Our home hypno-waterbirth

• I inflated my imaginary balloon
• The pool was instantly relaxing
• I suddenly realised I was pushing
• We marvelled at our new member

After an unpleasant hospital birth with my son Matthew, I was determined to have a better experience second time round. So, we opted for a homebirth and took hypnobirthing classes to prepare us. We hired a heated birthing pool and decorated our spare room as our 'birthing room', with dark womb-like colours (one red wall and the rest sort of pale lilac). I hung pictures of some of the images that are used in the hypnobirth visualisations.

I woke up at about 3.40am on 10 August with a strange tightening sensation across my lower tummy. This had actually happened the previous day too, so I didn't think too much of it. I did need the loo, so got up and went. They continued to come, but it was nothing strong, so I practised breathing through them, inflating my imaginary balloon. Pretty soon I had to go to the loo again. This made me suspicious, as I remembered that having a 'clear-out' can be a sign of early labour. When I got back into bed Tom asked me if I was OK. I explained I wasn't sure it was labour but that I was going to get up and make a cup of tea. I went downstairs at about 4.15am and phoned my doula to see what she thought. Since I could still talk through my surges, she thought I was in very early labour and that she would try to set off for home by 6am.

Tom and I continued talking and joking, with me concentrating on breathing with each surge. I went to the loo, again! We got out all the hypnobirthing prompts and it said if labour started during the night we should try to rest, so I suggested maybe we should go and lie down and put the rainbow relaxation on. At about this time the intensity did seem to pick up a bit and I put my arms round Tom's neck and head on his shoulders during each surge while he whispered relaxing prompts in my ear.

We lay down on our bed together on our left sides and as we listened to the relaxation in the background the surges got stronger and it was a bit uncomfortable. Tom was holding my hand through each, helping me to relax by whispering in my ear. At the end of the 35-minute relaxation I told him I wanted to get into the pool. I had a couple of powerful surges as we walked through to the other room that were quite hard to deal with. Getting into the pool was instantly relaxing, as the water supported and comforted me, especially as I had been using it for relaxation over the previous three weeks. Tom phoned our doula to ask whether she thought we should call a midwife now. She agreed and we rang delivery suite who said they would send someone to us.

At this point my son Matthew appeared out of his bedroom. I was making moaning noises during each surge as I concentrated and he held one hand while Tom held the other. He looked a bit concerned, but I was smiling and relaxed between them and he didn't seem too bothered. Tom decided he'd better unlock the front door for the midwife.

Tom was talking to the doula during pretty much the next contraction when I suddenly realised and announced that I thought I was pushing. She said that it was too early for that and to try not to. During the next surge the phone went and it was the midwife to say she was on her way. Tom didn't say much to her because I was making loud noises involuntarily at that point. I wasn't in pain, but the intensity made me want to cry out. Suddenly my waters went with a massive pop and I immediately felt the baby's head move all the way down and start stretching my perineum. As the surge passed it slipped back, but the feeling of exhilaration and excitement was amazing. I knew she was coming and very soon.

Within three surges her head was crowning properly and although the stretching was a remarkable feeling it was not painful either. My body was working hard and with each surge I called out quite loudly. Tom remained close by continuing to encourage me to go with my body and breathe the baby down. I didn't push actively, but let my muscles do whatever they wanted to. As her head crowned my body suddenly stopped pushing, so it came out slowly and smoothly.

It took two more surges for her body to be fully born gently into the pool, 20 minutes after I'd got in. She was pink and alert and cried almost immediately. We rang the delivery suite and they told us to stay in the pool with her head just above the water on my chest. After about 10 minutes I started to worry about the colour of the water so we rang them again and they advised is to climb out and wrap up in towels. We could then see that I was hardly bleeding at all. After another 10 minutes or so a midwife arrived, a little surprised to find a baby!

It took over an hour for the placenta to come away naturally and the irregular surges were actually the most uncomfortable part of the whole experience. Our daughter remained in skin-to-skin throughout and I encouraged her to breastfeed, although she didn't want to latch on. The midwife suggested I stood up to see whether that would help the placenta come away. The baby finally suckled for just a couple of sucks and I also twiddled my other nipple for good measure. With one enormous surge it fell on my feet, which was disgusting. After all that I had only one small first-degree tear that didn't need stitches. After the mess was cleared Tom brought Matthew upstairs and we all marvelled at the new member of our family: Rhiannon Mair.

Read the full story here!

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