tick tock tick tock ...

SOOO EXCITED to be having my new baby in the next week or so!!! I am due in 2 days but feel like it could still be a few weeks away :-) I am not yet feeling uncomfortable or 'over' the big pregnant belly, I would actually quite enjoy another month or two of pregnancy he he he. But really I cant wait I am so excited!!! Excited to know if it's a boy or girl! Excited for my little Layla & Josiah to have a brother or sister! Excited to choose a name! & so very excited about the birth! I am so thankful that I discovered hypnobirthing and can honestly say that I cant wait to go into labour!!!!

My first hypnobirth – Josiah 31/1/10

As I approach my due date with my 3rd pregnancy I have finally got my act together and managed to put pen to paper and upload my beautiful hypnobirthing experience with my last birth of Josiah born 16 months ago.

After having my first baby in 2008 with no knowledge of hypnobirthing and ‘getting through’ the whole ordeal I was excited to meet my second baby at the beginning of 2010 but far from excited about the birth. I didn’t fret about it, simply didn’t think about it at all. I was given the book Hypnobirthing – the Mongan Method, by Marie Mongan by a good friend of mine who was also pregnant at the time and reading many books about pregnancy and birth. She said it might be something I would find interesting and was it ever! It was perfect! I read it from front to back in only a few days as I found it hard to put down it was so wonderful to read about how I could have a beautiful, pain-free, enjoyable labour and birth naturally with no drugs etc. Every single word I read made so much sense to me as I had already had a baby and was very familiar with the processes explained in the book. For example the hypnobirthing method does not use any ‘pushing’ methods of birthing the baby because when we ‘push’ we actually constrict many muscles that really need to relax to birth the baby smoothly and comfortably. As I read things like this I understood how the things I did in my first labour and birth actually contributed greatly to the amount of pain & discomfort I endured.

When my friend lent me the book I was already 35 weeks pregnant and it was too late to take the hypnobirthing classes that are usually undertaken in conjunction with reading the book. The classes help explain things further and help with relaxation strategies etc. However, I wasn’t worried about this because reading the book for me wasn’t like learning or studying some strange new subject or philosophy, it was like realising the truth that somehow I hadn’t already realised. It was a fabulous relief 5 weeks before I was due to stop ignoring the fact that I was soon to have another baby but to really look forward to giving birth again!

How Josiah entered the world…

After being out on Saturday night and getting home around 10pm I put my little girl to bed, had a shower and watched some tv before my husband and I went to bed around 11:30pm. I was 5 days ‘overdue’ so had been going to bed everynight for the last week thinking “perhaps tonight…?”

After only 1 hour of being in bed I awoke with some tightening sensations around my tummy and I layed there in excitement wondering if this could be it. It certainly was as it became a little uncomfortable after about half an hour so I got out of bed. I felt much better standing up and although the tightening sensations continued regularly they were not painful and I was quite comfortable so went to the kitchen to get a drink. It was around 2am and I went to wake John to tell him it was happening and he gave me this “OMG Really!?” look. He wasn’t looking forward to the birth as much as I was as he could vividly remember the birth of our first child and wasn’t too sure about the hypnobirthing thing. Usually when you do the classes for hypnobirthing you do them with your partner but we never did the classes because we didn’t have the time so all John knew about it were the bits and pieces I had relayed to him when I was reading the book. I had given him a few instructions such as “just tell me to relax and let go” and “don’t mention contractions or pain!” (the conventional word ‘contractions’ is replaced with ‘surges’ in hypnobirthing because the last thing you want your muscles to do is contract. You want them to relax and let the baby be born smoothly and calmly. The links between your body and mind are huge and simply using the word ‘contractions’ can cause your muscles to operate in an uncomfortable or painful way.)

Anyway… after calmly getting our things together I rang my mum who was to come to the birth with us to tell her what was going on and that I would call again when we were going to the hospital. I cant even remember what we did for the few hours at home but my sister-in-law arrived to stay with my little girl who was still sleeping and we headed to hospital at 5:30am. Because I was so calm and comfortable we were talking a few minutes prior about going through macdonalds drive –through to get a little snack on our way to hospital (not exactly the healthy snacks you read about in the pregnancy and baby books). However, once my sister-in-law arrived and we headed off I had a strange feeling that the baby was coming very soon and I did not want it being born in the Maccas drivethrough!! So we continued on to hospital and arrived at 6am. As I walked through the doors of the mother’s clinic the nurse was going to direct me to an examination room but as I stopped walking about 3 times in only a few minutes to relax and breath slowly through each surge she realised there was no need and took us straight to a delivery room. I undressed and hopped in the shower which was very relaxing, so relaxing that I passed through ‘transition’ within a few minutes and after this the sensations felt completely different – I no longer felt the strong tightening sensations around the top and centre of my tummy, I simply felt the baby moving down to enter the world. The Midwives came over and told us not to worry that things had slowed down as it is common when people come into hospital for labour to slow down (as I was so chilled out she thought that my labour was weakening, little did she know I could pretty much feel baby’s head coming out with each surge). I told my husband things were definitely NOT slowing down, I just was not feeling discomfort so was relaxed. After a few more surges standing in the shower I let the midwife know that I had it’s head in my hand and she rushed over to turn the shower off and assist with ‘catching the baby’ as I was in a bit of a weird spot standing in the shower :-) She just didn’t realise I was so close to birthing as I was not showing signs of being in pain or discomfort - I think her exact words were “well you’re a clever girl aren’t you!” he he he :-)

I am so so so thankful that I came across the hypnobirthing book and I just cant imagine going through what I did with my first labour and birth (without hypnobirthing) again!! I am soooooo totally excited and looking forward to my next birth which is due in the next week or 2 !