Birth story - Abbie and baby Grace

I didn't realise how much fear of labour I had until I read the, ‘Make Your Birth Better,’ book and it addressed all my insecurities and made me excited for birth rather than fearful. My partner was fully on board and we watched the videos in the digital pack together. Despite seeking to educate ourselves with the hypnobirthing knowledge, a lot of people still felt fit to pass on their opinion that this wasn't something that can be learned from a text book. How wrong they were! We decided upon a home birth and ordered a birthing pool.

Being pregnant in the middle of a World Wide Pandemic meant we couldn't be certain a home birth would be possible but we remained optimistic. Also, I was well aware that statistically, as a first time mum, that I'd end up in hospital so we prepared for both but remained positive that our home birth could take place.

At 40 weeks and 4 days, as my partner said goodbye and left for work at 7am, I suspected that my waters had broken slightly. I immediately got excited but I wasn't completely sure my waters had broken. After an hour and a sudden increase in the amount of water and seeing the plug I was sure. I calmed myself down and my surges began at 9.30am. They came roughly 8 minutes apart and I called my husband to return home. I used a tens machine during the surges and the Freya App was incredible to help me concentrate on my breathing and focus on the positive affirmations throughout the day. I spent the day walking, kneeling forwards, sitting on the birth ball and watching films.

At 5.30pm our midwife and a student midwife came to check on us after they'd done a full day in the clinic. I was 3cm dilated and the surges were 3-4 minutes apart - they were a bit surprised that it had progressed so quickly and attributed the progress to the walking and calm atmosphere. They left to shower and eat then returned at 8pm to find I was 5cm and the surges on the Freya App showed I was in established labour. My husband set up the birthing pool and I was bobbing around by 9pm whilst listening to classical music. I had gas and air which was a great distraction and helped me to further concentrate on my breathing.

At 11pm I felt a huge urge to push but the last part of my cervix was in the way. At 12.10pm the cervix still wouldn't move so the midwives suggested a change of scenery so I had a shower and went into the living room. Initially they laid me down but I quickly remembered I should be upright so I lent over a footstool and concentrated on my breathing. I'd planned to give birth in the pool but I wasn't bothered that this had changed as I had enjoyed the few hours in the warm water. By 1pm we were ready to push - we did this slowly to allow the muscles to stretch and she was delivered on our living floor at 2.06am.

We had delayed cord clamping, time to breast feed and a natural delivery of the placenta. My husband then had 90 minutes just staring at our baby girl while I received some stitches for three small tears and had a 20 minute nap. When the midwives came to weigh her they were shocked to see she was 10lb!

The midwives were incredible and supported my every decision. They are just superheroes. It was also a pleasure to share in the student midwife's first birth.

On reflection, listening to the positive affirmations MP3 most evenings meant I was so well versed in them that these thoughts became instinct during labour and I was able to coach myself and remain positive. I had two moments where I said I couldn't go on but the encouragement from my husband and midwives, and the comfort of my own home, helped to bring me back on track. I'd describe it as the most intense gym work out I'd ever had with the best result at the end.

Hypnobirthing made my pregnancy more enjoyable, it made my birth empowering and it meant I naturally gave birth to a healthy 10lb baby with only three small tears. The science just makes sense and I hope every pregnant woman is lucky enough to find hypnobirthing through the Positive Birth Company.