Like any other day

Monday the 29th of October started off as any other normal day. I woke up early to practice surges, so I sat up (as I’d been doing the last week as they got more frequent) and did some surge breathing until they passed.

After Anthony went to work I decided to take a nice warm shower and do what would be my last beauty routine for a while.

Throughout the day the practice surges became more frequent from every hour to every half hour and I noticed I was starting to lose more of my uterine seal (I’d been losing it a few days prior).

I continued to do surge breathing and decided to call our midwife at 3pm to tell her what was happening. She told me to keep going on with my afternoon as normal and let her know if anything changes.

I decided to take a nice warm shower and do what would be my last beauty routine for a while.

Is this really happening?

By 4pm my practice surges were coming 10mins apart and it was starting to feel more intense. I kept thinking to myself ‘is this really happening?!’ but was trying not to get too overexcited just incase it fizzled out.

We had some dinner and went into our lounge room to watch something on tv whilst still timing the surges until we went to bed at about 9:30pm. Our bub had been sitting posterior so I had been wearing a belly band every day for the last 2 weeks to try and encourage him to move, so I was keen that night to keep it on as long as possible.

I decided to try and get some sleep which proved difficult as my surges were 3-5 minutes apart. At 10:30pm we called our midwife again and she spoke to Anthony on the phone.

Being that my surges were still sporadic she suggested to try and get some sleep and call her if anything else happens.

Again, I try to settle down and go to sleep, Anthony gets out the mothers practice script and reads to me as I continue with calm and surge breathing.

Rebozo, side lying and surge breathing

After that we put on the rainbow relaxation track and I try to settle down again to sleep but I find that it’s not comfortable laying still.

We called our midwife again around 12am and she suggested we try some rebozo sifting, forward leaning inversions and abdominal lift and tucks as I explained the surges were in my back as bub was posterior.

1am rolls around and my surges are 2-3 minutes apart, Anthony calls our midwife back and she decides to come over and observe me.

She arrives at about 1:30 and has a feel of my belly.

Just as we suspected bub is still posterior so she does some more rebozo sifting through surges and side lying release to try and get bub sitting in a better position.

I continue with surge breathing throughout my surges and things seem to be progressing nicely.

I continue with surge breathing throughout my surges and things seem to be progressing nicely.

“We’re going to have a baby!”

It’s starting to get later into the night and our midwife suggests she does an internal exam (which I consent to) just to see where things are at.

By 3:30am she thinks it’s time to head over to the hospital.

Anthony gets all our things packed into the car and we arrive out the front of emergency at 4am. Our midwife meets us at the front entrance and we head into birth suite Wisteria.

Anthony runs around putting up the birthing posters I’ve made and gets my music set up to lady gaga which plays softly in the background. Our midwife has run the bath and I hop straight in.

I remember saying to Anthony “we’re going to have a baby!” And feeling so excited and crying with joy. I stay in the pool until around 6am and then I feel the need to move around.

Anthony runs around putting up the birthing posters I’ve made and gets my music set up to lady gaga

Getting baby to move

After walking around for a little while I decided to get into the shower on the exercise ball.

Around 11am my labour had rested as bub was still sitting posterior.

Throughout the rest of my labour we did a lot of spinning babies through surges (side lying release, forward leaning inversions, abdominal lift and tucks, lunges and rebozo) anything to encourage bub to move around.

Eventually, after trying every spinning babies technique our midwife suggested we think about releasing my membranes to see if that would encourage bub to move down.

We talked about the pros and cons and we decided it was the right choice for us to (hopefully) kick start the surges again. Sure enough not long after they were released surges started again.

I hopped back in the birthing pool but after a few minutes decided to get out as I was getting dizzy (lack of sleep will do that!). I ended up on the birthing stool but again felt too tired and got up half reclined on the bed.

Throughout the rest of my labour we did a lot of spinning babies through surges.

Focusing on relaxing

By 5pm bub had made his way into my pelvis and I felt the need to start pushing. I was so exhausted that my surges weren’t as strong so I had to work really hard and push rather than breathe bub down.

However, between surges I was able to focus on relaxing my body down so everything was soft and limp. I was also really focused on catching bub as he is born. At 6:17pm Raphael Jensen Appleby entered this world in a calm and dimly lit room with Jack Johnson’s On and On playing softly in the background. Our beautiful HypnoBirthed baby.

Words from Dad

I went into HypnoBirthing with a negative outlook. All I knew was the name and it seemed like a strange hypnosis type of class. Upon sitting down and listening to Brooke and what was involved and how I could actively participate in my baby’s birth, I definitely changed my mind. I said to my wife this is something we need to do and I stand by that choice. I’m glad my wife wanted to do it to. The experience and training through HypnoBirthing was absolutely amazing. I always mention it to expecting parents to see if they have heard about HypnoBirthing and let them know it’s definitely worth looking in to. I’m sure without doing this course my sons birth would have turned out very differently. Thanks to Brooke and her HypnoBirthing classes my wife was able to stay calm, make informed decisions and got the birth she wanted. I cannot say anything negative about HypnoBirthing, it’s definitely worth it.

A huge thank you to Claire and Anthony for sharing their gorgeous and inspiring birth story. I appreciate my couples taking the time to share their honest experiences with others. B x