For this birth story we getting a father’s perspective. We often hear from women that dads can be somewhat reluctant to come along to Natal Hypnotherapy classes. This is often based on a slightly mis-placed perception of what it is all about. So I am delighted to hear Dave’s side of the story.
“The term Hypnobirthing probably sounds quite ‘hippy’ and ‘alternative’ to most people. It certainly did to me when I first heard it. But in fact it is really rational and logical. By staying calm and keeping adrenaline at bay, a woman can deliver her baby naturally as we were designed to do and have been doing for thousands of years. It makes total sense! It’s not some crazy mumbo-jumbo I promise. The Natal Hypnotherapy techniques Khim taught Jade and I transformed her from a terrified wreck, to a calm and mentally organised mother-to-be. The emotional and mental toolkit enabled us to breeze through the birth of our daughter in such a magical way as we felt empowered and in control throughout. At no time in labour did we panic or did she feel the need for pain relief. I wanted to share our story, from a father’s perspective.
Our birth story
Jade was four days over her due date when she went in to labour. After a few days of light but continuous Braxton Hicks, Jade and I did some breathing exercises and the Effective Birth Preparation track and then went to bed. During the early hours of the morning, Jade woke up and spent a bit of time alone, breathing and relaxing as her labour gradually began. She woke me at 4am and we spent the next hour and a half or so in the lounge, which we referred to throughout as our ‘nest’. We kept the lights low, the room nice and warm and just spent time together, talking, encouraging each other, moving Jade around, massaging and getting her comfortable and at the same time practicing breathing and relaxation techniques just as you taught us. At this stage we thought we had a good day ahead of us, so it was a very mellow and easy start and we just made sure to keep working through the various exercises that we had learned from you.
Jade needed the loo so popped to the bathroom. She realised that it was quite comfortable to sit on the toilet lid (upright and leaning forward, like you said) and so we decided to stay there for a while. We faffed about with the tens machine but Jade didn’t really think she needed it yet, so we didn’t really get it hooked up properly. Everything seemed so relaxed and we felt completely in control. At this stage Jade was having slightly stronger contractions, less than a minute in length, but still a bit far apart. She was totally lucid and able to speak to me through each one. At 6.02am I rang the hospital and said we would be in at some point during the day. At 6.04am I rang my father in law and asked him to pop round at about 7am to pick up our son for the day. At 6.10 Jade had her first strong contraction. She easily worked through it with some great breathing. Then another. At 6.15 I rang my father in law again just to check he was still ok to pick Phoenix up. Jade then had her third contraction, her waters broke (we were hugging close at the time and both got drenched) and so we sat laughing together for a while. She had three more contractions and then suddenly said “I need to push”. We were caught completely by surprised but didn’t panic at all. I eased Jade on to some towels on the floor and at 6.26am, with three short pushes, Jade easily delivered our baby daughter – straight in to my waiting hands.
Jade didn’t have any pain relief and she hardly made a sound as our daughter came in to the World. In fact, we were making eye contact and talking to each other the whole way though the birth. It was utterly amazing. In fact, I would say that the techniques you taught us were so effective and we were so well prepared that the birth actually caught us off guard 🙂 We sat on the bathroom floor afterwards, wide eyed, looking down at our baby daughter and just blown away by how quickly and easily it all happened.
Thank you once again for Helping us to have such an incredible birth story. We went to Whipps Cross Hospital for some follow up checks and the head nurse in the maternity ward even offered me a midwife application form. So if my current job doesn’t work out – I’ve got that to fall back on!
We truly believe Natal Hypnotherapy should be compulsory for all women. We insist any pregnant family or friends learn the techniques. We are convinced it was the reason for Jades intervention free labour”
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