My Best Baby

During my second pregnancy my waist measurement went from 24″ to 48″ but I managed to avoid getting any stretch marks…I’m very lucky! Instead of using a lotion or potion, I put coconut oil on my bump everyday. The smell was gorgeous, and knowing that I wasn’t putting any chemicals on my skin was reassuring. I found it also eased the itching that I suffered from when the weather was hot. It might not work for everyone…but it’s certainly worth a try if you’re pregnant. The one I used was by Biona and is available from Goodness Direct. A small jar (£3.69) would last an entire pregnancy.

This post was submitted by Susannah.

I never knew how I would cope with pregnancy and labour - I was needle-phobic and terrified of giving birth. I’ve always believed myself to have a low tolerance to pain. However, whilst pregnant with my first child (now a strapping two year old!) I discovered hypnotherapy.

Firstly I consulted a hypnotherapist about the needle-phobia and had a few sessions to work on that using mainly Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). She was very supportive and it really helped. In fact, I had a blood test a month ago, and managed to drive myself to and from the hospital and even made conversation with the phlebotomist! I was very proud of myself.

I started to look into hypnobirthing, and when my therapist asked me if I had considered it, we decided it would be a useful avenue for me to pursue. I purchased and read the book by Marie Mongan, and had a couple of sessions where the therapist came to our house and met with both myself and my husband. My husband then recorded a couple of ’scripts’ for me to listen to.

As we approached the birth, and my nausea (which had been my constant companion since week six of pregnancy and stayed with me until after I gave birth) was depressing me more and more, I spent quite a lot of time ressembling a beached whale laying on my side on the bed in a hypnotic trance. I often fell asleep listening to the scripts.

I remember attending ante-natal classes and being horrified that the first class was all about ‘what might go wrong in pregnancy’ and the second was ‘pain relief’. What a terrible, negative way of approaching it all.

The day before my due-date finally arrived and as I laid down in the evening my waters broke - flooding the bed and surrounding area - it was quite dramatic as I shouted at my husband to get towels and he faffed about trying to work out which ones to grab from the cupboard. We trundled up to the hospital and were quickly dismissed and told to go home and wait 72 hours before coming back unless I started having contractions more often than every three minutes.

We got home and my husband went to bed (humph!) whilst I started having contractions almost immediately. Within a couple of hours they were three minutes apart so we made our way back to the hospital. All this time I didn’t once feel any fear. I felt pain, but I wasn’t frightened.

I was officially in labour for five hours but it’s all blurry. I had gas and air but no other pain relief. I’m not sure if I used the hypnobirthing trance at all - I do remember my husband counting breaths with me. My son was born on his due-date with Agpar scores of 9 and 10. I was able to get up and have a shower within 30 minutes.

So now I’m pregnant again, I’m going to re-read the book. I would recommend hypnobirthing as a philosophy, and I guess that everyone will benefit from it in different ways. For me, it was the relaxation during pregnancy that was the main advantage. That, and feeling no fear of labour.