Daryl’s Hypnobirthing Story: 8cm on Arrival and a Calm Gold Coast Water Birth
“I used every tool I was given, the clary sage, the recordings, the affirmations, the breathing, the exercises, and they made a big difference. When I was holding her I kept thinking, how did this happen? I did it.”
This positive hypnobirthing birth story comes from Daryl, who joined my Hypnobirthing Australia™ group course on the Gold Coast with her partner Daniel. Using her breathing, birth affirmations, clary sage and a TENS machine, she stayed calm and rested through a long early labour at home, arrived at hospital already eight centimetres, and welcomed her daughter Ana in the water. If you are hoping for a positive hospital birth of your own, Daryl’s story shows what is possible.
Birth Story by Daryl
My due date was the Saturday, and on the Sunday night I felt something different. I had a little bit of spotting, and that night the contractions started. I thought, oh, so this is happening.
They were far apart, maybe every hour, and they stayed like that for a whole 24 hours, not getting closer but still there. At three in the morning we went to the hospital just to see. They said I was three centimetres, my cervix was open and soft, and I just had to be patient. That was the reassurance I needed.
They sent us home and told me to sleep as much as I could. I put the TENS machine on and had a very long nap, waking to use it with every contraction. It is the last good sleep I remember.
When I woke up around eleven the contractions were slowing down, so I did my exercises, the rebozo with Daniel, and the clary sage, which I used more than I needed to because I loved the smell. They came back stronger and closer together, and once I was getting three in ten minutes I told Daniel it was time.
I could feel every contraction the whole way, on the stairs and in the car. I think Daniel was nervous about me having the baby right there. We got there around half past one and they said, oh, you are eight centimetres. Jill, my student midwife, walked in and said, perfect timing.
They knew I wanted a water birth, but the water in the first birthing suite would not get to 37 degrees, and the second only reached 36.5. Daniel was more upset about it than I was. I was just breathing through one contraction and then the next, leaning on something with my TENS machine and a heat pack. It was a bit of a parade, but the third room worked.
I was scared to take the TENS machine off, but Jill said if I didn’t cope I could come up and put it back on. So I got in the pool at three o’clock, and it was so warm and so relieving.
Half an hour later I felt like I needed to push. I pushed hard maybe ten times and it wasn’t working. I forgot how to breathe and I was getting really tired. Jill said, what if you don’t push, what if you just breathe? I told Daniel to breathe loudly next to me whenever he saw me losing it so I could follow him. Jill speaks Spanish, and she started talking to me in Spanish, so I answered her in Spanish without even thinking about it. It felt so good to be able to speak my own language right then.
Her head would come out and go back in, three or four times, so Jill suggested I put some pressure on to hold baby there. It got really painful, but there was no plan B. They were telling me, we can see the head, she’s really hairy, you can do this. When her head came out I was so relieved, and two more contractions brought her body out.
What was really annoying was that because I wasn’t wearing the CTG monitor, they had to listen to her heart with the Doppler every time I had a contraction and every time I pushed. I wanted to move back, but they kept saying, we need you here, we need you to be close to us. It was stressing me out a bit, because they said they needed to know she was coping, and I was thinking, why wouldn’t she be? And then right in the middle of the pushing my phone rang, some unknown number, and I was like, what? It was really annoying. My eyes were closed the whole time anyway, my mask on and my earphones in with the recordings on repeat.
Then she came out and I brought her up. One of the midwives said straight away, let’s see what it is, and it was a girl. Her eyes were wide open and I really felt like she smiled at me. It was really beautiful.
They got me out of the pool for the placenta, and after five minutes I felt like I needed to push. It spurted about a metre away and there was a lot of blood. It was like a horror movie, but it came out and everything was good.
When I was holding her I kept thinking, how did this happen? I did it. I used every tool I was given, the clary sage, the recordings, the affirmations, the breathing, the exercises, and they made a big difference. Daniel knew how to hold the space I needed, and Jill was really good too. I had a very good team.
Here’s what my couples say
Kate is great! The class is full of valuable information and the way Kate delivers it is brilliant! After the class I feel way more prepared for the big day, as a FTM I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed but now I feel like I know a lot more and that we are able to handle the different situations that birth can throw at us.
