I wish I knew about Hypnobirthing for my first birth!

Hi Shari

I hope you have been well. I just wanted to get in touch to let you know that our precious little Violet was born on Saturday 27th of July (at 39+2 weeks) - I was expecting she would be a week late, like her older sister, so her arrival almost a week early was not anticipated however, thanks to you, the birth was an amazing experience and just as we could have hoped for.

As you know, our first labour and birth was not a good experience for either of us which involved artificial release of the membranes cascading through to stalled progression in labour despite ongoing contractions, an epidural, fetal distress and a vacuum assisted emergency delivery. This time, as a direct result of attending your course the labour and birth was like a dream. Unfortunately as it all happened quite quickly we don't have any photos or videos but I'd like to tell you a bit about the experience as I am so grateful for your course (and also really proud of what we were able to achieve!).

I went to sleep listing to the rainbow mist meditation (which I was doing on a regular basis) and started feeling the first surges about 2am on Saturday morning, they weren't anything too uncomfortable so I just let myself sleep through them. By 7.30am they were starting to become more regular (about every 10mins or so) so I had a nice relaxing shower and used the breathing techniques to relax through each surge (in between surges I packed my hospital bag - I genuinely thought I still had another 2 weeks so we weren't as prepared as we should have been!), by 10am my mother in law had picked up our toddler and I sat down to relax with Gordon and time the surges - it was at this point I realised they were coming every 2-3 mins and lasting about a minute each. I called the hospital and let them know we would be coming in - I don't think they believed I was too far along as I was so relaxed in the conversation and didn't seem to be struggling through the surges. By the time we got to the hospital at 11.15, the walk from the car to the antenatal suite saw me stopping every minute to calmly breathe through another surge. 

At this point I had no idea how far along I was, however I was just trusting my body and the process. When I was admitted through to triage, I did consent to a vaginal examination as I knew regardless of the outcome, I was in a strong and relaxed mindset to meet whatever came next. The midwife then let me know I was fully dilated, however baby was still quite high in my pelvis as there was a full bag of water cushioning the head. I was then taken straight to the birthing suite, where Gordon set the mood with the Tranquil Chambers soundtrack - within minutes I felt the need to bear down and my membranes then released and within a few more urges to bear down, Violet was born!

I was admitted to triage just before midday and Violet was born at 12.19pm with absolutely no pain relief at all - just the belief in my body's ability to birth and the breathing and relaxation methods we learnt in your positive birth course.

It was a completely stress free process from start to finish and I am so happy our little one was born in such a peaceful way. The experience was like night and day compared to our first birth! The only little hiccup we had came after Violet was born, I opted for a physiological delivery of the placenta without the intervention of the needle, however three hours later it still hadn't arrived. At this point, I did consent to the needle, however it still failed to arrive so I was prepped for theatre where they were going to give me a spinal tap to remove the placenta - after such an amazing birth experience it was disappointing to think I would need so much medical intervention but thankfully just before I was about to go to theatre the obstetrician was able to remove the placenta. Apparently it had released from the uterus but was stuck behind the cervix which had already closed after the birth.

Retained placenta aside - the birth itself exceeded both Gordon and my expectations. We are really proud of how it went and so thankful for everything you shared with us on the course to allow us to have this amazing experience. 

So the HUGEST THANK YOU to you and everything you do for birthing couples! Attending your course completely changed our mindset about the birth and provided us with all the tools we needed to achieve a peaceful and calm entry into the world for our little one. If only we had attended the course before the arrival of our first!

Thanks again - you are amazing xx

Julia & Gordon

Gold Coast

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