All Stories

Click on the links below to read full birth stories written by mums or scroll down to read the many comments from happy HypnoBirthing couples:

My Story

Lauretta’s story—A VBAC Home Birth

Catherine’s story

Vicky—never lost confidence in her ability to have a calm, relaxed birth

Hi Dany,

I've been meaning to get in touch with you for ages just to thank you again for your hypnobirthing sessions. They came in very useful a second round as we had a little boy, Reuben, six months ago. I have to say, hypnobirthing really worked for me this time. He was born at home and it was a really lovely experience, so different from the one I had with Hannah. I was so much calmer this time and it was so nice to have him at home on my own bed (Dan's side!).

It all started on the Friday morning, nothing more than period type cramps which were coming and going, nothing regular so I put these down to Braxton Hicks and even had a glass of wine that evening. I had a couple of cramps during the night but went straight off to sleep again. On the Saturday morning I'd had nothing at all and was getting a bit fed up thinking it was going to be another marathon labour like Hannah's. I'd been spotting since the Friday morning so mentioned it to the midwife who duly popped in. She said she'd give me a quick examination as I was over by 7 days again, and was shocked when she found I was 5-6cm! She left telling us to give her a ring if we got any regular surges. We had a bit of lunch to while away the time and I was started having fairly regular surges but they didn't feel strong enough that I wanted the midwife back, I found them all comfortable to breath through and the CD helped keep me relaxed. She came back later with another midwife and I was still happy to breath through them. I don't think she believed how far into labour I was and said that if I hadn't progressed when she examined me again she was going to think about breaking my waters. That's when she found out I was 9cm so left my waters intact. About an hour later I had a go with the gas and air (more for the fun of it as I'd enjoyed it so much with Hannah!). She then encouraged me on the bed (up to this point I'd been happy being upright) and onto my back which I wasn't too thrilled about. I overheard her saying to the other midwife that she couldn't understand why I wasn't pushing yet. I didn't say anything but stayed in my own little world nudging my baby along and after about 10 mins out popped lovely Reuben weighing 9lbs!

So hooray for hypnobirthing and a massive thank you to you.

Take care and thanks again from myself and Dan,

Vicki xx

Emma—short and sweet

This is a text that I've just received from one of my clients:

"Austin arrived at 22:34 on 6th. Midwife only just made it in time! Stage 2 - 9 mins, I woke at 21:30!" :-)

Jo Chandler—also wanted a different way of birthing her second child

This is a text that I received from Jo (she informed me that I was the 3rd person she contacted)

“HypnoBirthing Rocks!”

We then spoke later on that day and she told me that she had arrived at the hospital fully dilated and that the baby was born 10 MINS after she arrived.

Philly—first time mum (another one in a long line of my sister’s friends who have had great hypnobirths)

Hi Dany

Well, he's finally arrived!! Baby Albert arrived on Monday 18th May at 11.24 am following a pleasant birthing experience......

Period pain-like surges started at 5.30pm on Sunday, following a huge roast dinner, pudding and cheese and biscuits!! (my body obviously knew it wouldn't be fed for a while...). Every 7 minutes, then onto 3/2 mins from about 11pm. The breathing exercises worked a treat, even to the point of me sleeping inbetween surges.....Then at 3ish my waters broke - coloured with greenish tinge so knew it wouldn't be a water birth....advised to go to hospital rather than birthing centre and monitored. Baby ok, good position, 5cms dilated so kept up the breathing and Dan used his scripts which really kept me focused - I couldn't have done it without him, he was brilliant. Did use gas & air and although fully dilated and happily in control, midwives wanted me to push as babe was 'stuck' and they suggested the doctors would want to intervene, which I strongly opposed, as I had not really progressed for an hr.

Anyway, got going and birthed naturally, without drugs. It's taken a few days to recoup and get into my groove but breastfeeding well and enjoying every minute of my new role!!!

Thanks for your course and guidance - it has been money well spent and I have been telling everyone how it is the best way to birth. Albert is very calm and responds well to both Dan and my voices - he must have got fed up of hearing us and Marie repeating ourselves every night!!

Thanks again and best wishes

Julie Fordhouse—a different way of birthing for my second child

Hi Dany,

Hope you are well, I thought I’d write to let you know our baby girl Alexssa was born on 22^nd January, the birth was really quick and I only just made it to the hospital! I used the breathing and relaxation techniques and even had a sleep a few hours before she was born! I knew I was in labour that day but I was so relaxed at home I didn’t realise she was so close to being born, when we arrived at the hospital I still thought I had a few hours to go! I also relaxed and breathed through the contractions at the birthing stage so didn’t even need to push and had no tears this time (which was what I was worried about after having a third degree tear with my first daughter). She was born in the afternoon and I was back at home by the evening.

Thanks so much for making this birth a much better experience!

Julie

Helen Fricker—mum to Daisy and George—another wonderful birth!

“Wanted to say a big thank you for HypnoBirthing® again! It really helped me and the midwives couldn’t believe how strong my contractions were on the monitor when I was practically asleep during them! Will tell all when I see you but really thanks so much.”

Lorianne and Greig—Parents to Georgia

Hi Dany. Sorry it has taken so long to email you, Greig and I have been totally absorbed getting to know our little Georgia and we are totally overwhelmed and in love with her!

We wanted to share our birth story with you.

I started to feel some period like pains during the day and was not sure if these were labour pains or pre labour pains. Just in case we decided to get prepared and went to the shops to load up on snacks and drinks as I was having a home birth. Greig got the birth pool and birth room all prepared and ready.

At about 11 pm the surges started to get more regular. At about 1m the surges started to get more intense. I was sick a few times after a powerful surge. I was relaxed and used the hypnobirthing breathing and relaxation CD. Greig was brilliant at the light touch massage and it worked like a charm! At about 3am in the morning the surges started to become quite regular and were spaced about 3-4 minutes apart. We called the midwife team around 3.30 to let them know where we were and how I was feeling. I was not however ready for their response. There were no midwives available in the Borough to give us the home birth we so desperately wanted and had prepared for, all the midwives were busy delivering babies!!

We waited a little while longer to see if a midwife would come free and I climbed into the birth pool to ease some of the discomfort I was feeling which worked really well. The midwives rang us back to say that I would need to come into hospital as no community midwives were available. i could have freaked a little at this point but due to the breathing, focussing and relaxation I didn't and decided to just go with the flow.

We arrived at the hospital around 4.30am, upon inspection some 45 minutes later I was 7cm going on 8cm dilated and was in need of some gas and air to take the edge off the now intense surges

I had really strong urges to bear down but had to hold back as I was not fully dilated but baby was ready to come. This is where the breathing , relaxation techniques and gas and air really helped.

Once I got the go ahead from the mid wife that it was ok to start bearing down , I got myself into a good birth position and waited for the next contraction , 3 contractions later and Georgia was born.

Wow, what an experience!! It was the most incredible profound thing I will ever do and I did it!! Greig was in floods of tears. He was a wonderful birth partner who was sensitive to my needs and gave me the confidence I needed!!

Thank you Dany for showing us a wonderful way to bring our baby girl into this world.

lots of love Lorianne and Greig

Fiona Cummins—mum to Holly. Only 90 minutes of labour with just Gas and Air despite being induced!

Holly was supposed to be due Christmas day in 2008, however being stubborn like her parents and feeling too comfortable in my tum she did not budge and she was induced on Tues 6 Jan 2009 We were told that once induced you could not leave the hospital so we took loads of stuff with us to keep us occupied and to take my mind of labour. Me and Chris although not interested in puzzles brought a second hand one of 1000 pieces to attempt, we took my mobile phone and used the MP3 and took hypno birthing notes and hypno birthing book and plenty of mags. Although induced at 09.00 am when the midwife discovered I was 2 cm dilated, my waters were not broken by the mid wife until 5 pm when she said I was 4 cm dilated. Then it was all systems go, I focussed on the breathing techniques taught by Dany and within about 45 mins I had really sharp contractions. I had the urge to go to the loo and trundled down the corridor with Chris. Once there I could not move and we had to call a midwife I think it was when I had my show although it looked like a mass murder had taken place. Thank god for timing Chris almost opened the toilet door when the monthly Sidcup hospital tour was passing and I hid just in time. The contractions intensified very quickly and I was wondering whether I’d need anything to help, the midwife wanted to examine me to see how far along I was, I think it was the first time this particular mid wife had been taken by surprise and said that there was no time and I had to stick to gas and air as baby Holly was on her way and I had to hold back from pushing as she was not ready. I then started to follow the mid wives instructions and disregarded hypno birthing. Baby Holly was born at 7.09 pm that evening after only just over 90 mins of labour and just use of gas and air and weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces The key to it I believe was that my body was so relaxed by listening to the hypno birthing cd and practising the breathing techniques over a period of 2 months that the baby had an easy journey out. I am not saying follow all the hypno birthing instructions, but choose what is right for you.

Caroline—a mum trusting her gut feeling and getting the lovely home birth she wanted for her and her baby

Hi Dany,

Our baby was born on Friday November 9th in a lovely homebirth. Thelast few weeks of my pregnancy were a bit stressful as I had bad blood results from my liver and the consultants in Queen Elizabeth suspected Obstetric Cholestasis and wanted to induce the birth at 38 weeks. We already had been given a date for induction for November 7th("just to make sure you reserve your place in the queue") but felt very uncomfortable with it since my gut feeling was that my baby was fine and we also were aware of the fact that the medical knowledge about this condition is not really there to justify such a drastic.

measure. We were also lucky to have a very supportive midwife who was more that happy to go ahead with the homebirth despite the presumed risk. So we went back to the hospital and cancelled the induction date - actually Anthony did, as I was getting too soppy amongst all the talk about risks I would be taking.

I told my midwife I was ready for the birth as soon as my mother gets here from Switzerland on Thursday evening. We agreed we would start taking natural measures at 39 weeks. When my mum arrived on the 8th of November, I had noticed already the baby "hanging low" and I had to use the loo very frequently. When we went to bed that night I mentioned to Anthony I had light period type sensations and he asked me wether he should not go to work the next day we agreed he would check with me again in the morning.

I woke up at 2:30 with stronger sensations and noticed they were actually 2-3 minutes apart and quite regular. I asked my mother and she told me this could go on for a few nights as she experienced this when I was born. I called the midwife who suggested I take Paracetamol and put the TENS machine on for relaxation and keep her posted. Everyone went back to sleep and I dozed off between surges.

By 5 am I had started to be quite noisy as I was trying to stay on top of my breathing at which point Anthony decided to call back the midwife. I clearly had passed the talking stage and only moaned into the phone. She decided to get ready and told Anthony to set up the pool. I stayed in bed as everyone jumped into action, and at 7.30 in a sudden gush my waters broke and although the midwife was still not there I was desperate to get into the pool. I mainly concentrated on following my body's lead thoughout the birth, which made me change position frequently and be quite vocal.

Anthony had set up everything beautifully with candles around the pool and soft relaxing music in the background, and the sun was just going up on an amazing autumn morning sky. I started feeling the urge to push around 8 just as the midwife was there and ready and tried to breathe my way through it. It wasn't until I could feel the baby's head quite clearly that I really wanted it out and helped along. Sidonie was born at 9.06 am. I was on all fours and had always envisioned picking up the baby from between my legs, but I was so taken by surprise about her sudden arrival I actually couldn't find her and the midwife had to fish her out and pass her to me ;-)

Sidonie is a little angel and we can't stop looking at her.

Caroline + Anthony

P.S. if anyone is looking for an independent midwife in SE London, I highly recommend Deborah

Emily Rose—A great VBAC birth despite ‘special circumstances’!

Hi Dany

Our second addition to the family, Emily Rose, was born on 12 December at Farnborough Hospital at 10.40pm. She weighed 7 lb 12 oz and was born at just over 41 weeks.

The details of the birth are: My waters broke at 6am which woke me up! I didn't start feeling any surges until later in the morning and was able to carry on as normal, writing Christmas cards and wrapping presents. At about 1pm, the surges were about 5 mins apart. As this birth was to be a "VBAC", ie natural birth after a cesarean, the hospital wanted me to go in to check there were no issues etc, which I was reluctant to do. But I went in some time after 2pm, as they were very insistent.

At that point, they checked the baby's heart beat and wanted to check it again regularly to be sure it was ok, so I stayed in. They did let me sit on a birthing ball whilst being monitored, so I was able to relax.

However, the baby started moving quite a bit and they were concerned over it's positioning and then were concerned with her heart rate. But everything was very calm and time passed quickly.

Towards the end, my surges rolled into one and lasted for 45 minutes with no break. During this time I was told that I had gone from 5cm to 9cm. Unfortunately, it caused the baby's heart beat to drop too low and they were getting very concerned. It was at this point that we had to allow their help as her heart beat was not good. Also, her arms were not tucked in, but were over her head! So I ended up with an episiotomy cut and forceps assisted delivery. But thankfully no drugs were required during the whole birth, apart from a local anaesthetic to numb the cut area.

Paul was wonderful throughout and kept me as relaxed as possible, despite the special circumstances. I am really pleased I was able to give birth and was able to avoid another caesarean.

Emily is well and I am able to breast feed, which is also new to me, as I was not successful last time. My stitches are also healing well. The hypnobirthing techniques have really helped me and made the pregnancy and birthing experience enjoyable.

Thank you very much for all your guidance. Best wishes and have a happy new year.

Petula and Paul.

If you haven't already done so please also read through the comments that have been placed on both the HypnoBirthing® and Hypnosis for Childbirth pages

If they can do it! You can do it!