Birth Stories

'After my previous births it took weeks for me to recover and after a few hours this time I felt I could have run a marathon!'

Claire’s Story 

Matthews’s arrival was a very surreal experience for me and even a week later I find it all hard to take in, especially after so many previous traumatic experiences. 
It was so important for us as a family to have a home birth without any intervention of any kind.  After two sessions of acupuncture to try to bring my baby on, I was feeling a little less positive that we would achieve our dream as there seemed to be no sign of Matthew: I was aware that by the 25th of February (two weeks after my official due date) I would be under pressure from medical staff to be induced, this was not an option for me and I tried to hold on to thoughts of our dream birthing.

How excited I was when at 19:20 on 22nd February I had a strong surge and by 19:45 I was unable to sit (I was watching a film with my daughter at the time and made my excuses and began to potter).  After putting my daughter to bed just after 20:00 I asked Tony to time my surges they were every four to five minutes and lasted a minute each time.  Tony contacted Stacey (our Doula) and asked her to come over. I was undecided as to whether they were real surges, it may be baby number three but with Louise and Dean I was induced so you know you are in labour as you have been put there. 

As with my previous labours within a short space of time I was having one surge straight after another, all lasting for a minute or more; the difference this time was I didn't have a hospital midwife telling me I was talking rubbish.  As Stacey arrived I remembered saying to her ‘I'm not sure any of the breathing was working’ although I knew it was, as although I still had discomfort I had a focus.  Stacey and Tony did a great job at keeping the midwives out of my way; for the first time ever I had no internal checks and was left on my own to stay focused.  Tony however also lost a little bit of his role as I just wanted to be alone within my own thoughts - I have apologised to Tony, I think I was quite rude!

There was a definite moment when I remember saying baby is on his way; I felt a strong movement and although wasn't quite ready to breath baby out I stayed focused and allowed my body to take over and be guided by it.  It was as though I wasn't in the room birthing our baby, time really meant nothing.  Baby Matthew was born a short time after at 23:47 8lb 14.5oz; this was the only contact I had with the Midwives - a dream come true for me.

My daughter Louise met her new baby brother when he was just a few minutes old; she cut the cord and has been totally besotted ever since.

How wonderful it was, after everyone had gone and we all went up to bed together and all awoke together on the Monday morning. I felt fantastic, no discomfort at all. 

 After my previous births it took weeks for me to recover and after a few hours this time I felt I could have run a marathon!  We had managed the whole experience with no pain relief just a focus and a desire to achieve a natural home birth.

Would I use HypnoBirthing again? Definitely yes! It was a very powerful tool for me to empower and give confidence; yes I still felt discomfort but had a better understanding as to why, and a focus to take my mind off the pain. After months of battling with the medical profession we can finally shout we have a beautiful baby and we told you we would have a wonderful natural home birth; a real treasured memory for us all.

Thank you Wendy for your support and to all at the Bridge Centre.