"Hypnobirthing Australia supported caesarean"

After a traumatic emergency caesarean many years ago with my first child, I had a lot of anxiety throughout my second pregnancy. Due to covid, regular antenatal classes were not available. Luckily for us, we were able to take part in Geraldton Regional Hospital's first 'positive birth, hypnobirthing' program.

The classes were great for keeping me in a positive mindset towards the end of my pregnancy and leading up to my scheduled caesarean. They also helped me to develop a birthing plan to advocate for the things we wanted during the delivery of our son and after. We had our own music playing throughout, delayed cord clamping - dad got to cut the cord (surgeons made the initial cord cut but left it long so dad could still cut near the clamp) and I was able to have uninterrupted skin to skin immediately after delivery, in recovery and back to my room.

The skills my partner and I learned through the hypnobirthing classes allowed us to remain calm and relaxed. We were even laughing and joking while the surgeons were making their first incision.