Not all births play out as we expect. In HypnoBirthing we are teaching couples tools and techniques to keep them calm and positive in whatever turn their birthing takes. Although Amy and Ryan ended up needing special assistance, the birth of their baby girl, was still an empowering and positive experience. This is Amy’s story!
“I went into hospital for induction at 8pm on the Wednesday night and they took me down to labour ward at midnight when they put the first gel on my cervix. I would have had the balloon if my cervix was partially ripened however it was still posterior and closed (bubs wasn’t ready at all), they reapplied more gel at 6.30am and my cervix had started to ripen but not enough. I started having mild surges after the second gel and they continued throughout the morning. I was very relaxed and managed to have a couple of naps throughout the morning.
I had the third lot of gels around 1pm on Thursday 29th and surges ramped up to 6 every 10 minutes for the rest of the day. I was relaxed and listened to one of the long tracks on a CD you leant me using the wave visualisation for each surge and breathing techniques, I found the surges quite satisfying thinking my baby would soon be with me. I continued with this through the Thursday afternoon, they should have started me on the drip at 8pm on the Thursday night however due to an overcrowded labour ward they decided to leave me until Friday morning. By 11pm the surges had tailed off to 2 every 10 mins and I was told to get some sleep. This wasn’t so easy as the surges were a lot more intense than the previous night, I listened to rainbow relaxation through the night and zoned out for a few hours.
The doctors started the oxytocin drip at 8.30am, I was 3/4cm dilated at the time. The intensity of the surges were tenfold the previous day due to the drip, I carried on my visualisation and relaxing music throughout the morning however I became too exhausted by lunch and my cervix hadn’t progressed so I made the call to have the epidural so I could have a sleep. It was the best decision I made, it wasn’t one I made easily however I would probably have been sent for c-section had I not made the decision. The midwives and S. were shocked by my decision due to me being so calm, in control and earlier adamant that I didn’t want anything, however after 3 days of little sleep and very little energy left (lack of food also didn’t help) I made the call.
I was still able to move around and use the toilet so wasn’t totally confined to the bed but I managed to sleep for a few hours in the afternoon which give me a new lease of life later in the day. The doctors had me on stand by for c-section all day due to lack of progress however they knew my original birth plan and how much I really wanted a natural birth so they gave my body the most opportunity. At 7pm they were making a decision based on my progress which when checked by the midwife was only 6cm however 5 minutes later when the doctor returned I was 8cm so they decided to let me continue as bubs wasn’t in any distress and was coping well with the induction. Just over an hour later I felt I needed to start my birth breathing and within 50 mins baby Evelyn was born.
It wasn’t how I had imagined my birth to go however it was still a very positive and empowering experience, one which I thoroughly enjoyed and had I not completed the HypnoBirthing course it would have been a whole different experience altogether.
Interestingly enough I asked about my placenta and it was in perfect condition so it just shows that the ‘risk’ of the placenta failing after 42 weeks isn’t always true. This definitely gives me more confidence with pushing back harder next time.
Bubs was very over cooked by the flakiness of her skin but was totally happy in uterus and would have made her own way into the world when she was ready.
