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...

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share my beautiful birth story with you and express my gratitude to Melissa for such a wonderful life-changing course!

My water broke on my 38th+3 week, but I had no surges at all, which was concerning. My doctor and midwifes had to insist on inducing me due to a higher risk of infection.

I was quite upset as I know that these kind of inductions can be harsh/intense, and me asking for epidural would most likely be the next step in this cascade of interventions.
I asked them to give me a chance and let me induce it naturally at home within 12 hours. I tried clary sage oil, partner’s light touch and long kerb walking and finally started experiencing tightening sensations. They were quite inconsistent but the intensity was getting higher and higher with each surge. And, oh my God, the surge breathing made a HUGE difference! I unintentionally went through a couple of intense surges with no proper breathing and I thought to myself, I simply...