Amelia- December 2021
Amelia’s Birthday with mum Nicole and dad Jody
Early on in my pregnancy I listened to a podcast with Rea Dempsey and decided I wanted to have as close to a normal physiological birth as possible. At 15 weeks I enrolled in Pregnancy Yoga classes with Jo and when I learnt that she offered the one-on-one HypnoBirthing course I contacted her straight away to book my husband and I in. I felt the skills we had learnt combined with the support we received from Alice Spring’s Hospital M.G.P service would set us up for the best birth possible for our little girl, boy- and I am glad we did!
My husband already had two children previously, one epidural birth and one c-section. So, the information Jo gave us and the activities we did, really helped both of us understand the natural hormone cascade during birth and how female bodies are perfectly equipped to birth babies without assistance (unless there is a medical reason not to, of course).
Fast forward to 41 weeks and we spontaneously went into labour after two stretch and sweeps that week. I originally did not think the birth had begun, when the ‘cramping’ started on our usual afternoon walk at about 4.30pm, so we continued with our evening activities. It was not until my husband tried to get me to bed at around 11.30pm that I felt I could not sit still and that I knew we were almost there.
We contacted the hospital to let them know so our midwife had some warning, as our plan was to be at home for as long as possible. Our original plans for a home birth were cancelled due to Covid-19 short staffing issues. We were informed to call back in a few hours. At this stage I started using the tens machine, HypnoBirthing relaxation meditation, movement and HypnoBirthing breathing to assist. Things continued to move quickly, I had some diarrhea and vomiting, felt cold and shaky after one surge (contractions) and suddenly felt my baby drop down further and had the urge to push.
In hindsight, I realise I was in transition. I remember thinking at the time of my surges were intense but not painful, I was just completely in my body. I told my husband we needed to get to the hospital now and he tried to coax me back to bed, saying “we still have a long way to go”. I remember Jo saying to my partner and I during a HypnoBirthing class, that if a mum has the urge to go to hospital then follow it. And I am so glad that we did.
The drive to hospital was entertaining. Let’s just say I am glad we live only 5 minutes away and the HypnoBirthing breathing got me there. I raced up to the birthing suite, where I was shortly met by my midwife, I told her my body had the urge to push, after their quick assessment they agreed it was time. Amazingly after approximately 10 birthing breaths and nudging pushes, my beautiful baby girl was born at 3.19 am with no intervention. Post birth was just as positive, where my preference for delayed cord clamping was honoured and I watched my baby girl do the breast crawl.
I feel like I had the most amazing birthing experience thanks to Jo and the Mongan HypnoBirthing Method. The preparation for birth and the tools we learnt to support birth have been invaluable. I actually still use the HypnoBirthing relaxation meditation to this day. We would 100% recommend Jo to anyone wanting a positive birth story and as normal physiological birth as possible. I honestly do not believe we would have achieved this if it was not for the program, her support and the rest of our birthing team.