Arrival of Isla May - Birth Story

Naomi & Josh’s Birth Story

I have been meaning for ages (literally weeks) to email you to let you know how my birth experience went with using the hypnobirthing techniques you taught me!

I went into spontaneous labour when my waters broke at 40 weeks + 5 days. I had been doing everything I could to go into labour spontaneously as I really wanted to avoid an induction. I had been to an acupuncture session that morning and at 1pm my waters broke. I called my husband and had him come home from work so we could wait it out together till the contractions were close enough together to go to hospital. We told our parents and at that time I started to feel quite anxious and the adrenaline was pumping but I also started to feel panicked so I said to Josh “let’s listen to rainbow mist to calm down a bit” and found that helped to get me into my zone and into a calmer head space. I had been listening to the birth affirmations for 4 weeks in the lead up every day and also listened to them during early labour and I also listened to surges of the sea in the bath at home when the contractions were getting much stronger. We ended up heading into hospital at 5 am the next day and believe it or not had a car accident on the way in where a cyclist ran a red light and hit our car! We had to wait for the police, and I was able to stay calm but focusing on my breathing which I had also been doing through the whole labour. I got to the hospital and I was around 5-6 cm dilated. I had also been using a TENS machine the whole time at home. Once in hospital I used some gas and air and ended up in the bath which I found to be a great pain reliever and relaxing. Bubs was born at 2:52pm in the bath :) we didn’t know the gender so was surprised to find she was a girl! We actually completely forgot to even check the gender for minutes because we were so swept up in the moment! We named her Isla May.

Unfortunately, we only had one hour together because I had a PPH (postpartum haemorrhage) and lost 1.5 litres of blood and had to be rushed to surgery. She also had to go to nursery into the little incubator because she had become cold whilst on me when I was losing blood. Luckily it all worked out and I came back to her shortly after at about 6 pm and we practically haven’t been apart since! haha!

I really feel that the birthing affirmations got into my brain because I was completely focused during the labour on breathing and pushing through, I knew I wanted to try the gas and confirmed this in labour when the surges were getting very intense but not once did it enter my mind that I couldn’t do it or needed any other pain relief at all. I think the power of the mind is so amazing and I was determined to push through the intense sensation to meet my little girl. I’m so glad I did hypnobirthing and would recommend it to any mums looking to try as low an intervention birth where possible.

Thanks again

Naomi & Josh

~ Such an inspiring story and real proof that it is all in the practice and even with stressful and unexpected situations that can happen around you, you can use your tools to keep calm and chose to control what you can in those moments. ~