Delaney- September 2023

I absolutely loved reading these positive labour and birth experiences on Jo’s website when I was pregnant, so I am excited to share my own and hoping that this will offer people out there some encouragement and inspiration too. As a midwife I had been at hundreds of births by the time I was pregnant, and I have always known HypnoBirthing (Mongan Method) was something I wanted to do for my own labour, because I had seen it be incredibly beneficial for so many women. HypnoBirthing births always appeared to be so much calmer and relaxed, so I knew there was something special about it.

My partner Fraser was a junior doctor at the time we found out we were pregnant and was working in obstetrics and gynaecology, and although he has experiences watching a lot of births, I knew it was totally a different role to be a support person. It was important to me that he felt comfortable and had tools to help me through labour and birth, and got to see the ‘normal’ side of birth, to balance out all the medical knowledge.

Fraser had never heard of HypnoBirthing before, and he thought it was some ‘hippie magician thing done to you in someone’s back shed’, which we laugh about now because it could not be further from the truth. There has even been a small randomized control trial which showed those doing HypnoBirthing had lower rates of intervention, shorter labours, and higher rates of vaginal birth compared to those who had not done it (Buran et al., 2022). Once he realised it was an internationally recognised childbirth education program with evidence based backing, he was on board to do it so we could be prepared for the birth as possible.

It was so special to dedicate intention time to the birth with Jo, and I was so surprised with how reasonable her prices were for private sessions, especially compared to what I was used to in Sydney which was double the price. She also over delivers on value and would always make time for us to answer any questions we had, even once the session had finished. We never felt rushed or constrained by time and felt so supported and cared for which really translates to the birth.

I had also done Pregnancy Yoga with Jo during my pregnancy and even as a midwife I learnt so much from her sessions, with knowledge which I still use today. I love that Jo’s Pregnancy Yoga was not too physically demanding but rather supported pregnancy and would leave me feeling both rested and energized. The Pregnancy Yoga was such a beautiful positive space to meet with other pregnant mums and celebrate the pregnancy.

ON TO THE BIRTH!

It started with having prodromal labour (early stop-start labour) for about 5 days on and off, mainly at night I was having stronger contractions that was waking me up during the night. But I sort of knew it was just my body preparing, and I was trying to get as much rest as possible, and then if I felt up to it, I would do some physical things to help me get into labour.

I was walking 30 to 40 minutes a day. We have a dry river bed near our house that is very sandy, and so I was doing my own version of curb walking and the miles circuit, as well as a video on exercise to help activate labour. It felt good to listen to my body and support it with movement. One of the exercises was squatting that I could not usually do on land, so I would sit in our hot tub doing it whilst listening to the HypnoBirthing tracks, and just relaxing knowing that labour was close.

On the morning of day 5 of early labour I was feeling really grumpy and ‘off’, which as midwifes we know can be a sign of things happening, but I did not think about it at the time. I just felt really introverted, so I went back to bed whilst listening to the HypnoBirthing tracks. I was having a few contractions again, but as I had been having them for days I thought nothing of it.

Then at 8 am, I felt the tiniest little leak with a contraction. It was not a big dramatic pop or anything like that. It was honestly so small that is was not convincing that my waters had released, so I decided to move around on the yoga ball and suddenly there was a large gush, and then I knew that it was my waters. At this point I was 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant, and I called my partner at work to tell him.

Even though I was planning a home birth through the midwifery group practice (M.G.P), the policies and guidelines around rupture of membranes recommend C.T.G monitoring of baby’s heart rate before established labour. I felt supported with whatever choice I made, and so I decided that I wanted to just go to the hospital to do this monitoring before going into established labour. I was confident my baby was happy, but it was good for me to get all the assessments done so that I could go home and get in my zone. My midwife was surprised that I was not reacting to the contractions that she could feel and see on the monitor, but I felt so calm and confident- and so the contractions were easy to ignore.

Once we got home, we set everything up including the birth pool and it was perfect! We had a huge lunch which was so good, I am so glad we did that because as the contractions grew in intensity, I was starting to feel like I didn’t want to eat. I continued to go about my day and used the HypnoBirthing techniques to keep me calm. My Holy Grail of early labour, aside from HypnoBirthing was my T.E.Ns machine, that made it bearable and worked well with my HypnoBirthing breathing techniques. I was confident in my body and knew that I would go into established labour once the sun went down.

To have a publicly funded home birth the guidelines are strict, so if your waters have released for more than 18- 24 hours then it is recommended to go into hospital, so I was on a bit of a timer. But I felt really confident that my body was going to do it, so I was not feeling the pressure from that at all. Just as expected, as the sun started to go down around 5- 6pm the contractions were a lot more intense. I was needing to focus more and relied on my HypnoBirthing meditations and some music to relax, as I could not ignore the contractions anymore. My partner and I take the dogs for a walk at sunset every evening, and I really wanted to still do that in labour because we were viewing labour as a normal part of life, it was an easy decision to make. Looking back, it was a really special time, and I am glad we did it!

Around 7 pm, I called the midwife just to let her know what I was doing and a plan for the night, and told her that things were progressing well and that I would call when I needed her to come. I also had a good friend who was coming to the birth who was a midwife student. I was also wondering when to call her, so I just decided to examine myself and I was 3 cms and fully effaced. So, I knew that I was sort of on the edge of established or ‘active’ labour and things were happening! I still had a bit of time though, so I decided to try eating more and I sent my partner to bed, to try get some rest because I wanted time to be on my own and listen to my body.

I realised at that time that so much of labour is the baby needing to navigate the pelvis, because I could feel this happening. As a midwife, I obviously knew that the baby’s head on the cervix was dilating the cervix and causes progression, but I had this epiphany moment. I think it was not until it was happening to me and when I could feel my baby navigating my pelvis that was when I knew- that listening to my body was so I could help my baby. And so with the contractions I was doing standing squats, lunges and different positions in which felt better at that time, rather than trying to relax into them, as I found it really helpful to do movement. I kept checking in with my body and asking it ‘what do you need right now?’ I would almost get the answer back on what to do, so that was really cool to just trust my body and my instincts.

Things then started to ramp up as I had gotten baby in a better position. I could not get comfortable anymore and I began to get in my head a lot. My first thought was that I would just make it to 8 am the next morning, than it would be recommended to go to the hospital because of my waters being released for more than 24 hours. I was trying to tell myself that to get an epidural I just have to make it through the night. I think this is an important part to speak about labour with HypnoBirthing, because a lot of books on labour talk about the ‘crisis of confidence’ and it is actually normal.

I didn’t realise it was happening, and that it occurs just because the intensity is increasing and this is when you really need to focus on the HypnoBirthing relaxation techniques. It surprised me, that I was sort of like bargaining with myself and trying to use my head to fight labour. If there is one piece of advice I have for labour I would say- “You can’t go under it, you can’t go over it, you must go through it”

I was really in my head and not able to get comfortable, but just decided and said to myself that ‘I need to get in the bath’. I was not going to the bath until I knew that I was at least 7 cms, because sometimes it can slow labour down if you aren’t established, but I listened to my body and got in and just felt instant relief being in the water. It relieved the intensity immediately, and I started feeling the pain in my back right in my tailbone, like the baby is in a bit of a funny position.

I needed more physical techniques, so my partner was providing counter pressure which was really helpful and that’s pretty much what got me through that part. I was still in my head a lot, and decided that I wanted my midwife here and to get an exam. I think I needed to confirm that baby was in a good position, so that I could relax as I was very much in my midwife brain. The midwife arrived at 11:45 pm and did an exam an hour or so later.

The great thing about being in my home is, I could just have the examination in my bed and I was really comfortable. The exam didn’t hurt at all and she said “baby is not posterior as baby is in a good position and you need to get out of your head”. Then she told me “you are 7 to 8 cms” and I just looked at her and was like “Shut up! Are you serious?” That is when everything changed and I was really able to make HypnoBirthing work for me. I felt a wave of encouragement and knew I could do this. I remember just getting up and like stomping back into the birth pool with a sense of determination.

My friend Gabby who was a midwife student arrived and I was just like “I need you to say nice things to me” and she was really amazing as she said to me “you have helped hundreds of women birth their baby before, and now it is your turn and you are gonna do great” and it was just what I needed to hear. It is so funny that you know what you need and you just need to let it be expressed and let it out. I was still having that back pain but now that I knew that my baby was in a good position and moving down and I was progressing, I was able to cope with it a lot better and relax.

I found the most helpful thing was to be vocal on my exhales, even the ‘horse lip’ and humming, as it helped me get out of my head. I had Gabby hold an ice pack on my back, and Fraser would do the counter pressure with each contraction. I also used a comb in my hand during contractions and just loved it as it helped so much. After everyone had arrived and I was able to settle back down, this was when I really got into my body and the HypnoBirthing techniques worked wonders. The intensity went down and the labour after that was near painless.

I started to feel the urge to push a bit and was making sounds that as a midwife you know it means that baby is coming soon. I remember doing another exam on my-self in the bath, this was probably around 2 am. Time was going so quick, at that point and I could feel that I was fully dilated and my baby’s head was well in my birth canal. I absolutely loved the birthing stage of labour, I could do that 100 times over it was so nice. I had fetal ejection reflex like my body just took over and I really loved having something to do with the contractions. I loved mother directed pushing because it alleviated the back discomfort completely.

I was able to fully rest between contractions as well as relax. I was even talking, smiling, and laughing whilst asking everyone if they could see the baby’s head yet. I thought that was probably more about the HypnoBirthing kicking in, where I was just able to feel safe and get really excited for my baby to come.

The second midwife arrived, because they are required to have two midwives at a home birth, and it was nice to have her there because I felt like I was really close and things are happening soon. They were setting up things in the background, but I didn’t really take much notice because I was in my HypnoBirthing zone and I was so excited to be birthing my baby. Just after 4.30 am I then started to feel her crowning, which for me was pretty painless. I didn’t feel it, it was just felt like stretching, it didn’t feel like a ‘ring of fire’ or anything like that. I had such a sense of control from the HypnoBirthing techniques and using the epino with those techniques prior allowed crowning to be painless too.

I could then feel all her hair, and I kept my hand down there on her head most of the time, I was even able to apply a little bit of counter pressure. I could feel when my baby was coming out a bit too fast and the stretching was a bit too much, so I held her back. I continued with the HypnoBirthing breathing which allowed me to control the speed that she is coming out. As I felt her shoulders come out, I held onto my baby. Then I just pulled her up and then saw that she was a girl.

She didn’t cry at first and was very quiet. I know babies have 60 seconds for transition to breathing or show signs that they are adjusting and adapting well. I remember putting my fingers on the umbilicus because when the baby first comes out you can feel their heart rate there. I felt her heart and it was good, then I was gently stimulating her and the midwife confirmed that she was alright.

I honestly felt like I was my own midwife at the birth, I really felt like I was having an out of body, very surreal experience. Almost like I was catching someone else’s baby even though it was my own. She cried after 40 seconds, and it was just such a relief and a moment full of joy and happiness, and I was so glad that I had done it.

We let the dogs in from outside, they stayed right beside the back door, like a metre from the birth for the whole labour and birth being supportive. So we let them in, and we enjoyed 15 minutes just relaxing and taking it all in. I started feeling an urge to get out of the birth pool. The midwife said its probably the placenta passing through my cervix. So, I just got out of the birth pool and then guided my own placenta out. My baby was still connected at that point as we had not cut the cord. After the placenta was out, I got on the couch which was covered in towels and got to enjoy some skin to skin.

We were suddenly parents already in our home with our baby- it felt so normal. After we did all the care for me and the baby, my partner slept for a bit before continuing on our day. I felt fantastic physically too. I didn’t have any tears and I felt so relaxed, confident and happy. It was such an empowering experience which was made better because of all the HypnoBirthing work my partner and I had done with Jo.

We even find ourselves using the HypnoBirthing techniques in daily life now. I highly recommend HypnoBirthing to anyone who wants to reduce fear and have a calmer, more positive birthing experience. I love that it can be adapted no matter what twists and turns birth can take, because it is so much more about addressing your beliefs around birth, and empowering you to relax when you are faced with intense experiences.