More birth stories

Tina's HypnoBirthing experience

Baby Louis

The birth of my first child involved a 36 hour labour. Even with the maximum pain relief available to me in hospital, I felt traumatised by the experience. The birth of my second child was completely different thanks to hypnobirthing techniques and the assistance of my doula.

I hoped that the relaxation techniques that I learned from Sandra and by listening to the CD would help me to rest and relax in early labour, saving my energy for whatever the later stages of labour would bring.

However, I was so calm and focused on relaxing my body that we didn’t realise how far my labour had progressed. By the time we called the midwife, I wanted some pain relief and had an idea that the labour was quite advanced, but no one else realised this because I looked so relaxed. When the midwife arrived, she was surprised to find me fully dilated. They helped me stand up and a few moments later my son was born.

Knowing where to focus my attention really made a huge difference and enabled me to cope with the whole labour. I never thought it would be possible to give birth at home with no pain relief at all, but in fact it was a far better experience than having all the drugs available in hospital.

It is so wonderful to have a birth that I want to remember!

Many thanks Sandra,

Kathryn's HypnoBirthing experience

Hi Sandra,
Just wanted to let you know that our daughter Charlotte has arrived weighing 7lb 7oz. She's gorgeous!

We wanted to thank you for the tools you gave us to help us through a birth which was not as we planned! We had planned for a home water birth and my contractions started at 7.30pm on the Tuesday night. By about 9pm we decided to go to bed and relax and listen to the Rainbow relaxation CD. We felt completely in control and the breathing was all that I needed for the contraction pain.

The midwife came just after midnight to check everything and said how impressed she was by the relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately I had a bit of pink discharge which she was concerned about and she recommended that we go to hospital. We were admitted to a consultant led room and unfortunately I had to be hooked up to a constant monitoring machine to measure the baby's heartrate and my contractions. Again, we had the music on and lights dimmed and still felt in control.

The consultant said that it was a medical necessity that my contractions be stimulated with Syntocin (but it was good to have the confidence to check that this really was a necessity) and I knew that many people find the sudden increase in contraction intensity unbearable and often have epidurals. We put the TENS machine on and continued with the breathing. The music we had borrowed from you was invaluable to me. At one point I asked the midwife how long she thought the labour would last, seeing as I was only 1cm dilated when I went in she said that it wouldn't be before about 5pm that night.

I had asked whether I could get up and about and at least use a birthing ball and eventually I was allowed to do so, this helped massively, but again, it was having the confidence to push for this which the hypnobirthing had given us. At about 10.30am my contractions were very strong and regular and I asked for gas and air, this coincided with a drop in the baby's heartrate and all of a sudden there were about 8 people in the room with us. I was told that I would have to have a caesarian as there was no way I would be sufficiently dilated and the baby needed to come out. I was devastated. They did an internal and nearly fell off their chairs when they found I was nearly 9cm dilated. There is no question that if I had not used the hynobirthing techniques that I would have been in that situation.

In the end I had a ventouse delivery with no other option for me to hold breath and push. However, the only pain relief I used was the TENS machine and gas and air.

The midwives who had cared for us during the night went out of their way to tell us how amazed they were at the birth they had witnessed and how impressed they were with the hypnobirthing philosophy. Not only at how relaxed I was and the lack of pain relief required, but also the role that Steve played - I couldn't have done it without his support - the visualisations of me in my 'sanctuary', the massage and his general confidence was invaluable.

Finally, I think a really important note is the way I look back on the birth as a hugely positive experience, despite the fact that many parts of it were at the other end of the spectrum of what we had planned - this is 100% down to our hypnobirthing input.

And you never know, in a few years we may contact you for a refresher course...