My Hypnobirth Story

Zara Maeve born 29/10/20 at 2:49am. 2856grams and 47cm long.

I decided to sign up to the hypnobirthing Australia course online early on in my pregnancy as I knew I wanted a calm and controlled birth experience (I had heard many good things about the course). I committed to listening to the MP3s regularly and practiced my breathing throughout my third trimester. I was feeling confident and ready going into the birth of my first bub.

My labour started just before 5pm last Wednesday with surges that felt like period pain. I had similar surges at 3am that morning but they disappeared and I didn’t feel any for the rest of the day until now, so I wasn’t sure if this was the real thing or false labour pains so I carried on with my evening.

I started cooking dinner around 5:30pm but I could feel that the intensity of my surges was definitely building and they were getting longer. Then I noticed I had lost some of mucus plug while I was pottering around in the...

I just wanted to share my experience with Hypnobirthing Australia. THANK YOU!!

I gave birth 3.5 months ago in the middle of the pandemic. We had planned a homebirth due to fear COVID-19 and at the time- not knowing how the virus was going to affect the hospital system in Australia. At 37 weeks - we made the decision to home birth with our group practice midwives. This was my second pregnancy. My first birth was through private obstetrics which failed us. A stressful delivery, no birth confidence which concluded in a NICU baby due to infant stress (meconium aspiration), and a domino effect of medical intervention including an epidural. This first birth left me with birth trauma, which impacted breastfeeding, and resulted in post-natal depression.

My second pregnancy I was determined to have a completely different experience. And opted to have give birth through a group practice midwifery. At 37 weeks, I started the hypnobirthing course, as I had decided to home birth and knew I...

37+5 days
On 9/1/20, I woke up around 5am with some water leakage. Since I came up Strep B positive, my doctor told me I would need to go to the hospital right away if my membranes released, due to an increase in infection if I waited. I wrote in the hypnobubs fb group at that time for some advice, so thank you to everyone who responded with suggestions! You guys were very helpful and supportive. 

I decided to go to doctor’s office to get checked, but he wasn’t able to confirm whether or not it was my membranes, so he told me I could go home and monitor. I continued to leak small drips for the rest of the day. On 9/2/20, I woke up at 4am to a gush of water running down my legs. Even though I would have preferred to stay home and labor, I knew I needed to go to the hospital because of the increased risk but I was prepared to accept whatever path my birth took. I went to hospital around 8am with my husband and doula. At that time, I was only having small surges so my...

Dear Melissa,

I wanna thank you with all my heart for helping me bring this beautiful angel into the world. Simon is my first babe and honestly my experience couldn’t have been better. I was a bit worried because I didn’t start my course until 8 months pregnant. I was scared I didn’t have enough time to practice. But I put in the work and rehearsed as much and I could and WOW!

10hrs of labor flew by quickly. I got into my bubble of calm and was able to handle it well. It was honestly like being carried away by a wave. At first you think to fight it. But once you give in and let the wave take you it’s so easy. Not to mention the surges only last a min or two. I kept reminding myself “I only have to handle this pressure for a minute” and anyone can do that. Affirmations plaid on loop in my mind and I stayed calm.

And then when time came to push I just gave in. I trusted my body and it opened up on its own. I pushed for 11minutes and out popped...