I recently taught a lovely couple and have just received their wonderful home birth story! Jana and Derren were already 38 weeks pregnant when they got in touch with me. They were limited on time, because of being so far into pregnancy, but also because they have a toddler and no family close by. We decided to split the course into two sessions. One evening with just me and Jana. Followed by a Sunday session that would time roughly with their toddlers nap time. Luckily Jana had been doing pilates which included some breathing and relaxation techniques. This meant I could cover some of the theory with her very quickly. Also, being a second time mum meant that she was already prepared for the realities of birth.
Jana and Derren had a positive birth with their first child. Unfortunately they felt let down with the after care whilst in hospital. This led them to really wanting a home birth. As Jana struggled with her contractions the first time round and opted for an epidural, they knew they had to look into other pain relief methods. I’m pleased to say that although I was confident they would achieve their natural home birth, they exceeded my expectations. Read on for Jana’s birth story in her own words.
Positive hypnobirthing home birth story
We have some news to share. Baby Hektor was born on Friday at home in the water in the pool as planned. I had a labour lasting less than 90 minutes from my first contraction to when baby was in my arms.
Hypnobirthing, together with other birth preparation techniques, helped us greatly with the birth. During contractions I was listening to a script, was on the birthing ball, plus focusing on breathing and positive affirmations. My contractions started at 10pm and at 10.30pm we rang the birth centre to send us a midwife. I then entered the pool at about 10.45pm. During the contractions to being fully dilated (1 hour) hypnobirthing helped me focus on dealing with the pain and also to rest in between contractions.
We were then told that there were no midwives available to come out to us and that our local birth centre was full. They didn’t want us to have an unassisted delivery so we were going to be sent to Lewisham birth centre.
Hypnobirthing has also helped me at the decision point to decide that I was not going to go to the Lewisham birth centre. I trusted my body to do what it needed to do where I was. I could not imagine getting dried and dressed, and then travel to lewisham.
Instead Derren rang 999 for an ambulance. A few minutes later I started pushing and a few contractions later, 15 minutes or so, baby was born (around 11:23 pm). The ambulance arrived soon after.
I had the confidence to give birth without medical assistance because of the birth preparations I have done and my positive attitude that there was no reason for things to go wrong. And they did not go wrong. We had a very natural home birth and are proud to have done it this way.
During the birth I was calm and in control. We had no issues and no complications and overall whilst still painful it was a very positive experience. I strongly recommend hypnobirthing and trusting one’s body that it can do what it is designed to do, rather than focusing on what might go wrong.
Hektor is a healthy 9.5 pounds boy! Many thanks for helping us on this journey.
If you would like to learn more about hypnobirthing classes, you can make an enquiry here.