"Positive birth program at Bunbury Regional Hospital"

Due to Gestational Diabetes I planned to be induced for a second time. I knew I wanted to have a birth experience that was at least as good as my first so we prepared accordingly. My husband and I both took the positive birth course again. I knew from last time that having the foley balloon was going to be uncomfortable so I did ask for Paracetamol before hand and really focused on keeping my jaw relaxed. I tasked my husband with consistently reminding me to let my muscles relax while they were putting it in, which helped a lot, I also had a song playing that I used for the bubble of comfort visualsation.

We moved into the birthing room and we quickly made it our own with my poster, candles, sheets from the positive birthing book and affirmations playing in the background.

After my water was broken we waited for about 30 minutes to see if there would be labour progress from that alone. During that time I sat in a squat holding onto the fit ball for balance and listened to the rainbow mist meditation with an eye mask on, really relaxing into it as much as possible. It was a very good place to start. Unfortunately there wasn’t progress but I wasn’t focused on any expectations around it and I felt happy to start the drip because I knew it would really get things moving along.

We tried very hard to get the wireless monitor to work for me but unfortunately it would not cooperate so I had the wired straps. Thankfully I was still able to move around the room and I found a lot of very comfortable positions using the fit ball. My favourite tools at the start were light touch massage, affirmations playing and eye mask on.A few hours passed like this, moving through some different positions, adjusting monitors for baby and just staying in the zone. Having low lights, eye mask on and affirmations on loop was fantastic.

At some point the hospital midwife team asked my husband if it would be okay if some midwives came in to see hypnobirthing in action and I was feeling very comfortable and confident so when he asked me I was happy to say yes. Later when we talked about it my primary midwife said they had to ask her if I was actually having any contractions because they couldn’t tell at all.

Hours later, as the contractions started to get stronger I needed to reach for more tools to keep calm through the sensations. This is when I pulled out the plastic combs and started squeezing them into my palms with each surge. At a certain point I started to feel very impatient to get to the pushing stage, I was having more thoughts about just wanting to be done, not wanting to keep going any more and I was grateful to be able to tell myself that they were a good sign I was getting to transition, so it really wouldn’t be much longer. At some point we moved to the bed and I was vocalising more through contractions and feeling frustrated that my body wasn’t getting the same sensation of involuntary pushing. The surges really started to be very intense to work through and I felt like I was falling asleep between them, and then when my arm started shaking I knew the big adrenaline kick had happened and I needed to prepare myself because this baby was coming soon.

My midwife suggested kneeling and leaning over the back of the bed which I think helped a lot to encourage the baby out. His heart rate had stopped recovering as well after contractions so there was quickly a team in the room and I did end up having some coaching to push him out as fast as we could. Because I was facing the back of the bed and I had my eye mask on I really didn’t perceive the team that joined us at that point. They told me baby had a lot of hair and knowing he was so close really helped me through the extremely intense stage. The relief of delivering the baby was immediate. I was the first person to see that we had a second son and I got to tell my husband in that moment which was so special. They helped me lay back down and somehow  My husband cut the cord and we had some wonderful skin to skin time. 

From the start of the drip to delivery took about 6 hours and I’m very glad I had so many tools at my disposal, particularly because I had planned to spend a lot of labour in the shower and the ended up not being an option on the day.

My student midwife was very complimentary about our hypnobirthing work. My primary midwife also told me that it was hard for her to sit on her hands but we did so well that she really just had to sit there and let us do our thing. She also said I was the most silent labourer she’d ever seen. Personally I had felt like I lost my focus at the end and the pushing stage was overwhelming, but my husband really helped me feel like I had done a good job, and that by having such a calm experience up until then I’d been able to really save my energy for when it was needed. I’ll always strongly recommend to any one planning for birth to gather all their tools and make the time to practice because it really does make all the difference. The positive birth program is a great foundation for a great birth.