The Birth of Esmé
Abby! Just wanted to let you know our news- I gave birth to our beautiful baby daughter, Esmé, this morning at 10:57- her due date!!!
We had THE most amazing labour & that is without a doubt down to you teaching us Hypnobirthing & its wonderful techniques. We stayed at home after my back waters broke on Sunday morning, pretty much carrying on as normal, checking we had packed all our bits & pieces to create a relaxed atmosphere for birthing our baby in hospital, watching films, going for a walk etc. the night before I’d had a long bath, with candles & a final listen of our Hypnobirthing CD, I got mild surges through the night & then a trickle of waters the next morning which I continued to lose steadily throughout the day.
In hospital, we started things off with our upward breathing exercises with every surge & within an hour it felt like things were really progressing. Although I hadn’t planned for any examinations, I was intrigued about how fast I was dilating in my relaxed state & so asked for an examination. We were 4cms & they could see Esmé’s head of hair! We went straight to the water birthing pool at St James’s, Leeds, where the room is well equipped for hypnobirthers. Twinkling fiber lights on the ceiling, a huge pool, flower photography on the walls, dimmed lighting & candles etc.
As surges progressed Oli talked me through each one, coaching me to breathe in & longer breaths out. We chatted & joked in between.
The midwife was present but kept herself to herself, respecting our birth plan & wishes, & for some of it was reading a book in the corner- it was still reassuring to have her there & she was a big advocate of water births & Hypnobirthing techniques.
I kept active sometimes walking round the room out of the pool, as the pool was making me a bit too relaxed! & surges progressed more & more. Oli kept reminding me about my visualizations for upward breathing, blowing feathers into the sky & heading off on my magic carpet to my relaxing secluded beach! It did end up being a bit of a longer labour than we were expecting but that was down to being asked to go into hospital as waters had broken but no surges in nearly 12 hours. Saying that, I wouldn’t change any of the experience we had, we just kept telling each other we would be meeting our baby soon & being excited about that.
I breathed our baby down in 4 pushes in about 45 minutes, arms around Oli, whilst I was on all fours swaying my hips in the pool! Esmé’s body came out quickly after her head & we were able to bring her out of the water together to discover her gender! Esmé weighed 8lb13oz, a weight I would’ve been scared of birthing before taking your course, but everything was just perfect, “our baby was the right size for my body”! She is an amazing feeder & latched on herself within the hour for a first 2.5 hour feed!
The staff in hospital were all amazed at how calm we both were throughout our entire labour & birth. I didn’t have any drugs to relieve the surges, & just was pleased we could keep everything natural.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for giving us such a valuable education into Hypnobirthing, techniques that we will continue to be able to use for our future births & in life in general – I had an anxiety attack in August I was able to breathe my way out of using some of your breathing techniques.
Hypnobirthing made me feel empowered, educated & informed- thus making me a happy mummy to my now calm, perfect & relaxed baby girl. I have so much respect for you & what you have taught us both. I feel like (I know this sounds cheesy!) we have achieved something amazing as a couple through Hypnobirthing & its a magical moment we will always treasure! I couldn’t have done it without Oli & I’ll love him for that forever!
Sasha and Oli, Leeds