Bee & Indy's story x

Hi Hannah, 

We have been meaning to message but haven't found the time! 

River was born at 7.20pm on 9th September. He decided to be 10 days overdue and eventually made it out through an unplanned c section after a 48 hour labour. Honestly, it wasn't the birth any of us planned for but Bee's positive mindset and dedication to staying calm throughout was incredible to watch and we have you to thank in part for that. 

Bee had lots of false starts in the last few weeks of pregnancy after his head engaged at 36 weeks. Unfortunately he got a bit muddled up and engaged in the OT position very far down very early so all of Bee's hard work getting him far down ready for birth wedged him in further. We got to experience it all - Bee started proper labour late on the Sunday night, by lunch on Monday we went into the birth centre at Winchester (no home birth midwifes avaialble) but came home again as despite being 3 in 10 Bee was only 2cm dilated with a super thin cervix. Monday night the home birth midwifes came to us and Bee laboured with them for a few hours at home but the midwife knew something wasn't quite right so blue lighted to the labour ward in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Bee was given pethedin to have a break as we were already on the second night of very intense labour, but afterwards Bee got stuck at 6cm and waters had been broken for 24 hours so the oxytocin drip was administered. Bee is my hero, even at this point they were still breathing through contractions without gas and air! 

At around 5pm on Tuesday Bee went into second stage but the midwife took a final look and found that Bee was only 6cm, despite being able to touch his head, he was completely stuck on the wrong side of the cervix and had brought it down with him. The only way out was back up so in we went for an unplanned section 2 hours later. Honestly, knowing what we know now he was always going to come out that way, we just didn't know it.

I think 3 weeks later we are beginning to recover and settle into things. Bee is full-time pumping at the moment as he failed to latch after all the drama, but we are getting there every day. There is some healing to be done, but the birth was, despite all the drama, a generally very positive experience and hypnobirthing saved us on many occasions throughout. 

Here's some photos to show you some of the story and how he is settling into life on the outside in our family of 5.

Indy xx

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you again for our hypnobirthing sessions, the techniques were invaluable and I feel it would have been a very different experience without them, certainly more anxiety provoking and as a result probably moremedicalised. 

I hope sharing the story will help others to get a sense of how hypnobirthing helps. 

Bee xx

Welcome baby Poppy!

Dear Hannah, 

I hope you're well? I just wanted to write and let you know that our daughter, Poppy, was born on Sunday 22nd June weighing 8lb 2oz. 

It's safe to say that nothing really went according to any of the plans A-F that we had... but she was safely delivered by c-section having got herself wedged. I was induced, by the balloon, on Thursday and she arrived on Sunday morning at 42 weeks! We were able to have skin to skin and lots of my preferences were honoured as much as possible, which was great. 

Thank you SO much for all of your guidance and support with the hypnobirthing as, despite having more medical interventions than I ever thought I might need, we had a positive birth experience because I was able to remain calm and 'in control' throughout. Olly knew how to bring me back when I thought things were going a little crazy. Poppy only had two decelerations throughout all of her hours of monitoring, which the team were really surprised at, and I'm sure that this was as a result of the breathing and my mindset. She was clearly very happy in there! Eventually, having dilated to 7cm, we ran out of time making progress but I was just relieved that she landed earthside safely. This morning we have been discharged by the midwife as she's back up to her birth weight. Please see pictures attached. 

My scar became inflamed, so I'm on antibiotics, but otherwise recovering well and glad of the cooler temperatures. 

Huge thanks again, and hopefully see you one day again... in a few years!

Best wishes,

Pip, Olly and Poppy 

Welcome baby Enys!

Hello Hannah, 

We just wanted to let you know that our baby boy Enys Sidney was born on Tuesday morning weighing 9lbs exactly.

He was delivered via c-section, and even though I had planned for a vaginal water birth, I wanted you know that all of your techniques helped to keep it magical and I’m really happy with the birth experience I had. I felt calm throughout, and able to advocate for myself when I felt that an induction was not the best approach for us or our baby. The hypobirthing has also come in useful in the days after with breastfeeding and lack of sleep by just helping me to relax generally. 

We honestly cannot thank you enough! 

Best wishes,

Katie, Ross and Enys xx

Baby Lucas's calm birth

Hi Hannah, we’re doing well thanks.

I ended up having a long labour of 45 hours and a natural birth with only gas and air. I was on Rushey Ward (the birth centre) but got a bit stressful towards the end as they thought he might be distressed so rushed us down to labour ward.

Everything we learned with you was so helpful and gave us a realistic idea of what to expect!

Lucas was born on 17th January, so he’s almost 5 weeks now. He’s gaining weight well, but doing lots of cluster feeding which leads to painful gas and a refusal to sleep unless someone’s holding him. It’s been exhausting, but also very joyful ☺️ x