Bodhi’s Birth Story
“Birth is a physically and mentally challenging event and you can see here how Laurie used her strength, determination and trust to get through.
This is what the hypnobirthing techniques give you, a point of focus to move you through the birth experience in a calm and empowering way.
I love how supported Laurie felt by those around her, this is so important to a labouring woman, her face says it all in the photo”
I went into labour in the early hours of a Sunday morning around 1.45am. I phoned my mum to tell her the good news and she drove over right away, she was with me from start to finish. Straight away I was at 3 contractions in 10 mins and got the TENS machine on and started playing my hypnobirthing tracks in the background. For me, using the surging of the waves as an image in my head helped me to tackle each surge one by one.
At around 9am, my mum rang the home birth team to let them know I was in first stage labour. They arrived to assess me soon after and after being examined I was told I was about 2cm dilated – this was the first time during my labour that I really hit a wall and felt I couldn’t handle it any longer, but I just continued to use the techniques I had learnt and retreated within to find the strength to carry on. The team instructed my mum and partner to ring them once I started getting the urge to push, which was around 2.30pm. So the first stage of labour lasted till about 16:00 And all that was used was my hypnobirthing, TENS, birthing ball, water birthing pool and lots of bodily support!!!
During the second stage of labour, I was in the water birthing pool throughout and had the support of my mum, partner Lee, his mum and my sister, as well as two midwives from the home birth team; Hayley and Catherine. I loved and respected the fact that all the midwives in attendance at my home birth worked around my wishes and everything I had planned. It was so reassuring to have them on the scene but I was left to deal with the experience alongside the support of my family, which is exactly what I wanted. I was examined once during my entire labour and baby’s heartbeat was monitored throughout to ensure he wasn’t in distress. The second stage of labour finished at 17:44 with the arrival of my little man.
It was bloody difficult and I was exhausted from start to finish, but hypnobirthing, the TENs machine, water pool and all the support I had given me a birthing experience to be proud of and there were moments I felt like giving up and requesting to be taken into hospital, but I was empowered by my team of family and midwives to push through. It was the most rewarding experience and I would 100% pick a home birth again, utilizing all of those drug-free tools. I would always choose home-birth and would highly recommend hypnobirthing – it provided me with clarity and focus throughout.