Midwife Emmeline shares her twin birth

As a midwife, I struggled to let go during the birth of our first child. I was mentally present for the whole 60hours of our induced labour. I made clinical decisions and was constantly monitoring the wellbeing of our unborn child. As a consequence I felt like I was at work and my husband felt alienated. When we found out we were pregnant again (with twins!) I knew I needed to attend my labour/delivery as a mother, not as a midwife, so we decided to attend hypnobirthing with Sarah. It was the best decision we made. Nothing went to plan towards the end of the pregnancy and during the labour/delivery, but the techniques taught by Sarah enabled me to maintain calmness throughout. I was confident everyone involved was aware of my birth preferences, so I could just stay wrapped safely in my happy place, thinking about my babies and how everything would work out the way it needed to. I was totally prepared for anything that arose (and so much did!), everyone who cared for me was perplexed at how I managed to stay so calm and relaxed. Though seemingly traumatic, our labour/delivery/postnatal period was controlled by us and we look back on it fondly. We now have two gorgeous boys (who also remained totally relaxed through the whole journey!) and will forever be thankful for Sarah and the techniques we learnt from her. We always looked forward to our sessions, Sarah was able to gauge what we needed and tailored our learning. I was worried about misinformation (as had attended questionable antenatal classes with our first child), but I was impressed with Sarah’s knowledge and the content of the wise hippo birthing programme. I would recommend Sarah to anyone who wants to be in control of, and enjoy their birth, even if the journey to that birth is so far removed from that which is planned.

Birth story

I was due to be induced on a Wednesday at 37+2wks due to twins. On the Tuesday I saw my midwife for a sweep, but was sent to the hospital for high blood pressure and swelling. On admission I was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and was taken straight to the labour ward to have my waters released. The team caring for me was aware I was hypnobirthing and of my preferances, so I was left to mobilise and listen to my mp3’s whilst awaiting my surges. The surges never came, so I was started on syntocinon to encourage labour. The anaesthetic team came in and were having a debate with my midwives and husband – the anaesthetists were strongly recommending I have an epidural ASAP ‘just in case’.  I was visibly comfortable and my husband was aware I would make it clear if I needed any extra support, so the epidural was declined (it was offered another 5 times in the 4 hours following!!). My surges rapidly increased in frequency and intensity, but I was so calm and relaxed. They were manageable and I was enjoying myself.  The syntocinon was at it’s highest level and my surges were strong, long and regular. I was examined, and despite my wonderful surges, my cervix was not thinning out and opening as expected. After a review by the doctors, they were so concerned about my pre-eclampsia, (I had started to shake a bit, indicating I may start fitting) they started me on a drug called magnesium sulphate. Whilst on this drug they needed to restrict my fluid and record my output, so a catheter was inserted.  Once the catheter was in, my surges were followed by an intense, unnatural feeling which took a lot more concentration to breath through. After 4hours, I was due to be examined again, there had been no change in my cervix and they concluded that it was due to my high levels of swelling. An epidural was performed (with my consent) and the plan was to wait two more hours and examine again.  There was still no change in my cervix, and my blood work was severely abnormal so the decision was to perform a caesarean section. This was not what I wanted, but I remained calm and relaxed, knowing it was the best thing for me. The caesarean was an ordeal as they needed to top up my epidural twice (I could still feel when my abdomen was touched), but it still didn’t work. They told me I needed to have a general anaesthetic, but at the last minute a consultant anaesthetist attended and was able to site a spinal block. Our two boys (we did not know what we were having) were delivered in perfect condition on the Wednesday morning. Interestingly, the babies were entirely relaxed and ‘happy’ throughout the whole labour – even though my body was not cooperating, I feel like my mind kept those babies safe through internal communication. Our postnatal period was challenging, with several readmissions due to uncontrolled blood pressure and infections. I also needed a blood patch for a post dural puncture headache. I felt like we were thrown so many challenging curve balls, but it was all part of our journey, and I managed to deal with each obstacle as it arose, remaining calm and relaxed throughout thanks to the techniques taught by Sarah. I hate to think how I would have dealt with it all had I not trained my mind to ignore the negative and concentrate on the positive. We now have two delicious additions to our family and could not be happier.