The biggest thing I have taken out of it is to trust my instincts!

Sorry it’s taken me a while but I did want to share my positive birth story with you.

Although uncommon our little Eva arrived on her estimated due date of 18th February.

At 2:30am I woke and noticed mild surges every 10mins. I went back to sleep but by 3:30am they were becoming more regular so I decided to get up and walk around. I woke hubby up at 5:30am as the surges were happening every 2 minutes and getting stronger. We used light touch and turned on the hypnobirthing tracks. At 7am my waters broke and I was a little concerned as there was a green tinge which was meconium. We called the hospital who were OK with me staying at home until I felt I needed to go in.

Typical Sydney peak hour traffic, we left home at 8am but didn’t arrive to the hospital until 9:30am. On arrival to hospital I was 4cm dilated which I was pretty happy about. Due to the meconium liquor I agreed to continuous fetal monitoring but was glad they had a wireless option which meant I could continue to move around freely.

In hospital I used the birthing ball and found rocking very soothing. I definitely wasn’t quiet but I found the exhale a good way to release tension. I did use some gas and felt it helped me focus on my breath to hear the rattling sound.

Surges continued to occur every 2 minutes which didn’t give me much down time between them but my midwife was very encouraging and supportive and said it was a good sign labour was progressing well. At 1pm I requested an examination and I was at 8cm! My midwife suggested to get in the bath which helped me relax more between surges and get through transition.

Around 2pm I felt the strong urge to push. I got out of the bath and chose to birth on all fours. Months of practice of the bearing down breath definitely paid off and after only 7 minutes of ‘breathing down’ Miss Eva arrived at 2:09pm, lively and healthy.

Thank you Shari for sharing your hypnobirthing knowledge with us and your ongoing support throughout my pregnancy. I think the biggest thing I have taken out of it is to trust my instincts and trust my body.

Love Jess, Pasan and Eva