Hypnobirthing induction at 42 weeks, with no pain relief
Our birthing experience couldn’t have been further from our ‘plan’ – a home birth in a birthing pool turned into a hospital induction and bed-bound birth, with continuous monitoring. Yet it was such a wonderful, powerful, hypnobirthing experience, as a result of our training with Ruth.
As the days ticked by after my due date, I couldn’t help but question the affirmation “my baby will come when my baby is ready”. My husband Tom and I felt totally ready – the birthing pool set up in the nursery, the fairy lights, music and aromatherapy diffuser ready to go. But our baby seemed comfortable staying where he was! After accepting an examination and stretch and sweep from the midwife at 40 + 8, and being told I was already 2-3cm dilated with a favourably soft cervix, we were convinced he would make an appearance. That evening, irregular contractions started and continued for several hours, before frustratingly ebbing away.
As the week progressed, I became more uncomfortable. We knew we could decide to continue waiting beyond 42 weeks, but we felt that if baby hadn’t yet made a move we would accept an induction. This was no easy decision as it would involve hospitalisation, syntocinon, and an increased probability of medical intervention. I was devastated that water birth would no longer be an option, as throughout hypnobirthing training and through watching and reading positive birth stories I’d been impressed with the power of water as natural pain relief. However as the days passed I knew the importance of keeping a positive mindset, so aimed to refocus my expectations by reading positive induction stories, and working out how many of our existing hypnobirthing techniques could still be used in this new scenario – tonnes, as it turned out!
Tom took me into hospital on the morning of 42 weeks, following a pretty sleepless night for me due to sharp continuous pain in the left side of my bump. Due to already being partially dilated I skipped the pessary, and was taken to a consultant-led birthing suite where Tom was allowed to join me for the ARM (breaking of waters). Once there we kicked straight into hypnobirthing mode – I asked the midwife to keep the lights off, Tom set up the diffuser with clary sage and put on our fun wedding playlist, so that after the ARM we could spend two hours dancing around the room and bouncing on a birthing ball to try to kick off the contractions naturally. The TENS machine was in position and I was so pleased to be told I could keep using it throughout the entire birth, alongside the baby monitoring. The ARM took place at 11.20am, with the midwife using an instrument to break the amniotic sac, followed by repeated rushes of warm water flowing over the next hour, as the baby and I moved about. During the two hours, contractions started and became more intense and regular, but as they weren’t three in ten minutes, the midwife set up the syntocinon drip. She explained she would start at 3mg, then increase by 3 every 30 minutes until the contractions were three in ten minutes, indicating established labour.
At 2pm, immediately after the start of the drip, I vomited a seriously large amount (into a bowl and over Tom’s hand!), then the sensations became much more intense. As our baby needed to be monitored continuously, I was also confined to lying on my back in the bed, with the head rest raised. This is where the hypnobirthing breathing techniques came into their own. Tom was incredible, watching when I pressed the surge button on the TENS machine for each contraction, then counting the in and out breaths with me, and encouraging me to drink water or lucozade in the gaps in between. After the initial monitoring I was allowed to change position, but found it difficult to find a useful one whilst being attached to the drip and the cannula in my wrist which prevented me from using that hand. All the while, the surges became more intense and regular, and I was very aware each time the drip was increased. Two hours in, I could feel how rapid and strong they had become, and didn’t feel I needed any further increase, so told the midwife not to increase it – a decision she respected. Some time later, around 5pm, the twisting and pulling sensation in my uterus altered, with feelings of wanting to push. We were offered an examination, and found I was 7cm dilated. Another hour or so passed, with me barely aware of several nurses and a doctor repeatedly checking the baby monitor and becoming increasingly concerned that our baby’s heart rate was taking a long time to recover following each contraction. It reached a point where the doctor spoke firmly and calmly to me, to bring my mind into focus, stating she really needed to examine me to see how far along we were, because of concerns about the baby’s distress. She examined, and to everyone’s surprise she could feel the head – he had fully descended into the cervix without anyone being aware, as I had been so focused on my breathing. She said “Lucy, you now need to push this baby out!”.
There was no option to be upright, forward and open – positions that Tom and I knew would be optimal for this stage. Due to the baby monitoring I remained on my back and legs in stirrups, a position that I never imagined I’d have to be in! Our midwife was brilliant, guiding and encouraging me with each surge, though the change in focus was so difficult – I remember saying “but I don’t know how to push!”. Rather than breathing baby down, she said I must hold and use all of the energy of each breath to just push; again opposite to our hypnobirth training. But I trusted her fully and really appreciated her guidance and support, so kept going. His head kept descending and retracting, but getting closer and closer until, 40 minutes later, he made it out! Another push later, and he was placed on my stomach due to having a short cord. All thoughts of optimal cord clamping had gone at this stage, so soon afterwards he was cut and raised onto my chest. We enjoyed the most wonderful couple of hours of skin to skin with Tom very close by. Our baby boy, Quentin Harris, had finally arrived. Healthy, beautiful, and with tonnes of blonde hair!
It was only afterwards, when chatting with the midwife, that she remarked with amazement that I had given birth with no pain relief! I had used the TENS machine consistently for each surge, and this combined with Tom’s persistent counting, kept me on track with the breathing throughout. I didn’t even consider needing anything else! I wouldn’t describe the sensations as pain either; more a writhing, uncomfortable feeling that became more intense and made it harder to concentrate on the in and out breaths. I know there was no way I could have done this without complete faith in the breath, and with Tom by my side to count me back in when I wavered. The hypnobirthing training set us up perfectly. It gave us knowledge and confidence to contend with an experience unlike anything we’d done before. It gave us the ability to reframe our ideas and positively approach an induction, despite it being the opposite type of birth to what we had hoped. And all this allowed us to have the most natural, positive and incredible birth despite the clinical environment, synthetic induction and intense levels of monitoring.
We can’t thank Ruth enough for her training, and would recommend her hypnobirthing course to anyone!
