Category : Births

After a visit to the bathroom I discovered I was bleeding, so thought it best to give the hospital a call.  The midwife recommended calling an ambulance but as we were only 10 mins away I said we would drive in.  At this point I still didn’t believe I was in labour and we nearly didn’t bother bringing the hospital bags as I thought they would send us home again.  We got to the hospital about 3 hours after the labour began. A doctor came into the triage room and said that they would need to break my waters and induce me which I really didn’t want. But after scaring me like that she did an examination and said you are 8cm dilated and she could feel the head.  I wasn’t allowed to have a water birth as planed due to the bleeding but at this point I wasn’t bothered.  We got into the delivery room and I got on all fours on the bed.  The pain didn’t really get any worse from when it started and I continued to use the TENs machine which helped distract me.  In between surges my partner would instruct me to do the hypnobirth breathing and this would set me up for when the next surge started.

 A couple of hours after going into the delivery room I started to push.  I was still pushing more than an hour later so decided I needed to change position as all fours just wasn’t working for me.  I got into a squat holding the top of the bed and a few surges later Brodie came into the world.

 I was really pleased that I had a natural delivery and truly believe this was to do with the relaxing and calming influence hypnobirthing had on me. In a way it’s a shame I couldn’t use a lot of what I had learnt as the labour progressed so quickly.

If you don’t want to read about me gloating about the benefits of Hypnobirthing….LOOK AWAY NOW!!! 4 days overdue and I woke up around 1am with mild surges (contractions) they continued for few hours and then went, I’d promised to take Miss Mouse to the library that day and decided that I needed to try and continue as normal as possible as going by my last labour, I had another 24 hours before things really kicked off. Tuesday carried on as normal and I spent the day indulging my 19 month old in her every desire as I knew it was quite possibly the last day that it would be just the 2 of us. Luckily her demands were easily met and she is easily amused with story books and jigsaw puzzles. Surges reappeared around 4.30pm about 10 minutes apart, still very mild and they continued that evening and I managed to go to bed as normal. I awoke in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with stronger surges and knew today was going to be THE DAY! I tried to get back to sleep and not allow the excitement to take over as I knew it could all still be a long way off. I took a bath and listened to my Hypnobirthing script a couple of times. Hubby came downstairs and set up our living room as the birthing room. He had strict instructions about how I wanted everything and I came downstairs around 4am and got myself relatively comfy on the sofa. Gary setting up the birthing pool, that never got used! My mum and step dad arrived around 6.30am in time for Miss Mouse waking up and my step dad took her off to nursery for the day. My Doula Tracey of PureBirth came around 7am and said she would come back after the school run with a TENS machine. She came back and got the TENS machine on me, I felt immediate relief, up until this point I’d been meditating between surges, using visualisations I’d been practising and then using my breath to get through each of the surges. I had some Hypnobirthing music on my iphone and Jason Singh’s album along with a few other songs I’ve used before for relaxation and meditation. These really helped me to switch off to whatever was going on around me. The midwife came to the house around 9am and examined me just before 10am, I was 5 cm already and really pleased as things were going really well and I felt like I was managing things really well. I carried on in the same way and was offered another internal examination 3 hours later, we asked her if she’d wait and do one in another hours time and see where we were at. She obliged and I was extremely disappointed when she told me that I was pretty much the same. Although disappointed, I wasn’t overly surprised as things had slowed down quite considerably. The midwife suggested she leave for 2 hours and return at 4pm, to let me try and get some rest and hopefully things would have progressed by the time she returned. Off she went and hubs and I went upstairs to try and rest, both of us totally knackered from the last few nights of very little sleep. I couldn’t get comfy, and the tears started flowing, I was deep down so disappointed in myself and the situation, things were heading in the same way as my previous birth and I was panicking I’d end up in hospital being induced and drugged up. I concluded that I just wasn’t designed to give birth and what was the point of all the Hypnobirthing training I had done for the last few months. It hadn’t helped, things were slow and surges were getting stronger. Suddenly, I felt the urge to be back downstairs where I’d been in the morning and headed off, determined to get myself settled again. I got back on the sofa, tried to lay down and had a massive surge, at that point I thought I couldn’t take any more, then another one came quite quickly after it and my waters broke. I was so pleased, it meant things were moving again. Hubs started filling the pool up, in my head I wanted to be 8cm when I got in the pool and gas and air was going to be my treat for getting to that point. My mum was helping to get me changed out of my wet clothes and I suddenly announced that I was having a pooh! Tracey asked me if I had the urge to push. My mind couldn’t compute what was happening, yes I had the urge and I knew that you needed a pooh near the end but I didn’t understand as only half an hour earlier I was 5 cm and feeling like things would never get going. I felt a heavy weight in my pelvis and with the next surge came her head, Tracey checked that the cord wasn’t around the neck and i reached down and touched my babies head! WOW! Tracey asked me to wait until the next surge and just to breathe down, with that my bubba came out, straight through Tracey’s hands and onto the towelled floor, she was picked up by hubs, who was still trying to get hold of the midwife and fill the pool! WOW! I was hanging off my mum, in complete shock at what had just happened! And so, on the 9th January 2013, Miss Agnes Pip Sawyer was born at home at 3pm, weighing 8lb 5oz. Agnes Pip a couple of hours after she was born, at home in my bed. I lay down on the sofa and Tracey passed me our daughter, ah she was breathtakingly beautiful and I just couldn’t believe what had happened. So all my hard work and practice had paid off, my baby was born, calmly, drug free and in the end very quickly! I’d happily do that again! Would I recommend Hypnobirthing? Absolutely, what a difference to my first birth, no trauma, just calm and being comrpletely in control of what happened.

As soon-to-be first time parents, we wanted to do everything possible to give our child the best start in life.  When we started to look into hypnobirthing, the concept made sense and reading the reviews on Tracey’s website made us sure that this was the right thing for us to do. The course was really informative and we met some lovely people!  It was nice to do the course together as a couple.  Tracey has a great teaching manner and we felt like we could ask all of our stupid questions without being made to feel like total morons!  Tracey takes the hypnobirth concepts and applies her experience to make them fit real life; this is what makes Tracey worth her weight in gold – she makes the theory actually make sense. We did practice the techniques and were using the rainbow relaxation CD daily in the final weeks leading up to the birth.  We also used the affirmations a couple of times a week.  We planned for a waterbirth and even chose a birthing centre which was 15 miles from home to increase our chance of having a pool available! After a stop-start beginning to the labour, my waters went at 8pm on Saturday.  As Tracey was acting as our doula, we contacted her to let her know how things were progressing.  The plan was to stay at home as long as possible, however, within a couple of hours I had started bleeding and losing clots.  The first person we contacted was Tracey (we even sent her photographs – talk about above and beyond the call of duty!) who advised us to contact the hospital.  The hospital wanted us to come in and Tracey arranged to meet us there.  It was a bit of a scary time and it was so nice to pull up to the hospital and see Tracey waiting there for us and have her take control of the situation.   More blood loss whilst at the hospital meant that we were classed as high risk and therefore a pool birth was out of the question, as was a delivery in the birthing centre.  Instead we were transferred to the hospital.  Tracey went out of her way to talk to the hospital staff and explain that we had planned on a hypnobirth and asked if we could make the hospital room as much like a birthing centre room as possible with dimmed lights and a quiet atmosphere and even went as far as asking for the midwife who would be most open to that type of birthing experience! Having Tracey there meant that Jonathan and I could concentrate on using the hypnobirth techniques to bring our baby into the world.  I do believe that having Tracey there was fundamental to the fact that we delivered our beautiful baby daughter, Charlotte, with the help of a TENS machine and some gentle encouragement.  The midwife said that I was the calmest mother that she had ever seen – including those who had had epidurals!  It was lovely to see Charlotte alert and ready to feed within minutes of being born.  As a first time Mum it was great to have Tracey there to give some tips on breastfeeding such as positioning and making sure Charlotte was latched on properly, just the basics, but this helped to get us off to a great start. Tracey – thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it.  We couldn’t have done it without you!  You will always have a special place in our hearts.

Before the birth Tracey gave us lots of support throughout our pregnancy and leading up to the birth, answering any questions and guiding us on our journey.
During the birth Tracey was an amazing support for both myself and my husband and it was great having Tracey there to liase with the midwives as she knew our wishes and help in decisions that needed to be made.
After the birth it was great having Tracey there as she’d just shared this amazing experience with us and otherwise I would of felt on my own. I knew Tracey was on the other end of the phone should I ever need her and it was great when she visited Oscar and we talked about my birth experience.
I think they should provide a doula for everyone (if only!) because they are a great support for both Mother and Father before, during and after the birth.
HypnoBirthing is a great technique for relaxing the mind and body for birthing and also helping adopt the techniques in other life situations.
It’s a great belief that you don’t have to have a horrible birth and you can achieve a natural calm environment to bring your baby into the world.

I found the course so helpful in preparing me for the birth of my first child. I had fears about what to expect and Tracey made the whole process of pregnancy and child birth relaxing. I also felt that the involvement of my partner in the course was so important. My husband at the birth, was very involved and used techniques we learnt in the hypnobirthing course to make me feel comfortable. Before the birth, I was keen not to use pain relief but still open to the idea as I didn’t know what to expect. However, the thought of pain relief never entered my mind during the birth and I believe this is totally due to the fact that I went through the hypnobirthing course. My birth was fantastic and very comfortable. I arrived at hospital at 7:30 pm and gave birth at 11:17pm! I could not recommend the course more, it has been so important, not only during my pregnancy and birth, but my son is also content, happy and a fantastic sleeper!

I had a very traumatic time giving birth with my 1st child and swore I wouldn’t have another one but 6 years later I was pregnant again!! I really panicked about the whole thing. I heard about having a doula and wanted to see if it would help. Tracey introduced both myself and my partner to lots of techniques giving us both ideas and information prior to labour on how to make the discomfort bearable, how I could control the discomfort and how Rob could support me. This was invaluable advice and really helped when I was in labour.
Tracey was there every step of the way through the labour, she knew when to be there to support, when to hold my hand, when I needed the extra courage to go on she was there. My labour was in my back and she knew just where to massage and ease the discomfort showing Rob where to apply the pressure. The breathing skills she taught us were invaluable it really helped focus my mind. Rob helped along the way and felt part of the birth process due to Tracey’s encouragement and felt very involved and part of the experience
I can honestly say I would do it all again tomorrow and I promise that this is a miracle – The experience was moving, uplifting and a joyous occasion and I put this fully down to Tracey, her support and her pure birthing experience”
Really Crying now!!!!! Love Clare and Rob xxxxx

‘Having Tracey attend our babies birth as a doula helped both practically and emotionally. It was great to have Tracey on hand to support us with our hypno birth from the first stages at home, right through to ensuring our baby was latched on and breast feeding following the birth. It was important for us to have someone with us at the birth that knew both of us, and could remain with us throughout, regardless of midwide shift changes, home to hospital etc. When I arrived at the hospital I was already 8cms dilated and never once even thought to ask for pain relief and Lucas was 9lb 1oz! Tracey was a calming influence and gave us both a huge amount of confidence during every stage. She also looked after all of the practical things on the day including making sure my bag was ready, talking to the midwifes, taking pics just after the birth, so it enabled my husband to focus solely on me throughout.’

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