I do know that there are many women who have such a fear of birth that they can’t even think about it, let alone attend birthing classes.
But what they don’t understand is that Fear is the Enemy of Birth.
You really do need to find a way to deal with your fears before birth so that you are not fighting your birthing hormones once labour begins.
This is exactly what Katrina did.
She faced her fears head-on, found ways to deal with them through doing a Hypnobirthing Australia™ course and completely rocked her birth!
Thank you so much for your honestly Katrina, I know it will help so many other women.
Here is her story:
Before I came to your Hypnobirthing classes, I was absolutely terrified of childbirth and had not even allowed myself to comprehend going into labour and giving birth.
In the second class when we watched the second birth video, I had a bit of breakdown and cried during and after the class and the next day about seven times!
I think my fear of childbirth came from my sister having a 4th degree tear 15 years ago as well as knowing she had long labours (20, 24 and 28 hours) with all three of her boys.
This was also amplified by everyone sharing the worst parts of their childbirth stories with me while I was pregnant.
I felt like I was probably one of the most fearful people ever to have attended your Hypnobirthing classes.
At my 36 week scan, I was told that I had a high risk of shoulder dystocia and I may not be able to birth at the Family Birthing Centre depending on the his size of his abdomen at a 39 week scan.
After my 36 week scan, I took raspberry leaf capsules, ate curry and had acupuncture in the hope I may go into labour before 40 weeks to reduce the likelihood of shoulder dystocia.
On Sunday 9 July 2017 at about 6pm, I was hanging out the washing when I squatted down to pick up some washing and my membranes ruptured!
At first I didn’t think too much of it but when I went to check, sure enough I had liquid gushing out of me!
I had just reached 38 weeks in my pregnancy and I wasn’t expecting my labour to commence with my membranes rupturing as I had heard this happens only in a small number of cases.
I rang the midwife at the Family Birthing Centre and she told me that by tomorrow our baby will have arrived and to wait at home until the surges grew stronger!
My husband and I went to bed and watched the Tour de France (appropriate as he is French!) and we went to sleep about 11.30pm.
About 12.30am I woke up to my first surge.
They were not too strong at this point, a little irregular and were occurring every six to eight minutes for approximately 45 seconds each.
After about 1 ½ hours of measuring my surges, I decided to try and get some more sleep.
At approximately 4.30am I woke up with some stronger surges and decided to wake up to sit on the fitball and focus on breathing through them.
At approximately 7am my husband woke up and by 7.45am the surges were much stronger.
I remembered the Hypnobirthing techniques of flopping on the fitball and breathing through each surge which helped me stay calm.
By 9am, the surges were more frequent and intense, occurring every three minutes and lasting approximately 60 seconds.
At this time, we decided to head to the Family Birthing Centre.
We arrived at the Family Birthing Centre about 10am and I was expecting to potentially be sent home as many people had mentioned to me that often women in labour with their first child arrive and return home as they are not yet in active labour.
The midwife checked me and I was 4cm dilated!
With each surge, I tried different positions to find the best one for me which were often either standing doing figure 8 movements with my arms around my husband or sitting on the fitball in the shower.
The intensity in my back with each surge became quite excruciating and the midwife recognised that the baby was posterior and I was very constipated.
The midwife gave me a suppository and after that took effect, the surges felt more manageable.
At approximately 2.30pm, we moved into the water birthing room.
I hopped in the bath and stayed on all fours with Mat putting a cold flannel over my shoulders.
The position being on all fours or kneeling forward with arms on the side of the bath felt the most natural for me and I believe this helped to turn the baby from his posterior position.
In the water bath I felt the need to bear down and at that moment clearly recalled what we had learnt in your hypnobirthing class about how to bear down, the function of my uterus with the surges and the movements of the baby during this transition.
I stayed in the bath for approximately one hour bearing down with the baby’s head crowning.
At this point his heart rate was starting to dip so we decided that we would get out of the bath.
This was one of the most difficult moments during my labour as I attempted to climb out of the bath with the help of my husband with the baby’s head partially out.
After about 10 minutes on the floor next to the bath on all fours, baby Noa entered the world at 4pm on the dot weighing 3.52kgs!
Perhaps he needed a little help from gravity to arrive!
Without attending your Hypnobirthing classes, I don’t think I would have been as educated on the stages of childbirth, trusted my instincts, my body and my baby, managed the surges and breathing as effectively as I did and trust my husband and understand his crucial role in my labour.
Looking back, the hours that I was in labour felt more like an hour or two and the midwives commented on how calm I remained and how quickly my labour progressed for a first-time mother.
I was really proud of myself being able to have a vaginal birth with no drugs, just relying on my hormones to get me through and being the best option for myself and my baby.
Thanks again for your guidance and support.
Katrina, Mathias and Noa xx
