Julia and Julian welcomed their second son using HypnoBirthing the Mongan Method. You can read about Julia’s first birth HERE.
What a day!!
It was the 17th of June and I was 40+6 weeks and ready to have this little bubba!
At around 8am my membranes released but only a little bit. I got a bit excited knowing THIS was going to be the day. I went back to bed (Julian and I were tag teaming with naps as our son Joe got up way too early that morning!)
Around 11am it didn’t really feel like things were shifting into gear so I planned on going for a good walk and seeing if that helped.
I didn’t walk for as long as expected as things definitely got uncomfortable and I felt like the baby was really, really low now and making me waddle like a giant penguin.
At 1.30pm I knew needed to be by myself for a bit as I could feel some changes happening and I wanted to see if they were surges or not. I was feeling a little too scattered in a noisy house so I shut myself up in our bedroom. Half an hour later I decided that yes I was in labour but the surges were so sporadic; some intense, some quite comfortable, so I didn’t really know what was going on.
We organised for Joe to be picked up and within that half hour or so of waiting for Grandma to arrive my surges were confusing me so much that I didn’t know which way was up or when the next one was going to happen. I would just lean over the bed and try breathe as slowly as I could.
By 3pm Julian and I had the house to ourselves and instead of jumping in the bath, I felt like I needed to go to the hospital sooner rather than later so by 3.15pm we were in the car, I turned on the HypnoBirthing track and instantly felt calmer knowing we were on our way and it was happening!
My eyes were closed pretty much for the whole drive up until we reached the hospital reception desk.
For the next hour I was being assessed by the staff to see if I was qualified for a waterbirth. My surges grew more intense but I was managing them ok with deep breathing and some light touch massage by Julian.
I was hanging out to get into the hospital bath (I’ve been wanting a bath ALL DAY) and thankfully I got the green light to jump on in. The staff called in the only nurse on duty that day who was trained to do water births and her name was Marci, now affectionately known as my Water-Birthing Fairy Godmother! Haha! She was exactly what I needed!!
When she arrived I had already made myself quite comfortable in the tub and was immensely enjoying the deep warm water while also eating handfuls of raspberry bullets. Haha. I must have been going through that transition phase were the surges had stopped and the pushing was yet to start.
Marci came in, crouched down by the bath and introduced herself to me in the calmest loveliest voice! She was a breath of fresh air and I loved her straight away! Within minutes the urge to push started and in the most gentle way she started guiding me through the process and encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.
I had that familiar feeling of my legs shaking uncontrollably with each push and I just held on to the hand rails in the bath and rolled with it. There was only about 5 or 6 really big pushes and then I could feel the little bubba’s shoulders make their way out and instinctively I reached down and pulled out my baby and brought it up to my chest.
I cried (and I think I wailed) in amazement while Marci helped unravel the umbilical cord so I could get a better hold. I lifted up my little baby and discovered that we had a boy!!!
Little Leon Handford!
His entry into the world was simply amazing.
So quick and efficient! So smooth, so natural and completely free from any kind of fear, worry or pain. All up the whole labour lasted 3 hours. That was it!
I was helped out of the bath whilst still carrying Leon and for the next few hours we were pretty much left there in the birthing suit to enjoy him and take it all in.
3 weeks on, he’s doing great. He doesn’t stop feeding, he clamps on for dear life and prefers his milk served to him in a 7 course degustation instead of single long feeds.
He loves being in water just like me and the poor dude has already learned to suck it up with having an older brother who doesn’t stop touching his ears, kissing him, laughing at him and poking him.
What I have learnt through HypnoBirthing is to go with what feels right with your body. For me focusing on my breathing and remaining calm with my eyes closed, helped a lot. I also loved that I let all the important women in my life know that I was in labour and I asked them all to light a candle for me during those 3 hours. It made for a beautiful visualisation and all the supportive texts and messages that came pouring in were absolutely beautiful and Julian read them to me just before Leon was born (while I was munching on those bullets!)
Without HypnoBirthing I don’t think I would have had the confidence in my body’s natural ability to birth without pain nor would I have been able to focus clearly on what I needed to do. Even in the confusing or intense stages I was calm and that ultimately is what I think made for such an awesome experience.
Thank you Michelle for all your help, I feel like the cleverest lady ever to have had the pleasure of two incredible HypnoBirths.
Julia Handford
Julia and her husband attended HypnoBirthing classes with Michelle Clift from The HypnoBirthing Collective
