Birth of nina

We welcomed Nina Luna into the world on Monday 10th February 2020. Nina seems to like to do things faster than we expect and her birth was no different. At 37 weeks and four days she was ready to come out and join us. We had thought we still had plenty of time so that Saturday we decided to spend the weekend down at Anglesea, "before baby arrives". After a wonderful day at the beach and a romantic dinner, my waters broke at midnight! We rang the hospital to let them know and they told us there was no rush and to take our time. That drive back to Melbourne was so beautiful as there was a full moon that lit up the quiet roads. Vince and I were so excited that very soon we would meet our baby. We kept looking at each other with the biggest grins on our faces!

Once we got home, I had a rest, and then did a bit of nesting, as we had the baby shower the week before, and the house was still in disarray after the party. All I kept thinking was "I can't welcome a new human into a messy home!". I had had a plan to have food from home in the hospital so I also got busy prepping foods I liked and that would give me sustenance during the birth so I cut up fruit and veggies and prepared chia pudding. After the house was clean and the hospital bag was all set, Vince helped me set up the living room with aromatherapy and diffused light via a salt lamp. At this point my contractions felt a little more than period pain and I put the TENs machine on, did calm breathing, and the rainbow relaxation, I had no concept of time.

The techniques that I found very useful at home were the calm breathing, meditation, the massage technique, acupressure points, and using the TENs machine. Vince called the hospital at different stages throughout the evening to check if I should come in, and come Sunday evening I felt that I was ready to get into the water. Vince called the hospital again to let them know to get the bath ready, as we had planned a water birth. My contractions were pretty strong at this point, it felt like she was nearly there. I had been singing my contractions out but at this stage my body was making a more primal sound and the Midwife on the phone told Vince to bring me in.

I had a great experience at the hospital, the midwives were all on board with how we wanted the birth and were really supportive of our wishes. To not be overstimulated on the drive in I wore an eye mask and Vince had some calm music on in the car. When I got into the birthing suit, I was assessed and it turned out that Nina was right lying. The contractions needed to be slowed down so the bath was perfect to do that. Grace the midwife told me to "blow the contractions away" and this became my mantra. Having the water hold me up and using my breathing my body slowed the contractions and they became more regular. I continued to stay in the water for one midwife's shift. After a while I was assessed and Nina had not turned yet and my contractions had slowed. Sarah and Millie the next shift of midwives advised me to hop out of the water, and begin active labour using the birthing ball, doing lunges squats and moving my body around to help her turn. After assessment it was recommended I have the Syntocinon, I was getting tired but Vince and I talked and decided to wait for another hour, the cue cards of the birth companion responses were really useful to be able to communicate with staff. So we decided to have a bit more time to do it naturally, and the doctors were supportive and happy to wait an hour.

Nina had turned into position, and after it had been an hour, we went with the Syntocinon on the lowest dose. Fifteen minutes later she was out! My perineum tissues were fine, I had one tiny natural tear that needed one stitch and that healed really quickly within two weeks. We waited for the cord to stop pulsing before it was cut, and I birthed out the placenta with the help of the Syntocinon injection as my haemoglobin had been on the lower side.

For the actual birth I would describe it only as intense pressure, using the breath to regulate each contraction and "just blow it away" took more mental strength, physically my body knew what to do. The most painful part of my body post birth were the muscles in my shoulders it felt like I had down a big workout!

I felt very proud to have achieved the birth we had hoped, no drugs, minimal intervention and overall a very positive, joyful and calm environment to welcome Nina into. Vince was so supportive, I felt the biggest thing from the hypnobirthing course was that he had the knowledge and tools he needed to be an active participant in the birth. For me what made it a really positive experience, was we were all one big team, we ended up having four midwives assisting Nina's birth from start to finish, the hand over between each shift was really good and they took their time reading our preferences. They gave us their expert advice but also listened to and respected our wishes. I felt so supported and respected the whole time.

Vince and I are so proud and grateful to have been able to give Nina the birth we had hoped for!

Our Magical Hospital Birth During COVID-19:

Mila and Ricky attended HypnoBirthing classes in Victoria with HypnoBirthing Educator Meagan Otu to gain skills, confidence and trust for their upcoming birth! Their birth of little River in a Melbourne Hospital during COVID-19 was in water, and they have described this experience as a magical one! Mila has shared her birth story to help inspire and empower other couples for their upcoming births:

'I am River! I came into this world at 3.55am on 14 February 2020 diving into the bathtub like a little fishie from my mummy’s tummy! I am a bigger fella, yet feel so tiny to my parents – 55.5cm tall, weighing 3848g. This is my birth story':

We are so in love with our little miracle, and still can’t quite understand how he is actually real. We were blessed with our dream birth we had visualised welcoming our little man in the warm water!

Labour started after a beautiful day at the beach and kicked off so intense & fast without a warning or build up with early labour going from 2 to 4 surges per 10 minutes within a few hours. So we went to the hospital at 9pm where we got assessed. Active labour started at 11pm to 3am going from 3cm to 6cm opening via hypno-labouring earth side and an intense transition phase and birth from 6cm (at which stage I went into the tub to labour and help my body open) to birth within less than 45 minutes in the calming warm water. My waters released right when I was on the way to the tub, and it turned out that the fluid was greenish. I knew that this meant I they would not want me to use the tub anymore. I begged my midwife for some time in the water for relaxation, and she agreed to 30 min! (Always good to negotiate!)

As soon as I was in the tub, my body went into full primal mode, and I can only remember the feeling of breathing down whilst playing the HypnoBirthing affirmations in the background and Ricky’s voice in the distance coaching me to keep doing J-Breaths.

I was using gas at this stage to help take the edge off and to get an easier rhythm for breathing. My midwife placed a mirror in the water and when I saw the head starting to crown. I felt such a rush of endorphins and motivation that I went a little hard & fast on the bearing down and instinctively included some pushing just following my bodies lead. Our midwife checked on the heart beat of our baby with the Doppler and couldn’t find it straight away, right when my second last surge came, so I knew instinctively he needed to come with the next 2 breaths.

This is the time when I went into a total blur – I think I actually did what they say, I went to the stars & universe to collect him!

When I came back his head was out which gave me such a rush of happiness that I started laughing and smiling at Ricky, sat down on my bum leaning back (I was kneeling before) and did the last breath as gently and softly as possible so that he shot out like a torpedo with the expulsion reflex. I looked down, saw him floating in the water, picked him up myself and he was ours forever. He didn’t cry and just stared at me with open eyes peacefully, then after some rubbing on the back I heard his cute little squeal for the first time!! We spent 1 hour of bonding in the water and delayed clamping the cord until the cord stopped pulsating. Ricky cut the cord and then I came out of the tub with bub in my arms. I did 2 more J-Breaths to birth the placenta easily with Riv in my arms sitting on the toilet. We went to the bed for more skin to skin, and the first feed, then Ricky got his skin-to-skin, and we fixed my natural tearing from the super intense transition phase with just a few stitches.

It was simply magical, unbelievable and empowering.

River is so calm, easy to settle and feeds like a champ. We couldn’t be happier and still can’t believe we actually did it.

Much love from Mila, Ricky and River

THANK YOU for helping us achieve this.

Birth of Koa

Koa River was born last night at 10:11pm. Weighing a tiny 2.8kg and 48cm long. After 10hrs of labor my cervix was only dilated 4cm so I decided to have an epidural and waited another 4hrs for my cervix to dilate the full 10cm, and he was welcomed to this world very peacefully after 5 minutes of pushing.

Looking back, over the first few hours I could have moved around more, which would have helped me get into my birthing body. Once my birthing partner began to guide me through the breathing and hypnobirthing techniques this also helped me immensely. I had moments during this time where I felt really passionate and connected to my birthing body and was prancing around like a lion, and this felt really powerful!

Having the epidural, kind of took this element of the passion and excitement away, the birth was very peaceful and easeful, and I could feel enough to be able to do the ‘push’ breathing down at the end and I did this quite effectively, the midwives commented that for a first time mum I did this really well. Now that I know the feeling of labour, and the passion and connection to my body and how to do it, I can’t wait to do it all again!

Laura & Jonathan’s Inspiring birth

We are excited to let you know that we welcomed our son Friday 5th of June through hypnobirthing. It was such an intense and memorable experience. We would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart to make calm birthing possible.

I started having surges Friday morning at 1.30am and delivered in water at 4.51pm. Jonathan and my mum reminded me about the breathing techniques and using the correct words while the surges were becoming stronger and stronger. Our baby made his way to my arms naturally. No medications or stitches were required. It was an experience we will cherish forever.

Keep doing what you doing and spread the word that there is no fear in giving birth.

It is a unique experience!! Thank you again ❤️