Shireen's Painfree Waterbirth
Top 3 reasons why I signed up for HypnoBirthing class?
- Positive stories from friends’ recommendations with proven successes - I knew about HypnoBirthing through my friends, both of whom had pleasant pain free birthing experiences. This raised my curiosity. I always hear about painful and horrifying stories from almost the majority of mothers. I have never heard that birth its easy, pleasant and painless. Hence, my friends recommended HypnoBirthing which allows us to experience an easy birth with pain-free labour, no jab, no tear…
- Save money- I heard that the majority of HypnoBirthing mums gave birth naturally without painkillers. I made a decision to invest in this HypnoBirthing course fee with the assumption that I could save money from the pain killer ( which is also bad for health) and c-sec cost which is way more expensive.
- Wanted participation from my husband- Since I became pregnant, I have been doing research and reading by myself. Just like most men, my husband thought that this is women ‘stuff’. Men just play a supporting role. However, I think playing a supportive roles isn’t as easy as how he might think, just being there. I think he needs to have sufficient knowledge too so that I can rely on him when needed in childbirth and in raising a child. So, expecting him to proactively slot in time between his busy work schedule to read about pregnancy is almost impossible but getting him to accompany me to attend 5 classes is more reasonable.
My Birth Diary
15 oct
4am blood show & water break without any contractions. I was very happy to know that my baby was arriving soon. Took a hot jacuzzi shower with my husband & getting ready to welcome our baby. Started to pack my hospital bag & camera & excitedly waiting for sign of contraction…
9am We waited and waited…. Nothing? Informed my sis-in-law(aka our videographer) to stand by
1pm Still nothing? Let’s go eat all the food that I will miss before starting confinement diet for 1 month… last call…
Confused---- Am I in labor? Better check if I accidentally mistaken pee or piles break. Am I being too anxious?
6pm arrived at the hospital – Nurse said I was 1cm dilated and to come again tomorrow to check at 6am
Went home and tried all possible way of natural inducement method
Visited Mr Google whole night long- Am I in Labor? When to admit? Water break without contraction?
16 Oct
5am feels like diarrhea / stomach stirring… oic… It must be the surge. The surges are 5 - 6 minutes apart but sometimes they were 10 -15 minutes apart.
Yeah! Finally we are going to meet our baby soon… Wait a minute, is this true labor or false labor?
Surge just started. Maybe we can delay admitting to the hospital? Should we only admit when surge becomes 5 minutes apart consistently ?
We decided to skip the 6am appointment and decided to go around noon or when surges get more tense instead.
At the same time, I was very tired because I was doing research whole night long for 2 consecutive nights. Today I researched on the risk of infection if water broke too long. I was a little concerned + a little confused + a little excited + a little worried.
11.30am FINAL CALL for our very final dating. I took my very last pregnancy picture and I had a romantic lunch date with my husband.
2pm Admitted to the hospital. We were convincing ourselves to stay positive and pray that baby is coming soon healthily. The surges were 4 - 5 minutes apart consistently. Dr Tan did a vaginal exam and said only 2 cm dilated.
I felt disappointed that after all the hours for almost 2 days, I only had 1 cm progress.
Worried about the risk of infection and doctor is talking about possible intervention to reduce the risk
3pm We decided to take a drugfree induction method by inserting Foley’s balloon as the risk of infection is high. We prayed hard that it will work to prevent cesarean section. I stayed positive and trusted that my body will work together with baby. May faith be with us.
4pm Dr Tan inserted the balloon. I requested to get down of bed to go to the toilet immediately after the balloon insertion. As soon as I got out of bed, the balloon came off. To my surprise, Dr Tan says,” Great! You are 5cm dilated”. I was amused with disbelief. Just like that, I was 5 cm dilated in just a few minutes. I went to the normal ward to get some rest.
6.30pm Surges getting slightly more intense. They felt like period cramp. I felt fine when I stood up and walk around but when I lie down, the surges got more intense. The nurse checked the baby’s heart beat and said everything was fine. The surges were 3-4 minutes apart by then.
8.45pm I went back to normal ward to get some rest as we were expecting tomorrow to be the BIG DAY. So let’s conserve energy and I snoozed off.
9.25pm Woke up from my sleep feeling like I was having stomach discomfort / constipation. Thinking maybe I need to go for a big poo, I went to the toilet and realised that I am pushing rather than poo-ing and just jumped up from my sweet dream and realised tht I had double surge at a time and the gap of the surge is less than 45 sec apart. I immediately put my finger to touch the bottom. OMG, my vagina felt different. Oh dear, my baby might be coming out. I was actually subconsciously doing J breathing to push my baby out in the WC!
NO WAY, Toilet? This is not where I want my baby to be born.
My brother & his wife arrived just in time. My sister in law aka videographer is here.
Perfect timing… Let’s go to the labour room now. I called my dear hubby to get the nurse’s attention and get the water birth pool ready. I was thinking deep in my mind, “ DO I HAVE 30 MINUTES for the nurse to fill the water birth pool?”
When the surges strike, it was like muscle cramp when you couldn’t walk or do anything but when the surges went away , I was totally back to normally between surges.
The surge is too near apart and I couldn’t walk to the labour room. Hence, we requested for assistance. A wheel chair arrived to assist me but it felt like my vagina was open (like poo-ing half way and I couldn’t sit on a chair without a hole). As the surge subside, I took the window of opportunity in between surges and decided to run like wind to the labour room. I didn’t give much pre-warning to my dear hubby and just suddenly broke into a run. Fortunately he reacted fast and ran with me… lol… Halfway through the path to the labour room, the muscle cramp started again aka Surge. The nurse was in shock as why this patient suddenly ran out of the room, bleeding on her tights and suddenly stopped in the middle of the walkway, head on dear hubby’s shoulder. As the surge subside again, I gasped some air and ran to labour room again.
Once I arrived, the nurse took the baby heartbeat reading and took my surge reading again. I requested to stand when they took my reading but my request was rejected and they insisted on me lying down so that the reading will be more accurate. The pain when I was in the bed was intense as I couldn’t bear to hold it and just followed my gut feeling to push while they were taking all necessary readings. I think a nurse noticed and she asked me to change my breathing method to surge breathing. To my surprise, once I changed the breathing method to surge breathing, it helped a lot to slow down the surge intensity and the surges were longer apart.
Finally Dr Tan Ee Ping arrived and the pool was almost ready. To my relief, Dr gave me permission to enter the pool. I happily entered the pool and felt much relief and ease in finding a comfortable position. I felt so comfortable with the bouncy inflatable pool to lean on and felt much lighter with the buoyancy of water supporting my tummy. I felt so soothing with the ability to move around freely and it felt so warm with the right water temperature. Everything just feels right. I immediately thought, “Hey, is the camera ready?” I wouldn’t want to miss the video of seeing the moment of my baby’s birth. I looked at the ready camera and happily smiled as everything was finally in place.
With the assurance that everything was in place, I was relaxed and focused on my breathing and coordinated with my baby and surges to breathe my baby out. I did a long J breathing to push my baby (like having constipation with a very big poo).in between the surge. Funnily I still remained conscious and calm. Dr Tan steadily had a short briefing with me. Dr Tan was very comforting with her gentle tone and clear instructions. She said “ Don’t do the long J breathing, baby is coming out too fast, do 5 short J breathing in one surge so that it could prevent tear by pushing baby out slowly.”
I did exactly as instructed. It felt like a very big poo stuck there for ages but I could feel the muscles were flexing and my body was coordinating smoothly. I was so happy as I could feel my baby head was out. When the surge stopped, I took a rest. I heard cheers from dear hubby and people around saying that the baby opened her eyes. I am so relieved and assured that baby is doing well. The next moment, Dr calmly said, “ Good job , your baby’s head is 80% out with the chin still inside, slowly push …….” When I heard that, I was surprised. Hence I quickly did one more short breath (even though I did not have any surge) to release the chin… lol…The 2nd surge came and I did my final pushing with few small J breathing. My baby’s shoulder turn around and came out together with the body. Once our baby angel was out, she paddled with her hands and Dr Tan grabbed her hands and the proud daddy received the baby himself. He then passed me our baby angel and placed her on my chest. The joy of seeing my little one in my arms makes me feels like my world is so complete with my lovely hubby beside me & my new born baby to complete our happy family. We are now officially entering a new phase of life - parenthood! We immediately had skin to skin bonding, feeling the warmth of my baby and hearing the little cry of her cute little voice.
After a while, I got out of the pool and had an hour bonding with my baby. She was wide awake with her sparkling eyes opened and also moved her head to look for my nipple and she started sucking. It was such an adorable and memorable experience for us. My husband, aka the proud father of Angel, cut little Angel's umbilical cord and then he accompanied her to nursery for measurements.
15 oct
4am blood show & water break without any contractions. I was very happy to know that my baby was arriving soon. Took a hot jacuzzi shower with my husband & getting ready to welcome our baby. Started to pack my hospital bag & camera & excitedly waiting for sign of contraction…
9am We waited and waited…. Nothing? Informed my sis-in-law(aka our videographer) to stand by
1pm Still nothing? Let’s go eat all the food that I will miss before starting confinement diet for 1 month… last call…
Confused---- Am I in labor? Better check if I accidentally mistaken pee or piles break. Am I being too anxious?
6pm arrived at the hospital – Nurse said I was 1cm dilated and to come again tomorrow to check at 6am
Went home and tried all possible way of natural inducement method
Visited Mr Google whole night long- Am I in Labor? When to admit? Water break without contraction?
16 Oct
5am feels like diarrhea / stomach stirring… oic… It must be the surge. The surges are 5 - 6 minutes apart but sometimes they were 10 -15 minutes apart.
Yeah! Finally we are going to meet our baby soon… Wait a minute, is this true labor or false labor?
Surge just started. Maybe we can delay admitting to the hospital? Should we only admit when surge becomes 5 minutes apart consistently ?
We decided to skip the 6am appointment and decided to go around noon or when surges get more tense instead.
At the same time, I was very tired because I was doing research whole night long for 2 consecutive nights. Today I researched on the risk of infection if water broke too long. I was a little concerned + a little confused + a little excited + a little worried.
11.30am FINAL CALL for our very final dating. I took my very last pregnancy picture and I had a romantic lunch date with my husband.
2pm Admitted to the hospital. We were convincing ourselves to stay positive and pray that baby is coming soon healthily. The surges were 4 - 5 minutes apart consistently. Dr Tan did a vaginal exam and said only 2 cm dilated.
I felt disappointed that after all the hours for almost 2 days, I only had 1 cm progress.
Worried about the risk of infection and doctor is talking about possible intervention to reduce the risk
3pm We decided to take a drugfree induction method by inserting Foley’s balloon as the risk of infection is high. We prayed hard that it will work to prevent cesarean section. I stayed positive and trusted that my body will work together with baby. May faith be with us.
4pm Dr Tan inserted the balloon. I requested to get down of bed to go to the toilet immediately after the balloon insertion. As soon as I got out of bed, the balloon came off. To my surprise, Dr Tan says,” Great! You are 5cm dilated”. I was amused with disbelief. Just like that, I was 5 cm dilated in just a few minutes. I went to the normal ward to get some rest.
6.30pm Surges getting slightly more intense. They felt like period cramp. I felt fine when I stood up and walk around but when I lie down, the surges got more intense. The nurse checked the baby’s heart beat and said everything was fine. The surges were 3-4 minutes apart by then.
8.45pm I went back to normal ward to get some rest as we were expecting tomorrow to be the BIG DAY. So let’s conserve energy and I snoozed off.
9.25pm Woke up from my sleep feeling like I was having stomach discomfort / constipation. Thinking maybe I need to go for a big poo, I went to the toilet and realised that I am pushing rather than poo-ing and just jumped up from my sweet dream and realised tht I had double surge at a time and the gap of the surge is less than 45 sec apart. I immediately put my finger to touch the bottom. OMG, my vagina felt different. Oh dear, my baby might be coming out. I was actually subconsciously doing J breathing to push my baby out in the WC!
NO WAY, Toilet? This is not where I want my baby to be born.
My brother & his wife arrived just in time. My sister in law aka videographer is here.
Perfect timing… Let’s go to the labour room now. I called my dear hubby to get the nurse’s attention and get the water birth pool ready. I was thinking deep in my mind, “ DO I HAVE 30 MINUTES for the nurse to fill the water birth pool?”
When the surges strike, it was like muscle cramp when you couldn’t walk or do anything but when the surges went away , I was totally back to normally between surges.
The surge is too near apart and I couldn’t walk to the labour room. Hence, we requested for assistance. A wheel chair arrived to assist me but it felt like my vagina was open (like poo-ing half way and I couldn’t sit on a chair without a hole). As the surge subside, I took the window of opportunity in between surges and decided to run like wind to the labour room. I didn’t give much pre-warning to my dear hubby and just suddenly broke into a run. Fortunately he reacted fast and ran with me… lol… Halfway through the path to the labour room, the muscle cramp started again aka Surge. The nurse was in shock as why this patient suddenly ran out of the room, bleeding on her tights and suddenly stopped in the middle of the walkway, head on dear hubby’s shoulder. As the surge subside again, I gasped some air and ran to labour room again.
Once I arrived, the nurse took the baby heartbeat reading and took my surge reading again. I requested to stand when they took my reading but my request was rejected and they insisted on me lying down so that the reading will be more accurate. The pain when I was in the bed was intense as I couldn’t bear to hold it and just followed my gut feeling to push while they were taking all necessary readings. I think a nurse noticed and she asked me to change my breathing method to surge breathing. To my surprise, once I changed the breathing method to surge breathing, it helped a lot to slow down the surge intensity and the surges were longer apart.
Finally Dr Tan Ee Ping arrived and the pool was almost ready. To my relief, Dr gave me permission to enter the pool. I happily entered the pool and felt much relief and ease in finding a comfortable position. I felt so comfortable with the bouncy inflatable pool to lean on and felt much lighter with the buoyancy of water supporting my tummy. I felt so soothing with the ability to move around freely and it felt so warm with the right water temperature. Everything just feels right. I immediately thought, “Hey, is the camera ready?” I wouldn’t want to miss the video of seeing the moment of my baby’s birth. I looked at the ready camera and happily smiled as everything was finally in place.
With the assurance that everything was in place, I was relaxed and focused on my breathing and coordinated with my baby and surges to breathe my baby out. I did a long J breathing to push my baby (like having constipation with a very big poo).in between the surge. Funnily I still remained conscious and calm. Dr Tan steadily had a short briefing with me. Dr Tan was very comforting with her gentle tone and clear instructions. She said “ Don’t do the long J breathing, baby is coming out too fast, do 5 short J breathing in one surge so that it could prevent tear by pushing baby out slowly.”
I did exactly as instructed. It felt like a very big poo stuck there for ages but I could feel the muscles were flexing and my body was coordinating smoothly. I was so happy as I could feel my baby head was out. When the surge stopped, I took a rest. I heard cheers from dear hubby and people around saying that the baby opened her eyes. I am so relieved and assured that baby is doing well. The next moment, Dr calmly said, “ Good job , your baby’s head is 80% out with the chin still inside, slowly push …….” When I heard that, I was surprised. Hence I quickly did one more short breath (even though I did not have any surge) to release the chin… lol…The 2nd surge came and I did my final pushing with few small J breathing. My baby’s shoulder turn around and came out together with the body. Once our baby angel was out, she paddled with her hands and Dr Tan grabbed her hands and the proud daddy received the baby himself. He then passed me our baby angel and placed her on my chest. The joy of seeing my little one in my arms makes me feels like my world is so complete with my lovely hubby beside me & my new born baby to complete our happy family. We are now officially entering a new phase of life - parenthood! We immediately had skin to skin bonding, feeling the warmth of my baby and hearing the little cry of her cute little voice.
After a while, I got out of the pool and had an hour bonding with my baby. She was wide awake with her sparkling eyes opened and also moved her head to look for my nipple and she started sucking. It was such an adorable and memorable experience for us. My husband, aka the proud father of Angel, cut little Angel's umbilical cord and then he accompanied her to nursery for measurements.
It was an AMAZING experience and birth is much easier than I thought. I personally think diarrhea can sometimes be more painful than the labor that I experienced
THE KEY to a joyful birth experience is to stay calm and relaxed with a positive mindset.
Overall Experience
1. Comfort level at different labour phase
a. Beginning of surge ( for 12 hours) - stomach discomfort , like diarrhea
* walking helps to relieve discomfort
b. Surge with 5 mins gap ( for 3 hours)- muscle cramp, like menstrual pain
* sit up position eg birth ball, light touch massage
c. Double surge with less than 1 min apart ( for 1 hour) – feel like seriously need to go poo
* focus on breathing
2. Posture- I labored in 3 different position
a. Bed - comfort rating 3/10-
b. Toilet bowl - comfort rating 7/10
c. Water pool - comfort rating 9/10
Did I find HypnoBirthing helpful and why?
YES, because you need lots of knowledge in order to know your rights when to say YES and when to say NO to your Dr. Due to commercial reasons, lots of hospital and doctors practise Active Management of Labor. This causes natural birth not to be as easy as the olden days. Having a birth plan is crucial to getting yourself a pleasant dream birth experience. I had gained lots of knowledge of how our body works to ease labour. Also I have a clearer picture of the birth plan I really wanted and was able to communicate with the Dr and also possess some breathing technique and pre-birth preparation skills to ease birth. Last but not least, having a supportive Dr and group of friends is important to reassuring that you are going on the right path and you will not be alone.
THE KEY to a joyful birth experience is to stay calm and relaxed with a positive mindset.
Overall Experience
1. Comfort level at different labour phase
a. Beginning of surge ( for 12 hours) - stomach discomfort , like diarrhea
* walking helps to relieve discomfort
b. Surge with 5 mins gap ( for 3 hours)- muscle cramp, like menstrual pain
* sit up position eg birth ball, light touch massage
c. Double surge with less than 1 min apart ( for 1 hour) – feel like seriously need to go poo
* focus on breathing
2. Posture- I labored in 3 different position
a. Bed - comfort rating 3/10-
b. Toilet bowl - comfort rating 7/10
c. Water pool - comfort rating 9/10
Did I find HypnoBirthing helpful and why?
YES, because you need lots of knowledge in order to know your rights when to say YES and when to say NO to your Dr. Due to commercial reasons, lots of hospital and doctors practise Active Management of Labor. This causes natural birth not to be as easy as the olden days. Having a birth plan is crucial to getting yourself a pleasant dream birth experience. I had gained lots of knowledge of how our body works to ease labour. Also I have a clearer picture of the birth plan I really wanted and was able to communicate with the Dr and also possess some breathing technique and pre-birth preparation skills to ease birth. Last but not least, having a supportive Dr and group of friends is important to reassuring that you are going on the right path and you will not be alone.