Following a previous emergency c-section that was quite traumatic, when I found out I was pregnant again I knew I wanted to have more control over my body, and wanted a much more positive experience when giving birth to my second. With my previous labour with my now 6 year old little boy, I was told I had to be induced at 38+5 weeks due to him measuring on the large side and me having a heart condition. After 4 days of attempted induction, I was finally able to have my waters broken and after a gruelling 19 hours in labour, I reached 10cm. Great, I thought, time to almost meet my baby! How wrong I was. The baby hadn't moved down far enough and they weren't sure why and I was told to wait to see what happened over the next 2 hours. At that point, a group of student doctors then came into the delivery room and it was only when one of them pointed out that the baby's heart rate seemed off that they realised the baby was in trouble and was, in fact, losing oxygen.
Everything happened so fast from then on and I was instantly whisked off into theatre, my husband was put in a side room not knowing whether myself or our baby boy were okay. They performed the surgery and our little boy was born. He wasn't breathing due to his umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck and was whisked away for treatment. At that point, my body was exhausted and I felt myself drifting off, I was terrified something awful was happening and started panicking, asking if I was ok to fall asleep, not knowing if my baby was ok. I wasn't and hadn't been in control throughout the whole birthing process and it took a long time to understand what happened and why. Luckily we were both fine after a week's stay in hospital, but I knew with my second I definitely wanted things to run smoother and to be in control as much as possible.
That's why I got in touch with Happy Mama, who explained what hypnobirthing was and how it had helped her have the birth she wanted. I'd already decided I wanted an elective c-section for a number of reasons, so wasn't sure if hypnobirthing was still relevant to me but Fiona reassured me that hypnobirthing is for all birth styles.
On Monday 22nd April 2024, my husband and I set off to the hospital at 6am. I was weirdly calm and more excited than nervous. I felt ready. There were 3 other women before me on the list of elective c-sections that day, but was assured it would be before 1pm. At 10:30am, I started getting mild pains, which I assumed were braxton hicks. But over the course of the next 2 and a half hours they were growing stronger and happening every minute of so, almost back to back. As they were getting stronger I put the breathing techniques I'd learned in my hypnobirthing sessions to good use. I felt very much in control, calm and collected. My husband ended up asking a midwife to take a look to see what was going on. Ironically, the surgeons called me down around 5 minutes later and so we headed down. Just as I sat on the operating table my waters broke! Turns out I was actually in labour since 10:30am when my contractions started and I was that composed and focused I, nor did anyone else think I was!
Our little girl was delivered shortly after 2pm, safe and well, and I remember absolutely every detail and felt a sense of pride that everything went as I planned. I recovered incredibly well, was out of the hospital in 24 hours and back home as a family, settling into family life as a 4.
Hypnobirthing taught me that I have so many choices and am actually in control of a lot more than I thought I could be when it comes to delivering my baby. I felt informed, in control and at ease this time round, I only wish I'd have had the knowledge I have now back then!
- Emma McKie
