A Dads Hypnobirthing birth story
Here is a birth stories from a first-time dad who were skeptical about hypnobirthing when told by their partners they had been signed up for a course…
Davids story
This was our first child, and being a man I didn’t know what to expect with regards the pregnancy period and the birth. The role of the man up to and during the birth has always been portrayed as a hapless onlooker who wanted nothing to do with the messy and faint-inducing business of giving birth. My own father was playing cricket when he heard my mum had gone into labour and decided that the cricket team needed him more than she did!
Attitudes among my generation do seem to be changing though and when my wife said she had enrolled us onto a hypnobirthing course I was open minded but didn’t know what to expect (actually I half expected a bunch of ‘yoghurt weavers’ as my brother calls them). However I was very glad she did, as from the very first class I felt much more at ease and more involved knowing that I had a really important role to play and wasn’t a mere onlooker at all.
When Kat (my wife) stated labour we were both calm and relieved that it was finally happening. We had decided early on that we wanted a home birth and I had found an inflatable birthing pool on the internet to set up in our living room. We had friends take the dog and went for a walk around the block. This was early evening and by about 9.30pm the surges were such that it was time to call the midwife. Two of them promptly came at about 11pm and I set about making cups of tea and filling the birth pool to the desired temperature. The two midwives were lovely with a kind manner and didn’t get in the way or try to dictate things at all. The CD of hypno music was playing and I rubbed Kats back for what seemed like three hours while she did her breathing. Kat wanted to try and avoid the use of any drugs and to experience the birth an naturally as possible. After more cups of tea and rounds of sandwiches Kat was ready to get into the pool at about 4am. I sat on the side holding her hand and whispering encouragement.
First came the head and then the rest just whooshed out into the water shortly after . Instead of the baby being whipped away and checked we wanted to hold her straight away and I watched in amazement as Kat held this tiny wrinkled baby in her arms and cried with relief and joy.
I was not really prepared for the afterbirth and I would suggest to any men reading this that they can probably skip this bit. It was painful for Kat and at this point she reached for the gas and air. Kat ended up with a few stitches which the midwives dealt with but it was nothing serious.
After the midwives made their checks we bade them farewell and they left us alone with this new life that we had created. The sun was coming up and we were high on lack of sleep and pure elation. We announced the birth the friends and family and then lay side by side in bed with a glass of champagne and a silly grin on our faces, knowing our family had begun and life would never be the same again.