A little about my birth experiences:

Sharing the news we were having a baby with family and friends was one of the most exciting moments in our lives that we still reminisce about today. We spent a lot of time and money shopping for baby furniture and pram (we sent weeks investigating all the models). We were prepared to bring our baby home but what about how our baby would enter the world? Would this be a positive experience? We heard many birth stories. We wanted a calm birth experience to start our journey as a family. A friend highly recommended Hypnobirthing so we booked in.

As a result of using hypnobirthing tools and techniques we had two positive calm birth experiences, one water birth and (two years later) one in the shower, both babies fortunately delivered by the same midwife. Looking back the things that helped me the most was having powerful affirmations reminding me that “my body was designed to birth my baby, relax so my body and baby can do their thing and that each surge brings me closer to meeting my baby” Choosing my rainbow colour and imagining the purple mist of relaxation flowing over my body was very soothing. I even used the ‘control room’ (which I didn’t like during the class) I tapped in, dialed down my discomfort allowing me to refocus and slow my breathing.

Another big contributor was the support from my birth partner Ryan. With my second birth the transition from home to hospital I lost all focus, I had given up! Ryan and my midwife could see I was starting to stress; maybe it was the looks I was giving them! She suggested I get in the shower. This gave Ryan his job, as the warm water on my lower back provided relief. I had previously discussed with Ryan essential oils that could help calm and relax me. So he decided to put a few drops in a cool bowl of water and soaked a face washer. He handed me the face washer, I rolled my eyes at him, slapped that face washer against the shower wall, dug my forehead in and held onto the shower rails. Once the surge passed I hung the face washer up and looked at them both as if to say, ‘there you happy’. After a few more surges using the face washer I started to relax, no more looks or negative thoughts. I moved down onto my fours leaning on an exercise ball where I stayed until I meet my beautiful baby. The essential oils anchored me into my zone of deep relaxation. I was so still and calm that Ryan thought the labour had stopped and my midwife had no idea when I was having a contraction. I on the other hand was very aware of what was going on around me. I used my affirmations to keep me relaxed, I focused on my breathing and would often go to my peaceful place, I’d check my jaw ‘relaxed jaw = relaxed pelvis’. I had confidence in Ryan to answer any questions on my behalf. This allowed me stay focused on the job and be in a deep state of relaxation.

Meeting our little baby boy was incredible! We were in awe of how chilled he was.

Ryan and I contribute our positive birth experiences’ to hypnobirthing, practicing the techniques and listening to the mp3s. I couldn’t imagine giving birth without them. We thank hypnobirthing and my beautiful midwife for enabling Ryan and I to have two positive birth memories that we will always cherish. Clearly I’m passionate and want to teach mums-to-be and partners hypnobirthing techniques so they too can have a positive and calm birth experience.