Labour can be long and intense – read how Sarah used hypnobirthing during her 27 hour labour. I love how this story shows just how incredible women are during labour. Even when Sarah’s partner thought there may be a moment where intervention looked likely, the midwife just kept checking baby and mum and continued to provide support, allowing Sarah to just do her thing and birth her baby.
Hi Kate,
Just writing to let you know the good news. Just over a week ago on Thursday at 4.34am, I gave birth to mine and Andrew’s son, Benjamin. He weighed 3.86kg, was 52cm long and was born at the Family Birth Centre with 2 community midwives, my Mum (retired midwife) and Andrew present. We are over the moon with our new little man.
Baby Benjamin
My labour was pretty long – it kicked in at about 1 am on Tuesday night and he was born on Thursday morning, so about 27 hours altogether. I stayed at home in the candle-lit lounge, until Wednesday 10.30pm where the midwife gave me a home assessment and said I was 5cm dilated, then we went to the birth centre and I was in the inflatable birthing pool for the rest of my labour.
I only had one vaginal examination (at home before going to the centre – I remember we discussed how they are not always useful, and actually my midwife never asked for another one) and somehow (still not sure how…haha) I managed to give birth without any interventions at all, not even gas and air for pain relief! I would have had gas and air – I even joked at the birth centre ‘when do I get the gas and air?!’. My midwife the next day told me she kind of forgot to offer it, and my mum thought because I asked so late and was progressing so well they probably thought I didn’t need it.
Although saying that, I definitely wasn’t totally like one of the super calm hypnobirthing videos we watched. I thought I would be like that….but there was definitely more noise coming from me especially in the bearing down phase where he kept coming out a bit but not fully crowning, then going back in. This went on for quite a while actually and Andrew said it was the only time he thought ‘oh, they might want to intervene if he doesn’t come’. But the midwife checked his heart rate after each surge and we just kept trying different positions and in the end, gravity helped me, as he finally crowned and was born with me standing up in the birthing pool, hanging onto Andrew for dear life as my legs were so wobbly!
So, all in all, I couldn’t have asked for more – perhaps a little shorter would have been nice actually, ha ha. From the hypnobirthing side of things we used the vision boards, the positive affirmation track, light touch massage, Andrew pouring water on me in the pool and the acupressure point on the hand. I had a TENS machine all the time pre-pool too. I found the ‘my surges are never stronger than me because they are me’ and the ‘I breathe my love down to my baby’ affirmations really helpful to focus on as the surges got more intense. My mum also said one to me which really helped through my surges and that was to ‘just blow it away’ as I exhaled each time.
I wanted to thank you for helping us to prepare and educating us so much about birth. It would have been a very different experience without it.
Sarah
Kate Vivian is a Mum of three and pregnancy and birth geek who helps Mums-to-be find their voice during their own pregnancy and birth.
After a less than fantastic birth of her first baby that ended in a caesarean section, she realised that having a positive birth was all about being empowered to make your own decisions. Kate went on to have two incredible, positive vaginal births after caesarean (VBAC) having found her own voice.
Regardless of the journey you walk during your pregnancy, Kate will be your biggest cheerleader. She will be the voice behind your voice as you walk your journey with confidence.
To find out more about Kate, check her out here.
Wanting to write your own positive birth story? Click here to find out more about Hypnobirthing Australia™ classes