I only decided to use HypnoBirthing for my 2nd birth in my 35th week of pregnancy. I bought the book and decided to self study since I could not make it in time for the course and my hubby was not supportive. I met up with Wai Han who was ever so kind to share with me some tips and lend me her copy of the Rainbow Relaxation CD.

Due date came and went and still nothing happening. Everyone around me was very anxious to see this baby. In laws came from Penang to be on standby and hubby had an important business trip later that week that he didn't know whether to cancel or go ahead. Lots of smses every day asking me if I had given birth....I had been talking to the baby that he is ready to come out and doing the rose/cervix opening visualisation exercise for the last 2 weeks. Still nothing happening. At my last check up a day before my due date, I was still not dilated and cervix still hard.

I decided to try acupuncture for natural induction upon recommendation from a friend. I did 3 sessions over 3 days and the acupuncturist said I should go into labour within 2-3 days. Well, after 1 1/2 days after the last session (3 days pass due date) around 1:30am, I felt some mild surges(contractions). Nothing too uncomfortable and I fell into a light sleep while listening to the RR cd. I woke up to stronger surges and went out to the living room and was surprised to find out that it was already 3am. Decided to time the surges and notice that they were consistently 5 mins apart. Still not too painful with the slow breathing. Was deciding if I should wake hubby or labour at home for a while more. While the surges were not painful, I did feel a lot of pressure at my bottom area as if I had to go to toilet. I actually went and sat in the toilet a few times but nothing came out. At 330am decided to take a shower, wash hair and finish packing hospital bag. Only after that did I wake my hubby and at that time the pressure was getting more intense.

We got to hospital at 4:30am and at L&D I was very happy and surprised to hear that the nurse said that I was almost complete and ready to have my baby! They quickly called the doctor and while waiting, the pressure was getting more and more intense with every surge. In fact I couldn't even feel the surges itself, it was the pressure that I could not take and they offered me to use the gas. I felt that I wanted to push very badly, they didn't say that I could or couldn't just kept asking me to wait. In the end I took the gas (which didn't help) thru maybe about 5 surges and then the doctor arrived. He checked me and said that I was ready, and immediately I asked him if I could start pushing and he said yes. I got on all fours (was lying on my side before this), held on to the top of the hospital bed for support and started to push. It actually took a while around 15-20 mins I think through maybe 8-10 surges before I managed to birth my baby boy. The doctors and nurses were quiet throughout all this and the room felt peaceful. He made 2 cries and was quiet after that. They had to pass him under my legs for me to hold him as I was still in an all fours position and then I had to flip over to lie on my back. The whole experience was quite surreal as everything happened so quickly. Only then did I find out that the baby was born en caul (inside the water bag). My water didn't break at all and he was birthed in the water bag less than an hour after arriving at the hospital.

We bonded well and I cut the cord myself after it has stopped pulsating (hubby was too scared). I had a 1 inch tear and was nicely chatting to the doctor while he stitched me up. They let me hold the baby for another 20 mins before taking him to be cleaned and weighed. He weighs 3.58kg. I felt strong and euphoric after the birth and my mother in law came to visit 2 hours later commented that I looked very radiant and not like someone who just gave birth. In fact, I went down to the cafe by myself to buy some food about 8 hours after the birth. I went home the next day and recovery has been fast and easy. He sleeps and nurses well and so far is a easy baby (fingers crossed!). I would definitely recommend HypnoBirthing to anyone looking for a pain free and gentle birth.

Joanne (Apr 08)

JoanneJoanne and family