Hi Sharon,
Hope you are well?
We just wanted to let you know that baby Alfred arrived safely on Tuesday 17th weighing 8lbs.
The whole process didn't go exactly as we would have liked but I'm pretty confident that we couldn't have done anything differently!
Things started early on Saturday morning and we ended up going in and out of hospital that weekend. My waters broke on Monday morning and I got to use the pool which was nice and listen to your MP3s!
Sadly I got stuck at 4cm for hours and the gas and air had kind of lost it's effectiveness and I was absolutely exhausted by this point having not slept for a long time.
I then had the hormone drip and an epidural, baby was getting a bit distressed so the whole process was slowed down as his heart rate kept dropping (possibly because he was holding the cord during contractions).
I then finally got to full dilation and tried to push him out....he wasn't having any of it so ended up being taken to theatre and they tried ventouse and forceps. Neither of which worked due to his position.
So I ended up having a c section!
I can honestly say (and Chris agrees) that we wouldn't have managed as well through the hours and hours of contractions, uncertainty and what could have been extremely stressful without the skills you gave us in the sessions.
Although it wasn't what we had hoped for originally (wasn't exactly the calm water birth with low intervention I had hoped for!) I feel really pleased with how we both managed and persevered without giving up! And I really think this was down to the hypnobirthing sessions! The breathing techniques and the sound of your voice was very helpful!
Some of the midwives also commented on my good breathing techniques!!! (Which is totally thanks to you!)
We just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your help and support.