Hi there Kat – I hope you remember me – you very kindly came and gave myself and my husband Matt a one off session very close to when my baby was due in October 09. It’s taken a ridiculously long time for me to get round to emailing you about the birth of my son (healthy 7lb3oz named Aloysius) but I did want to just let you know how it went and also pass on something interesting which my midwife mentioned about her experiences of hypnobirthing.
 
Well in short the labour went very quickly, recorded as 5 hours long – with my midwife nearly not making it to the house in time, underestimating how far along I was (ambulance was called, bit of drama but very luckily nothing to hamper my homebirth). I would say it lasted longer as I started getting mild contractions the day before. I definitely would say that the hypno birth training helped both in the run up and the early stages of labour. I think that because of the speed at which I progressed and the fear that no one was there when the pushing contractions started made it more difficult for me to focus on the relaxation techniques (they basically went out the window mid trying to convince a slightly disbelieving husband that the baby was coming sooner than later!). I know that next time around I will have a lot more confidence in believing in my body’s ability and no matter what is happening just concentrating on the techniques. I’m sure starting the training earlier will help also next time around.
 
In conversation with my midwife afterwards she admitted that this had been the 3rd time in as many months where she had underestimated how far along her mums were and in each case the mums had been practicing hypno birthing. She said she had been about to leave one mum thinking she still had ages to go when she just did a quick check and found her to be 10cm dilated and ready to go. I thought that this was really interesting and quite important!
 
I wanted to say thank you again for your help we really appreciated it. Even though it went quickly and was a bit scary I really believe that all the preparation and breathing I put in before hand enabled my bub to arrive at home safely (only a slight tear) and I feel very privileged. He is a very happy and contented baby who still responds by relaxing when I start my deep breathing near him!!

I hope it’s all going well for you, best wishes

Susan