Jui Chuan's Enjoyable Second Birth

Late 2014, I was pregnant with my second baby. It was not until I was about 6 months pregnant that I attended Dr. Tan Ee Ping’s antenatal talk in Bukit Jalil that I made the decision to attend hypnobirthing class (Practitioner: Ng Bee Ting) with my husband. The fees seems high, which discouraged me at first but it was well worth it.
I finished reading Marie Mongan’s Hypnobirthing book before the start of the first class in February 2015. I learnt so much through the book and attending the classes by Hypnobirthing Practitioner Bee Ting enhances my knowledge about hypnobirthing. All the pre-conditioning of my mind and eliminating fear of birth really made me prepared for birth. Things only got better when my birthing day approaches as all the preparations are now coming together as one big puzzle. We had the support of our doctor to let birth unfold naturally according to our birth plan (Dr. Rama from Colombia Asia Bukit Rimau).
2 May 2015: All the Braxton Hicks were very enjoyable and I could feel “high” on love hormone with each practice surges. I could feel my birth path open too. We went to the hospital for our routine checks and my EDD was on 4 May, which we discussed about overdue date maximum can go up to
10 May 2015. I was anxious that I might go beyond 10 May, hence we tried natural ways to induce labour. We went home and that night, made love.
3 May 2015, 9 AM: It was Wesak Day morning. I could feel like I am having period cramps and it was consistently 10 minutes apart. I told my husband that this could be the real thing. He arranged to send our daughter over to his parent’s home. Time flies with every recurring surge. I was sitting on the gym ball (which at that time felt the most comfortable thing to do) and listening to the Rainbow Relaxation CD. I practice deep breathing with each surge. By 10.30 AM I Whatsapp my doctor and he asked if I was feeling any “pain” (not exactly a good word to describe the feeling), which I said it felt like intense period cramps. He asked that I go to the hospital labour room and get it checked. At 11.30AM my husband came home and picked me up. We grab the hospital bag and a piece of big garbage bag (just in case my membrane releases while we were in the car). It was only a 5 minutes ride to the hospital, which I do deep breathing when the surges came.
Upon arriving at the hospital, we went straight to the labour room. I could still walk and stopped to breathe when the surges came. We went into the labour room and got myself changed into the hospital gown. Surges became stronger and stronger. I asked for food but was told by the midwife that I should not eat heavily. She ordered plain congee and it took a long time to be delivered to the labour room (hospital was lack of staff as it was a public holiday and a Sunday). The labour room’s light was dimmed as per our request. Rainbow relaxation CD was turn on as background music.
By 2 PM surges were 5 minutes apart. I asked to pee and the midwife brought in a mobile sitting toilet. I only have myself a minute to get off the bed, pee, entertain one surge and to get on the bed. By 2.30 pm, surges were 2 minutes apart, very strong and quite unbearable. I tried to focus on my breathing but lost it to the intense pressure that I was feeling on my back and all over my pelvic area. I was in a reclining 45 degrees position. When each surge came, I would grabbed onto the bed rails and pushed myself up as I breathe up and vocalize with low tone sounds, keeping my jaws relaxed. This elevation left some room beneath my butt and I could feel baby’s head descending down. I felt my shoulder and arms tense from all the grabbing and pushing upwards. I tried to change to a lateral position but it only made me feel very uncomfortable and painful. I didn’t know exactly when was the right time to do my birth breathing but I could feel like I wanted to poo. I tried it a few times and decided that I should push instead as the surges were too intense to bear. I felt hot and sweaty, my husband was trying to read me a script but I just asked him to stop as I could not focus on what he was reading. The surges and breathing was what I was focusing on. I guess that was my transition.
The pushing started at about 3 pm. A few nurses and midwives were in the room. Doctor Rama came in and guided me through. The nurses were very kind, one stood by my side, gave me a lot of encouragement and held my hands and pushed my shoulders down to help me relax. She kept saying “kesian mummy sakit”, which was very comforting. There was another nurse who held my legs up. The human touch was what I needed. All the empathy and company really helped. Very little attention was given on the machines stationed there as I was not strapped to it. The nurses only did intermittent monitoring of baby’s heartbeat.
I did 2 pushes with each surge while deep breathing to try to relax in between surges. This cycle repeated 3 times when my husband said he could see baby’s membranes appearing. That encouraged me and I pushed for another two cycles. His head slowly emerged. Doctor Rama guided me not to push too fast to minimize tearing. The baby’s head slowly emerge, membranes still intact (which later my husband said it looked like the amniotic fluid was gushing around baby’s head). I did another push and his shoulders are out. By then, the membranes released. I could feel his body slip out of me and immediately was given to me for skin to skin. Man! What a relief! He felt hot as if freshly out from the oven! It was 3.45pm when he arrived.
Delivering the placenta was a breeze as it just slipped out with a little push. I felt so high on oxytocin! So happy and in love with my little one
!
What can I conclude from this experience?
1. Birth is so empowering
2. Hypnobirthing is a technique used pre-birth, during birth and even after birth
3. It changes the way I view my birth, positively
4. I was in so much control compare to my first birth as I have prepared my mind for it
5. Not all Hypnobirth ends up like what we saw in birth videos during classes, it wasn’t completely pain free but it was certainly enjoyable pain!
6. I am now looking forward to improve my hypnobirthing skills, perhaps a third baby? We shall see! Indeed, the side effects of hypnobirthing is that we enjoy birth so much that we want to birth again and again!
I finished reading Marie Mongan’s Hypnobirthing book before the start of the first class in February 2015. I learnt so much through the book and attending the classes by Hypnobirthing Practitioner Bee Ting enhances my knowledge about hypnobirthing. All the pre-conditioning of my mind and eliminating fear of birth really made me prepared for birth. Things only got better when my birthing day approaches as all the preparations are now coming together as one big puzzle. We had the support of our doctor to let birth unfold naturally according to our birth plan (Dr. Rama from Colombia Asia Bukit Rimau).
2 May 2015: All the Braxton Hicks were very enjoyable and I could feel “high” on love hormone with each practice surges. I could feel my birth path open too. We went to the hospital for our routine checks and my EDD was on 4 May, which we discussed about overdue date maximum can go up to
10 May 2015. I was anxious that I might go beyond 10 May, hence we tried natural ways to induce labour. We went home and that night, made love.
3 May 2015, 9 AM: It was Wesak Day morning. I could feel like I am having period cramps and it was consistently 10 minutes apart. I told my husband that this could be the real thing. He arranged to send our daughter over to his parent’s home. Time flies with every recurring surge. I was sitting on the gym ball (which at that time felt the most comfortable thing to do) and listening to the Rainbow Relaxation CD. I practice deep breathing with each surge. By 10.30 AM I Whatsapp my doctor and he asked if I was feeling any “pain” (not exactly a good word to describe the feeling), which I said it felt like intense period cramps. He asked that I go to the hospital labour room and get it checked. At 11.30AM my husband came home and picked me up. We grab the hospital bag and a piece of big garbage bag (just in case my membrane releases while we were in the car). It was only a 5 minutes ride to the hospital, which I do deep breathing when the surges came.
Upon arriving at the hospital, we went straight to the labour room. I could still walk and stopped to breathe when the surges came. We went into the labour room and got myself changed into the hospital gown. Surges became stronger and stronger. I asked for food but was told by the midwife that I should not eat heavily. She ordered plain congee and it took a long time to be delivered to the labour room (hospital was lack of staff as it was a public holiday and a Sunday). The labour room’s light was dimmed as per our request. Rainbow relaxation CD was turn on as background music.
By 2 PM surges were 5 minutes apart. I asked to pee and the midwife brought in a mobile sitting toilet. I only have myself a minute to get off the bed, pee, entertain one surge and to get on the bed. By 2.30 pm, surges were 2 minutes apart, very strong and quite unbearable. I tried to focus on my breathing but lost it to the intense pressure that I was feeling on my back and all over my pelvic area. I was in a reclining 45 degrees position. When each surge came, I would grabbed onto the bed rails and pushed myself up as I breathe up and vocalize with low tone sounds, keeping my jaws relaxed. This elevation left some room beneath my butt and I could feel baby’s head descending down. I felt my shoulder and arms tense from all the grabbing and pushing upwards. I tried to change to a lateral position but it only made me feel very uncomfortable and painful. I didn’t know exactly when was the right time to do my birth breathing but I could feel like I wanted to poo. I tried it a few times and decided that I should push instead as the surges were too intense to bear. I felt hot and sweaty, my husband was trying to read me a script but I just asked him to stop as I could not focus on what he was reading. The surges and breathing was what I was focusing on. I guess that was my transition.
The pushing started at about 3 pm. A few nurses and midwives were in the room. Doctor Rama came in and guided me through. The nurses were very kind, one stood by my side, gave me a lot of encouragement and held my hands and pushed my shoulders down to help me relax. She kept saying “kesian mummy sakit”, which was very comforting. There was another nurse who held my legs up. The human touch was what I needed. All the empathy and company really helped. Very little attention was given on the machines stationed there as I was not strapped to it. The nurses only did intermittent monitoring of baby’s heartbeat.
I did 2 pushes with each surge while deep breathing to try to relax in between surges. This cycle repeated 3 times when my husband said he could see baby’s membranes appearing. That encouraged me and I pushed for another two cycles. His head slowly emerged. Doctor Rama guided me not to push too fast to minimize tearing. The baby’s head slowly emerge, membranes still intact (which later my husband said it looked like the amniotic fluid was gushing around baby’s head). I did another push and his shoulders are out. By then, the membranes released. I could feel his body slip out of me and immediately was given to me for skin to skin. Man! What a relief! He felt hot as if freshly out from the oven! It was 3.45pm when he arrived.
Delivering the placenta was a breeze as it just slipped out with a little push. I felt so high on oxytocin! So happy and in love with my little one
!
What can I conclude from this experience?
1. Birth is so empowering
2. Hypnobirthing is a technique used pre-birth, during birth and even after birth
3. It changes the way I view my birth, positively
4. I was in so much control compare to my first birth as I have prepared my mind for it
5. Not all Hypnobirth ends up like what we saw in birth videos during classes, it wasn’t completely pain free but it was certainly enjoyable pain!
6. I am now looking forward to improve my hypnobirthing skills, perhaps a third baby? We shall see! Indeed, the side effects of hypnobirthing is that we enjoy birth so much that we want to birth again and again!