Birth story - Mum and baby girl

Firstly, a HUGE THANK YOU Siobhan and the PBC for these invaluable hypnobirthing tools! They have been so helpful with preparing for the birth of both of our daughters. I first came across PBC in 2020 as I felt overwhelmed by the pandemic and the uncertainties around it and thought it would be useful to read some positive birth stories. I first bought the book and then loved it so much, I bought the digital pack and watched the videos with my husband. We felt that the tools empowered us more than any other antenatal workshops we had been to. When pregnant, physically our hormones prepare our bodies, but hypnobirthing prepares our minds which is so important!

My first labour lasted 25 hours and the tools of staying calm and positive helped us, so I made sure to revisit the digital pack with my second pregnancy.

This time round, a day before my due date, I noticed some of my mucus plug coming away and some twinges around my cervix. The next day more of the same. Then, on the morning of 1st November, around 7.45am, I awoke with what felt like a slight need to go to the toilet. I knew I didn’t really need to but just monitored the sensations. I wasn’t sure if this was it or something I had eaten the night before! I used the Freya app to time them and sure enough, they were every 6 to 7 minutes. These were indeed surges and our baby was coming!

I continued with up breathing through each surge, remaining upright in my UFO position and rocking from side to side whilst walking around in between. I focused my mind on the positive affirmations from the Freya app and helping the oxytocin to flow. The surges felt a lot lower than the 1st time around, which had felt more like period pains in my lower back. Around 10.20am they felt a bit stronger and I started to get a slight urge to push. My husband and I called the delivery suite and we went in.

On arrival, around 11.15am, the surges were now a lot stronger and I was eager to get into the water to help relax. Also the famous urge to ‘moo’ started and I knew this was the transition. On examination, I couldn’t believe it when they said I was fully dilated! The midwife simply said to get into the water and go with the urge to push. I got into the water around 11.30am.

Over the next 33 minutes, the intensity of the surges ramped up and I focused on down breathing and staying positive in my mind, remembering the affirmations that my baby was nearly there and that I was a ‘strong and capable woman.’ The support of my husband and the midwife was invaluable!

Several pushes later, at 12.03pm, our baby girl was born weighing in at 3.51Kg. I felt truly thrilled and empowered having birthed our baby by keeping calm, and positive, and using the tools from PBC. Thank you PBC!