HypnoBirthing® Practitioner – Ellie Robison Shares her Birthing Day with Us!
Angus’s Home Birth – 23.10.14 @ 2:16 am– 8.1pounds
When I was in my first trimester with my second son Angus, I met a couple through my HypnoBirthing® practice that was home birthing when they moved back to New Zealand. Hearing about how their care was going to be provided once they moved back to New Zealand, intrigued me and also made me feel a little bit jealous, I kept thinking to myself I wish I could do that. I had considered homebirth through my first pregnancy although I was quickly shut down by anyone I spoke to about it, as most people are under the misconception that homebirth is risky. However, this pregnancy though I decided that I was going to educate myself further on how I can have my baby in the comfort and privacy of my own home. Then I stumbled across the homebirth Queensland website and saw they had a support group in Brisbane where one of the mothers recommended Deb a lovely midwife. Meeting with Deb basically sealed the deal with me on home birth, in my head I still felt like I was doing something quite out of the ordinary but Deb immediately made me feel like home birth is the most normal and natural way to have a baby.
The rest of my pregnancy was like a dream from that point as I felt so at ease. I started working on my birth space and gathering all the things I needed for the birth and I also started creating a positive birthing mindset though self-hypnosis, mediation and visualisation. I didn’t have a birth plan as such but I kept telling myself that I was going to have a birth that was long enough to enjoy but not too long that I got exhausted. I also anchored into my subconscious that every time I felt my husband, Marc’s touch any pain would disappear. Feeling his love and touch while Birthing made so much sense to me it was like a full circle completing itself with pregnancy beginning and ending with love. I found some beautiful big circle mandala throws that I hung around the house to remind me of the full circle of love in my pregnancy and birth. I also visualised my baby coming very easily through my hips and in the perfect position for an easy decent. To add to the great mental state I was creating, I had the most uplifting and empowering blessing way, where my friends encouraged me and helped instil faith within myself to birth the way I wanted. I felt super excited, prepared and supported about my impending birth. Every time I felt any sort of negative thoughts, I consciously made sure to replace it with an affirmation or visualisation for the birth I wanted to have.
The morning of the day I went into labour, a package containing glass bottles and a wrap carrier I had bought for the baby had come in the mail from the states and they were the last things I needed for Angus and I remember thinking well I can have this baby now, I’m ready. Not long after I felt a small amount of fluid leaking, I ran to the toilet and let Marc know that maybe it wasn’t a good idea for him to go to work that night. However the fluid stopped and being so busy with an almost 3 year old, I had totally forgotten that I had leaked. Marc went to work and I went about doing what I normally do without giving birth a second thought. When Marc is at work I normally have a small snack for dinner but that night I felt like cooking myself a big steak with veggies. It was after dinner when I was doing the dishes I realised I was having small tightening sensations. I didn’t think much of it and I had a shower and hopped into my bed with my son, Aarre. Around two hours later after a much denial I realise I was in labour and I was so glad that I had a big nourishing meal; my body must have been trying to help me prepare for impending labour. Although the sensations didn’t intensify in pain they were certainly coming quicker. Around 8:30pm I rang Deb to give her a heads up and also Marc to let him know he should probably come home.
For the two hours before my husband got home, I spent that time cuddling Aarre and listening to the rainbow relaxation. In a way I was grieving, as I knew things would never be the same for him and I. He was feeling sick so he was extra cuddly and tired so he was just lying there with me and I was so grateful for that peaceful last time together, just the two of us, that I wasn’t even paying attention to the tightening sensations I was having. When Marc arrived home from work with my father in law, I told them both that I would I would be having the baby very soon and he would probably be here by the morning and my father in law stated that he didn’t think so, as he thought I looked nowhere near ready to having a baby. He left and then Marc, Aarre and I got stuck into getting the birth pool organised at around11pm. Somewhere in that time my son had snuck off to bed and missed the pool being completely set up, which was a shame as he was so excited. All the while my tightening sensations now felt more like period pain and were starting to get even closer together. I rang Deb again and told her what was going on but I told her not to rush, as I had no real pain but the sensations where getting closer together, however Deb decided to come anyway. I felt no need to time my contractions as I knew I had no where else to be so I didn’t see the point, the baby would come when he was ready and my body would let me know when it was time. The tightening’s where getting stronger although they were still quite manageable and I believe they were this way because every time I had a sensation, my husband would give my skin a light massage and this was relieving the any pain due to what I had been telling myself throughout my pregnancy about his touch relieving my pain. Deb arrived not long after 1pm and I answered the door all red in the face, she looked at me without saying a word and I then ran to the toilet to vomit as a wave of nausea hit. Although I have taught so many couples about the transition period in birth though Hypnobirthing, I failed to register that I was about to be fully dilated and ready to birth my baby.
Deb still said nothing about where I was at in labour, she just checked out my blood pressure and babies heart rate and let me go about my birth. I had a blow up mattress beside the birth pool and I felt like I needed a little nap, so I laid down for what felt like 20 minutes without a single sensation, but I really have no idea how long it was. I think my body was resting for the next stage of birth and I really appreciate that my body gave me that precious gift of rest as your body really does what’s best for you in birth when you are relaxed and in the right state of mind. While I rested Marc was busy lighting candles, burning lavender oil and getting some music on and then all of a sudden laying there I got the strongest pulling sensation yet and I felt the need to hop in the pool and I remember saying to myself “great this is just the beginning” as it was only then that I started to feel things really starting to happen. I started feeling really tense and my husband and Deb reminded me to take deep breaths. My husband hopped in the pool and I immediately felt myself ease up, I think being in the pool without him and way from his touch was starting to affect me. After a few strong surges, I felt the head come down and begin to crown and all around my perineum began to feel numb. I couldn’t believe that I was almost at the end and then Angus’s head come out completely and I had the most unbelievable sense of relief, one little nudge at 2:16pm and his whole body was out and I had caught my baby myself in the water just as I had been imagining for months. I then got out of the pool and laid on the blow up mattress cuddling and starting to breast feed my precious boy and I was in total shock, most of my labour I was in some kind of denial that is was happening and then all of a sudden he was here. Marct hen came and cuddled up with us on the bed and admired me and let me know what a great job I did and then asked when we would be having another!!! Somewhere in that time Rangimarie the second midwife snuck in within the last ten minutes of the birth and her and Deb then got with their after birth duties.
I was on a high after the birth, I couldn’t believe that I had done it and with so much ease and my body felt so fantastic. Marc was my rock and I couldn’t of done it without him, he went into an instinctual mode where he just knew what to do without having to ask me anything, which avoided distracting me from being within my birthing mindset. I think it takes a real man to know what to do for his women when she is birthing and our home birthing experience has strengthened our bond as husband and wife incredibly. Even though Deb was only there for around an hour before I had Angus she was so instrumental in my dream birth. Things started to pick up when she got there and I think Angus came so soon after her arrival because I felt completely safe when she arrived and it is what Deb didn’t say that made all the difference while I was birthing. Like myself Deb had no time schedule for this birth so we where both on the same page, there was no need for vaginal exams and she did time my contractions briefly but didn’t feel the need to inform me of my process as we were all just going with Angus’s lead and he would come when he was ready. Deb’s care before and after the birth was second to none, I could not have found a better person suited to me, to help with my birth of Angus. I loved hearing Deb’s stories about her other births with other mothers. She described them to me as being so easy and beautiful that I truly believed that if I birthed with her I would have the same outcome and I did thanks to her easy-going but very nurturing attitude towards the birth process.
Before I knew it, I’d birthed the placenta and Marc, Angus and I were cuddled up in bed. Deb and Rangimarie had cleaned everything up and we were in bed asleep by around 4am and then around 6am Aarre came into our room to meet his little brother. It worked out perfectly that he got to wake up once everything was cleaned up and packed away to meet his new little brother in the most peaceful way. That day I was up and walking around feeling like I hadn’t even given birth, Angus’s easy decent had barely left an imprint on my body. Feeling so good within myself made the adjustment to having a newborn in the house again so much easier. Marc’s mother and father, step dad and our niece arrived soon after and they were all ecstatic that the first home birth baby in the family arrived so quickly and smoothly. I’ve still got a grin from ear to ear. Angus’s birth has changed me as a mother and a woman as I now feel so much pride in my ability to carry, birth and nurture a baby that everything this time seems so much more effortless. Breastfeeding is going great and although we have some late night feeding, Angus and I are so in sync and so in love already and I believe it’s due to the way we first met at home in peace and at our own pace.
Ellie Robison is one of our wonderful HypnoBirthing® Mongan Method Gold Seal Practitioners from Brisbane, QLD.
Ellie is also an Certified Hypnotherapist
Visit her website: http://www.mandalabirth.info/
My name is Ellie Robison and I’m a certified Hypnotherapist specialising in HypnoBirthing®. I did the HypnoBirthing® the Mongan Method program before the birth of my first son and I found that after the program I went into my birth full of confidence, knowledge and a sense that I was giving my son the best possible start in life. I loved the program so much that as soon as my son and I were settled, I studied to become a certified HypnoBirthing® practitioner.
HypnoBirthing® not only gave me a beautiful birthing experience, it has spilled over into all areas of my life… I have learned the power of what your mind can create and the possibilities are endless. I have now gone onto to be become a certified Hypnotherapist so I can help facilitate change in other peoples lives in other areas.
Recently I had another awe inspiring birth with my second son Angus. This time I was empowered enough to have a home birth, which was pain free, speedy and in the loving arms of my husband. Much of my pregnancy I envisioned mandala’s which to me are a symbol of pregnancy begining and ending in a perfect circle of love. My latest birth and pregnany inspired Mandala Birth.
My goal is to ensure as many women and their partners have a truly magical birthing experience. I want my clients to approach birth completely fearless and totally excited to have the easiest, safest and most natural birth and it is very achievable.
{Qualification Details}
• Certified Hypnotherapist with the American Board of Hypnotherapy
• Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner with the HypnoBirthing® Institute
• Full Member of the International Institute for Complementary Therapists
