Birth story - Emma and baby Delilah

When I was pregnant with my son Leo, I had really hoped to have a water birth. My labour with Leo can be summed up in four words - induction, epidural, episotomy and forceps. Although this wasn’t the calm water birth that I had envisaged I wouldn’t say my labour was a negative experience but during my second pregnancy I was determined to do everything in my power to have a more positive experience.

When I was around 30 weeks pregnant I purchased your book. I immediately connected with the essence of hypnobirthing. The simple premise of staying calm and relaxed and letting your body do its job. I loved the chapter on the science side of things and getting a real understanding of the hormones involved and what the uterus muscles needed to do their job. It’s safe to say that I was completely on the hypnobirthing bandwagon!

I practiced my up-breathing, binged watched all of your YouTube videos, whilst doing my make-up everyday I would listen to the free affirmations MP3 and on an evening I would get into bed and listen to the guided relaxation on the Freya app. I also made sure that I read as many positive birth experiences as possible.

On the morning of my 41 week midwife appointment I woke up feeling a bit fed up and also anxious as I knew that very soon talk would turn to possible induction of labour. I shared my worries with John and we used B.R.A.I.N and decided that we would decline any offer of induction for now and asked for expectant management and increased monitoring. The midwife was great and completely respected our choice. I immediately felt much more positive and in control of what was happening. As we were leaving the appointment, I went to the toilet and discovered that I’d lost my mucus plug! I was so happy that I’d trusted that my body would do things in its own time. A slight side note here - I am positive that if eventually I’d needed to be induced, all the techniques that I’d learnt would have still been really beneficial.

We carried on our day as normal and I soon started to have some lower back pain and period type cramps. We went to Aldi and did some food shopping and as we were walking up and down the aisles I made a joke that this might be the latent stage of labour! When we got home I had a nap, picked Leo up from nursery and devoured a big bowl of pasta. I did Leo’s bedtime routine like normal, but did have a little cry whilst sat on his bedroom floor watching him sleep, as I think at that point I was aware that this might be the last time I’d see him before his sister arrived.

We dimmed the lights in the living room and put on a few episodes of Friends whilst I bounced on my birth ball. At this point the cramps were definitely a lot stronger but completely manageable but I decided it might be a good idea to start timing them. We used the Freya app which was absolutely amazing. At 10.30pm my surges were coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting around 40-50 seconds. I still felt really calm and in the zone. I was most comfortable stood up and with each surge I would focus on my up-breathing and reminded myself of the positive affirmations. The ones that got me through were the knowledge that ‘my body knows how to give birth’ and ‘each surge brings me closer to meeting my baby.’ I didn’t fear the surges like I did in my labour with Leo. At this point I decided to use the TENS machine which combined with the breathing it was incredible. We rang the birth centre and told them about the timings of the surges. I was really determined to stay at home in my cosy oxytocin-fuelled environment for as long as possible but the midwives advised that as this was a second baby it might be worth setting off sooner rather than later.

We arrived at the birth centre at midnight. It was really quiet and we were taken to a dimly lit room which to my delight had a pool in it. As part of my birth preferences I’d asked not to have any internal examinations and our lovely midwife, Janine, said that was absolutely fine and that she didn’t think it would be long until we’d meet our baby. At this point I still had no idea how far along I was, the surges were now very intense but I still felt calm and in control.

Janine ran the pool and when I got in the water felt amazing. Very quickly I began to feel like things had changed. At this point I definitely had a bit of a wobble and remember saying that I was scared and couldn’t do it. Looking back this was clearly the transition stage. John was absolutely amazing, he put the positive birth affirmations track on, sprayed a flannel with lavender, held onto my hands through each surge and between surges stroked my arms and kept telling me how well I was doing. It definitely felt like a team effort. I find it really hard to describe the next stage of my labour but it was the most intense and incredible experience of my life. With each surge my body completely took over and started to push. Janine encouraged me to go with it and focus on my breathing. It was the most surreal experience. Up until this point I had been fairly quiet during my surges but things changed! I remember making some very strange animal noises whilst trying to focus on my down-breathing. It was the strangest feeling as in between surges things were completely calm and silent. There was a moment when the intensity was really strong and I doubted whether I was going to be able to do it. I’d be lying if I said this stage was pain free. I asked Janine if I could have some gas and air and she laughed and said I could, but that the head was out! A few seconds later, at 1.19am our beautiful daughter Delilah Joy joined us in the water. She arrived less than an hour and half after arriving at the birth centre. I could not believe that I had done it and to be honest I still can’t. In the past I’ve been known to cry from getting a paper cut and I’d just given birth to an 8lb 10oz baby with absolutely no pain relief!

The power of hypnobirthing is incredible. I will never forget the experience that I had. It kept me calm during my pregnancy, helped me to feel confident in my decision making and gave me the knowledge and techniques to cope with birth.

My labour unfortunately wasn’t completely plain sailing. We cuddled Delilah in the water whilst we had delayed cord clamping and I delivered the placenta. Shortly after that I had to be taken to theatre to have stitches to repair a third degree tear. John wasn’t allowed to come with me so it felt quite scary having to go on my own. However, whilst having the spinal block and during the procedure I once again used all the tools I’d learnt to stay calm and within the hour I was reunited with John and Delilah.

Thank you Siobhan for helping me to have the labour that I once never thought was possible.