Rocking An Induction – A Hypnobirthing Australia Birth Story

Chloe and Dan took hypnobirthing around the 33 week mark…Chloe felt like they needed some more tools to help them through their birth experience.
And Hypnobirthing Australia provided them with the tools that they needed!
Chloe and Dan prepared for their induction perfectly…they worked with they caregivers, with each other, and with their baby.
And after birth they felt proud of themselves and empowered by the experience…which is what it is all about!

Here is Sofia’s beautiful hypnobirthing birth story.
Written by her amazing mother Chloe.

Dan and I welcomed a perfect little girl into the world on 14 June.
Despite being induced in the end, I felt totally in control of my labour and birth, which I have you to thank for!

Towards the end of my pregnancy I started to become extremely fearful of labour, birth, and breastfeeding – mostly because of stories others had shared with me. I knew I wanted to bring our baby into the world with little to no intervention and hoped I could breastfeed successfully, which is what got me looking into hypnobirthing.
Following the course, I religiously practiced the meditations and other relaxation exercises which not only helped me during the birth, but also helped me to relax and let go during my pregnancy. Dan also enjoyed listening to the tracks to help him relax!

After going 11 days over my “due date” we decided, with my obstetrician, to go ahead with an induction and on 14 June I made my way to the hospital in tears. I must admit I was terrified of the induction leading to any other form of medicated pain relief (I was told by others that induced labour was much more painful than spontaneous labour) or further intervention. We listened to the affirmations the whole way to the hospital and when I arrived I was in a much calmer state. Throughout the day, I had lavender and clary sage in the diffuser, played the affirmations on repeat, and Dan did multiple fear releases with me – before the ARM, before the midwife started the drip, basically before any intervention.  Both Dan and I stayed extremely calm throughout the day as we prepared to meet out little bundle of joy.  We happily got to know the amazing midwifes who helped deliver Sofia and took each hour as it came.

At 2:00pm my surges picked up and the rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur.  I asked Dan to put on a meditation to help me through the surges and funnily enough about a minute in, I told him to turn it off because it was agitating me.  I started to move around the room to help the surges but that also agitated me – the most comfortable position was sitting on the bed, legs crossed, and eyes closed.  Not at all how I pictured my labour, but it worked wonderfully for me.  I found the most useful tools to be the affirmations, the Tranquil Chambers track, and most of all the breathing techniques – I used my surge breathing through each surge and closed my eyes and rested between each contraction.
At 6:47pm we welcomed our little girl into the world and we have never felt so much joy!
We were able to do delayed cord clamping and I had a physiological third stage labour.  Unfortunately following my placenta delivery I had a PPH and ended up needing a syntocinon shot (I attribute this to the induction drip), but avoided needing any sort of blood transfusion – the human body truly is amazing!

Reflecting on my labour and birth experience, although it was nothing like I pictured, didn’t go exactly according to plan, and wasn’t a “by the book” hypnobirth, it is my story and I wouldn’t change a thing!
I am incredibly proud of Sofia for how calm she was, proud of Dan for how supportive he was, but most of all I am proud of myself and my body, and for making it through without any medicated pain relief despite no one believing I could (people often laughed when I told them we planned to hypnobirth).
I wish I could put into words how empowering the whole experience was!

To top it all off, Sofia is a beautifully calm baby, we have had no trouble breastfeeding, she is perfectly healthy and is gaining weight incredibly quickly.  When nothing can settle her, we put on the Tranquil Chambers track and rock her and it works a treat.  We play it most nights and she sleeps so soundly (actually, we all do)!

Again thank you Caitlin, for empowering me to have an amazing birthing experience, helping to eliminate all fears I had, and for educating Dan so he could support me through it all.  He speaks so highly of the course and what it taught him.  The way you ran the course was perfect, and we loved hearing your stories and experiences, as well as the additional knowledge you shared around working in a hospital, post partum and breastfeeding.
We attended hospital antenatal classes to prepare us and we both wish we hadn’t have bothered, what we learnt at the Hypnobirthing Australia classes doesn’t compare.
I have recommended hypnobirthing to all my pregnant friends and will continue to do so, I think it is invaluable!