December 2006 - First time parents, Josie and Iain with Francesca

"Since the hypnobirthing course I enjoyed a lovely pregnancy, my blood pressure reduced and I was very happy and relaxed. The baby was also in the right position for 3-4 weeks before she arrived so the birth affirmations worked. I had a feeling the baby would come early and was right as my due date was 27th Dec.I got home after having reflexology and thought right I am now ready for this baby, 10 minutes later I felt a pop and my waters broke, this was at 4pm on wed 20th. I felt fine with no sense of panic. I was wary of phoning my midwife as I knew they would want to intervene, I was right. She told me that I had been booked in to hospital for an induction at 4pm that evening. I knew that the NICE guidelines stated 96 hours was acceptable before intervention was required.I was being told I would have to be induced and yet I was a week early and I knew that my labour had started but the feelings were very mild. We refused to go in and quoted all the data we had read. The midwife said that I obviously wasn't in labour but she could give me a membrane sweep. Upon examination she said hat I was in fact 3cms dilated! We went home at 3pm and did some relaxation, I was not in any pain and only needed to use my tens machine from about 7pm that evening. I called the midwife at 9.30pm when the surges were 3 minutes apart. Again I was feeling ok. For the rest of the evening I went for a 2 hour bath and Iain read the prompts to me whilst we listened to the cd. At around midnight the surges were quite strong and for the next few hours I used the gas and air and went within myself. The birthing phase was only 40 minutes. I was quite relaxed and was not told to push or given any progress reports on how I was doing which helped me focus. Francesca came out and did not cry, her heartbeat was also steady throughout the labour which amazed the midwives. The whole experience was fantastic and Iain was amazed how positive it all was. The midwives who came out to me were fantastic. Ann my usual midwife came out on her night off just to see the birth and she has been amazing. They truly looked after us. We are so glad we did the hypnobirthing course. It made my pregnancy relaxed and we were so well prepared for the birth it made us feel very confident. Also being warned what the medical profession would try and make us do really helped us stand up for what we wanted. Francesca is a very placid baby who only cries when she is hungry and she sleeps from 11pm until 5am without feeds. "