Lauren's Positive Hospital Birth

This is a beautiful story of how this mum stayed calm and in control even with changing circumstances.

"I knew I didn’t want to approach labour and birth with fear or dread (or something to “get through” in return for meeting my baby), but something to look forward to with confidence and genuine excitement.

I started looking into hypnobirthing techniques quite early and built the breathing exercises and visualisations into my usual yoga practice. I also asked my partner to practice the guided meditation and light touch massage with me. We spent a lot of time putting together our birth preferences and positive affirmations. This was a really lovely, and bonding, time for us as we prepared for birth. I also learned a lot during this time about the use of B.R.A.I.N and making informed and evidence led decisions during labour.

My surges began on the Saturday night although they were mild and infrequent. I went for a midwife appointment on the Monday and she did an examination and advised I was about 3cm dilated and to expect baby at any time. She suggested a sweep to move things along, but I felt confident that things were happening and was happy to wait for baby to decide. I continued to have surges over the Monday, which then got more intense overnight. At about 7am on Tuesday morning, I went for what I thought was just a pee - but my waters broke in a big gush! This brought on regular strong surges almost immediately. I called the hospital and they asked me to come in for a check. At the hospital, they noticed meconium in the waters and told me this would mean I would need constant monitoring on the labour ward and wasn’t able to get onto the midwife led unit as I had hoped. I felt briefly disappointed that my baby’s birth wasn’t going to happen in the setting I had hoped for - however I felt confident that I could use my hypnobirthing tools wherever I was. I also think that mentally framing in terms of preferences (rather than having a hard and fast plan) and considering alternatives really helped me be flexible and meant I wasn’t too tied to one option. The midwives were brilliant and helped make it as chilled and familiar an environment as possible. We were still able to use dimmed lighting, light projectors, oil diffusers, blankets from homes and cosy pyjamas. This helped create a space that felt as non-clinical and homely as possible and meant I felt relaxed and at ease.

The first stage was slow and steady. I felt so calm (almost dreamlike) using up breathing through the surges while bouncing on a birthing ball, while my partner rubbed my back and reminded me of some of the positive affirmations - my favourite being ‘my surges are not stronger than me because they are me’ - and was fully dilated by 11pm.

During the second stage, my surges began to slow down and become further apart. I think my body was just becoming quite tired by that point. The midwife asked what I wanted to do and, based on my birth preferences and the fact baby was still doing fine, we decided to continue for a bit longer. We tried lots of different birthing positions, and taking rests when possible, and by about 2am the midwife informed me that baby’s head was right there, but she didn’t seem to be coming. She told me we could try increasing the intensity of the surges with syntocin or preparing for an intervention. We considered the risks and benefits of each and how well baby was coping (she was chilled!) and decided to try the syntocin initially. This did increase the intensity and frequency of surges however after another hour of pushing, baby still hadn’t arrived! As she was so close, the doctor suggested we consider a ventouse delivery. Again, we considered the benefits and risks, including the fact that we had now been in labour for close to 24 hours and decided that the best option was to deliver her. Although quite a few people came into the room at that point, it still felt very calm and I can really only remember the faces of my husband and the doctor right in front of me. When the next surge came, he told me to push as he pulled and she was suddenly there. They immediately placed her on my chest and my most vivid memory is feeling her tiny warm feet and slippery cord in my hand and smelling her earthy smell! I’ll never forget it.

We were able to spend the next 6-7 hours in the delivery room as a three soaking in our wee lady, sharing our first feeds, having a shower and a rest and enjoying the famous tea and toast!

Although the birth wasn’t exactly how I had pictured (in the water in the birthing centre with little intervention as possible) I definitely think that committing to the hypnobirthing tools, and feeling confident using them, allowed me to relax and progress through labour calmly and steadily despite the changing circumstances. Although using the techniques didn’t mean labour was pain free (and I was open to all forms of pain relief as needed) it ultimately allowed it to be manageable for me alongside the TENS machine and paracetamol. I never felt panicked or out of control. I also felt able to ask questions, consider options at each stage and discuss these in a way that felt informed and empowering. The birth felt truly like something that belonged to me, my husband and our girl, rather than something that had happened to us."