Beau being my amazing birth partner gave me light touch massage and was there whenever I needed him. The feeling after having Willow is so hard to explain, it's every emotion running through your body, all at once. We are blessed with such an alert and peaceful soul . I still find it incredible that at no point during labour did I feel like I needed to ask for pain relief or intervention. |
I first heard about hypnobirthing through a friend that had an amazing experience with it. So when we found out we were pregnant I knew that I wanted to find someone to teach us this awesome technique to birth our baby. I found Joymamma on the coast, and I am so glad I did.
Carrie is a wealth of knowledge, her classes made us feel so at ease and that we would be able to bring our baby into the world in a relaxed and calm environment. My due date came and went (I stayed relaxed and knew baby would come when ready) and on the 9th day over I woke up and had a sore lower back and different tightenings low in my belly. I was getting braxton hicks throughout my whole pregnancy but this day they just felt different. My partner Beau and I went out for a walk through Buderim forest, had lunch and by the afternoon I thought I would start timing my tightenings as they were becoming quite frequent. Relaxing on the couch they were about 5-6 mins apart. We had dinner and a warm shower and I jumped in some comfy clothes and started listening to our rainbow relaxation while still timing the tightenings. Beau kept coming in and checking in on me, he made the calls to our photographer and Carrie who we hired as our birth doula as well. Carrie told Beau that when my surges got to around 3 and half minutes apart it was time to head to the hospital. At around 9.30 pm he came in and told me my surges were getting really close and he had the car packed and it was time to head in. At this point I still didn't believe that this was it, I asked to stay home a bit longer because I was so relaxed, but I listened to Beau and Carrie and jumped in the car. I was just so relaxed. In the car I put my rainbow cd on and closed my eyes. Half way there I heard a pop and all of sudden my membranes released. At this point I started to believe baby was coming. Haha. (Luckily we put some towels down in the car. Another awesome hint from Carrie. Haha) Arriving at the hospital I had a couple of strong surges, stopping to grab onto the rail, Beau gently touched my hands and made me relax.. realising I was clenching my fist around the rail. This little reminder made me let go and breathe. We finally made it up to the birth suite (after a few wrong turns through the parking lot, haha) I think Carrie was going to come looking for us. We set up in the room and I sat down on the birth ball with my headphones in and just breathed through the surges. Beau being my amazing birth partner gave me light touch massage and was there whenever I needed him. I wasn't aware of anything that was happening around me apart from the brief encounter with the midwife. We asked for no internals and a hands off approach, which we received. The surges were coming on quite fast and strong. I started to feel like I was going to be sick through them and needed to move. I decided to have a shower (I wanted a water birth but this option wasn't available). Sitting on the ball in the shower I kept breathing through the surges, and the moment I decided to stand up and get out I instantly felt an intense amount of pressure and my breathing changed from the big belly breaths to breathing down. I had a momentary freak out wondering if this was all normal, and one look at Carrie saying everything was fine instantly calmed me down. She got me in a gown and I headed for the bed. I had another strong surge on the side of the bed which made me stand up, Beau was in front of me and I collapsed on him for support. After this surge Carrie got me to go onto the floor leaning on the birth ball. Carrie and Beau were both by my side letting me know everything was ok, I had another 2 surges, breathing down and then our beautiful baby girl Willow was born. We didn't know the sex so it was such an amazing surprise to welcome her into the world. The feeling after having Willow is so hard to explain, it's every emotion running through your body, all at once. But I remember saying, "we did it" and just feeling so overwhelmed, it was truly amazing. To this day I still can't believe that I carried this beautiful little girl for 9 months.. And now it feels like she has been with us forever and life before her seems so strange. We practised our hypnobirthing techniques at home everyday and tried to live stress free leading up to the birth. I still find it incredible that at no point during labour did I feel like I needed to ask for pain relief or intervention, I just kept focusing on my breathing and relaxation with the help of my amazing birth team, Beau and Carrie. I couldn't have done it without them, and the hypnobirthing techniques. We are forever grateful for the amazing birth experience we had. Carrie gave us all the tools and information we needed and we can not recommend hypnobirthing highly enough to anyone wanting a beautiful birth. We are blessed with such an alert and peaceful soul and I feel that the preparation throughout pregnancy and our calm birth gave out little girl the best start to her life. Thank you Carrie. You truly are an amazing person and we are so glad we chose you to be a part of our story. You will forever be a part of our little family. Ash xx |