Before Birth
From the moment my partner and I found out we were pregnant, a natural birth was the only way we could imagine welcoming our bundle of joy into the world. For me the epidural scared me to no end, and for my husband, he comes from a 3rd world country where surgery normally results in a 50/50 chance of death a C-section brought a lot of fear.
As the pregnancy progressed and we hit 36 weeks our baby was still in the breech position and due to some other complications a C-section was becoming the safest option to bring our baby into the world. We had already prepared for our birth through the hypnobirthing classes so it wasn't a far stretch when Margaret spoke to us about doing the hypnobirthing change of circumstances classes for a C-section.
This class was incredible! It helped my husband and I deal with our fears, it made us feel empowered, it made us feel like we were in control of our birth story, it taught us all the different things we could ask for, it showed us that we didn't have to have a cold sterile birth but an intimate birth. It taught us all the things we could do to make the birth as natural as possible and encouraged us that we could have the beautiful, clam birth we had so desperately wished for.
Day of birth
When the day of our birth came up we went in fully prepared and excited. I clung to my birth preferences determined that no-one would take away our beautiful calm birth (but aware that our preferences and things may need to be changed)
As we sat in the preparation room all gowned up I listened to my tracks (butterfly garden and affirmations) as I smelled my oils that I had placed on a towel, I found my mind and body transferred into a world of joy and Zen as I imagined welcoming my baby into the world. As they started to talk to me about the epidural and preparing me for it I could feel my heart start to race and a cold sweat came upon me, at this time I went straight into my bubble of comfort to calm myself and ran through my fear release track bringing me back into a calm state. As I prepared for the epidural I played the glove of endorphins track and running through my deep breathing and before I even knew it the epidural was in with basically no pain I couldn't believe how painless it had been.
As I gave my birth preferences to the obstetrician I was encouraged as she was happy to ensure as many of my preferences are respected and took time to explain preferences that could not be done (this was done before and during the surgery. No preference was changed without my acknowledgement and explanation first) the obstetrician then expressed that she could understand why I wanted these preferences and wanted to respect them. She even stated how she wished she had known about this type of birthing when she had her child as she could have welcomed her baby into the world in a calmer state.
As I entered the operating theatre I started playing my own relaxation music as my husband utilized our anchor touch, light touches, affirmations and holding up my towel with oils on it... I found myself in a deep state of calm yet I was totally aware of everything that was happening but it all sounded so far in the distance I must have been so deep in my own bubble because I ended up having the anaesthetist wake me with almost a panicked voice asking me if I was feeling ok I answered yes and questioned why he was asking he said I looked so out of it that he was scared he had given me too much and had put me to sleep I got a little giggle and explained I was in a self-hypnosis state then put myself back into my bubble. It felt like only seconds later (although it was over an hour) I was watching my beautiful baby girl enter the world in a totally beautiful and calm way and was in the recovery room breastfeeding her and taking in some of the most precious moments as we had our first interactions.
After birth
Coming off all the medications after surgery made me very unwell and the constant throwing up made me very sore. In this time I found the glove of endorphins and the bubble of comfort very helpful to keep my mind off everything that my body was going through and to keep me calm so I could focus on getting better.
Since my surgery I ensure I use the after birth track at a minimum once a day with my oils in my aroma diffuser this helps me keep centred and focused on healing and I have found that I really haven't had much pain in healing whilst I am still taking some medications I mainly only take Panadol which is impressive for me because I'm normally a sook with pain and tend to use medications as much as possible, but I really haven't felt the need to be using to much medication which is incredible. I have also been using the butterfly garden daily and while this walks you through your birth I change some words in my head to compensate with breastfeeding, I truly believe doing this has helped my daughter and I work as a team and catch onto breastfeeding so fast and almost pain free and effortlessly.
Hypnobirthing has been the most incredible experience in preparing for my birth all the way through to healing after my birth. It has helped both my partner and I feel in control of our birth story throughout every step.