Mama B Says: “What I found most beneficial from your hypnobirthing course was really understanding what was happening in my body. It took away the fear of the unknown and made me feel knowledgeable and empowered. Thank you for all the teaching and advice you gave us during the hypnobirthing sessions to prepare us for her birth. I feel it would have been a different experience without it.”

Hi Claire, 

I hope you’re keeping well and that you’re having a lovely summer.

I’ve just booked onto your Baby & Mum yoga and Baby Massage classes. Looking forward to seeing you and hopefully meeting some new mums.

Our baby girl arrived one week early on the 20th of June! She was born naturally at 02:11 and weighed 8lbs10oz. She’s now two months old, healthy and absolutely beautiful (however grumpy this evening due to vaccinations). I’m looking forward to introducing you to her! Thank you for all the teaching and advice you gave us during the hypnobirthing sessions to prepare us for her birth. I feel it would have been a different experience without it. Please see my birth story below, happy for you to share if desired.

Contractions started on a Wednesday evening at around 9pm after a long day of work. I’d had a bath and noticed some blood so called the unit at the Heath who told me to keep an eye on it. My contractions felt pretty regular right from the start, and were increasing in pain. I used a tens machine from as early as possible which gave me a good anchor. I’m not sure how much it helped with the pain, but it gave me something to hold and focus on whilst contracting. The mild bleeding didn’t stop so the unit asked me to come in for a check. 

I was hardly dilated but they kept me on the assessment unit and then moved me to floor 1 ward for a few hours. From 12pm to 9am approx. During this time, I had baths on the ward which were very helpful. They made the contractions bearable. Out of the bath, the contractions were intense and regular. Hypnobirthing breathing got me through those 12 hours and using anchor phrases, as well as the tens machine. My husband was really good at reminding me of the breathing and visualisation work we’d done in class. But after a night of no sleep, I was too tired to fight on without pain relief. I moved onto gas and air and asked for an epidural.

I was moved to the consultant ward, in the room opposite the room in which my husband’s son was born 13 year prior! I was exhausted and blurry from a lack of sleep, food and hydration. My husband helped me to do my Up-breathing and offered me the Hypnobirthing scripts. He really helped me to stay calm when I got stressed. The epidural took a long time as it was very hot and my belly was very big (poly hydramnia) and the monitor kept ‘losing’ the baby’s heartbeat. I was in a lot of pain and was very hot but my husband kept me focused, as did the NHS staff. Once I had the epidural, I was a new person! I was able to listen to the Hypnobirthing tapes and have a sleep.

Dilation took a long time, many hours. My waters had broken the night before but the baby’s head was acting as a plug and it was releasing slowly. A doctor broke my waters manually at some point during the day on the Thursday and a lot of water was released. This didn’t help hurry things along though, so more waiting! I was quite dehydrated by this point, but any food or water was making me sick. Luckily I could got some naps in here and there.

Around midnight Thursday going into Friday I was 10cm dilated. After an hour of napping we were ready to go. I pushed for an hour, with gas and air and my husband reciting anchor phrases to me to keep me focused and headstrong. I was throwing up and the baby wasn’t coming out. She was swinging forward but then would swing back. After an hour I’d hit a wall and didn’t think I could go on. A senior midwife came in to give the others a break, and she really changed the energy in the room. She told me the baby was going to come out and she got my husband down the ‘business end’ to end hold my legs. This was fantastic as he was able help me breath and to motivate me whilst looking at me face to face. Another half an hour of pushing and no advances occurred, so I was prepped for an episiotomy. The local anaesthetic must have relaxed me, because after it was injected, the baby’s head came out in the next push! Within 10 minutes, she was born! Another tidal wave of water also came along with her!

We had skin to skin immediately and my husband cut the cord. When it was time to breastfeed, our baby girl latched really well. We’ve been very lucky that this has come naturally to both of us. She met her brother a mere 12 hours later and our happy family were back home that evening.

What I found most beneficial from the hypnobirthing course with Claire was really understanding what was happening in my body. It took away the fear of the unknown and made me feel knowledgeable and empowered. Whenever I focused on my Up-breathing, I imagined my muscles expanding, or my hot air balloon rising in the sky whilst I looked up at it. I also loved the Hypnobirthing tapes as these became a safe space and helped me sleep by blocking out other noises and voices. We found using anchors really important also during birth. We didn’t end up using any phrases from the scripts, but instead we came up with our own. ‘Yas queen’ was repeated a lot during the 29 hours of labour! 

Thank you so much Claire for all your support during our pregnancy and I’m looking forward to seeing you again with our baby girl!

See you soon

xx