My home birth story using Self-Study hypnobirthing
“This was my first pregnancy.
In the last 8 weeks of pregnancy, I practised meditation and hypnobirthing using guided meditation on YouTube. Once I had practised enough I used the hypnobirthing technique without guidance and did it to relaxing music. I also practised visualisation through hypnobirthing which helped a lot with all the stresses that come when you’re in your last trimester approaching childbirth.
For my visualisation I coloured in a big psychedelic type picture and surrounded it with positive quotes. I put this up when I started unguided meditation so that the quotes would be somewhat engraved on my brain in my subconscious.
We had planned for a homebirth from being about 25 weeks pregnant after doing research and hearing positive stories, which are hard to come by in this day and age, unfortunately.
Due to COVID-19 all home births had been cancelled around my due date which was difficult, however, we kept it together and planned for a hospital delivery instead.
Amazingly the day of my third sweep (I was exactly 1 week overdue) we were told that the home births we’re back on as of that day, 10 minutes later my waters broke!
My labour escalated very quickly which we didn’t expect so I started my hypnobirthing technique straight away.
1 hour in I was in the bath while the pool was filling but mentally I was in a completely different place, I had taken myself to a deeply meditative state of calm and relaxation.
I stayed in this state for the entire labour, I didn’t speak, I didn’t scream, I didn’t cry.
When my boyfriend rang triage to get the homebirth team out they arrived quickly and quietly, I didn’t even know they had arrived until they passed me the gas and air.
I was having urges to push for about an hour before they came, then just under an hour after they came I had had my daughter and birthed the placenta in the bath also using breathing techniques.
I had no tearing, no intervention and no mental scars.
The home birth team were efficient when my daughter was so relaxed she didn’t know she had been born, they rubbed her down until she took her breath and passed her straight to my partner.
They were also great when my uterus wasn’t contracting after the birth and gave me an injection to help it.
My labour was 4 hours 24 minutes in total and my daughter was born in the bath weighing 8lbs 5oz!
The hypnobirthing technique is so underrated and should be spoken about more from midwives and nurses as a pain relief because it truly is amazing!
I went into labour with no fear; I went through labour with no fear, even afterwards when I lost a lot of blood due to my uterus not contracting I had no fear.
A lot of pain is fear-induced due to tension and also due to your mind telling you you can’t do it and telling you that because you’re in labour that you should be in pain because of all the negative stories you’ve heard.
This breathing helps you relax, therefore your muscles relax helping you to open and release.
My home birth was the most amazing experience of my entire life and I am so grateful that my daughter made me wait to meet her a whole week so that we could have this experience. I look back in love, not in fear and I’m looking forward to my next one! Hopefully in the future. “
Thank you to Kayley for sharing this wonderful story of how hypnobirthing helped her to have a calm and fear-free birth experience.
Hypnobirthing is really quite simple, and absolutely logical, it’s not magic, or secret, or only for some people. It can help everyone to enjoy and embrace their birth experience, no matter what the circumstances.
If you want to find out more, there are lots of ways to start.
It has never been easier to find a way that works for you, for the time and budget that you have available. If you are not sure how to proceed, book a discovery call with me today and I can help you work out your best option.
