​
​41+3 woke up at 12.30am with surges, by 2am I was out of bed and in the shower! I was in labour. All throughout pregnancy I wanted a spontaneous labour and it was happening! I laboured in the shower, on a fit ball with use of a labour comb and TENS. I was unable to sit down as my surges were in my back. 4am I woke my husband and said I needed to go to hospital (my plan was to labour at home as long as possible). Surges were 5mins apart and they were consistent.  Soon as I woke my husband I vomited. I called the hospital and said I was headed in and asked if I can have the room with the bath - I got told it’s not allowed for VBAC! I said read my 40week appt as it was clarified then. I knew it was going to happen and I was so angry at it. 
Headed into hospital and surges slowed right down - 45min drive. Once I got there surges were every 10mins. They didn’t pick back up. I accepted CTG - despite not wanting it my whole pregnancy and fighting to not have it for so long. After the decelerations in bubs HR I felt comfortable with it. At 10am I accepted a VE (4cm) The staff offered me to go home. I however didn’t feel comfortable with it - I knew I couldn’t sit in the car. The staff suggested I go to the postnatal ward and labour there as they needed the room. I agreed and walked the (once again could not sit). The walk really kicked things off. I was in the post natal room for around a 1.45hrs before moving back to birth suite as my contractions were every 5mins again (12.30pm). I got my bath at around 1.30-2ish. Until this point I had been labouring with shower, labour Comb +/- TENS. 

Hi Rosie,

We just wanted to send an email to let you know that Bowie Duane has arrived and we are so in love. Thank you for all of your help in the hypnobirthing course. We learnt so much and it especially helped Jordan to prepare for our home birth. He was amazing. He was so calm, never showed any fear and knew exactly how to support me. 

​

My birth story:

On the 19th July at 39+2 I noticed some stronger braxton hicks in the morning. I felt really emotional and had a little cry with Jordan as well, not particularly about anything! My body was clearing out and I was thinking could this be my body preparing? But I also knew that this could happen over days or weeks so didn’t get my hopes up too much. The braxton hicks fizzled out that afternoon and I did all of my usual things to support my body by walking the dog, drinking raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on my birth ball, using visualisations and most importantly relaxing and accepting that my body knows what to do and when to birth my baby. As I was getting ready for bed that night I lost my mucous plug! Again, I didn’t get my hopes up because I knew this could still mean I had days or weeks ahead of me. 

On the 20th of July at 39+3 I was woken with contractions at 4.30am. I took some paracetamol, heated up my heat pack and tried to go back to bed but I could not get comfortable. I needed to move through these contractions and laying down was making them worse. I got up and thought it’d be best to let Jordan sleep for a bit longer in case we were in for a long night and I woke my mum who was staying with us as she travelled from Adelaide before lockdown to be here for the birth! She was a good distraction for a couple of hours, we watched tv shows and got excited about the fact the baby might be joining us soon!

I didn’t get a gradual build up to my contractions. They were coming every 5 minutes and it seemed that each one was more intense than the last. This made it difficult to find a rhythm with my body and find what works. I moved around and used my heat pack for a while and then I moved to the TENS machine. It was around 7.30am and I had woken Jordan up at this point as I was finding I was getting really emotional and needed the extra support. I used the TENS for an hour but my heart was longing for water so I moved into the shower. Jordan and my mum were amazing at supporting me. Jordan kept the bathroom dark and moved the diffuser there for a little light and I moaned through each contraction. I started to get overwhelmed around 9.30am as they were becoming intense so we called the midwife for an early labour assessment. She arrived at 10am, I agreed to a vaginal exam and I was found to be 3cm dilated with baby in a great position and low in the pelvis.

​Thank you so much Rosie. I 100% owe you and the hypnobirthing course for Jordan’s preparedness and calmness. I wouldn’t of been able to do it without him and he tells me the course gave him so much knowledge on physiological birth and how to support this that he knew my body was doing just what it needed to do and this wasn’t something to be afraid of! 

We are absolutely in love with our little Bowie Duane, all 2.9kg of him! 

Thank you,

Chloe & Jordan :)

Quick version:

👶 Rufus Noel Facey
🧷 boy
⏰ 10:30pm
📅03/03/2020
⚖ 3.02 kgs
📏 50 cms
♓ Pisces
🍉39.5 wks
🍼Spontaneous 18hr labour (No drugs wahhhh)

Long version for those interested:

In the 2 weeks leading up to the due date, I had some high blood pressure readings. This meant going from low-risk midwife clinic appoints to hospital observations every 2 days (one day we were in for 8 hours), booked date of induction, and therefore a lot of extra pressure to get this baby out.

This was a hard mental game, do we try get a few more days to try naturally but put bub and myself under potential risk?

I also found out I was Group B strep positive and was shattered this meant I couldn't labour at home if my waters broke.

The date was tentatively booked for 4th March at 3pm (today), and although we could back out, we did 2 weeks of every natural labour tips:
• Walking every day
• Drinking raspberry leaf tea
• Bouncing on the fitness ball
• Expressing colostrum (fantastic practice)
• Chiropractor adjustment (highly recommend if you are stiff and sore)
• Massage with Clary sage
• Blake spiking my food with chillies
• Acupuncture (amazingly relaxing and helpful)

On the weekend, I purchased the Baby Come Out hypno track and Monday had acupuncture. I had a lot of last minutes fear building up and these help me to get my head calm and positive again. Monday my blood pressure was normal, so I was going to come the day of my induction, and negotiate if that if they were still normal, I didn't want to be induced. I called everyone to get them to get off my back, and stop sending me messages asking if baby has arrived (while lovely, became another overwhelming factor). Ah, peace at last...

.....that next morning, Tuesday 3rd at 4am I woke with period-like cramps and asked my husband to get me a heat pack. I had a bath soon after, had on Surge of the Sea, and stronger cramps that ran up my back and down my thighs. My waters hadn't broken and my mucous plug hadn't shown up, so I kept thinking ' this can't be labour..can it?'

I put my husband to work early with some massages, but didn't like to be touches at all during surges. I also struggled to be standing or sitting on the ball as my surges actually ran down my legs so intensely that I had to lie on my side. But I distinctly remember looking into Blake's eyes and feeling absolutely no fear.

I had a bit of a snooze around 10am and when I woke there was no mistaking I was in labour. I couldn't flop with the back and leg pain surges, the TENS didn't help me, and I started becoming vocal. So we started the surge timer and called the parents to be on standby.

The parents dramatically turned up at the hospital at midday movie-style and were surprise that we were still home. I stayed at home until 6pm, having baths, using the heat pack, listening to Tranquil Chambers on repeat... my husband's mum is a midwife and was trying to make me walk around the house slowly ( later found out she didn't think I was that far along). I was so incredibly happy that I was able to experience early labour with just my husband and my bed and the cat... and then it felt right to move to the hospital.

I walked into hospital at 7pm, felt ill and spewed shortly after, and the force of spewing actually released my mucous plug(!) so I had a quick shower. The midwives commented "we usually send 'first-timers' home, but lets check you" and I was 7cm dilated!!

My waters were still a bit intact so they released them. Baby had done a poop so they were prepped in case he was distressed but I only focussed on myself. I had plenty of rest time between surges but as they were hurting my thighs the only place I felt comfortable was on my side lying down. I kept saying to my husband, I just want gas and then an epidural. Well... no time for that.. I had strong pressure on my bum to push and at 10:30pm baby was here!

I was very loud near the end and worried I nearly crushed Blake's fingers but the midwives couldn't believe it and kept complimenting me. I told them I was sorry for being loud, and they said that when they told me to 'push' I had really understood how to do that in the effective way so they were impressed.

I needed an episiotomy, and have a tear on my rectum.. maybe because he was quick to enter the world, I was feeling tense at that stage, his hand was up near his head or my positioning on my back, but really I didn't care. I was in utter disbelief when he came out. I had done it! We had done it!

The midwives and students were incredible. They spoke to me at length about why I teared, the decisions they made about why they cut me (I had started to bleed even before he was crowning as i was still tight) and even said 'I hope this doesn't stop you from coming back to have more babies!'. Even though they didn't get a chance to read my birth preferences (most of my labour items didn't make it out of the bag) they asked before everything and we did immediate skin to skin, delayed cord clamping, Blake cut the cord, dim lights the entire time, and they all spoke really quietly. And I continue to use my calm breathing while I recover in hospital now.

I hope this helps (please feel free to ask me any questions) and a huge spectacular thank you to Rosie and this class. I know I was only able to have my calm, confident, and positive birth with becoming educated and practicing all the exercises in this course. I had you all in the back of my mind hoping to do you proud.
​
And all I can say now is...

You've got this. 

Ingrid and Blake and Rufus xxx 

Prior to having a baby I was PETRIFIED of birth and while pregnant with Lorelai it made me sick to my stomach to think about how I was going to give birth. I went along to the hospital run birth preparation classes and went home crying after almost every session. However during the pain relief session the midwife mentioned Hypnobirthing and I was immediately intrigued. Having a pit in my stomach about the hospital options for pain relief I knew I had to find another way so I went home and researched this hypnobirthing thing and found Rosie.

When meeting Rosie I immediately felt at ease and felt as if she genuinely wanted to help me. By the lunch break of the first day I was excited and looking forward to my birth and by the end of the two day (spread over a week) I felt empowered, excited and calm about my birth. I felt as though I had a greater understanding of my body, tools to help me through my labour and a real  partnership with my husband about delivering our baby girl.

I had hoped for a water birth with no intervention but unfortunately I was required to be induced due to hypertension and low fluid around bubs. So as Hypnobirthing teaches I surrendered to whatever turn my birthing took and I prepared myself for the induction.

I had the catheter balloon put in the night before and the morning of Lorelai's birth had my waters broken and the syntocinon drop started just before 10am and less than 7 hours later my beautiful baby girl was born. I had a calm, positive and unaided natural birth with less than 4 hours of active labour. I cannot thank Rosie and Hypnobirthing Australia enough for the amazing program that absolutely transformed my fear to faith, giving me the most incredible respect and understanding of my body and allowing me to have such an incredible and positive first birth experience.

Caitie, Nick and Lorelai

​Hi Rosie,

How are you? We have been super busy as you can imagine with welcoming our beautiful baby boy, Fionn (pronounced Finn) Anthony, who arrived on September the 20th at 9.35pm. Fionn is a rare boy already, being among the small percentage of babes who arrive on their estimated due date! This was unfortunately due to having to be induced, as the fluid around him was really low and although we advocated to stay at home for an extra few days, sniffing clary sage, walking constantly, getting our lovely midwife to do a stretch and sweep at home to move things along, drinking raspberry tea and lots of spinning babies moves to try and turn him as he was posterior- we had to be induced on the Friday as the risk was too high.

Both Jimmy and I are stoked to say that although things didn't play out as we expected, Hypnobirthing still saved the day! Most importantly, it gave us tools to use during birth and ensured that we, as a birthing team were really in sync throughout the whole process. Jimmy was the BEST birth partner, even the midwife said afterwards that she felt she had nothing to do until the big show at the end because Jimbo "had it covered". Such a show off! Although, the staff were incredible and had gotten to know us as a couple and knew we had done hypnobirthing, so really supported us to make informed choices, especially when navigating some of the more bureaucratic parts of the system. They were kind, caring and gave me the hard word when I needed to 'hold it together'!

Let's not stray from the true heroes of the story though, Fionn and my body working together to get the job done. Due to all the practice I had done with the affirmations and meditations, I was able to stay calm despite having to have continuous monitoring and being in hospital from start to finish, which was not part of my preferences or how I had imagined my birth going. Despite this, I overcame my fear, and we were able to set up the room how we wanted, with music, low lights, my clothes from home and we got really active, moving around, utilizing the props available (ball, yoga mat, shower, bed, windowsill etc) in the space and feeling confident to do so. We advocated to turn the beeping on the machine off, as it was anxiety provoking and Jim helped me navigate moving the IV drip around, so much so that I didn't even notice it was attached to me by the end!

The TENS machine was a life saver for the earlier part of birth, I had a lot of back ache so it was a great distraction and tool to use. However, I had to ditch it as baby had to have more monitoring (I guess that's how it goes.) I was able to overcome this by getting in the shower and using other positions and mainly my kick arse frame of mind, being able to breathe through surges, knowing they had a peak and then they would end, if only momentarily. I also hugely relied on Jimmy during this part for comfort and encouragement, I wouldn't even let him have a dinner break!

The birth was intense from the start, I feel like I didn't get a warm up but I think it was because my body and Fionn were ready, so the surges came hard and fast. It was physically and mentally exhausting but having Jimmy there and the midwives, and for the last part, my super mum, helped so much. I felt in unison with my body and Fionn and knew when my body was in transition as I felt Fionn turn to an anterior position and move down. The midwife thought I would be hours away, but I knew it was closer!

Then came the baring down, but I will call it pushing, because I got super active and pushed and pushed, with control and from deep within myself! It was awesome and like nothing I have ever experienced before and I made a sound I had never heard before! I had used gas a little bit up to this point, but the midwife told me to ditch it. The Doctor was there standing by to intervene in the last stage, but after about 40 minutes, she knew she didn't need to be there, I was going to do it. With Jimmy on one side and my Mum on the other, egging me on, I pushed my beautiful boy down the birthing canal and into the world! I knew the sensation of crowning, as a burning one or the 'ring of fire', so I knew the head was coming out. With the guidance of my midwife, I was able to exert control and push him out slowly to prevent a tear and with a 3.3kilo baby I don't know how it was intact, but it was!

I have an amazing photo our lovely student midwife took of the moment Fionn, Jim and I meet for the first time! It captures the emotion in so many ways that words cannot. I had a preference to try for a physiological third stage, but due to being induced already, I thought, what's another bit of syntocinon in my thigh to move things along. That came out nice and easy, not that I cared because I was already breastfeeding my son for the first time and having lots of skin to skin.

Thank you so so much for everything, everyone at the hospital in Warrnambool rave about the 'hypnobirthing' parents they get coming through, about how empowered they are and how they achieve a 'positive birth' experience due to the shifted state of mind and epic teamwork that comes from going through this journey together.

We are exhausted now, we were so focused on the birth that we almost forgot the (worthwhile) challenges that lay ahead on the other side! Breastfeeding is incredible but has been difficult so far and the lack of sleep is something else, but all is worth it for the little love of our lives!

Thanks again,
​
Love Jim, Hayley and Fionn

​Getting pregnant after what felt like an eternity of struggle with infertility, was so very surreal.

I look back now and can hardly remember it. It went way too fast. Such a blur. It never felt real, and to be honest it still can’t believe I am actually a mum?!?

But that can be for another story...

My Belly Birth

Being an older pregnant woman wasn’t easy. There was way too much interference. nothing would get past the doctors and carers looking after me.

If I was 10 years younger, I would have absolutely had a homebirth with a private midwife.

I had a lot of idealistic dreams when it came to giving birth. Especially as it was such a long journey of infertility and IVF is such an unnatural way of conceiving. I just wanted to at least be able to give birth to my baby vaginally/naturally.

By 36 weeks the docs were not letting anything go unnoticed. She was still breech and not budging.

I tried everything to get her to turn!!! 37 weeks and little miss wasn’t going to bloody flip.

​I knew then what was coming.

A caesar birth was booked in for two weeks time.

I surrendered to the universe and to my baby, that she was calling the shots, and had to give up my fight.

I broke down that night and grieved the birth, that I would never get to have.

Especially that this will be our one and only bubba.

I had done all the right things in the lead up to this moment too.

Ate extremely well, walked daily, acupuncture & hypnobirth classes.

​So I revised my birth plan to a caesar birth & listed all my preferences, so I could give my little bubba the best start to life I could. And I still had a faint bit of hope, that in that two weeks, my baby would turn...

More acupuncture, Moxa, inversion stretches, even a wonderful private hypnosis, one on one for spinning babies...

But D day came, ever so quickly, and I was a numb ball of anxious, excited and shitting myself mess!

One thing reassuring in this whole process, was my beautiful midwife and birth support Rosie!

Somehow she wrangled her way into the surgery room with us. And for this, I will be forever grateful!!!

I didn't cope well at all through the whole process. I'm just such a sook and hate Hospitals, (due to too many traumatic operations as a child). And I suffer from a major needle phobia, (yep even after 6 years of IVF!) so you can imagine my joy with a crowbar drip shoved in my hand, then them trying to put the spinal in!!!!!

Well we got there and we finally got our little angel out safe.

I did nearly check out mid-way through, it was so full on and went from feeling pain, to numb, feeling like my entire guts was being pulled out, nausea, then headaches from all the drugs.

Sorry I hope this isn't turning anyone off the idea?!

I never got that euphoric moment when I got to push my babe into this world, but hey I got my babe, and that's all that matters in the end.
​
I have heard some women that loved there caesars and that's the only way they would go. Hats off to them, and all you beautiful mummas out there! You all did something amazing!!

I was truly so blessed to have Rosie right behind me the whole time, talking me through it and encouraging me to keep going. Thanks to her too, we got to do things like seeding and delayed cord clamping. Not to mention the most amazing photos of the whole process. Huge thank you Rosie, you're one in a million.

We got our little breechy bum out in one piece after a bit of interference, they were going to have to take her away, for respiratory assistance.

All I wanted was skin to skin, and Rosie helped them let me do this.

Amazingly as soon as she was on me, all her vital signs returned to normal. And there was no way I was going to part with her from that moment on. She stayed on my chest for hours, we were stuck together with her first poo and I didn't care one bit.

​I had my baby, safe, well and absolutely perfect.
​
My little miracle

​​Cleo Honey Elderfield
03/10/18
Weighing just over 3kgs.

​Where to begin my birth story? Well technically the journey began in a little café in Waurn Ponds when I was 7 weeks pregnant. My husband had arranged to meet a woman he found on the internet to discuss our birth options. The “woman” was of course Rosie Fitzclarence, and the “random internet search” turned out to be the most fortunate stroke of serendipity. Rosie, in her beautiful way and without any bias, explained all the options available to us, and we walked away from that fortuitous meeting deciding on the Geelong Maternity Group (GMG) at Epworth. Unfortunately we decided we probably wouldn’t be needing Rosie’s services as GMG already had such a great team of midwives, so we said our thanks and left it at that.


Weeks passed and I was living in the land of “preggie brain” and I honestly couldn’t think beyond anything greater than my protruding bump, when a beautiful customer came into the store I worked with her gorgeous baby boy. We got into a deep discussion about her birth journey and she mentioned Rosie was her birth support and how she couldn’t have gotten through the most difficult parts without her.  Then another pregnant customer randomly mentioned to me that Rosie was her hypnobirthing instructor and birth support woman, and how comforted she felt under her care. I didn’t need any more signs. We booked Rosie that night.


We chose to have the Hypnobirthing Australia™ classes in the privacy of our home in Aireys Inlet, and I 100% attribute my calm and easy attitude towards the approaching birth to these classes. All my questions were clearly answered and Rosie’s honest advice helped us to make some difficult choices, particularly when coming up against the conventional medical system whose methods may not be in line with our desire for a natural birth.  So there we were, armed with our meditations, salt lamps, candles, essential oils, acupressure points, playlist and birth plan. I was equal parts curious, excited and apprehensive.


Fast forward to the 2nd of December, aka “D Day”. I was having what felt like period pains and I knew something was happening. I went for a long bush walk with my dog, treated myself to a massage, ate dinner, had a bath and hopped into bed feeling a little disappointed that things hadn’t kicked off. That night I dreamt that my baby was posterior and that my waters broke. I awoke to my waters actually breaking in bed. I quickly hustled my husband out of bed and we frantically made up my hospital bag and jumped in the car headed for the hospital. On examination, the midwives concluded that I had a premature rupture of membranes, and that I should go home and get some rest because whatever happens (induction or not) this baby was on its way. So that’s what I did. I slept. Ate some grilled cheese on toast. Went to the supermarket. Twiddled my thumbs. Watched Netflix. To say I was having a surreal day is an understatement.  I was having a complete “failure to launch” experience.


My obstetrician called and informed us that I would be induced at 24 hours and it was strongly encouraged that I get the intravenous AB as I was GBS unknown. This scared us into action. Out came the Swiss ball, the sage essential oil and the acupressure point “cheat sheet” and BOOM! At 21 hours post membrane rupture we had lift off! It was 10pm.


The contractions began strong and fast. There was no gentle build up with long extended beaks that we had been expecting. It was almost as if the ‘failure to launch’ was really a flood gate keeping at bay the power of those surges, and once those gates began to open, all that built up energy radiated from my back through to my front and literally took my breath away. In fact, the pain was so intense and isolated to my back and pelvis I knew my baby was posterior, and this frightened me. After 2.5 hours of labouring at home, we decided the contractions were too strong and close together, so we made the decision to leave for the 30 minute drive to the hospital.


That drive will be etched into my memory forever, as it is the closest I will ever get to being shot through time and space. Memories come back to me in flashes. I remember opening my eyes to see my husband driving and timing my contractions. I remember pulling up on the seat handle with each surge (which were coming every 2 minutes and lasting for 45 seconds by this stage). I remember seeing the ocean, a field, street lights and the turn off sign to the hospital. I remember stumbling into the hospital with the help of my husband and the security guard. Falling onto the bed (I could only lye on my side, any other position was agony). I remember Rosie running in, putting her bag down and coming straight to my side to hold my hand. The room was completely dark except for the phone torch the midwife Jo (AKA “Head Torch Jo”) used to examine me. My amazing obstetrician walking in and coming straight to my side to whisper encouraging words into my ear.


My birth plan requested that I have “minimal examinations”, the theory been that it might discourage me if I wasn’t as progressed in labour as hoped. However, I was sure that I had transitioned either during the drive, or when I walked into the hospital and swore to high heaven that the baby was posterior. In retrospect, this was probably my “fear moment” (the moment when I wanted out), so I really wanted to be checked for progress. My obstetrician was sure that I wasn’t far along and was therefore hesitant to check. At 2am (4 hours since the beginning of active labour) I was 9cm dilated! All five of us laughed! Me, Rosie and Phil cried tears of joy! This was the greatest news I had ever received (besides finding out I was pregnant). And I was right, my baby was previously posterior, however my obstetrician said she watched him swing around to the favourable occipito-anterior position during her examinations.  


For the next three hours and 15 minutes I put my head down, breathed and let my body intuitively ride the contraction waves. The only pain management I had was the gas, and it helped me to breathe deeply through the surges. My husband was by my side the entire time administering ‘light touch’. There was no sound other than my deep primal groans and the gentle words of encouragement coming from my team.  At 5.15am, just as the sun was rising, I gave birth to our magical baby boy Jamieson. And that’s when the adventure really began.

Em, Phil, Jam and Moggy (the dog!)                                                          

​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.

Hi Rosie

We welcomed our little girl Heidi into the world on Wednesday morning. She is the most beautiful little thing, and we can’t take our eyes off her. 

I thought I’d also let you know how my labour went. :)

I went into labour on Tuesday night waking up with just mild bleeding and cramping around 2.30am. I called the midwife and she told me to come in just for monitoring and to check out the bleeding, she was confident I wasn’t in labour yet as I must have sounded too relaxed. So I had a shower, washed my hair and took my time getting ready just in case we needed to stay.

It was all very relaxing, the surges had started to come in more frequently and by the time we drove to the hospital around 4am they were already quite frequent and I had to concentrate and breathe through them. We arrived and I was monitored for a good hour, all looked well and surges slowly increased their intensity.

I laboured for a couple more hours changing positions and listening to relaxing music, and at 7am I started to feel the urge to push. I hadn’t had an internal exam at this stage, but I wanted to know where I was at, and if the baby was coming.

​Luckily, my obstetrician gave me the clear to go ahead as I was fully dilated. The pushing phase was quite tiring and definitely hard work. :) 

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​A big part of what my labour was like is thanks to you and what we had learnt during our hypnobirthing course, so thank you!!! Incredible and powerful stuff can happen when the mind is calm and body is relaxed. ​

Back to cuddles now soaking up the Heidi love. <3

Thanks Rosie.

Love
​
Natalie & Jeremy​

​Hello Rosie!

Me and Richard are just checking in to introduce you to Woody, who was born last Sunday, a week early! He’s a funny little thing and we are completely smitten with him!! We wanted to say a massive thank you to you and let you know that attending your classes was the best decision we could have made. We know for sure that our hypnobirthing tool kit made a HUGE impact on my pregnancy and labour. Here is our labour story!

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My waters broke at 3am on Sunday morning and very shortly after it was game on! There was no panic, Richard was calm, I felt calm and Richard Immediately knew to put on the MP3 tracks and set up the lounge room with the exercise ball, Yoga mat, keep the lights low and get the tens machine up and going. 

We called the hospital who agreed to let us stay at home and I listened to the hypnobirthing tracks and followed the breathing exercises we learnt from you. I used visualisations to imagine my cervix opening and my uterus as a big balloon being squeezed down. The surges were getting more and more intense and I was completely dependent on Richard being there and holding me through each one. He was so prepared and knew exactly what to do, his ability to keep me calm and remind me to focus on my breath was amazing. After 4 hours of breathing through surges it was time to go to the hospital. 

At 7:30am we arrived at the hospital with surges being around 3 min apart. We were taken straight to a labour room. 

We had asked for no CTG monitoring if possible and would prefer to have checks with a doppler. We had also asked for minimal vaginal examinations and did not particularly want to know the dilation in cm’s until full dilation.  I really feel that being assertive and informed on presentation to the labour ward helped. At one point the obstetricians had been whispering to one another whilst I was in the room and I asked them to please involve me in any discussions or at least not whisper. Following this they asked me If i wanted them to leave me alone until I waited for my CMP midwife to arrive, which was helpful. 

I continued to focus on my breathing and listened to the tracks, having water sprayed on my face was a life saver! The lavender aroma diffuser was quickly turned off as it made me want to vomit and the headphones didn’t last long in my ears and soon got flung off, we played the tracks on the phone instead. 

Our CMP midwife arrived shortly after and she was familiar with our birth preferences. We also had a 1st year midwifery/nursing student who came along too. At this point, surges were coming on thick and fast, there was no time to think about filling a bath, getting in the shower or asking for water injections or gas. I just breathed through them getting Richard to hold me tightly from behind or leaning over the ball. There were times were I lost control and panic set in but with my team around me, being held by Richard, water being sprayed on my face, cranking the tens machine and being constantly encouraged was getting me through it. At one point I did accidentally electrocute myself with the tens by turning it up full instead of off! Richard says that your course helped him be part of the birthing team. 

At 11am, 3 and a half hours after arriving at hospital, I had my first vaginal examination and I was fully dilated. I couldn’t believe it!

The next 2 and half hours of transition were a bit more... ‘intense’ ha! I initially had tried to use bearing down techniques but after little progress and the clock ticking (turns out the hospital don’t like you to push for more than 2 hours before intervening) I had to do some serious pushing. I think at this stage panic had taken over and I had lost control. The surges were intense, and I was worried about obstetricians hovering and clock watching. Had I been able to relax the bearing down breathing may have worked but it wasn’t an option for me. It took me about 30 mins or so to get the pushing technique right, getting the breathing right and knowing exactly where in my bottom to push to. My midwife really helped me with this and after 45 mins or so I was getting the hang of squatting and pushing and progress was being made although still quite slow. My babies head was only mm’s away from crowing and I had gone over the 2 hour mark. The obstetrician was in the room and forceps/ventouse was looming. My midwife was able to advocate for me, I was on the CMP program and had been meeting with the same midwives throughout my whole pregnancy. They knew we had taken Hypnobirthing classes, they knew our birth preferences and gotten to know us as a couple. My midwife believed in us and was able to advocate on my behalf and negotiate more time. I was given extra time to push, on the condition that I lay on the bed with the CTG monitor in place and a heart monitor be place on the baby’s head. Our students help and having an extra set of hands at this point was unbelievably helpful. I continued to push from the bed and progress continued. 

The obstetrician asked me to put by legs in the stirrups which would help me push which I, hesitantly, agreed to. I felt that this was one step closer to intervention and I didn’t trust this request at all. However, this worked and by pushing my feet against the stirrups my babies head crowned. The obstetrician was right, this did help me with the final push. 

I pushed my baby out and they placed him in my arms. Nothing prepared me for what happened next. Richard described it as someone had given me a huge bag of drugs. I had this overwhelming surge of pure euphoria, kissing and cuddling him, cracking jokes with the hospital staff, feeling no pain or even slight discomfort and being so wide awake and alert!