Shachar’s Birth Centre Birth
This is a simply wonderful birth story of Shachar’s rainbow baby after loss. She also highlights a really important fact that even if your cervix is closed and high and your care team state that you are not near labour, this may well not be the case! Your cervix cannot really tell anyone anything other than where you are right at that minute… Not later that day, or that night or the next morning.
So, don’t be disheartened, as the midwife Ina May Gaskin states ‘your cervix is not a crystal ball’.
I do hope that you enjoy this birth story, over to Shachar…
I am so excited to share my positive birth experience. It was a birth center birth, vaginal delivery, no medication, no intervention, no tearing, no vaginal exams. And it was under 3 hours!
This was my second birth. After giving birth to a healthy baby girl in 2019, sadly I experienced 3 recurrent pregnancy losses. So getting through this pregnancy and labor meant so much to me, and I debated for a long time whether to go the natural route or not. I was really intrigued by it, but was also completely terrified of something going wrong.
After doing much research, around week 30 I decided that I wanted to give birth in an environment that would support me completely, and that I had maximum control over. And for me that meant an out-of-hospital birth. I hired a doula and started preparing my body and mind – physically and mentally. I signed up for the hypnobirthing course, and began doing all the things – meditations, affirmations, listening to positive birth stories... Throughout the next several weeks I learned so much, but was also quite skeptical. Can I really do this with no pain medication? Can I truly trust myself to go through with it all the way?
On February 24th I went to my 39 week appointment, and decided to have a cervical exam to see if things were progressing at all. I had been experiencing Braxton-hicks for several days. She said the baby was still pretty high up and cervix was closed, so labor was “unlikely to start in the next few days”. The very next day I went into labor…
The next day, February 25th, I did a few spinning babies exercises, and literally right after them I started feeling pelvic pressure. It started light and got more intense, but I didn’t feel any surges, so I thought it was just more Braxton hicks or baby getting into a better position. But no matter what I did the pressure didn’t subside.
After taking a shower, I laid down on my bed and couldn’t move, it was so intense. After a while, around 7 PM, I started noticing a start-peak-stop pattern – and realized surges were probably starting. I tried to get in different positions (remembering that upright positions were supposed to be better than lying down) – but it was too painful. I remember thinking: “What the hell was I thinking going natural?! This is too intense!” But then I paused, and reminded myself to focus on breathing, relaxing my body, and surrendering to the process, and from that moment on that’s all I focused on with every surge.
We reached the birth center at 9 PM, and I went straight to the floor by the bed, and leaned over the side of the bed for the next 45 minutes, while surges got more intense and closer together. I was using a TENS machine, which helped a lot. My amazing husband, doula, and midwife surrounded me and encouraged me through each surge. At one point I heard my doula say: “She’s so close” and I thought: ‘Really? Already?’
At 9:40 PM the tub was finally ready. Finally, the moment I’d been waiting for! I had heard how water can ease the discomfort and was waiting to experience the rest of my labor in the tub. After a few seconds I felt something overcome me, I can’t really explain what it was, but it was supposedly this powerful surge and the next thing I heard was: “There’s the head”. My body literally pushed the entire head out with one surge without me having to do anything! And I barely felt it. The midwife then asked me to push again, so I focused and tried to push and the next thing I knew the rest of her body came out. I got in the tub at 9:42, and at 9:45 my baby girl was out and in my arms.
I couldn’t believe it. I did it! After all my fears and doubts, it was such an empowering feeling knowing that I completely did this on my own, and my baby (and my body!) were healthy and happy.
For me, this birth experience was a culmination of my journey over the past 2 years. Ultimately the biggest gift for me was reconnecting with my body and learning to trust my body again. It was incredible to experience what my body and mind can do.
Thank you for this space to share, it has been such a gift for me throughout my pregnancy, and I truly hope this story will inspire others to know that you absolutely can do this!
Tamar, 6 lb 8 ounces ❤️
Want to learn hypnobirthing with us?
Don’t forget that we have a full Online Antenatal Hypnobirthing Class that you can follow in your own time anywhere around the world. It is only £39/$49.
The Online Hypnobirthing Course
We also teach antenatal hypnobirthing classes in London in person with our One Day Group Hypnobirthing Class.
In-person Antental Hypnobirthing Group Class
If you’d rather prepare for your labour and birth solo with Melanie you can do so in the privacy of your own home in person if you live in London or via the Zoom platform wherever you are around the globe.
Private Antenatal Hypnobirthing Classes