Hi Kat,
 
Mahi Alexander Croft was born on September 15th (12 days after his guess date). His birth was pain free in the end – just not quite the way I had planned it! Here is my birth story.
 
I was called in for an appointment 10 days after my guess date, when they scanned me they found low levels of amniotic fluid and I was told I would be encouraged to have an induction. I let them know that I wasn’t keen to be induced but after exploring the options and having got second and third opinions from other consultants I was ‘strongly recommended’ to have an induction that night. My cervix was very high and closed so it didn’t look like I would go into labour naturally anytime soon so waiting another day was not seen to be helpful. I reluctantly agreed and quickly had to come to terms with the fact that I would no longer have the birth centre birth I had been hoping for.
 
I arrived back at the hospital that night (Tuesday) and over the course of 24 hrs was given the full possible dose of the induction gel, which had no effect at all, I had very minor tightening sensations but nothing remotely painful or even uncomfortable. I was only 1cm dilated at the same time on Wednesday night and was told I would be put on the hormone drip to move things along. About this time I started to get more powerful surges and started using hypnobirthing techniques. I found the balloon breathing in particular really effective and I think that relaxing using these techniques helped my waters to break naturally. I also used Clary Sage oil, in the early stages to increase the surges and later as a form of pain relief during the surges. I was really surprised how effective that was. After a few hours I was examined again and was really disappointed to find that I still hadn’t dilated any further, at this stage I moved onto using gas and air during the surges. At just after midnight on Wednesday I was given the hormone drip and was encouraged to get an epidural which because I was so sleep deprived at this point I decided to accept. I found the epidural amazing and took away all sensations so Duncan and I were both able to sleep through the first stage of my labour. At 8.30am I was encouraged to start pushing and at 8.52am Mahi was born, safe and sound without the need for forceps or a caesarian which I think most of the staff were expecting at that stage.
 
So, despite the fact that my entire birth plan went out the window I had a relatively relaxed and definitely enjoyable birth experience. Mahi is a lovely baby, very chilled and I have no doubt that my hypnobirthing practice during the pregnancy has had an effect. I think Duncan really benefitted from the course and we were both a lot more informed and while we did generally go with the advice of the consultants we were able to take an active role in the decision making which certainly helped me to feel a lot more in control and confident about the birth.
 
Thanks again for your time and expert advice.
 
xx Esther, Duncan and Mahi