Catherine and her partner did a Hypnobirthing course with me back in 2021, and went on to birth her first baby Emily at home,. She then used all her skills again for the birth of her second baby, and even though there was a slight curve ball thrown in this time, Cat still managed to birth her baby feeling strong, positive and in tune with her body! Cat outlines her birth experience below:
"I didn’t enjoy my 2nd pregnancy. The sickness seemed a lot worse and I found chasing around after a toddler particularly hard work. We had planned a home birth as we had had such a positive experience before with my daughter Emily back in 2021. I also requested to have the same midwife who delivered Emily so that we would have a similar experience again.
When I reached 39 weeks I was eager for the baby to come. We ordered a takeaway curry the night before (I opted for a vindaloo) and by 6am the next morning my waters had broken. The surges hadn’t started yet, but I was full of excitement at the prospect of meeting my baby soon. I texted my midwife to let her know that my waters had broken and I would let her know when my surges started. But by 7am I started to notice a fair bit of blood in my waters, I called the triage number just for peace of mind and they asked me to come into the hospital to be checked. I was pretty disappointed to be going to the hospital, however this didn’t mean that a natural birth was still out of the question.
My daughter was dropped off at the childminders (luckily it was a day that she usually went anyway so that worked out perfectly) and my partner and I headed off to the hospital. I started to have mild surges in the car that were approx. 5 minutes apart. When we arrived at the hospital it was 8:30am and I was seen to straight away. I was connected up to a monitoring machine and the doctor checked me over. She said she wasn’t concerned but would keep monitoring me for half an hour. When she came back after half an hour I was in active labour with surges coming every 3 minutes, she assessed me and I was 4cm dilated. This was my time to decide, I could head home and still have my home birth or I could stay in, she explained that labour second time around can be a lot quicker and I realised that I didn’t want to do the half hour drive back home and then have to get the birthing pool ready etc. I asked if the birthing suite was available and if so then I would stay.
Luckily the hospital was quiet and I was taken upstairs to the beautiful birthing suite. The lighting was dimmed with candle effects and twinkly lights on the ceiling which made me relax instantly. I was assigned a midwife called Kim and also a lovely student midwife called Georgia. I felt very well looked after and as soon as I arrived in the room they ran the bath. I felt myself relax instantly in that environment and once I properly relaxed, labour really advanced. By 11am I was in the birthing pool, by this point my surges were every minute and had really intensified. I was offered gas & air but I didn’t actually start taking this until the transitioning phase as I found I was able to practice my breathing better without it. I found I could relax and concentrate on channeling my breath downwards when I was nasal breathing, whereas on gas & air I found nasal breathing difficult and could only breathe through my mouth.
My labour carried on advancing quickly and I remember feeling the moment when I felt pressure down below. At this point I changed position in the birthing pool (I was led down like I was having a bath before and allowing my whole body to relax), I got onto my knees and held onto the side and told my partner to be ready with the gas & air between each surge. This position allowed me to feel more in control and in a strong position to assist each surge. This time round I felt my baby every step of the way as they progressed through the birth canal. I can’t remember this happening during my previous labour. I don’t know whether second time round your body is more in tune or whether you just know what to expect? But I remember feeling at ease knowing that my body & my baby were working together and I had complete trust in what was happening.
The surges became particularly strong and my beautiful baby was born at 1:07pm. We hadn’t found out the sex and we were happy to find out that we had another perfect girl which we called Daisy. We had skin to skin cuddles in the birthing pool until I climbed out, as I was climbing out of the pool the placenta was delivered. I was assisted onto the bed where we continued to have skin to skin cuddles until the umbilical cord stopped pulsating and my partner cut the cord. Daisy took to the breast pretty much immediately and as I was feeding I was brought in tea & toast which went down extremely well.
After some time to ourselves, the midwives came back to check myself & Daisy over. I had a shower and then we were able to go home. We arrived at Emily’s childminders house just in time for the 5pm pick up!
I didn’t get to have the home birth I was hoping for, but this birth experience was equally as positive and a memorable experience I will never forget."
On my Hypnobirthing course I will teach you a range of tools and skills to take with you and use during your labour and birth. These skills will help you to feel more in control, more relaxed and more in tune with your body and baby. As well as knowledge and information that give you the power to make informed decisions that are right for you and your baby. If you want to learn more about my Hypnobirthing course, why not come along to one of my free Hypnobirthing taster sessions, or book a free 30 minute consultation with me. Over 10 years of teaching the wonders of Hypnobirthing, and hundreds of positive birth experiences that speak for themselves. What have you got to lose! visit www.cornwallhypnobirthing.co.uk to find out more or email info@cornwallhypnobirthing.co.uk