I always knew I wanted a water birth as an ideal plan but I hadn’t really thought about hypnobirthing until I started listening to a few podcasts and recommendations of how much of a positive impact it had on people’s pregnancies and births.
My friend recommended Leanne and hypnobirthing to us so we got in touch and booked a 1:1 course which was the most suitable for us with Rich working shifts. As soon as we met Leanne we hit it off, she was so friendly and we felt so comfortable. We went along with an open mind, not really specific on what we wanted and would ‘go with the flow’. After the first session we were totally converted and felt so excited about the birth and a lot more confident. Leanne is so knowledgeable and gives you all the tools and information to make well informed and confident decisions on what’s best for you individually.
Although I knew I would like a water birth we decided to opt for a home birth after our final session with our newfound confidence on exactly what we wanted (and didn’t want) — a calm, natural and relaxed atmosphere in the comfort of our own home.
Together, Rich and I listened to hypnobirthing tracks every night as we went to sleep which not only helped me fall asleep within minutes but gave me such a positive outlook on the whole experience. The scripts are also really helpful to practice and got us in a really relaxed state. I found these particularly helpful along with affirmation cards after I passed my EDD to help keep positive thoughts. On my ‘due date’ we were offered an induction and sweep which we refused as we wanted things to start naturally without intervention, we thought our baby obviously wasn’t ready just yet (even though we were getting impatient to meet her!) The following week we were booked in for an induction but thankfully baby girl was ready to make an appearance 3 days before.
I have never felt anxious about the birth, just excited — and it’s all down to the tools and information we gained from doing the course.
Our first stage of labour was quite long starting on the Wednesday evening but managed the surges with breathing techniques, visualisations and hypnobirthing music and then towards the end the comfort of warm water in the bath/shower. Rich was such a great support using massage techniques on my back as well as breathing through the surges with me. My surges really ramped up and became regular and 5 minutes apart early hours of Friday morning. When the midwives got to us at 4:30am I was 8cm dilated and got into the birthing pool. Our midwives were so respectful of our birth plan we created with Leanne, and pretty much left us to it after the initial agreed examination.
I started having gas and air at this point but carrying on with breathing techniques and visualisations which really helped me through. We had our hypnobirthing and relaxing music playing throughout the whole labour which really helped me to stay relaxed and calm.
I stopped taking gas and air at the end, carried on with deep breaths and my body took over with pushing. Our beautiful daughter, Lexie was then born at 9:56am in the birthing pool into a calm and relaxed environment and she has remained calm and content ever since.
We had skin to skin straight away and she started feeding pretty much immediately after. We delayed cord clamping until it had stopped pulsing and then the placenta came away pretty quickly and naturally.
We have both said since starting the hypnobirthing course with Leanne, it’s the best thing we could have done throughout my pregnancy. I have never felt anxious about the birth, just excited, and it’s all down to all the tools and information we have gained from doing the course, and being confident about being in control and making the right decisions for us. We would recommend to anyone and everyone! Thank you so much for all your support x