A Positive Induced Birth Using Hypnobirthing

The birth of Lucas

“I had the positive birth experience I was wishing for and I was on cloud 9, how had I given birth with no pain relief just using my own hormones? I was in absolute awe of myself, I couldn’t believe I had done it”

Nicola and Jon, along with their second birth partner Amy, attended a group hypnobirthing course with me at my home in Wakefield to help them prepare for the birth of their second baby. They had previously completed a hypnobirthing course for the birth of their first child but didn’t quite finish it as baby arrived before the final session.

Nicola experienced a high risk pregnancy this time round, she was diagnosed with Gestational diabetes, her placenta was low lying and at one point baby was breech.

Myself and Nicola spoke on the phone a few times after her hypnobirthing course ended to really help make sure that she felt confident making decisions about her labour and to help her build that trust within her body, I sent her additional hypnosis tracks to help ease some of the worry and we remained in touch throughout pregnancy and even during labour too.

Nicola was offered an induction but as she wanted to avoid the hormonal drip, we spoke about asking her care providers to start her on a non normal form of induction known as the foley balloon, you can find out more about this form of induction here. Nicola and her care providers decided that this would be a good method of induction for her.

I was over the moon to receive this review from Nicola which shows how much the hypnobirthing helped her during her high risk pregnancy. I was then so pleased to hear about her birth when I received this text message:

Thank you for sharing your birth story with us Nicola,, it’s so important for people to see that hypnobirthing can be used for any type of birth.

A positive induced birth story

“This was my second pregnancy and from day one the odds were stacked against me and I had to deal with a lot of stress in this pregnancy, I had pelvic pains very early on, then my placenta was found to be covering my birth canal at my 20week scan. At 29weeks I had my glucose tolerance test and was told I had gestational diabetes and had to be medicated, I had to inject myself as my body wasn’t producing any insulin and to top everything else off, baby was breech. I had done my hypnobirth course and had my heart set on either a home birth or birth centre pool birth, but with everything stacked against me it was looking like a planned C section unless things changed,

A high risk pregnancy

Fortunately, at my 36 week scan we found my placenta had moved out of the way and my baby had turned just in time so there was nothing stopping me from having a normal delivery.

So, I was in my appointment to book my induction date. Due to the risks of the gestational diabetes they prefer to bring baby earlier, around 38-39 weeks and because there was various spaces available I was given the option of picking a date. I picked the latest date available so I could try go into labour naturally. I was offered 2 sweeps before to help things along which I accepted but he was obviously very comfortable in there, the hospital staff were amazing and very supportive of my hypnobirthing and wanted me to have my desired birth.

The induction process starts

On Friday 6th Jan at 9am I was in for my induction (using a foley balloon), I was very nervous about it but I was very open about it too. The midwife asked if I was okay if one of the student midwife’s could insert the balloon for me as she hadn’t had chance to practice yet and I agreed, she did a wonderful job and was very gentle but thorough and the feeling of something else in my womb was a very strange feeling but after 30 mins my first surge came and another half an hour later.

Keeping the birthing hormones flowing

I was then taken to a ward with a few other ladies who all had the same induction and we were all taking it in turns to experience surges. Myself and my best friend (second birth partner) started watching videos and making each other laugh to the point of hysterics in my cubicle but it was great for distraction and getting my natural hormones flowing (that we had learnt about on our hypnobirthing course).

My hubby then came with all my bags and belongings after he finished work that afternoon and brought me a picture frame of our first born which I put my affirmation cards all around. I also popped a slideshow of photos of my son on my phone to watch too whilst using the birth ball.

Labouring naturally

I had a big urge to pee and went to the toilet and as I sat I felt a need to push and out popped the balloon, my surges felt less intense immediately but still coming regularly without the balloon in place, I was labouring naturally now.

At 8pm, visiting time was up and my birth partners were sent home and the nighttime staff started. My new midwife came to introduce herself and asked about my previous birth and my birth preferences and notes. After a chat she decided to move me to a private room due to how quick my active labour was with my first birth. She said my birth partners could come back when my surges hit 4-5mins so when that happens to let her know.

I’m in my new, lovely room that I set up, feeling comfortable and binge watching a bit of Netflix with my earphones in, pausing to breathe through my surges and conserving my energy (I felt like I was in a hotel for the evening just relaxing.)

Setting the mood for birth in the birth centre

I was taking notes of times and at midnight the midwife said there was a lovely room set up in birth centre for hypnobirthing if I wanted to go down and have my waters broken or I could wait a few hours to see how I was progressing. I decided to wait, it didn’t take long for my surges to get to 4-5 mins and then I called my birth partners to come back, they arrived not long after and I decided to stand up and go to the toilet and my surges suddenly went from 4-5 mins apart to 2 mins apart from being stood upright, so I was quickly wheeled to the birth centre which was set up beautifully by the midwife’s with the battery candles and diffuser with essential oils and mood rock light, it was stunning.

Unfortunately I couldn’t use the pool but my birth partner’s got me up on the bed and my Tens machine was quickly applied, and they were amazing getting everything set up ready and massaging me, cuddling me, stroking my hair.

“My waters popped and soaked the poor midwife”

I was up on my knees baring down and breathing through my surges which were coming thick and fast and my waters started trickling, the midwife couldn’t quite get a reading of the baby’s heart rate as I felt his head engage but I knew he was almost here. I turned round and the bottom of the bed lowered like a chair so I was still able to bear downward and she could check his heart rate. I was then offered the clip on his head to get a better reading but as I said “yes”, I had a huge surge and heard the midwife say no time for that he’s here. As my surges got thicker and faster I started to breathe him out as my waters popped and soaked the poor midwife.

“I was in absolute awe of myself”

During the last surge, I bared down and head was out and the rest of him just slid out without effort and he was placed on my chest so fast the feeling was incredible, I had done it. I had the positive birth experience I was wishing for and I was on cloud 9, how had I given birth with no pain relief just using my own hormones I was in absolute awe of myself, i couldn’t believe I had done it… I was in the room 1 hour and he was in my arms ♥️

Nicola and Jon 2022 - Barnsley Birth Centre