First time mum, Grace, found us on Instagram and joined the Birth Bubble Group Zoom Hypnobirthing Course with her partner Chris. Grace went on to have a very speedy labour - this is a birth story you will want to read! She gave birth without her partner, without her birth bag, and yet said she couldn't have wished for a better birth.
Read her story below!
"We welcomed our little boy, Chester, into the world on Wednesday, 2.5 weeks early!
Chris was working away in London for his last week before taking time off. So on Tuesday evening I finished packing mine and the baby’s hospital bag as I was home alone! I packed my TENS machine, essential oils, diffuser, candles, beautiful pjs, slippers etc! God I spent so much on that hospital bag...lol!
I wrote out my birth plan wishes on the template you gave us, wrote down 12 affirmations and said them out loud and packed my hypnobirthing course workbook. I sat and listened to birthing playlists and found one that I liked and downloaded it!
My only thing left to order was my coming home outfit which I ordered around 11.45pm after I had had a bath with some lavender oil! I then went to sleep around midnight - I woke up at 1:30am for a wee, got out of bed and my waters broke!
I had no contractions but I called Chris straight away, and said whilst I didn’t think he needed to rush home, that he should probably think about leaving soon!
I drove myself to the birthing suite to get checked and arrived at 2:10am! I had my first contraction in the car, and then another about 2 minutes later. By the time I got to the ward I had had 4-5 contractions in under 10 minutes.
I phoned Chris and told him I had seriously underestimated the pain of labour and if this what it was going to feel like I didn’t know if I could manage without any pain relief!
They asked me to sit on the bed and wait for 10-15 minutes so they could assess my water loss but she advised the best place for me to begin labour would be at home, and that I would be likely sent home. I agreed and took a seat.
When the midwife was gone I couldn’t believe the intensity of the contractions and ended up instinctively on all fours on the floor! This is when Elise's breathing techniques were a godsend!
I was trying my hardest to stay focused on the breathing even though I felt like I wasn’t getting a minute in between surges! By the time the midwife had come back in I had stripped off down to my underwear and was sweating like I had run a marathon! She was so shocked - this is when I had my panic stage and said to her ‘I can’t do this, I need to have some pain relief. This is too intense’.
At this point she thought I was only having ‘tightenings’ and I think she thought I was being a bit over dramatic (I’m not going to lie in my head I thought I was, I was saying to myself you're being ridiculous you need to pull yourself together and remember what you learnt on the course!’).
Looking back, I know exactly what that panic was.... as we had learnt all about this on the course! Transition! And about 5 minutes later I had a huge urge to push!
The midwife was lovely and left me to listen to my body, and surprisingly all I kept saying in my head was ‘my body was made to do this so trust that it's doing the right thing’ (again from your course). I pushed for around 40 minutes before he made his entrance at 3:43am.
I managed to birth without a birth partner, without any pain relief or any direction at all from the midwife! She told me later that she stayed away as she could see I was in a complete zone and totally in control of my labour! The only time she stepped in was to ask if I wanted to feel his head as she thought I would be surprised at how well I was doing. She then stepped back again and left me to it!
During the pushing stage I used your technique you told me, pushing down towards the floor after a breath in! (I actually had a laugh whilst resting during the pushing stage that I had spent so much on birthing bags for me and Chris and how both of them weren’t even with me during the birth!)
I didn’t have any tearing/need any stitches, my recovery time has been really minimal if I’m honest! I’ve not needed any pain relief at all and have felt really positive after my birth!
I didn’t think I used my hypnobirthing at first as I didn’t have my oils, affirmations etc! But now I’ve reflected I’ve really realised hypnobirthing was the centre of my birth!
It was without a doubt the reason I stayed so calm and in control - despite it being so far away from what I had planned for in birthing alone!
I spent so long planning my ideal water birth and buying things for my birth bag and ended up giving birth without any belongings with me, on the floor of the birth suite without my partner! But I honestly couldn’t wish for a better birth!
I can honestly say during my whole (albeit short) labour I didn’t ever feel scared, worried or out of control! Despite being alone!
Thank you for everything you taught me and all of the tips from your course. There is no way I would have stayed so calm and in control had all of this happened without it.
I felt like I had so much knowledge about labour and knew what signs to recognise even though I hadn’t done it before!
Here’s a photo of our little boy.
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