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Layla Grace, born 12 March 2014

Hypnobirthing in Dad’s & Mum’s Words…

photo-3-e1396441513840-225x300Hi Melissa

We just wanted to send you an email to say a great big thankyou for your education and hypno birthing expertise.

On the 12th of March we welcomed Layla Grace to the world in the most calm drug free and beautiful way.  Philippa had spent a lot of time listening to your tracks and was well prepared and in a great mental space for her task.

Philippa excitedly went into labour at 11.30pm Tuesday night and Layla was born at 4pm On Wednesday.  We took your advice and stayed home as long as possible, which lead to a swift and exciting trip to the hospital.  Layla was born about 1 and 15 minutes after our arrival to the emergency area.  It was so exciting and perfectly timed.  Philippa was an absolute hero and all of the midwives and nurses were talking about her for our whole stay.

We really cant thank you enough for your information and support.

Greg

Mum’s Words…

Dear Melissa

I just wanted to express my gratitude to you and to pass on some words of encouragement to any expecting mothers out there, as attending your course and reading other mum’s stories really inspired me in the months leading up to the birth of our little girl.

After completing the HypnoBirthing course I gained confidence, knowledge and approached my pregnancy and upcoming birth in a very positive light, happily denying anyone who asked if I was nervous.

On the 12th of March (8 days earlier than my due date) we welcomed Layla Grace to the world in a calm, drug free and beautiful way.  I had spent a lot of time listening to your tracks whilst commuting on the train (I tend to cram, so this took place particularly in the last couple of months) and I felt mentally prepared for the task ahead.

At around midnight on the 11th March I woke up to what felt like strong period pain. When I realised this pain was repeating every 10-20 minutes I excitedly realised that this was the beginning of my labour. I woke Greg to let him know the news and suggested he continue to sleep through the night (easier said than done due to his excitement also), not knowing how long the process was going to go for. The surges continued at this pace throughout the night as I tried to relax and rest in between moving positions around the bedroom and on my birth ball.

By early morning I started using a contraction timer and the frequency of the surges had increased to approximately 5 minutes apart. I had the affirmations and surge of the sea playing on my iphone and listened to them constantly, which was a great distraction and helped me focus.

Greg made me a light breakfast and supported me through the morning by applying a hot water bottle to my lower back and doing various forms of massage as I requested (I wish this would continue!). He phoned the hospital at approximately 10am to advise them of our progress and they suggested to come in any time from this point. After hearing so many stories of women arriving to the hospital far too early, we both agreed that we would stay at home until instinct kicked in.

The surges lasted approximately 1-2 minutes in duration and I continued to move around the house using the lounge, a chair or a birth ball for support. We tried to put on a movie for distraction but I didn’t even make it past the introduction before switching back to the Hypnobirthing tracks as I found this to be the best way for me to keep in my ‘zone’, to relax and let my body do what it needed to do.

By approximately midday Greg suggested I take a bath and he set the clary sage in the oil burner. This was a great way to relax and I actually found myself drifting in and out of sleep. It slowed the surges down considerably which I actually found to be a nice break for my body… until I got out. Moving to the shower things quickly progressed and the surges increased to approximately 3 minutes apart. At this point there was no denying that we had to get moving to the hospital and we arrived at approximately 2:30pm, me in a wheelchair with eyes closed and earphones in. Greg parked out the front of the hospital, wheeled me in to take care of business and get me settled in the birth suite, then moved the car later on when he knew we had a bit of time. He requested a Hypnobirthing friendly midwife and having already provided our Birth Plan to our obstetrician, all our wishes had been communicated to the staff who were fantastic.

Monitors were placed on and checks were done only once a surge had finished. Despite my previous wishes to not want to know how dilated I was, Greg was pleased to advise me that I was already 8cm so we were getting close which was a nice relief. Ever the glass half empty, my response was that we still had 2cm to go! This however, progressed very quickly and all of sudden the intensity of the surges increased. At this point I knew we were getting close and requested a birth stool, remembering that forces of gravity were optimal for birthing rather than laying on the bed as I was. Greg later told me the obstetrician requested a stool but expressed that this baby was likely to be born before the stool would arrive! He suggested I could turn to lean on the bed if I wanted to, which I did for the final few minutes. My body instinctively knew when to start pushing and did so, with Layla being born just over an hour of us arriving to hospital.

I can honestly say it was a beautiful and calm process and such an amazing gift from God to be blessed with a healthy, beautiful little girl.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and wisdom,

Greg & Philippa, Gold Coast

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