Positive Caesarean Birth after Induction at Darent Valley Hospital
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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.
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:
- Private 1:1 Birth Coaching
- Group Hypnobirthing Courses (Abbey Wood, Bexley, Eltham, Sidcup, Woolwich & Greenwich)
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!
