This
is just a sample of the wonderful birthstories we are receiving....
Hi
Helianthe,
Ella's birth was the most beautiful experience of my life! Absolutely
amazing!
It went really well and was a quick one for the first baby (six and
a half hours). I woke up at 5:00 am on Friday and had a "bloody
show", then a little later some random contractions came on. They
felt stronger than the braxton hicks I had experienced before so I knew
it was the real thing. They continued throughout the day, but they weren't
real strong or regular so Rick and I just hung around the flat eating,
reading, watching TV, and I even gave myself a facial and painted my
toes (not easy to reach as you can imagine!). Then, about 2:00 pm. the
contractions became regular and were about 5 min. apart. The midwife
came and took us to the birth center. We had the place to ourselves
so it was very private. They have a small garden where Rick and I walked
around in circles (must have done more than 50 laps!) I would just hang
onto Rick during the contractions and then continue walking. The midwives
said the walking would help my cervix dilate faster and it seemed to
do the trick.
At about
5:30 the contractions got more intense so I got into the birthing pool
where I stayed for the next three hours until Ella was born. I listened
to the tapes, and practiced my breathing and relaxation exercises between
the contractions. All of the techniques helped me stay really relaxed,
which I think is why the birth progressed so quickly. I went through
transition in about 15 minutes and then I felt ready to push. I pushed
for an hour, which surprised me because but it really only seemed like
about 15 minutes. I did most of the pushing in the pool on my knees
with my arms and head supported by Rick on the side of the pool. The
pushing was very painful, but I never felt like
it was unmanageable or that I would need pain relief.
When Ella came out, the midwife caught her and handed her to Rick and
he brought her out of the water. I laid back and he put her on my tummy
after he announced that she was a girl. She laid on my tummy for maybe
45 seconds while the fluid naturally drained out of her lungs (they
didn't even suction her). Then she took a deep breath and made a little
yelp- she was so relaxed that she didn't even cry.
As you can imagine, we just adore her and sit and marvel at her all
the time. It's hard to remember what it was like without her! She's
a really sweet baby- rarely cries and is calm and alert when awake.
She sleeps really well- goes down with us between 10:30 and 11:30 and
waking around 2:30 and 5:00 and then every hour after eight. The midwives
say she is an efficient feeder because she gets what she needs in about
10-15 minutes. Thus, I have been able to get nearly eight hours a night.
I just hope this will last!
Thanks for leading such a great hypno-birthing course. It really helped
me achieve the childbirth experience that I wanted for me and my baby!
Katie Vasicek
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Carl & Stine's Birth Story
Daniel was born six days after his due date on 6th of December 2004
at 19.25. His birth was a wonderful experience thanks to the hypnobirthing
techniques.
I
started having surges in the morning approximately 10 minutes apart.
Carl and I got up and started doing the 20/20 breathing. The surges
were slightly painful before I got up, because I could not concentrate,
but when I focused on what we had learned at the course and what we
had been practicing at home the pain disappeared. Carl made a big packed
lunch and we checked the bag to bring to the hospital. At lunchtime
the surges were 5 minutes apart and we rang the hospital. They advised
to come in if I could not manage the surges, but it was not a problem.
We went for a walk instead. Carl got a bit nervous about the whole thing
and he told me in the middle of the street to breathe the baby out.
I told him it probably was not the best place for that!
We
arrived at the hospital at 15.00 and went to the birth suite. The midwife
had not heard about hypnobirthing, but she could see we knew what we
were doing and left us alone most of the time. We had a midwife student
present throughout - she was amazed about how relaxed the atmosphere
was. She got the job of getting ice water and keep the CD going.
An hour after arrival my water broke and soon afterwards I went into
a trance like state pretty much up to Daniel's birth. Carl was invaluable.
Without his prompts and shoulder press I could not have done it so easily.
Unfortunately I relied on him so much, that I nearly panicked when he
was not by my side and the poor guy never had a chance of getting anything
to eat. So much for his packed lunch!
I
started having the urge to push at 18.45 and 40 minutes later Daniel
was born. Seeing him for the first time was unbelievable and the whole
experience was amazing for both Carl and I. I did not really experience
any pain during labor except stinging in the last few minutes before
Daniel was born. I was in control during the surges and able to focus
on relaxation, and as soon as Daniel was born I was ready to do the
whole thing once again. Daniel is a content baby, feeding well and sleeps
well between feeds at night, so much so that we are already looking
forward to give him a brother or sister sometime in the future!
Thanks
Helianthe for helping us have such a relaxing and joyous birth!
Love
Carl, Stine and Daniel
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Dear Helianthe,
We
are extremely happy to inform you about the miraculous arrival of our
baby boy Alexander. That was unbelievably easy and comfortable birthing.
Waters broken at 5 a.m., that I went back to sleep and woke up at 7:15
because of surges (very mild surges). I remained in bed and we chatted
over different things. At 8:15 the interval between surges became 7
minutes and each surge lasted for 1 minute, so we phoned our midwife
Maddie. When she arrived one hour later the surges were already with
the interval of 2-3 minutes each lasting 1 minute. Surprisingly I felt
no discomfort at all, just mild tension. I was easily coming back after
each surge and we discussed whether we are going to the Birth Centre
or staying at home.
Having considered all risk factors we decided to stay at HOME (and that
was the right decision). At about 10 am went to the toilet and felt
really strong and very painful surge. At this moment I started panicking,
thinking that this is it, this is the real birthing starts, and now
this pain will be there for at least several hours (Mikhail felt absolutely
the same, he came to me wishing to help me back to bed). 
While I was in the toilet Maddie and Rachel (midwives) quickly unpacked
birthing matte and covered everything with disposable sheets. On my way
back to bed I had to stop and get on my knees, as I had a strongest wish
to push. I was expecting the midwives would tell me not to push and breathe,
but they kept saying that everything is OK. So one push - and Alexanders
head was born together with one of his hands (he was holding his ear).
Another push - and Alexander arrived to this world. 16 minutes later
placenta was born. I had no bruises no nothing. I was absolutely shocked
by the ease and comfort of the process (it seems to me now that till
the very end I was not 100% sure that this is possible at all).
Mikhail
was absolutely delighted. He also was not expecting everything to be
so perfect and great. Alexander is one week old now. He is a very calm
and smiley boy, sleeping and eating a lot. He almost never cries (only
when I change his nappy). Anna was at home and came to see her little
brother just 20 minutes after he was born. She adores Alexander and really
likes to spend time with him, showing him toys, talking to him or singing
to him.
We would really like to thank you for everything you have done to make
our experience unforgettable and just perfect.
Sincerely,
Elena, Mikhail, Anna and Alexander
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Beverley Turner & James Cracknell: Our Experience.
Beverley:
Helianthe's
hypnobirthing gave me a birth experience that I could only have dreamt
about. Like all women I was anxious and uncertain about what to expect.
We were aiming for a natural birth at London's Birth Centre but everyone
kept telling me it was a ridiculous idea and I should go for the drugs.
I was determined to prove them wrong and I did! I was in the middle of
writing a book about Formula One and knew that being laid up with a caesarean
scar would be very debilitating. As it turned out, I gave birth at 9.30
am and was back home, watching the Grand Prix and taking notes by 10pm.
The next day I went for a walk to the river.
When
my waters broke I was calm and confident that my body would do exactly
what I needed it to. I stayed at home and began cleaning like a mad woman.
As the evening drew on my tummy felt tighter but not at all painful because
I was so relaxed. James and I watched TV in front of the fire with lots
of pillows. The midwives had been round and checked on me once but I
wanted to watch the end of Sex in th City and said I would call them
if I wanted to go to the Birth Centre. It was all very instinctive and
I firmly believe that is because of the Hypnobirthing training. The midwives
knew that Hypnobirthing mums give birth much more quickly but accepted
my decision totally.
Finally
at 3am I called them and we went into the Birth Centre where I got in
the birthing pool. We played the hypnobirthing tape over and over and
in my notes I apparently said "This is bliss." James wasn't
as well-rehearsed as I would have liked (I have made him suffer with
that ever since) but he counted my breaths and turned the tape over.
I did get very tired towards the end but when I got of the bath in order
to get gravity on side our little boy appeared pretty quickly. Because
I was relaxed and because I had spent a few hours in the water, I didn't
need any stitches and had no tearing whatsoever. Croyde fed well and
was a lovely calm baby (he is less so now...maybe Helianthe can do some
hypnosis on a boisterous 14 month old!!)
I
will never give birth any other way. It was a revelation and I'm afraid
I have become a bit evangelical about it. I recommended Helianthe to
a friend who had had a terribly traumatic time with her first - lots
of intervening doctors and an emergency c-section. She has since had
a beautiful big baby girl completely naturally at home and is elated
by her experience - all the doctors had told her it wasn't possible.
My ante-natal pals also suffered a myriad of complications as a direct
result of meddling doctors and their own - understandable - anxieties.
Over half were given c-sections.
I
cannot recommend Hypnobirthing enough. I even find myself doing some
of the breathing techniques when I am about to broadcast on TV or Radio!
The relaxation skills are very useful in everyday life.
James:
When
Bev said she wanted to do Hypnobirthing I was very sceptical. You might
think that as an athlete I would believe in the power of the mind but
I needed some convincing. The main problem with our lessons with Helianthe
were Bev's giggles. She couldn't stop laughing and on a few occasions
she had to go into the garden to get it out of her system. I had hoped
to be able to put her in a trance every time I needed a shirt ironing
but no luck. The lessons themselves were great for me too as I got to
have a lie down and do some deep relaxation. As I had normally come straight
from a training session on the river I quickly fell asleep. But it didn't
matter - although Bev was embarrassed by my snoring. I was away a lot
during our pregnancy but Bev listened to the tapes and seemed very relaxed
about the whole thing. I realized during the birth that I wasn't as well
prepared as I should have been and felt bad about it. At one point I
asked bev if she was ok and she growled back "Don't ASK me if I'm
ok, TELL me I am!" She was more annoyed with me than with giving
birth...tip for the dads...do your homework. it will make your lives
a lot easier and your partners birth much calmer. I was so proud of Bev
and the way she kept in control throughout. I held her head in the water
for about 4 hours and all the callouses on my hands peeled off. It hurt
like hell when I got back in the rowing boat. Bev said it served me right
for not being better prepared. Next time I will try harder and we will
certainly do the training again. I think it is understandable to be nervous
and I expect that Bev will need to have any negativity erased again.
People are always telling us their horror stories. Helianthe's service
actually went beyond the hypnobirthing and she ended up giving us an
afternoon of marriage guidance when the stress of the pregnancy, me being
away and the looming Olympics all came crashing in on us. Bev was struggling
to explain how she was feeling and I wasn't doing a good job of listening.
Helianthe gave us a safe, objective space to discuss our concerns in
and it worked brilliantly. We owe her and hypnobirthing an awful lot.
_______________________________________________________________
Hi Helianthe
Just a quick note to tell you that Julia give birth to a 6lb 12 oz baby
girl named Jessica three weeks early on 2nd Dec. Mother and baby doing
very well.
We went to hospital at 11.00am, with Julia very cool calm and collected
to find out that she was already 6cm dilated, at 1.29pm she said that
she wanted to push as she had been very calm through her surges, suffering
almost no pain whatsoever, our little girl was born at 2.44pm with 4
stitches, no cuts and no hassles, the placenta was delivered naturally
after almost one hour and she had NO drugs, NO pain relief and everything
went REALLY well.
She attributes her easy birth to attending your hypnotherapy classes
and learning how to let her body take control of the birthing process.
I am sure that she will send you a longer email herself shortly after
the house move but we just wanted to thank you for all your help and
to HIGHLY RECOMMEND your course to ANYONE thinking of having a natural
birth.
The midwives were superb in fact they were even proud of the fact that
she had an all natural birth and on several occasions stated that they
"wished all pregnant mums were like you, so calm and collected".
Thanks again Helianthe, will be in touch again soon
Regards, W. Paul Liggett
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Hi Helianthe
We had a beautiful baby girl on Tuesday 27th April. She was 6 days early,
born at home and I didn’t have any pain relief.
My labour start in the early hours of Monday 26th April. It was all fine
and I used the hypnobirthing breathing techniques to manage the surges.
I went to get my legs waxed when I was having surges every 5/6 minutes.
Sue who did the leg wax couldn’t quite believe it but I had this
real thing about not giving birth with hairy legs. Anyway she was amazed
how calm I was at the time. To be fair though the leg wax was worse than
the surges at that stage!
By 6.30pm labour was well established and Becky arrived at 7.15pm. I
was really starting to feel the surges but kept breathing through them.
As the labour progressed I kept up the breathing and listened to the
hypnobirthing tape and tried to do the visualisations.
It did become a bit painful towards the end and I did yell a bit! When
it came to actually
delivering the baby it was amazing. I started pushing and didn’t
really feel very much then I gave a huge push and felt her head being
delivered. Becky told me that with one more push the baby would be delivered.
I gathered my breath and pushed and her little body just dropped out.
When I saw her for the first time it was just awesome. The cord was cut
and the placenta delivered 10 minutes later and then Becky ran us a bath
and the baby and I got in it together, I had her cradled in my arms and
she was so calm but alert it was just such an incredible experience.
Becky & Rachel tucked Adam, Amber and myself up in bed and left about
3.30am. I couldn’t sleep as I was so excited, I spent the rest
of the night awake just watching her.
Amber is just over 3 weeks old now and she’s really thriving. I
often think about the labour and delivering her and I am so delighted
it went the way I wanted it to. So many people go on about what a bad
birthing experience they had and I feel very proud to be able to talk
about mine in such a positive manner.
Hypnobirthing helped give me the confidence, belief and techniques to
be able to have that wonderful experience and for that I want to thank
you for sharing hypnobirthing with us. It made the birth I wanted a reality.
Hope to see you at some point in the future.
Love, Carole, Adam & Amber xxx
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Hi
Helianthe
Thought
I’d send you my story – thank you from the bottom of my heart
for making my
birthing experience a very happy one. I believe that the hypnobirthing
techniques helped on 2 levels – The first to help me cope with
the pain and the second, to allow me to communicate with my baby and
help him on his passage. The picture was taken as he had just been placed
on my chest and taken his first breath – amazing! And to top it
all – I have an angel baby – he is so relaxed and happy being
a mother is a breeze – I’m so
lucky.
Thank you ! Ali xx
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Hi
Helianthe,
I went into labour six days after Leonardo's official 'due' date.
I woke that day at 6.30am with lower back pain - a bit like menstrual
cramps. The discomfort started to come and go at regular intervals and
this is when I realised that active labour had begun. I can only assume
that I had slept through early labour.
Marco awoke and I asked him to put on some water for a hot water bottle
which I held to my back and this went some way to alleviating the discomfort.
Marco then put on the rainbow relaxation cd and I concentrated on the
deep breathing. The most comfortable position for me was standing up
where I was able to start really concentrating on what was happening
and relax.
At about 8am we left for the hospital which was only a 5 minute drive
away. Once there Marco dealt with the paper work and I stood leaning
over a table, breathing up every surge whilst the baby's heartbeat and
my surges were monitored.
At about 9am we were shown to a room and here I was only vaguely aware
of a number of people around me as I was concentrating on my breathing
and what was happening to my body. I found it really helpful to almost
'go into myself' and picture moment for moment what was going on inside.
I kept tellng myself that all of these new sensations were
perfectly normal and that I should just go with the flow! I found the
opening rose imagery really useful at this point and I kept willing my
cervix to open.
At 9.30am
the gynaecologist visited me whilst I was standing since this was the
position I felt best in and she told me that I was already 8cm dilated
so it was high time to move to the delivery room.
By 10.00am the tub was ready and as I slipped into the warm water and
the weightless sensation that the water gave me was amazing. My back
definitely felt the benefit. It was at this point that my waters broke
and I felt like a deflated ballon - fantastic!
I was truly comfortable bobbing about regaining strength between the
pushing/breathing down stage - in fact I was so comfortable that when
the mid-wife suggested that I might like to try the birthing stool to
speed things up it took me at least 1/2 hour to convince myself to get
out.
Whilst in the tub the midwife sat in front of me taking Leonardo's heartbeat
at regular intervals (which showed no sign of stress) and Marco sat behind
me, reminding me to relax.
Every time I breathed down I let out an instinctive birthing cry that
I'm convinced almost deafened the mid-wife and initally gave Marco cause
for concern as he thought I was in pain - I wasn't - the only downside
was a hoarse voice and sore throat once it was all over.
Since the birthing stage was taking quite a while I did eventually decide
to get out and try the stool. Marco sat behind me and applied the light
touch massage to my lower back which was wonderful. The midwife placed
a mirror on the floor so that I could see the head. In fact things at
that stage started to move fast so I was invited to get back into the
pool which I had to waddle to as Leonardo was now very low in the birth
canal.
Once back in the water it only took 3 pushes for Leonardo to shoot out
at 12.54 pm - 6.5 hrs after I started to feel the first surges. He was
immediately placed on my chest. Marco then cut the cord.
My perineum was intact except for a very small internal tear and I had
no stitches.
I can definitely say that I had a wonderful birth experience which was
made possible thanks to the hypnobirthing course and undoubtedly the
support and courage that Marco gave me both leading up to and during
the birth.
If I can give any advice to future mums I would say be prepared to really
listen to your body - these are new sensations and it helps to remember
that your body is just doing a job that it was programmed to do; choose
the most comfortable position for you - whatever it might be; remember
to breathe correctly - it is crucial.
Tanya, Marco and Leonardo.