My birth story started well before my second pregnancy. After I gave birth to my first child lying on my back with epidural on, purple face pushing and bad tearing, feeling hopeless and clueless and having to go through many months of painful postpartum recovery, I knew there must be a different way of giving birth – more gentle both physically and mentally.

As I already knew what labour involved, once I saw the two lines for my second baby I was determined to find the resources that would equip me for labour and help me have an empowering and healing experience I so desperately needed.

Having studied a huge amount of articles and stories enough to write a thesis on pregnancy and birth, I came to a conclusion I would need to have the right mindset to have a smooth labour, and hypnobirthing promised just that. I also wanted to have a doula helping me as at that time I was worried I wouldn’t manage it on my own even with my husband by my side. I also had home water birth as my first choice in my birth plan as I wanted to be in a cosy and homely environment during my labour.

However, my plan with having a doula fell through. Having spoken to my husband, we agreed that he would be my birth partner and we would do hypnobirthing together.

The minute I got in touch with Jade I knew I could trust her. She was very approachable, really listened to us and provided some reassuring answers. We had two intensive sessions with Jade when we learned about labour and practiced hypnobirthing techniques, and we felt so empowered about labour and birth like we never did before. The more we practiced the more confidence we were getting. I listened to my CD, wrote and put up my affirmations sheets and got my room and a birth pool ready for the arrival of our second baby. I was obsessed with reading stories of wonderful home births and was determined to have one myself.

The time went by and my ‘guess date’ swooshed by. The birth pool was looking somewhat sad and the whole idea of home birth was slipping away. I really wanted to avoid induction and hospital birth this time round but I also wanted to be sensible and weigh in all options. This is when Jade said some important words that really resonated with me and empowered me. She said- whatever you choose- OWN IT ! And so I did.

At full term + 14 days I DECIDED to go in for induction. It took a few days and what seemed like countless pessaries before induction worked so you can imagine my relief and joy when on day 3 after the morning examination I was told I was 3 cm dilated and could go through to the labour ward. I was over the moon!

Midwife Katie C welcomed me through into a cosy little room, read my hypnobirthing plan and we had a friendly chat about my preferences. She was very positive and smiley, and helped me feel at ease. We dimmed the lights, put on my hypnobirthing CD, my hubby took out massage oil and started massaging my hands and arms. At some point I actually felt like I was in a spa salon as opposed to a labour ward room lol.

A few hours later we discussed options and whether it would be helpful to start a drip to make my surges stronger and more efficient. Once the drip was established, surges came in thick and strong, and I remember my husband helping me with visualisations and breathing. I was mobile the whole time and upright to help the baby descend. I found holding on to the bed headrest and rocking side to side the most comfortable.

Midwives changed at 7pm and I had Shannon and an RGU student Gayle joining our ‘hypnobirthing crew’ and they were super. It wasn’t long I felt the urge to push, but instead of pushing with all my might like I did last time, I was pacing myself and really relaxing when I had the chance. I let my body and baby do the work. When crowning I paused and reached down to touch the soft squishy head, then applied a little bit of organic carrier oil on the ring to minimise tearing. I screamed “I love you baby!” and the next second the head was out, then the whole baby.

I turned around and my gorgeous wee baby boy was placed on my chest. He made a high-pitched scream and waved his long arms at me like a little conductor, but once he found the boobie he instantly settled and fed like a champ. We spent a few hours in bed nursing, did a placenta imprint, got all checks done and were sent home. It was such a wonderful experience that it brings tears of joy to my eyes reminiscing about it and I want to do it all over again.

I’m so thankful to all midwives, nurses and doctors at AMH and my community midwives who supported us on our journey, and Jade Gordon who taught us hypnobirthing and helped us have an empowering and joyous birth experience ❤

Thank you, Yulia, for sharing your beautiful birth story, I’m so happy you got to have the healing and empowering birth that you hoped for.

If you would like to find out more and book one of our upcoming classes, click here.

To find out more and prepare for your Positive Induction Birth, follow the link here or head over to www.positiveinduction.com, where you will find a course which will help you prepare for a more positive induction experience.

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