Birth story - Gwen and baby Hugo

Our story

A baby together was our next great big adventure. Matt and I dreamed of sharing all our love with a little baba and making our family unit of two become three. We travelled to Spain after an unsuccessful UK IVF experience to finally fall pregnant after four years at 46 years old. We were over the moon. Our little embryo had stuck!

The Power of Hypnobirthing

Being a mindfulness teacher, and I guess because mindful living is a way of life for us, I found myself wanting to know more about hypnobirthing and how it could help us really connect with our baby and have the best possible birth experience we could. If I'm honest I didn't know a whole lot about it at the beginning and turned to friends in the field to get a taste of what's involved. Turns out, it was the best thing we could have done for our little man. It changed everything.

Bringing you hope

I'm sharing our story with you because I want to give Mom’s (and Dad’s) to-be hope. To share just how powerful hypnobirthing is in bringing about an overwhelmingly positive birth experience. I also hope it will inspire you to trust the hypnobirthing process even if you undergo some form of medical intervention. We accepted an induction of labour at 40 weeks due to Hugo’s reduced growth activity at his 39 week scan, and we still had a beautiful vaginal birth, breathing the baby down with my (well practiced) hypnobirthing techniques and affirmations along with my trusted tens machine.

It’s called a practice

All the courses and experts tell us that we must practice. I realise now just how true this is and all my hours of breathing, (in for 4, out for more!) reading Siobhan’s book, putting affirmation cards all around the flat, taking every decision through the B.R.A.I.N process - gave me the skills I needed when it mattered most- in the delivery room! It was all so familiar to me and I knew I was a dab hand - I believed the affirmations I had been repeating all these months and knew I had this. I felt confident on the day that I had a very important job to do in birthing our baby, and that I was going to do it full of confidence, love and strength. All because of what I practiced beforehand. I also knew it was important to remember that our birthing intentions were just that, intentions, and that whatever happened on the day, would be the right way.

D-day

The big day came. We got our hospitable bed at 2pm and I spent the first night slowly contracting having had the induction pessary that afternoon which worked a treat. After an examination at 6.30am the next morning we were moved to the delivery suite. Our amazing midwife broke my waters at 7.30am and we were on track to meet our little one. The oxytocin drip started at 12 noon, with slight increased as we progressed through early labour. I bounced on the birthing ball during this stage, leaning over the bed-top table, completely focused on listening to my recorded birthing practice and affirmations. My tens machine was a huge support all this time as well.

3pm saw my surges getting stronger as I transitioned into the final stage of labour. I remember letting out a deep long groan and hunkering down to shift my breathing deeper into my body, focusing on breathing our baby down. Matt by my side, encouragingly supporting me. This is where I stayed in my zone, completely focused on the job I had to do - choosing to stand up at this point, allowing my body to birth our baby, trusting our little man knew exactly what to do- the ‘A' team coming together to bring precious life into the world. Little Hugo was born at 3.58pm. A natural vaginal birth, standing up, fuelled by focused hypno breathing and my trusty tens machine. Our little miracle was brought up into my arms and we moved to the bed, our new family laying together, skin to skin for this most precious time.

I received the injection to help birth my placenta and we gave Hugo the Vitamin K injection too. Gratefully I didn’t experience any tears and my body made a gentle recovery over the coming days and weeks. I feel so incredibly proud of our birth experience and will cherish these memories of the ‘A’ team coming together to make this miracle happen. Hypnobirthing allowed us to have the positive birth experience we longed for and will hold in our hearts forever. Thank you to @thepositivebirthcompany for all that you do.