Jacob’s Birth

Hypnobirther Strikes Again. PBAC Victory!

My husband and I met Claire at our hypnobirthing workshop during our first pregnancy with Zachary.

When we decided it was time to invite our second child to join us, it was important to use the techniques of Hypnobirthing again. In fact it was imperative that we used the skills and techniques even more so based on history.

The history: His big brother was considered a large baby, however we knew he was the perfect size for my body. I went into labour spontaneously and we started birthing gloriously. When we hadn’t reached a certain ‘medically dictated’ point of birthing we were convinced to release his waters manually. Which was something my husband and I tried desperately to avoid while in the situation, our requests were denied. When the desired outcome wasn’t achieved it was decided that we ‘medically’ required an emergency cesarean.

On reflection, reading over our notes post Zachary’s birth, their medical reason was the size of our baby. There was no evidence of fetal distress. And as fellow Hypnobirthers can attest, I was nothing but calm. No elevated blood pressure or heart rate.
On hindsight we wished we had voiced our opinions better and had pushed for patience and time. However, our beautiful boy was born… And we couldn’t have been happier.

Why does this affect Jacobs birth story? Because from the point of conception it was ‘told’ to us that we would be needing a cesarean section based on the previous cesarean. There were no medical reasons for this other than an assumption based on statistics. This opinion was opposed by us instantly and we went on our way to back up our opinion. First off by seeking a like minded midwife.

The beauty in this was our previous midwife worked alongside a midwife that was one of our tribe. It was unfortunate that on our previous birthing day she was already at a birth. So be it. We requested her for this birth and were met with an open heart and mind.

Aimee Jones reviewed our previous birthing notes and agreed with our opinion.
We started early to get the necessary data for the white coats so we could go ahead with our plan. I was cleared of risks like gestational diabetes early on & left to grow our baby.

As the pregnancy commenced I used my skills as a hypnobirther to keep myself and our baby calm and happy. I used the healing room many times, recording myself revisiting and erasing our previous birthing process. I replaced it with one of love and trust, planting affirmations of ‘I feel confident, I feel safe, I feel secure’.
Within my recording of The Fear Release, I spoke of how and when our baby would arrive. I stated he would be born in the full moon cycle, knowing that this date was medically ‘post date’, also knowing this would create a hurdle for ‘the White coats’.
I spoke of how the labour of love would be less than three hours because our baby and my birthing body would do a lot of pre work in the weeks leading up to the birthing process.

As a Hypnobirthing couple, my husband (the science mind) also did his own preparation. He made sure he knew exactly what I looked like while in a deep state of relaxation.

The key to a great hypnobirth is to use the same energy that created your baby to help your baby on their birthing day.

Within our journey I spoke to our baby daily. Evenings were our together time where I’d meditate on him and tell him how loved he was already. I would reassure him & he would reassure me. My husband spoke to Jacob every night telling him how excited we were to be chosen as his parents.

One week prior the full moon we had a ‘blessing way’ where I invited close friends and family to bring a crystal, stone, feather piece of wood or anything they felt drawn towards along with them. These ‘pieces’ then became part of our ‘birthing shrine’ to be used in the birthing suite. The essence of our blessing way was to gather and give thanks to our support network and to create a strong energetic bond for our son. During the blessing way we made candles to be lit on our sons birthday and we created dream catchers for both of our sons. Most importantly we came together and ‘feasted’ sharing great food and wonderful conversation, instilling nothing but positivity in and around our family.

Leading up to our birthing time we were referred to the PBAC (Positive Birth After Cesarean, formally known as VBAC, Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) clinic for appointments where we would see an obstetrician and a midwife. Both whom were there to coach us into a positive birth after cesarean. Due to their medical training, more often than not they would try to coach us into another cesarean. My husband and I went to every clinic with an open heart and open mind and met with them with nothing but compassion and respect.

We did as they asked, having growth scans, meeting with pre surgery admissions teams and being spoken ‘at’ about risks. The hospital made a date for an elective cesarean, something we did not request. With the guidance of our midwife, at our request, we politely declined and agreed to meet with an obstetrician to talk through our options. We were met by the first obstetrician that agreed with our plan. Dr Nicholas Walker, he saw us as people not data, he saw we were not going to take risks, he saw that we were hypnobirthers that were using our skills and hypnobirthing techniques already through out the system… And that we still respected the system… above all he saw us as parents that loved our ‘to be born’ son more than anyone else IN THE WORLD.

We made a plan there and then that should spontaneous delivery not commence within a certain date we would have our midwife manually release my waters. There was a possibility that our ‘to be born’ sons membrane was as thick as his older brothers and they might not release themselves. We agreed there would be no artificial assistance and Dr Walker put his name to our plan saying we would allow 24 hours for the birthing process to commence.

Our midwife was overjoyed by Dr Walkers seal of approval saying she’d never heard of an obstetrician putting their professional name on the line and ‘allowing’ 24 hours post waters release.

We left feeling empowered!

That evening I listened to our affirmations and Relaxation meditation. I then meditated with our son and he put my mind at ease by saying we would require Aimee’s assistance and that it would all be beautiful.

I then re-wrote our Birthing Journey Story stating that our waters would release with the help of my adoring husband, and they would at a ‘magic time’ (at that point not knowing our admission time). I said that after our waters were released the birthing journey would commence and our son would be born in no more than three hours. I knew this would be done due to the fact that two weeks prior our birthing date my body had been thinning and opening and our son had been engaged.

A day prior our ‘date’, I had an session with Claire (of Auckland Hypnobirthing). She asked me to remind myself of my inner beauty and power. While in this conversation I did just that, seeing all the times I had birthed before and all the times I’d assisted with births. I made a comment of “I’m going to fill that room with compassion and conviction”.

The day arrived, we were admitted to hospital at 10am. We set up our birthing ‘shrine’ with crystals & tokens from nature infused with love from our friends and family, three electric candles, our electric aromatherapy diffuser, our sons chosen birthing crystal and my favourite birthing affirmations.
Our waters released at 11:11, with my husband pushing down to assist (it was beautiful).

I had a moment of ‘what if’ when my husband reminded me to ‘deny the doubt’. He then placed our birthing Rose Quartz on my stomach and played The Rainbow Relaxation, reminding me to relax. I did.

Then the glorious time distortion really kicked in.
I started having the most amazing strong surges, my birthing body and baby were getting the show going! Due to our previous history our midwife HAD to take one fetal reading. But the machine wouldn’t work. She called the charge midwife who brought in another machine… This wouldn’t work either.
I then saw the room full of the colour magenta, I felt nothing but universal love.
I was relaxed and letting birthing happen.
My body was opening easily and naturally.
I felt confident, I felt safe, I felt secure.
Strong surges were met with beautiful birth breathing and the odd primal groan (or as my midwife said ‘vocalising’).
Half an hour later our son was born, using two gloriously divine birth breaths.
My beautiful husband received our son, and placed him on my chest… He stayed there for an hour. One whole glorious hour.

Jacob Stone arrived surrounded by love and trust.
He is the most settled and content baby.
And I am the most radiant and delighted mother.