all the various aspects and options, along with research. The book made me feel more informed, in control and positive. The book referenced hypnobirthing as a form of pain relief which I decided to look into further.

    After following social media accounts around hypnobirthing which shared positive stories, helpful information and tools and techniques, I decided to sign up to a course to learn more. The course for me was a game changer, it gave me a toolset to practice in the lead up to labour and helped my birth partner understand the vital role he had ensuring we were both aligned. 

    For me, the positive affirmations really resonated with me - especially ‘my partner, my baby and I are doing this together’ and ‘my baby will come when my baby is ready’. I listened to a positive-affirmations track regularly and I also created some of my favourites as images to have as a rotating lock screen on my phone. I practiced my breath work and I put this into practice whenever I was in any slight discomfort (for example, when blood tests were being done, or during perineum massages!). As the weeks went by, I was actually looking forward to being in labour! 

    Throughout pregnancy, my ‘little one’ was always tracking ‘big’ - on the 97% percentile. Following our 37-week scan we were advised to be induced as soon as possible. Induction was something I desperately wanted to avoid, especially as when applying our ‘BRAIN’ (a tool to help with decision making) we didn’t feel that there was a real risk presented. We agreed to have another scan at 39 weeks and go from there. At our 39-week scan (4 July), we were told he was 9lbs 9oz and again was advised to be booked in for induction as soon as possible. At this point we applied our ‘BRAIN’ and felt that the risk had changed, and decided to go ahead with the induction. We were booked in for the next day (5 July) and was advised to call the ward that day at 9AM for a time to come in. We tried to make the situation as positive as possible – ultimately, we were going to meet our baby boy very soon! 

    At 9AM on 5 July, I called the ward and they said to come in at 2PM. We had a slow morning, watched some Game of Thrones and had some good food. At 1PM we made our way to the hospital with all our home comforts (diffuser, laptop to continue watching Game of Thrones and a mountain of our favourite snacks, to name a few!).

    Shortly after we got to the ward, they put me on the CTG machine. At 5PM they examined me to see if I was dilated as this would impact which method of induction they could offer. At this point I was 2CM dilated and was told that I did not need to be induced and instead could just wait on the ward to have my waters broken - we were told that the ward was busy and this could be a while.

    We made ourselves comfortable, we set up the diffuser, got Games of Thrones playing and started working through our snacks. We also had lots of laughs in between. I don’t know what it was but I felt the most relaxed than I had in a long time. I think subconsciously I had stopped ‘trying’ to naturally induce labour and just let things be. It got to 9PM and we didn’t know how long we would be waiting so we decided to try and get an early night - just in case we were up early. 

    I struggled to get to sleep, there was quite a lot of background noise in the ward so I put on some music and did some breath work to stay relaxed. 12AM hit and I was lying on my side where I suddenly felt and heard a ‘pop’. Seconds later I felt water trickling. My waters had broken naturally while waiting to have my waters broken!

    I instantly felt excitement and the affirmation ‘my baby will come when my baby is ready’ came to mind. My partner got the midwife who put me back on the CTG and said try to rest if I can. I wanted to be as upright as possible so I sat up with the CTG monitor on. I also told the midwife at this point that I wanted to see how my labour would progress naturally (rather than have the oxytocin drip). The contractions started building - they were fairly regular and I used the breathing techniques to work through them. I was actually quite surprised that I liked being on the CTG monitor as I could see the uterine contractions and baby’s heartbeat. Every time I had a contraction, baby’s heartbeat went up and all I could think of was the affirmation ‘my partner, my baby and I are doing this together’ - and we really were! 

    At around 3AM my contractions were lasting 45-60 seconds and I was having 3 every 10 minutes. They were also increasing in intensity. I decided to have a bath at this point to help with the intensity. The warmth really helped, and my partner held my hand the entire time. 

    At around 5:25AM I was convinced my labour would have progressed quite a bit because of the intensity so I asked to be examined (again something I was surprised I’d ask for!) but I was only 3CM dilated. I must admit I did feel a little deflated at this point. 

    Over the next couple of hours, the intensity increased. At around 8:00AM I suddenly got an urge to poo so I went to the loo. As 2.5 hours ago I was only 3CM dilated it didn’t cross my mind that little one was ready to make his appearance... little did I know he was!! My partner realised what was happening and got the midwives. At this point I was in the transition phase and really doubted myself but my partner held my hand throughout and continually reassured me. The midwives examined me and could see baby’s head! At this point I was involuntarily pushing. 

    At 8:30AM I was quickly wheeled down to the delivery suite (from the induction ward) where I spent just 18 minutes before our baby boy was in our arms. My partner and I had instant tears and it is a moment I will never forget. We had skin to skin and the cord was left until it was white and no longer pulsating, where my partner then cut the cord. Those moments were absolutely magical. 

    New parents positive induction birth story

    First time mum induction macrosomia

    I was advised to have active management in delivering the placenta. To be honest this part felt like a bit of a blur and happened really quickly! I was so focused on our little one. 

    I did have a second-degree tear and was advised to have stitches. At this point I had gas and air and held my baby throughout. 

    We were left in the delivery suite room for a couple of hours where we could just enjoy our baby bubble... and was also given the famous tea and toast before being transferred to the postnatal ward. A few hours later my partner got us sushi - something I had mentioned I’d missed quite a few times (read: constantly) during pregnancy. 

    Hypnobirthing Darent Valley Postnatal ward

    I have gone from flinching at the thought of child birth and was sure that I would want every pain relief option available, to reframing my mindset and having a completely unmedicated and wonderful birth as a result.

    While I had a positive birth experience, I wanted to have a debrief with a midwife - which I did one month later. I found this extremely helpful. We went through my notes and talked through my questions and concerns - mostly around what happens next time where baby may make an appearance even quicker!

    Welcome to the world baby Atticus, weighing in at 9lb 9ozs, and huge congratulations to Becky and Maken!

    Newborn baby Darent Valley Hospital hypnobirthing

    Induction macrosomia positive birth story Darent Valley Hospital

    Do you want a Positive Birth too? 

    My antenatal Hypnobirthing courses are available both in-person and online, and are designed to be a fun and relaxing experience for you and your birth partner - a real highlight of your pregnancy.

    I offer different formats suitable for every budget as it is important that Hypnobirthing is accessible and affordable for everyone.

    Find the perfect class for you: 

      

    Not sure which course is for you? Sign up to my next FREE Online Mini-Masterclass to start your journey to a glowing pregnancy, a positive birth, and the best possible start to parenthood!