This is the story of the birth of baby Honey as told to my collegaue Helen, HBCE, in Sydney, Australia and published with her permission.

Hypnobirthing was so much more than just learning how to have a
painfree birth … it’s a skill that changed my life forever!

It taught me about COMMUNICATION .. with my body, my partner and of
course my baby ‘Honey’.

Birthing her was the most amazing experience I ever thought possible
and am looking forward to doing it again, which is is not the
impression i get from many of my friends who also have children. I
often feel guilty when i’m sharing my experience because it’s so
different from many of the horror stories i hear.

Honey decided she’d like to come into this world early on Sunday the
10th of April … 10 days earlier than expected, but i felt totally
calm because i was prepared physically and mentally.

I spent the next few hours cruising around the house painting my
nails and making sure i had my bag packed and on the way to the
hospital we even stopped at McDonalds … i figured hubby would be a
better support partner with a full stomach!

On arrival … i had to convince staff i was actually in labour …
their comments were “you can’t be in labour, you don’t look like
you’re in pain” … but that’s simply because i wasn’t! They
suggested i should go home for a while and when i refused two
midwives and a doctor tried to convince me to be induced. Again i
refused … saying “she’s coming today …. and get that damn bath
ready!”

After it was established i was actually in labour, “Team Honey” was
able to set up the room for our Hypnobirthing experience. My mum and
husband dimmed the lights, put on relaxing music and made sure all
interrruptions were kept to a minimum so i could birth our baby girl
in the water in peace.

Using the Hypnobirthing techniques I put myself into a “dream-like”
state … i felt extremely relaxed and could have gone to sleep a few
times if i wasn’t so excited. It was an amazing feeling to literally
push any pain away by simply tapping into my bodies natural
resources … I felt very strong and empowered.

During the final stages of my labour I had to really concentrate,
because i was so eager to birth her … i was getting dissapointed
when the contractions would stop because it meant i had to wait, and
because they didn’t hurt i was actually looking forward to the next
one! And then … she arrived! … shooting out like a fish in the
water. The midwive scooped her up and held her out to me, but for a
minute i just stared almost forgetting that after the whole
experience of labour, i actually got a prize at the end. And what a
prize!!!!

Honey is amazing! … My husband and I believe she is so calm because
she’s a Hypnobaby! And we are better parents because of Hypnobirthing!