Ana & Cristiano's baby Theo
Born at home, Amsterdam - October 2019
Ana and Cristiano were expecting their first baby and decided to do a HypnoBirthing course with me to help understand the Dutch maternity system, and to help them prepare for a comfortable birth. They're from Brazil where birth is very medicalised and so natural birth was very new to them. Read all about their beautiful home birth here:
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"Our baby Theo was born last 25th October, at home, in the birthing pool, as we wished!
Deciding to have a home birth was a process for us, during the whole pregnancy I was gaining more confidence to do so and for sure the HypnoBirthing course was a great contribution for that.
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When I discovered myself pregnant in a foreign country where most of the births are at home I must confess that I was scared. I come from a country where birth is almost always medicalised, where I would delivery besides a hospital?
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During Miranda's HypnoBirthing classes I realised that the fear was in my mind and I start thinking “why to focus in the worst case scenario (if this really exists in birth since our body is made for that)?” Every week, with the techniques and birth experiences that she shared with us I felt more empowered. Every time that I listened to the positive birth affirmations I repeated thousands of times to myself “I put all the fear aside as I prepare for the birth of my baby” and “I trust my body to know what to do and to follow its lead”.
At a certain point I was 100% sure that I was able to do it, that I want to do it, that I would do it. My mind was convinced that this is the natural way to go, that it would be safe for me and my baby.
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I practiced the Rainbow Relaxation hypnosis every night, positive birth affirmations every day, breathing techniques and light touch massage as well! Since week 37 I did the perineum massage for 5 minutes after my shower, which I am completely sure that was the reason I had no stitches even given birth to a 4kgs baby!
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And how was labor and birth? Fast, everybody was impressed how fast it progressed and how focused I was. My surges started at night, 10 minutes apart, no longer than 30 seconds; that question: is it or not in my head, and yes, it was the beginning of birth. I slept pretty well, every time that I woke up during the night I felt that the surges were still there.
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The next morning I went for a walk to the grocery shop, had lunch and the waves got stronger. 5pm my waters broke and here we go, stronger and stronger. My midwife came a little bit later, checked my cervix and I was 3cm dilated, really focused on my breathing through each surge, soft blue light in the room, my favorite yoga playlist playing, sitting on the birthing ball while my husband was doing light touch massage, everything was going nice and comfortable.
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When the midwife left, she told us that the next check would be at 10:30 pm and if I felt anything different or the urge to push to call them. I sat on the toilet (the most comfortable place that I could find), my husband helping me to breath correctly and eliminate tension, I just wanted to push, it was something that I could not control but I was trying to since I didn’t know if I was 100% dilated or not, so we called the midwife again at 8:30pm and she came at 9:15pm. My body and my baby were ready, 10cm and really strong waves. I went to the pool, how relaxing, I felt really good in there and things got stronger, I followed my body, the urge to scream and scream and scream. I screamed my baby down with each surge but it was not painful, it was only a reaction from my body and I followed its lead! After maybe 5 waves and no more than half an hour in the pool, Theo was on my arms!
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The feeling after the birth was of peace, love, relief, joy, all together in a moment that I will never forget – my baby boy born in his room!!! I did it, we did it!!! After my waters broke it took 5 and a half hours of labor, really quick, the midwifes were amazed how fast it progressed, how calm I was!
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I could not have done this without Miranda’s classes, support and the HypnoBirthing techniques. I am completely sure that this preparation lead me to this wonderful experience!