Natasha joined Hannah, Birth Wellbeing Midwife, for her first hypnobirthing course during her fifth pregnancy. Every pregnancy and birth is so different, and each experience benefits from information and support. Here Natasha tells her story, about her calm, empowered hypno-pool birth, which shows how important information and support is.
In my fifth pregnancy, on the lead up to the birth, I was starting to feel really apprehensive. Since the early days of being pregnant and being under the care of the hospital I was being referred to as a “high-risk” pregnancy because of my age. I am 41 and probably fitter and healthier now than what I was in any of my younger pregnancies, but these factors aren't taken into consideration when having a baby post 40.
The constant referral to being “high-risk” was starting to chip away at my own confidence in my ability to give birth in the way that I wanted. The hospital was really against me having a home birth, and even on one occasion whilst having an appointment with a consultant, they told me that I was high risk of stillbirth if I went past my due date, so they wanted to induce me a week early at the hospital. I left this appointment feeling really scared and deflated that I'd never have the calm birth I wanted.
High risk, stillbirth, induced, all these words were slowly chipping away at me, I no longer wanted a home birth, I told my husband that we should have the baby in hospital and I just felt really scared.
That’s when I came across Hannah on social media, and I really loved her energy and what she was talking about in her posts and decided that it would be a really good idea to have some one-to-one classes with her, at home with my husband, so that I could regain control of my birth journey and get back my confidence.
We did 2, 3 hour sessions at home which covered everything from antenatal education to how hypnobirthing would help on the lead up to my due date and during labour. But most importantly, we were able to verbalise our fears and concerns, we also had the opportunity to discuss our hopes of what kind of birth we wanted. Hannah talked us through all the options, including ones we weren't aware of, and explained all eventualities so that we came away feeling really positive about what we wanted, what was achievable and the course put us in a really positive mindset.
After our six hours together, we were totally different people from what we were going into the course. We felt in control of our birth plan. and really confident that we could achieve some kind of birth that would bridge the gap and be suitable for both sides; high-risk monitoring whilst using hypnobirthing for a calm, positive birth.
I did end up having my daughter in the hospital as she arrived over 3 weeks early. But I felt totally in control of the situation. I was equipped with my Hypnobirthing tools to keep me in a really calm state of mind whilst going through labour. When my waters broke, my husband was actually in London, and I swear practicing my hypnobirth techniques on the lead up to my pregnancy was what kept me so calm whilst waiting for him to get back up north!
I also had the water birth I wanted (which was continuously monitored) and I really don’t think this would have happened if it wasn’t for the help of Hannah. I could’ve easily ended up getting induced and giving birth lying on the bed which in my mind was everything that I didn’t want.
Hannah, thank you so much for your time, your expertise and for helping us gain the confidence we needed to enjoy our pregnancy journey
Natasha & Charles
