A Beautiful Birth Story

The birth of our second child, our daughter Sophie, was a wonderful yet crazy experience. I call it crazy because Sophie was very close to being born in our car. On her birthday I awoke around 5 am in the morning feeling the first surges that came at long regular intervals. I stayed in bed for some time before getting up for a brief morning meditation. When my husband woke up I told him the good news that he didn't have to go to the office that day. Together with our little son Gabriel we had breakfast, and it was around that time that I gave Lauren, my doula, the first call. The surges, at that time, were about 5-6 minutes apart and lasted for approx. 45 seconds. I breathed through them easily. After breakfast I lay down to listen to the birth affirmations and relaxation exercise from the HypnoBirthing classes that I had taken during my first pregnancy. During both pregnancies I had prepared myself with the breathing, relaxation and visualisation exercises that HypnoBirthing offers. While I was relaxing in bed the surges became longer, reaching 60 seconds, and they came about 10 minutes apart. I informed Lauren that we would soon leave for the hospital and, planning to leave home around 10 am, told my husband to get things ready. Just when we were ready to leave, I entered transition phase with the cervix opening to its full extent. I experienced a few very powerful surges. During the last of these surges my membranes released and I knew that now was the time to either change to the hospital or stay at home for the birth. I briefly considered the second option, but we were not prepared for a home birth, and I remembered that with my first birth it took the baby a couple hours from the time he passed the cervix and entered the birth path until he was born. I didn't know that I was only four surges away from giving birth. At half past 10 am I had managed to get into the car and my husband gave his best as a driver. I experienced two surges on the way to the hospital, each time hoping the baby would not choose this car for making her entrance into this world. When we reached the hospital after 15 minutes, I was wheeled into the delivery suite and while climbing onto the bed asked for the birthing stool to be brought in. The nurses told me they first wanted to see how far I had progressed and got ready for an "initial examination" . Obviously they had no idea how far I actually was. Since we had reached the hospital I was relaxed again, breathing normally and even talking to the nurses in a normal voice, though somewhat brief manner. When one of the nurses wanted to take a closer look, I told her to wait, and with the next surge the head of the baby emerged and was expelled with absolutely no effort on my side. I just lay on the bed watching my body in awe. One of the nurses hurried out of the room to call my doctor. The nurses were not comfortable with the baby arriving without him being there, but my husband told them to let the baby come out. When they asked me to push the baby out fully, Lauren reminded me to just follow my body's lead. I did exactly that, and with a final surge my body birthed the baby's torso as effortlessly as it had birthed her head. My husband made sure the baby was placed onto my tummy for immediate bonding. The nurses had intended to carry out suctioning. Sophie, however, breathed normally when she lay on my tummy. And then we just enjoyed holding her and watching her first moves.

Using Hypnosis for Birth