Waters broke 6.30am, Tuesday 4th August. I spent the day at home on my ball, applying essential oils, visualisations, relaxing, getting my fluids up and fuelling my body with nutritious foods so I was energised for the journey ahead. 4pm surges were 3-4min apart
I was induced at 42 weeks as I had early labour on and off for 4 days beforehand that wouldn't turn into actual labour.
Our birth started on the 14th Feb where I had 2 lots of gels in the afternoon/night. I had intense contractions (aka surges) all night (and got no sleep) but Ven set up our room with nice candles and I just listened to my calming music and hypnobirthing tracks, focusing on my breathing all night and taking the surges one at a time.
We couldn't have done it without this course and it not only prepared me mentally, but also my support people and completely changed our mindset about birthing.
I had been having on and off mild surges for a few days, so when I woke just before 6 in the morning with a different feeling surge and instinctively knowing it was the start of my labor. I hadn’t had the best sleep the night before with such tightness, so I knew I needed to go back to bed, get some rest for the day ahead of me.
So many people have asked as we had an unplanned home birth how it all happened, so I thought rather then repeat the story I’d share a brief version for everyone to have a little insight into the best day of our lives.
Leading into Evie’s birth I wanted to be as prepared and organised as I could be to give this baby the best shot at a natural drug-free birth and also to make me feel empowered and strong on the day of her arrival. I did a bit of research and came across hypnobirthing and it sounded like something I’d like to try.
I never imagined I would have a breech baby; let alone have the confidence to birth him naturally; and furthermore birth him unexpectedly at home with only my husband present to catch our baby boy. I will forever be grateful for hypnobirthing which helped me through the stress of all the hospital visits in the final few weeks of pregnancy and the day of my son’s birth.
