Lovely Carrie,
Andy and I wanted to write to say thank you so much. We truly believe our labour/birth experience could not have gone so well as it did, if it weren’t for you and the hypnobirthing course. Andy was amazing and was all the support I needed, he got me through every single surge with such love and care and of course soft touch. While he would have been amazing regardless, the course empowered him and gave him all the right tools to get us through the labour/birth. I had a 30 odd hour labour, so quite long however I breathed my way through it and took comfort in Andy, hot showers and the bath. We laboured at home from 1 pm 17/12/2018 till about 8.30 am 18/12/2018. The surges did slow down a little when we got to the hospital but picked back up shortly after. They did not want me in the bath as they were concerned I was not far enough along and did not want to slow things down. After exhausting the comfort of the hot showers we eventually agreed to an internal, to be able to use the bath. We did not want to know how dilated I was, we just wanted to know if I could use the bath. Thankfully I could! This was about lunch time 18/12/2018. We continued surging in the bath and the tip you gave us of lavender scented frozen washers were a god send. Andy also used a cold essential oil face mist on me and iced water to keep me cool. Around 5 pm I felt like she had to be here soon as I was getting very uncomfortable and exhausted. Because it had been a while they wanted to do another internal and possibly get me out of the bath. We once again used brains and decided to do the internal, to find out I was about 9 cm. My waters still had not released so she offered to break them. Again using brains, Andy asked if we could wait another half an hour and I got back in the bath. 25 minutes into that half an hour Andy and the midwife were looking at each other knowing it was almost ‘time up and time to make a decision’ and then alas my waters released! Andy talked me through visualising my waters releasing for the whole 25 minutes and I think it did the trick. There was meconium in the waters so I could not birth in the pool. They put heart monitors on both baby and I. I could hear her heartbeat which stayed steady and kept me focused on staying calm. I tried with all my might to breath her out but some forced pushing came into play when she just wasn’t coming. We tried so many positions over and over again and after over 2 1/2 hours of “pushing” they were saying ‘we need to get her out’. They gave me a small cut as her head was sitting there and I could not get her out. I remember you saying ‘sometimes nature just needs a little help’ and that’s exactly how I felt, I was exhausted and felt like my energy was crashing. A few more surges after the cut and she was out. It was an intense experience and one we will never forget. I felt so supported by Andy and calm most of the labour. The midwives were great and let us labour in peace and respected our birthing wishes. We were both so proud to have got through it together and sticking to our birth preferences as much as possible. We can’t thank you enough. We got the birth we wished for and that’s a tribute to the help and guidance from you. Billie is a good little girl and we think her entrance into the world definitely played a big part of her being so chill. We love her to bits and can’t wait for you to meet her. Born at 3.55kg and 51cm. Thank you Carrie, Lots of love Andy and Hollie |
Andy was amazing and was all the support I needed, he got me through every single surge with such love and care and of course soft touch. Billie is a good little girl and we think her entrance into the world definitely played a big part of her being so chill. We love her to bits and can’t wait for you to meet her. It was an intense experience and one we will never forget. We were both so proud to have got through it together. |