Eleanor's story (The Wise Hippo way, if a little before expected!)

 

I'd decided to hypnobirth, as a first time mum, because I was scared of the unknown and had a family history of natural, relaxed and pain free birth that I had to live up to.  And I wanted the best for my baby!  I had only completed three of the four Wise Hippo Birthing Programme classes when my waters broke unxpectedly at 31 weeks.

 

I didn't even realise that that was what was happening, I thought I'd just wet myself! But after it happened a couple of times, with a big gush in the night, I knew something was going on!

 

When we got to the hospital I was 2cm an in labour.  Bur then it stopped.  I was monitored for the next four days.  As I had a lot of time, I did a lot of practising of the Wise Hippo techniques. It wasn’t too easy to stay “calm and relaxed” though, when all I could hear, was the sounds of woman, literally screaming in the labour rooms around me….!

 

Four days later, after no progression of labour and my sugar levels stabilised, they sent me home at 11am.

 

I had been told to carry on as normal, so I sorted and packed away the huge pile of baby clothes. Looking back, I was finding it a little harder than usual to bend over, but I just put this down to my bump getting bigger.

 

At 4pm,  I started to get slight pains which felt like very mild period pain, about 10% of of the pain of my usual period.  As it was so mild I didn’t think for 1 min that it was labour. I thought maybe it was the feeling you had before labour.  My husband and I went for a short walk, then on the way back I had a surge (contraction), then another and another. Very quickly, only about 3 walking steps apart.

 

I knelt on the front seat of the car on the way into hospital, as trying to sit was too uncomfortable.  I now know that was because the babies head was there!  I opened my window for air and focussed on my breathing exercises and being “calm and relaxed”. It wasn’t hard at all.

 

When we got to the hospital, I remember being guided onto a wheelchair, but my eyes were still closed and I heard very little. I remember in the background someone muttering about health and safety (I was kneeling on the wheelchair) which made me smile.

 

Next, I heard someone say, she’s 10cm dialated, lets deliver a baby.  I remember saying my only words “That’s not right.”  My husband said “I think they know what they are doing”. Then I thought “I’m brilliant at this. I’m ready to see my baby, I only have a bit of pain and tons left in the tank. I can easily do this!”

 

When the head came out, I heard a female voice say “you will feel lots of stinging now”, and I thought “I don’t feel any stinging thank you very much, so keep your negativity to yourself!” Our little boy was born at 7.08pm in complete silence-I just didn’t feel the need to make any noise-the baby obviously felt the same, and was whisked away into an incubator and out the door.

 

I didn’t have time to get in a birthing birth, to listen to my music, to do any of the exercises with the help of my husband, but I did do all of breathing exercises and tools myself from (the very quick) start to finish. I was never scared, and I absolutely knew throughout that I could do it.  An hour after he was born, we went to the neo natal unit to hold our son, Dexter, for the first time. From that moment on, bonding has never been an issue!

 

Hypnobirthing has changed my life in more ways than one, as I am now training to be an instructor myself! I will definatly use hypno birthing with my next pregnancy-hopefully things will go a little more to plan next time!