It all started on the 14-4-10, I was 40 weeks and 3 days. I had an appointment with the midwife at 2.45pm. My Mum picked me up and I went along to my appointment. The midwife gave me a sweep and advised me that I was already 2cm dilated, and that she could feel the baby had a full head of hair! I was amazed!!!!
On the way back home I began to experience practice labour. I had been experiencing these sensations over the past few weeks. I just expected that this was a side effect from the sweep and that it could not possibly be anything else so soon after the procedure. On arriving home at around 4pm over a chat and a coffee I felt that these sensations were getting a little stronger. My Mum stayed till Mike my fiance came home from work. There was an air of excitement!
Over the next few hours I began to experience discomfort in my lower back and period like pains. I sent Mike out for fish and chips and began my slow breathing on my birthing ball to relax. This worked wonders and I sat on my ball and chatted to one of my friends on the phone.
After my tea Mike ran a bath for me. As I lay in my bath I did my slow breathing and went over my relaxation techniques. All of a sudden I felt a really strong pop inside me and called for Mike to help me out the bath. Once dried off I got dressed and was drying my hair and my membranes released.
Once my membranes had released my surges became closer. We called the Midwife Unit and I calmly chatted to the midwife and told her what had been happening. She asked us to come down to the unit for an assessment.
When we arrived at the Unit I was assessed and advised that as this was my first baby it could take anything from 8 - 16 hours to fully dilate and that if I wanted to go home I could. I opted to stay and we were left in the assessment room to progress. I walked around the room breathing through the surges. After what seemed like no time at all the midwife returned and offered to run a bath for me. Once in the bath I found it easier to relax. Mike put on my MP3 player which was ready loaded with the HynoBirthing music. With each surge Mike directed a power shower on my lower back and calmly talked me through each surge. At this point I decided to try the gas and air. I found that this helped me zone into my self even more.
The Midwife returned to let us know that the birthing pool was ready for me. This is when I felt a sudden urge to push. Stepping into the pool being fully submerged was great. Once again Mike talked me through the surges and I listened to my music. After an hour the Midwife asked me to come out the pool and examined me to discover that I was already fully dilated.
After around 5 hours from being admitted to birth and just 30 minutes on my knees, over a bean bag, baby Hannah arrived.
I feel that after having Bonnie teaching us the HypnoBirthing skills this benefited us greatly to have such a fast and comfortable experience. This was my first baby and would highly recommend the hypno birthing experience to everyone!
Helen, Mike, and Baby Hannah (Dundee) April 2010
NB: I would like to add a bit here on Helen and Mike's story. Helen phoned me only 2-3 weeks before her estimated due date. We abbreviated the course a bit and spent about 6 hours in total together rather than what the course is advertised at - 12 hours. However, even with a briefer course and only a few weeks practise, Helen and Mike had a wonderful first time birth! This goes to show you are never too late to begin HypnoBirthing classes! And thankyou to Helen for sharing your story with us so soon after birth!
