Having the hypnobirthing course and tracks allowed me to focus on my body and mind and forgot all the other stuff that could inevitably get me down.

This is my positive birth story of my second baby Ella Margaret Rignall born 9th February, weighing a beautiful 4.05kgs.

 

I had gestational diabetes with this pregnancy and I’m not going to lie it was tough going there for sometime, as during my antenatal care (I went public) it seemed the whole focus was on my GDM and not anything else related to the lead up to the birth. This caused me much frustration with the way the public hospital system is set up for soon to be mothers however I knew much of it was out of my control.

 

At my 36 wk check up I started to get pressure from the obstetrician registrars to book an induction at 39wks. I was having a small dose of insulin for my overnight fasting levels which according to hospital policy I was to have my baby at 39wks. I declined based on my test and monitoring results up to that point as she and I were very healthy, and I felt confident that from diagnosis to then that I had controlled and managed the GDM with nil issues. I knew from my own research and felt sense that going past 41wks wouldn’t be the best option for me so I opted for an induction round then.

 

I was told all sorts of things from 36 wks by the obstetrician registrars that GDM children can have developmental delays and are higher risk of being still born. Lucky for me I had done a ton of research and knew that with my levels and insulin dose I was no more risk of still birth and developmental delay concerns than any other pregnancy.

 

From 36wks I started seeing an acupuncturist to prepare my body for the birth, had been on raspberry leaf tincture from 35wks and did two stretch and sweeps at 39wks and 40wks. At the 40wks stretch and sweep I was 3cm dilated. Both of these brought on early labour surges however after a couple of hours it would stop indefinitely. The acupuncture also brought on some light surges and intense Braxton Hicks from around 39wks. I felt doing all of these things helped prepare my cervix; and body and mind for the labour/induction.

 

Leading up to my induction date (9th February) I had been practising saying my affirmations and listening to the hypno tracks. I particularly loved surge of the sea, birthing affirmations and fear release. At around the 40wks I was becoming extra emotional and was moody; crying one minute, the next grumpy and short fused. I felt off some days and very tired.

 

The morning of the induction I called the birth suite and was told to head on in straight away to get things started. The plan was to have my waters released and have the pitocin drip, only if my body didn’t go into labour spontaneously. I was told that they’d allow me to wait for an hour after my waters were released to go into spontaneous labour however I declined and asked for 4hrs. They accepted this and once they released my waters and did intake CTG monitoring I was left to do my thing. My partner and I had set up the room/space and it was dimly lit with clary sage oil in the diffuser. I also had clary sage on hand that I carried around with me to smell intermittently. I had my birthing playlist playing.

 

My hubby and I went for a huge walk around the hospital and I started to have surges that lasted a minute every 15mins. I had four of these before heading back to the ward for my next HR monitoring check up. I went back to my room to focus on boosting my oxytocin levels.. so I danced, sung to my favorite songs, did side lunges and squats, laughed at my hubby’s jokes, he massaged me, did visualizations of my firstborn daughter (memories of her fills my heart with such joy and love), and rested (completing my hypno tracks focusing on my breathing). It was doing all of this that my body took over and I was having regular surges every 5mins that last 60seconds.

 

Then after a couple of hours all of sudden my surges stopped. I had the urge to lay down and rest so I listened to my body, put my headphones on and listened to the Surge of the sea track. I feel into a deeply relaxed state. Toward the end of that track I had a massive surge. The intensity had changed, that surge felt stronger and powerful, my vocalisations were deep abs low. My hubby and I knew that we’d be meeting our baby girl soon.

 

Surges came every 2 mins lasting 30-60secs. They kept rolling in, one by one, intensifying and softening. I used a tens machine during this stage to help with the intensity of the surges. I visualized my cervix softening and opening up, and breathed.

I was on all fours on a birthing mat on the floor along with a birthing ball to rest my upper head and body.

 

It was only an hour after that I went into transition. My only sign that I was in transition was that I started to sweat and feel nauseated. I then had the fetal ejection reflex start, my body was involuntarily pushing her out. The midwife was caught off guard as it wasn’t long of active labour before I transitioned and started second stage of moving her down and out. It took 6 pushes/bearing down and she arrived earthside happy and healthy. She was placed on my chest and within 10mins was having her first feed.

 

I birthed my placenta on the toilet 25mins after I had her with minimal blood loss.

I learnt a great deal completing the online course. I really wanted to have a positive experience regardless of how the pregnancy unfolded. One of my greatest lessons from this pregnancy and the birth is that the pregnancy is not indicative of the birthing outcome. I didn’t really enjoy this pregnancy due to my GDM status, the stress of extra tests and monitoring that was required and what that did for my preferred antenatal care (ie. Not being able to birth at the birthing center, and keeping my midwife from the group Midwifery program). But having the hypnobirthing course and tracks allowed me to focus on my body and mind and forgot all the other stuff that could inevitably get me down.

 

Karla