HypnoBirthing classes in Surrey in March 2013
In March 2013 three lovely first time couples attended the group hypnobirthing course in March 2013 Surrey
All three achieved a natural drug free birth.. for inspiration here are all three unique, yet positive experiences… as the proverb goes..
‘ Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever ‘. ..
Yioda – First Time Hypnobirthing Mum from Guildford
Water birthed at Royal Surrey Hospital – Guildford Surrey
“Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to you. Our baby was born on the 31st of May at 10:59. She was born in the water and I managed a completely natural birth thanks to hypnobirthing. The midwife said she had never seen anyone manage it before!
I can’t thank you enough for your brilliant classes, help and support. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring Elena to a coffee morning so you can meet her.”
Jessica – First Time Hypnobirthing Mum from Ashtead
Birthed at Epsom Hospital – Epsom Surrey
” Early evening on 8th June I started to feel the smallest of twinges every 15 minutes that I really didn’t feel were contractions.
Around 10.15pm my waters broke and I knew that as Meconium was in them that my chances of a desired water birth were gone. But I remained calm and focused as we started getting ready to travel to hospital. I suddenly realised that this was it that I was going to have our baby and the mixture of emotions still stays strongly in my mind – it was the most amazing feeling of excitement – I wasn’t scared I was ready to meet our baby.
We arrived about 11pm at hospital. They had wanted to bring on labour quicker with drugs due to concerns with the Meconium in the waters. Paul my husband was brilliant at being assertive and asking whether it was necessary and whether we could see how things progressed. The midwife talked to the doctors and they agreed to see how we got in.
And I’m so glad they did..
I was at 3cm dilation and within a few hours was at 9.5 cm dilated. I got through on just gas and air focussing on my breathing and working with my body to birth my baby. My husbands support throughout was amazing. At 5.50am on 9th June I gave birth to our beautiful daughter. It is still hard to describe how it felt to witness this little miracle that arrived into our world. I truly believe with the way hypno birthing helps you to work with your body and believe in yourself means it is possible to have the birthing experience you hoped for and to bring a calm and contented baby into the world.
Thanks Leila, 7 hours and with just gas and air still amazes me now.”
Fatima – First Time Hypnobirthing Mum from Redhill
Birthed at East Surrey Hospital Redhill Surrey
At around 4 pm on the 10th of July, I started experiencing some mild stomach cramps. Mum and I had to go to Sainsbury’s to pick up bananas for the banana walnut cake I was supposed to bake the next day. I noticed that I could barely walk with baby’s weight on my pelvis, and knew that he was coming very soon!. When we got back home and at around 6.30 I started experiencing much stronger cramping. It seemed slightly different to the usual period like cramping I was experiencing since the last couple of days.
The cramping got worse by around 9.30 and I started doing my calm breathing. I wanted to have a quick meal as I knew by now it was not false labour. I went for a bath as I remembered my midwife saying “If its labour, it will progress else it will settle down”. This was around 10 pm. The cramps didn’t settle and we decided to ring in and inform the hospital. After the bath I decided to get a quick nap. I continued with the calm breathing and slept in between contractions.
At around 3am I had the show and we called up the hospital and decided to go in and get assessed. The pain was more intense and now the contractions were 50 seconds apart and at more regular intervals. We took our bags, birth ball, and my pregnancy pillow and set out for the hospital. Shabbir, mum and myself. On reaching the maternity unit I was assessed by the midwife who checked how dilated I was. She said that the cervix was 4 cm dilated and that they were happy to take me in the hospital. However, checking baby’s heartbeat it was very high and they needed to give me saline to bring it back to normal. This meant I would have to be constantly monitored through the machine which threw all plans of my water birth out of the window.
I was shifted to the high risk ward and baby’s heartbeat was being monitored by the minute. I continued doing my breathing and started listening to the affirmations and rainbow relaxation in a loop. I felt the pain in my lower back quite intensely and understood baby was back to back. It was very uncomfortable sleeping on the bed as the pain was in my bottom. At 6 o’clock there was a change of midwife. The new midwife who came in was Claire and she seemed to have delivered hypno babies before. She gave me paracetamol for the pain and asked me if I was coping well. I decided against taking any method of pain relief. After an hour or so I started to feel acute pains in my lower back and lower bottom. However, I still remained calm by focussing on my breathing. I used my birthing ball and it really helped me get comfortable because I couldn’t lie flat on my back and it took the pressure off. The midwife was lovely and setup all the monitoring equipment for me so that I could use my birthing ball.
All throughout, I just kept reminding myself about what Leila said. To focus my breathing and thinking of positive imagery , counting backwards. The back to back labour was very painful yet nothing I couldn’t manage. Finally at around 7.30 or 8 am I felt a sudden gush and my waters had broken. Now the pain was unbearable for me and I started begging Claire for some pain relief. It was time for my next assessment and she said she would need to see how much further dilated I was and then decide whether she could offer it to me. After examination, she said I was already 10 cm dilated and that now it was time to push. Claire, the midwife was surprised at how well I had managed so far. I could feel baby’s head pushing into my back real hard. She said my waters had not broken completely so she had to break them to get things to progress. This was the most scary bit for me but all I was thinking about was baby being so close to coming. After breaking my waters she told me to push baby out. Shabbir and I insisted that we would like to breathe baby out. She helped me rest in a kneeling position on the bed handle so that gravity could help. For a few mins I tried to use “J breathing” to breathe him out but his head would go back in. I still remember Shabbir’s words “You have worked so hard for this moment, this is it baby, breathe him out”. Claire noticed baby’s heartbeat reduce a lot and said it was best if I pushed him out fast. I knew a tear would be inevitable now. I started pushing to the best I could. It took 4 pushes in all. The first 2 pushes and she could see baby’s head. Then I pushed with all my might and baby’s head was out. After that one big push and I could feel his shoulders and arms coming out. And then she gave him in my arms. Our little angel had arrived. Mum and Shabbir were crying. Adam Shabbir Mookhtiar was born on 11th July at 9.09 am. After that we did skin to skin and Shabbir cut the cord of the baby.
The perineal massage that Leila recommended really helped. Claire mentioned that the tear could have been a lot worse had I not done it.
Adam is a really chilled baby and I think it’s because I started doing the Hypnobirthing so early on in our pregnancy. Shabbir very proudly says that it’s because he’s a hypno baby that he’s so calm and content.
Leila, thank you so much for the wonderful sessions, and all the useful material you shared with us on a weekly basis. Even the refresher session was so helpful towards the end and made me confident enough to be able to go through anything with a calm mind. Considering baby was breach all throughout until week 36, I was very optimistic about him turning, thanks to the affirmations which I listened to, on my way to work daily, and kept doing the polar bear position you suggested. I think it must have been that along with the breathing I practised every night that helped in turning him around. I would definitely recommend you to any new mums who are scared of birthing and all the horror stories that we keep listening to associated with it. I don’t think I was scared at all after the course and especially the refresher session, but was looking forward to birthing as a Wonderful experience of bringing my baby into this world and into my arms. The video you showed of the calm water birth and baby sliding out is what I had visualised all throughout. Though I didn’t get the water birth I had hoped for, I think I coped very well, Inspite of a very painful back to back and I didn’t find the need for any pain relief until the last minute. It was the most empowering experience of my life!
P.S I took your advice and did the calm breathing in the initial days of breast feeding and it helped me get though the initial pain and challenges associated with it, with a lot more patience.”
