I had a traumatic birth experience with my first child. I was induced, had an episiotomy & 6 months after the birth, I went back to the hospital to be re-stitched ‘down there’ as my episiotomy was incorrectly done during birth. Fortunately, throughout the whole ordeal, my baby was OK & healthy.
Six years later, I became pregnant again. I panicked, didn’t want to go through the bad experience like before and so I did some research on how to give birth naturally painlessly. Browsing through some local women’s magazine, I was lucky enough to find an article on Hypnobirthing and how it helps women achieve better childbirth experience with proper breathing & relaxation techniques. Inspired by the article, I contacted Nadine Ghows & attended her Hypnobirthing classes. The knowledge that I have gained from Hypnobirthing has certainly opened my eyes & widened my perspective on birth itself. Through Hypnobirthing, I discovered that childbirth is a natural & physiological process that should not be interfered with unless under special circumstances. As a mother, I can make informed decisions on birth related matters & do not blindly follow my obgyn’s instructions.
I am pleased to say that my second birth experience has certainly exceeded my expectation on child birth. I was not induced, had no episiotomy, gave birth on all fours position and luckily Nadine was my ‘accidental’ doula who supported & motivated me and my husband (my birth companion). Together with the midwife, it was my husband who caught our baby as I was breathing him down with the guidance from doula Nadine because my obgyn was stuck in the traffic jam.
I was so happy with the outcome of my 2nd birthing experience, that 4 years later when I became pregnant again, I opted to do Hypnobirthing for the second time. I contacted Nadine once more & fortunately I got her to be my doula again.
My 3rd birthing experience was the best I’ve ever had. Lucky me, I was seeing one of the top obgyn who had plenty of experiences with Hypnobirthing mothers.
I was overdue for 9 days, which can be considered as taboo here in Malaysia. Because I was overdue, I had to go to the hospital often to get my baby checked by doing the external fetal heart monitoring. I did all sorts of stuff to help induce labor, e.g. eat spicy food, drink raspberry leaf tea and coconut water religiously, doing some kind of exercises on the gym ball, walk around the malls as often as I could, pray. I even went for the moxibustion acupuncture treatment with Oran Kivity which certainly helped me release some of the stress and anxiety that I felt because of the overdue baby situation. I talked to Nadine a lot on the phone and she unquestionably gave good advice and moral support while I was in my panic mode.
Finally, on the ninth day after the due date, I had a birth show after Suboh prayer and I figured that my baby will make an appearance soon. I started to have mild surges a few hours after that but it was inconsistent and I started to dread that it may take longer than expected for me to give birth. I pushed those thoughts away and did the usual house chores and went for the fetal heart monitoring at the hospital. The midwife at the hospital voiced out that I was already in labor and advised me to be admitted. Since I didn’t bring my labor overnight bag and the surges were still inconsistent, I told her that I want to go home first, pack my bag and will come back later on when the surges were stronger. I also had an appointment with my osteopath later that evening, so I decided to just go for the appointment even though I was already in labor. I remembered reading in one of the fb posts by some pregnant moms that osteo treatment can help to accelerate labor, so it was certainly a plus point going for the treatment. Lo and behold, after going for the osteo treatment, my surges started to get stronger and more consistent.
When I got home with my husband, I immediately packed my overnight bag and after half an hour hanging around in the house, we decided that it’s time to go to the hospital because my surges were 3-5 minutes apart. We had a quick dinner at Mamak restaurant before getting admitted to the hospital and shortly after, Nadine arrived at the labor suite. Within an hour after being admitted, both me and my husband welcomed our baby boy naturally, with support from Nadine, my gynae and a midwife. I breathed him out into the world while I was on my hands and knees.
I was very lucky to have Nadine as my doula as she provided tremendous support emotionally, offered motivational words and advice throughout my pregnancies and birth experiences. She also had been guiding my husband (my birth companion) on how to support and give words of encouragement to me as a wife and mother in labor. Experiencing and learning about Hypnobirthing with a doula certainly helped me in so many ways and I am grateful to have discovered it.
