Birth Stories > Penny's birth story of Harrison

A friend recommended Julie’s ‘preparing for childbirth’ classes and I was thrilled that she also taught the hypnobirthing courses         

(Note: Julie has since updated and now teaches the Australian calmbirth technique) technique.

As a physiotherapist I had heard so many difficult birth stories, so I was keen to prepare myself for my first birth with every means possible. I just couldn’t help but feel that if I prepared my body and my mind and stayed in a calm, natural environment that it would enable my body to birth in it’s own way and in it’s own time- without intervention.  

Our little boy was born on Monday 6th March at two am. It was the toughest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. My waters broke around 6am Sunday and labour progressed consistently from then. I slept between surges until around 9am.

Things were still quite mild at this stage. After getting up and having breakfast I was still madly nesting and couldn’t stop cleaning the house (with a hot pack tied to my tummy)! When the surges became stronger and more frequent, we rang the birth centre and our doula and let them know how things were going.

I headed to the bedroom and Gary I worked together with him supporting me in between calling our child minder for his two kids. Daniel who is nine kept coming to hold my hand and see how I was going.

 
We called the birth centre again and decided to go in by around 4pm Sunday. Things were then very intense until Harrison was born. Initially we used the hot shower and some breathing techniques we learned. I then spent the rest of the time in the bath. I have to admit I wanted to give up lots of times, and said 'just send me down the hall for an epidural'! The midwives in the birth centre were so fantastic they just kept encouraging me to hang in there. I had told them I really wanted to have my birth naturally as long as there were no complications.

There was much screaming at the top of my lungs - I did not manage to emulate the quiet calm hypnobirthing video at all!  I wished I had spent more time practicing the techniques. However I kept going back to the techniques off and on with my husband’s help and I think this is what ended up keeping me on track. It reduced my feelings of panic and gave me something useful to focus on. I was shocked at the intensity of the experience but I was so glad in the end that I did it without intervention because I was alert and able to stand up and push Harrison down with slow deep breaths and I could reach down and feel his head and face as he emerged.

What a moment that was – in an instant all the pain was gone...completely gone...all finished.
It was such a blessing to experience his birth like that. Our little one was born alert, looking for the nipple immediately and his colour was good.
Having an experienced doula also made all the difference, Kathy was absolutely fantastic. She was able to support Gary and bring hot and cold towels and aromatherapy oils and drinks. She kept reminding me to stay calm and her soft energy and healing hands were such a comfort during the birth. 
I think it was a combination of all the preparation we did with Julie’s classes and staying in a positive frame of mind that just ensured things would go smoothly. All in all it was the most amazing birth experience and I am still on cloud nine one week later. My recovery has been amazing and I went home the same day on the early discharge program. Harrison is doing so well - putting on weight and breastfeeding like a trooper. 

So from all of us - Penny, Gary, Rachel (12), Daniel (9), to Julie, thank you for all your help in preparing us for receiving our little Harrison, 
Penny xxxx