Hi,

Here is my experience using hypnobirthing - explained in an email I sent to my hypnobirthing instructor - Diane Gardner (Melbourne) after the birth.

One warning I have now is that I mention using the Epi-No to stretch the perineum prior to the birth. I have since been told that there is some risk in using the Epi-No in that it has burst while in use (it is a balloon type object that you put inside your vagina to stretch and get used to the feeling of birth). You may want to research this for yourself.

I experienced surges from Monday night right through to the Thursday Emily was born. These would come on and off and were very irregular, but didn't bother me at all as I was able to breath through them and relax. I just went about visiting and socialising and doing my thing at home. I even went to a business meeting all day on Tuesday! I had a `show' on the Tuesday night walking around Myer. On Wednesday evening I was up until late thinking it was all happening and was even throwing up - not from pain, just how I felt. I called the hospital when contractions were 5 mins apart and they said I sounded too calm and that I should go to bed. I did and managed to sleep. My waters started to leak on Thursday morning just before I was due to make a call with the obstetrician regarding being induced. He sent me straight to the hospital.I got there at 12.30pm.

I was hoping that within a half hour I would be able to relax into having more regular surges. It didn't happen as they poked and prodded and `assessed' for 2 hours. By the time the obstetrician arrived my contractions were only 5 minutes apart. In that hospital with those midwives I had no chance of getting there on my own. He fully broke my waters and put the lowest dosage possible of sintocinon in an IV (I asked for it to stay at the lowest dose of `30'. That started it all. I went from 2cm to fully dilated within 4 hours - on the lowest dose as I refused to let them turn it up. The calmbirth and relaxation really helped.

I needed no pain relief and just took the surges one at a time. The baby's heart rate monitor did drive me crazy and reduced my options of moving around, but I did manage to get vertical a few times and it made a difference when I did. Emily was very calm throughout the whole birthing process so the heart rate monitor did keep me happy and driven to know that she was fine and that I was doing well. 2nd stage was fine as I used the breathing techniques.

Once the head was almost out Rob took over and delivered our baby. She went straight onto my chest and was very content and bright eyed. She suckled straight away and we spent a long time enjoying her before we cut the chord and delivered the placenta.

My recovery has been fantastic. I am so glad that I have not even needed to take a panadol before, during, or after the birth as I have had no pain to deal with. Most importantly, Emily is a very happy and healthy baby. The midwives were very impressed with the state I was in - especially as a first time mum. I kept telling them about calmbirth and they were all very interested. It is just sad that they have not heard of calmbirth or hypnobirthing. It is also sad that I have had the most `normal' of births, but have been treated as if it was abnormal.

What I learned from this experience is that the training and preparation I have put into this experience has been well worth the effort. I also felt extremely empowered and informed. It is clear now, as I talk to friends who were younger when they first became mothers (and there are others who weren't so young) that they have left a lot of their fate in the hands of the `experts' . For most of them this has meant a great deal of intervention and a long recovery. They had not realised how much say they could have had. I think it is also likely that some people don't know how to `train' their bodies in preparation for birthing. I think if they won't do it for themselves, they should do it for their baby.

I treated this like a marathon. You train for it, know it will take some work, but know there is an end point and a great sense of achievement after the event. As I have experienced elite sports and training in the past, I knew I was mentally strong and able to deal with whatever came.

You can do it - just make sure you learn about it, practice it, train and believe it.