Birth story - Katie and Teddy

I have a positive birth story that I would like to share with you. A massive part of this is owed to the amazing impact that hypnobirthing can have!

I started to feel unwell Tuesday afternoon and put it down to being pregnant and exhausted. Around 9pm that evening I went to the toilet and noticed that I had a ‘show’. By 10pm my waters broke and contractions started. At this point they felt like intense period pains that came and went. I timed these using the Freya App which was so calming and a great distraction from what was happening. I used the breathing techniques and bounced on the birthing ball excited to be in labour! At 12am Wednesday morning I phoned the hospital to let them know what was happening (and to inform them that I was hoping for a pool birth 🤞🏻). I rang them again at 1am as I knew I needed to be in hospital with midwife support as my contractions were getting more intense.

We headed in and were met by such an amazing midwife. She was so calm and reassuring and after being shown to my labour room she tested to check my waters had broken and then measured how dilated I was - 4cm!! I couldn’t believe it - I was so pleased!

By 3am I was in the birthing pool. This felt so good and calming during the contractions. A bit of gas and air helped me through these contractions for another couple of hours whilst I was fed a constant supply of water by my boyfriend. It is true that you feel great in between contractions! It got to the point where I felt things were getting intense and I needed to push. As things were progressing so quickly for a first birth I got out of the pool to see how dilated I was - 9 1/2cm!!  It was almost time to push!

At this point I was happy to remain on dry land. Pushing took a while but I remained calm and my boyfriend reminded me to use the breathing techniques I had learnt in the digital pack. 2 hours later I was exhausted and opted for a ventouse delivery. At 07:01 little Teddy was born into the world 11 days early! 😍

This was such an amazing experience which I am sure went as smoothly and quickly as it did due to remaining calm throughout and using the breathing techniques. I put all my trust in my body and allowed it to do what it needed to do. I cannot recommend hypnobirthing enough as this enabled a very scared mum-to-be to enjoy her pregnancy as well have such a positive birth experience. 🙌