Morgan's Hypnobirth Story

​I fell pregnant quickly and to be honest a little unexpectedly second time around which is quite common I am told. Bass was 13 months old and I was still breastfeeding him when I found out that I was to be blessed with another beautiful bubba. It was a Winter's morning and I just had a feeling that I was pregnant, so Bass and I took a walk to the supermarket for a test which I excitedly sent to my husband Ryan at work (probably not a message he was expecting at the office!) to which he replied 'I can't see the second line'. Was I going crazy?! It was confirmed over the course of a couple of days - our family was growing!

I come from a family who labours very quickly, my Nanna, Mum, auntie and sister all had extremely quick births, some of them not even making it into delivery suite! So naturally after my son was born in around 4 hours, I was preparing for my second birth to be quick!

A few months into my pregnancy I started to think to myself, what if it's not quick? Statistics say second births are much faster, particularly the second stage of labour, but what if it wasn't? I didn't have the tools to get me through anything longer than 4 hours so that's when I registered for Geelong Born's Hypnobirthing Australia™ classes. I used breathing techniques with Bass' labour and found them to be extremely powerful and so I wanted to find out more about having a calm natural birth.

Ryan and I attended the first day of the Hypnobirthing course in Torquay and found it to be extremely educational, we got to build upon our knowledge of birth from first time around and learn about pain relief techniques that we could do ourselves while in labour, soft touch - the touch of your partner be it a massage, back rub, arm rub, hair rub during a surge I found to be the most beneficial - something to counteract the power of a surge. 

We learnt about acupressure points to induce labour and for pain relief, we did guided meditation which I practiced at home in the lead up to the birth and maintaining a positive mind set to whatever path the birth would take - something I think is super important as we all know birth is something you simply cannot control.

Rosie was my birth support person for Bass so we already had a friendship! I find Rosie to be extremely open minded, she doesn't 'push' for any type or style of birth, she is a registered midwife so she has the clinical knowledge and helped me to discover things like delayed cord clamping, positional changes to aid labour, colostrum harvesting, natural pain relief ... the list goes on!

As I approached 37 weeks I started acupuncture at Natural Fertility Geelong, Jaya is amazing and I truly believe that this assisted with me going into spontaneous labour at 39.6. I was using my fitball all day everyday, walking, squatting and I had started to hand express and freeze colostrum to stimulate contractions.

On Saturday 4th of May I went to bed early thinking tonight was the night and was woken to very mild contractions around 12:30am, pre labour had started and I was extremely excited! I had this feeling right from the moment it started that my waters needed to break, the pressure from the waters was massive and I felt like it was inhibiting a 'real' contraction. This pattern continued into Sunday until any real contractions petered out completely and I was left with just surges of pressure from my waters.

Ryan and I made the (in hindsight stupid) decision to try and break my waters at home, I was on the fitball, trampoline, walking around the yard and eventually we went for a drive over speed humps... none of which worked! At around 1:30 I called the hospital to explain what had been happening and asked if I could come in on the CTG to have baby checked and then head home, so at 3pm we headed in with full intentions of heading back home... this was not to be the case.

Sadly my amazing obstetrician Dr Sam Sabary wasn't working that weekend but I was greeted by his cover Dr Karl Najjar who I cannot speak highly enough of. Upon arrival I was told I was 3cm dilated but not in active labour and I could go home if I wish. Fearing a quick birth and being over half an hour from the hospital we made the decision to stay until 6pm and see what happened.

​​6pm came and I received 2 text messages, one from my sister saying that she thought I shouldn't go home and the other from my best friend saying the same. So we made the decision to stay... in hindsight that was the best decision! The pressure surges continued with no active labour and at around 9:30 Karl suggested that the waters were inhibiting my cervix from dilating and could he break my waters.... my birth plan said no, but I said a big HELL YES!

​That's all it took, she was born 38 minutes later. I went from 3cm-10cm in a very intense 33 minutes. My calm and serene pre labour turned instinctively into me standing, breathing and roaring her out. It was extremely intense and empowering. According to my husband I started pushing from a standing position, the midwife hit the emergency button and Karl came flying in - no gown, no gloves and no glasses. Ryan recalls him just getting his gloves on as her head came out. 5 minutes of pushing and she was born into mine and Karl's arms. It was an absolute dream birth.

Karl was aware that I had low platelets and was concerned about blood loss so a few minutes after she was born I hopped onto the bed to feed her while Karl delivered my placenta quickly. We had requested delayed cord clamping so her cord wasn't cut until it had stopped pulsing. My placenta was collected again by Cherie from Earth Mama who encapsulated both of my placentas.

We gave birth to a very beautiful girl named Vinnie Sage who weighed 7lb10oz.
I just keep thinking what would have happened if we managed to break my waters at home... she would have been born either at home or in the car! It all happened just as it should have!

The A Team
Hospital: SJOG Geelong
Obstetrician: Dr Sam Sabary
Delivery: Dr Karl Najjar
Hypnobirthing: Geelong Born - Hypnobirthing Australia™
Acupuncture: Natural Fertility Geelong
Naturopath: Lindsay Ingleton
Placenta Encapsulation: Earth Mama

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My name is Rosie Fitzclarence and I am a Registered Midwife, Registered Nurse, Childbirth Educator (Geelong Born) and a Hypnobirthing Australia Certified Practitioner.

​I am based in Geelong and can be contacted by email at [email protected] or phone 0419170783.
 
To find out more about my Hypnobirthing Australia™ classes CLICK HERE