Hypnobirthing through a long early labour – Imogen’s story

Another awesome birth story.

I do tell my couples that labour can be looooooonnnngggg and some women are in labour for days.

This can, of course, be very tiring but I think Imogen handled it beautifully.

 

Here is her story 🙂

Hi Pip,

Our little boy (Everest Alby James Marshall) is 12 days old today!

I thought I’d drop you an email to let you know how we went…

My surges started intermittently on Monday and by Tuesday at 10 pm they were a regular 5/6 mins apart, but by Wednesday morning had slowed to 10 mins.

We were booked in for a CTG and ultrasound that morning but I called my midwife to say it was happening and maybe we should stay home but she asked us to come in if possible.

We went and had an ultrasound and CTG. I didn’t think to tell the sonographer about not wanting to know the size, and she told us at the end we were in for a 4.4 kilo baby.

The midwife wanted to do a stretch and sweep then and talk about induction but I said I know it’s happening, after all, we could see the surges on screen and I was breathing through them, so would rather let it play out naturally.

We left, went for lunch and pottered around some shops pausing and breathing through surges.

A few walks around the block and bouncing on the ball they had ramped up by the evening. Mike and I were up all night labouring, we used the tracks, the shower, the bath, breathing, spikey balls, acupressure, massage and the tens lastly.

The length of surges were all over the place, sometimes 8 mins apart, sometimes 3 mins apart.

By 4 am we noticed huge swelling in my legs and feet and were a little worried, we contacted the midwife around 6 am and she advised we come in for another check. 

We arrived at the hospital around 8 am and I agreed to a check, where I was 4cm.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to go to the family birth suite (at SJOG Subi) because the doctors were concerned about a few things, the length of time, swelling and size of the baby, so my midwife advised we’d be going to the birthing suite in the labour ward where there was also a bathtub in the next room we could use.

After 4 hours in there, I had not dilated further and agreed to a stretch and sweep and waters breaking.

After 2 hours, of very active labour, dancing around, constantly moving and using water therapy and gas and air, I had moved to 7cm, we then went into the bath for 2 hours.

I was then 9cm and very close but at this point, my tiredness got the better of me and decided on epidural.

After the epidural, I was 10cm, had an hour break before 2 and a half hours of pushing.

At 10.21pm Everest Alby James Marshall was born weighing 9.3lbs / 4.15 kilos – 56cm and 37cm head. 

Whilst it wasn’t the exact birth we had imagined, we wanted to be prepared for every possibility and we definitely felt confident in our decision making.

It was a long labour but I’m so pleased it didn’t end in a C section and he took to breastfeeding really well and that’s been fantastic.

Thanks so much for all your input and support. We really enjoyed the course and hypnobirthing really set us up for a positive birth experience.

Best wishes,

Imogen