Hi Katrina

Just wanted to let you know that our little chap Jago arrived on 1 June! It’s been an absolute whirlwind ever since and has been so wonderful getting to know him. Hypnobirthing helped us so much and we were so glad we did it, thank you! in terms of our birth story, here is a relatively short version (I could talk about this for so long!):

We had a lovely relaxing day on 31 May, Tom came home early for lunch on a whim and we sat in the garden in the sunshine and then finished packing the hospital bag and writing a list of the last few bits to add. Late afternoon I thought there was a chance that my membranes were leaking a little, so we went to the hospital to check. They said that they weren’t and that my cervix was far back and closed, so we came out into the sunny evening feeling that the ‘when will it start’ thoughts had eased and generally just feeling relaxed and happy. We went for a lovely meal together and then came home and sat talking for a while before going to bed.

I woke up at 5am with tightenings that weren’t like the practice surges i’d had before, but I thought I’d try and keep sleeping. I woke up every 10 minutes or so with each surge, but fell back asleep in between them. At 630 am I felt that things were progressing so I went to the loo and saw that the show had come, so I woke Tom up. He started timing the surges while I was having a shower and getting ready, and we realised that they were already 1 minute long and 3 in 10 minutes. We called the hospital, who said we could go in, and then we had some breakfast, got our last few bits ready and then got a cab to the hospital at about 830am. The hospital was so quiet and peaceful and we didn’t see any other women at all, it felt so calm there which was amazing, and having been the night before (sort of a dry run in the end) we were really relaxed about being there.

After examining me we went straight upstairs into birthing room 6 (I chose it as it’s my lucky number!) and left us together while they went to brief our midwife. Almost immediately after getting into the birthing room I started to feel downward pushing urges, very different to the surges so far, so Tom went to get the midwife. She came in and started filling the pool, and a little while later I got into the pool. The water was really soothing and lovely and it was so good to be in there, it helped so much. They darkened the room and Tom sat with me holding and stroking my hand and reading some of the scripts. After a while Tom got into the pool with me, which was just amazing, it felt like it was the three of us doing it together (including Jago!) and felt really special. I couldn’t really tell how long I was in there, but it felt intense and strong and quite long, but also just part of the process and completely manageable.

At 1.16pm Jago came into the world! He came out really calm and didn’t cry at all, just coughed out some of the water and made a few noises but no loud bawling. When I stood to get out of the pool it turned out that I was losing quite a lot of blood, but it was all fine and we had skin on skin with Jago for most of the first 4 hours, as well as breastfeeding in the first hour and thereafter. So it was all amazing!

Turns out after a really quick and very easy first stage (no time for funny films!), I was in second stage for 3 hours, as I apparently have a very strong pelvic floor (!) – the midwife said they usually don’t like to let mums be in that stage for more than 2 hours but as she could see I was calm and doing well and that Jago was calm too she supported us to go with it. I am so pleased she did! We were so grateful to have done hypnobirthing as I think without that we would almost certainly have had an intervention after 2 hours. As it was, we made it through with no interventions and no pain relief at all (despite the second stage being really intense I never even considered asking for any gas and air or anything stronger, it just didn’t cross my mind as I knew I could do it and it was what my body was meant to do) and with a very healthy, calm and totally amazing baby at the end. The midwife also said that my blood pressure was still really good after losing lots of blood, and that my iron levels (when they tested them that evening) were higher than lots of people’s normal levels. She put the blood pressure in particular down to me doing yoga and hypnobirthing, as I was able to just keep calm throughout.

So, thank you so much! I am still using some of the techniques we learnt with you, e.g. when I have a bath (only had time for 2 so far!) I focus on my breathing and it really helps to just calm down and take stock of the amazing whirlwind we are in! I also find it helps me to sleep at night when Jago is still snuffling away ; )

I hope all is great with you,

Julia

PS I started writing this on 5 June and have only just got around to finishing it, sorry!