Read what one of my recent 1st time Mums has to say about her birthing experience! If you want to increase your chances of a natural birth like her then go to www.fit2drop.net
Bookings now being taken for the next sept/oct course.
"The Hypnobirthing method was truly fantastic. I started surges at 1am on Thursday morning, and used the relaxation and visualisation techniques right the way through the first phase. The surges were coming between 3 and 20 minutes apart right up until Saturday lunchtime; I spoke to the hospital several times before that but they weren't interested in seeing me until the surges finally became regular at 3-5 minutes (presumably I didn't sound like I was in that much pain on the phone)... they examined me with the intention of sending me home because there was 'no way' I was in established labour, and found I was already at 7-8cm!! The midwife was astonished, commented repeatedly on the atmosphere between Richard and I and what we were doing, and was 100% supportive. I don't think she had seen hypnobirthing before, but she had heard about it and tried hard to help us to set the right atmosphere (in the end she was brilliant; when she knew what we needed she joined in at just the right mix of quiet and fun), and then was fantastic about getting us into the birthing pool (it was busy when we arrived but as soon as it became free she was onto it!). She said there was no way she was offering me any painkillers except gas and air as I 'clearly didn't need it', and I think she was expecting to deliver the baby before her shift ended. I started using gas and air when I realised I was moving into down breathing.
Things went a little downhill because it turned out that only half of my cervix was actually dilating, so I was advised not to start 'pushing' until that had resolved itself (I was doing the opening rose visualisation like it was going out of fashion and mentally substituting 'breathing the baby down' every time someone said push)... by the time I got there I was completely exhausted (had been having surges for 65 hours so barely any sleep since Thursday early evening). The midwife who was with us at that point suggested it might have been due to me having a strong pelvic floor -We also had a student midwife observing all the way through the second phase, who came - just like you said - because she'd never seen a 'natural' birth. She was fascinated by what we were doing, how Richard and I were interacting and the whole environment we were creating, including the fact that we were able to smile and laugh and things like that while I was still focusing on relaxing. She kept saying how incredible it all was, even though by that point I was making far more noise and fuss than I had been earlier on.I used the breathing and visualisations as much as I could, and in the end the doctor only had time to do an episiotomy before I'd got Toby halfway out. It turned out that he had the cord wrapped round his shoulders, too, which we don't think was helping matters!
Toby is for the most part a completely calm and relaxed little chap. He was chilled out right up until the very very end of delivery, and apart from not wanting to be put down to sleep he rarely cries now! We're breastfeeding easily at the moment and loving our time together as a little family.
Thank you so much for the sessions and all your teaching and advice. I am recommending hypnobirthing to everyone and I know it made a huge difference to my experience and to Toby's
