In this episode I’m sharing a birth story from one of my earlier clients and also one of the SONA hypnobirthing teachers, it’s Georgina’s turn to share her stories today.
After a first traumatising birth, Georgina opted for home births and went all in on the hypnobirthing practise. Here she shares her two Aberdeen home birth stories, including one right at the height of the pandemic.
This is a great episode for anyone who’s wondered what birth feels like, or anyone who’s wondered whether affirmations really do anything!
Transcript – Please note this is automatically generated and may contain errors.
In this episode, I’m sharing a birth story from one of my earliest clients and also one of the SONA hypno birthing teachers. It’s Georgina’s turn to share her stories today. So after a first traumatizing birth, Georgina opted for home births and went all in on the hypno birthing practice. He or she shares her two Aberdeen home birth stories, including one right at the height of the pandemic.
This is a great episode for anyone who’s wondered what birth feels like because Georgina does a great job of helping us understand that. Or anyone who’s wondered whether affirmations really do anything. You’re listening to The Pregnant and Aberdeen podcast, a podcast for those expecting in the northeast of Scotland. I’m your host, Jade Gordon, clinical hypnotherapist, hypno birthing teacher and doula.
My aim here is to bring you local information for stories like we have today and birth tips and techniques. So let’s get started. So thanks for joining me today, Georgina. Hello. It’s good to have you here. And we’re gonna talk about two of your birthdays today, which is exciting. And yeah, we can also do a bit of comparing of your first birth as well in terms of like h,
the birthing and not h a birthing and just kind of what you learned between the, those two births. But yeah, thanks for joining me. It’s exciting. It’s nice to see you. Now you’re up in the highlands. But yeah, we first met, I dunno, you can tell me how many years ago it was. Now I go by children’s age.
Yeah, lovely to see you too. Jade. But Florence is five, so I did hypno birthing with you when I was pregnant. So that’s almost six years ago. Is it five and a half years ago? Six years ago. Yep. So I, I’ve got three children. So I birthed in 2008, 2017 and 2020. My eldest’s birth was best description,
was quite a dramatic birth. Really? Yeah. It left me feeling just like me feeling rubbish. And I think the, the, the thing that sticks out most in my mind is that I ended up saying quite a lot to everybody who would listen. It just didn’t have to be that way. I think that’s what I could remember clearly, is that I kept even just coming out of the hospital,
I was like, didn’t have to be that way. Why? Why was it that way? So when I got pregnant with Florence, with baby two, I just wanted it not to be that way. Is basically all that I was trying to do was try to have a birth that was not like my first one. Yeah. So that’s when I found Hypnobirthing,
to be very honest, I had decided quite early on I didn’t want to go into hospital. So I decided quite early on that I wanted a home birth. Now five years ago or six years ago, nobody had had, like, I knew nobody who had had a home birth. Yeah. So this was a little bit left of field. Now more people have home births.
It’s a little bit more normal. Yeah. Or normalized. Normalized. Yeah. But, but then I didn’t know anybody so I don’t actually know where the home birth came from other than possibly I didn’t wanna go into hospital I think. Yes. Yeah. Then I found hypno birthing, then I read a book. I read, I actually bought the Mary Mongan book and read three quarters of it till I didn’t understand what the hell she was talking about.
And then contacted you. Yeah. So I contacted you when I was about 17 weeks actually it was quite early. But I had been investigating hypno birthing for weeks prior to that. And then we had, we did one-to-one. You came to my house quite a lot and we did one to one. But it’s also cause I wanted like hypno birthing wasn’t just about me trying to have some birth,
some, you know. Yeah. A certain type of birth. It wasn’t just Yeah. A certain type of birth. It, it was also about having my daughter, my eldest included in the birth. Yeah. It was also about my partner being included in the birth. It was also just a way for us to talk about stuff and you know,
be part of stuff and yeah. But it was also a way for me to try and have a unmedicated. Cause I wanted to, the problem with my first birth is I don’t really remember it. Yeah. You know, I was so, I only remember it from above. You know, I’m hovering above it and I don’t, I just don’t,
I didn’t remember it cuz I was, I don’t know, pumped full of stuff or just so scared. I just didn’t remember it. And so one of the things I wanted to do was try and remember So unmedicated was something I wanted to try. Yeah. But okay. I remember talking to my sister going, how the hell I’m not gonna do this.
And that I think is where hypno thing definitely came into its own for me. So when I started studying hypnobirthing, I went like, I’m an all or nothing person. Yeah. I go full help pelt and I do e everything a hundred percent. So I was listening to affirmations even though I thought they were Nas Yeah. I was listening to affirmations constantly walk to work in the car all over the place and laughing at the wounds and things like that with my eight year old in the back of the car.
And I would do relaxation twice a day. And you know, I just r and it’s about, it was the processing. It allowed me to process things from my first birth. It let me and my partner process things that we wanted from our second birth. We were able to talk about induction, which was a very sensitive issue for me. We were able to talk about other things because we were processing it.
You know, he was part of the journey. My partner just, he fully embraced it. So he would, he would be, he’d come relaxation with me. He would read scripts. He was fully on board to discuss anything and try anything. And it was great actually. It was a lovely, lovely process and time. Something I see quite often that hy birthing.
We see it as this thing for birth, but actually it can help us enjoy pregnancy a lot more. Especially if you’ve been quite nervous, fearful, anxious about birth. Like it’s a big thing. It takes up a lot of like mental space. And then when you’re able to actually enjoy pregnancy more, it’s obviously better In retrospect. Like every like retrospect’s amazing thing.
Yeah. But I do say that hyp birthing gave me a lot, allowed me to access a lot of strength, but it also allowed me to access my voice. It was one of the things that I didn’t even realize I needed, you know, this, this confidence to be able to have discussions with my health professionals and to be able to say no.
And I think it, I mean it does take confidence sometimes to, yeah. Even have a discussion with a health professional. And I think it did give me that because I was able to process and with Magnuson’s birth in 2020, those scout, those tools and those techniques were, I, I used them even more. Yeah. But I’ll talk about that when I get to that one.
Well let’s talk about your second birth then. Yeah. So it was pretty straightforward I suppose in my own mind. But, so I can’t actually remember when Florence was born. She was like, she was term plus something. Yeah. At, at, at this point I wasn’t really that bothered. And Magnus gets even more blurry because I just Yeah.
Due date estimate. Yeah. So she was, she was over this magical 40 week time that we talk about. I think she was probably over the 41 week time, to be fair. But I was, I was home birthing. We had our home birth kit, we had had our pool and blown up for weeks. It was just sitting in the living room for weeks.
And my mom and dad had come with Millie. They’d actually come two weeks before the due date. Yeah. What a mistake. And they were really upset cause they had missed the birth. So this time they came like a week after the due date or, or they were all primed to come. Yes. But they came like a week after. And so my mom and dad were there.
We make this joke that my father, who looks like Santa is, was my doula. That’s, that’s the joke crew make. He was my doula. So the big thing about birth for me at this point was I wanted it to be a, a family. I wanted it to be something that would bond everybody. Do you know? I wanted it to be,
yeah. Something that, or I believe that’s what birth is. It’s something to bond people. Like everybody like birth is so important. And I not only wanted the support from the people I loved, but I also wanted to give them something too. Like have my daughter present and let her experience something so wonderful and natural. However it was gonna go.
It was quite important. So yes, we had all of these people. So Florence was born on the 19th. So on the 18th of November, about eight o’clock at night. I wasn’t feeling I could feel something happening. I think things have been moving, things have been happening for a while. But on that night it was definitely happening. My sister would make,
make a joke. We used to watch strictly come dancing. Yes. As a, like we used to have a WhatsApp group. Yeah. And they would make a joke that you’re gonna give birth and on when strictly was on. But I didn’t. But anyway, it was this joke. But, so at eight o’clock, I actually went to bed quite early cuz I was feeling just,
I was feeling gurgly is that, you know, I was feeling, you know, kind of pre mens straw kind something going on. Yeah. And then about, and then I think I’d had twinings throughout the night, which I was just, that would wake me up a little bit. And then I would go back to sleep again. But about half four,
they were pretty, they were working themselves up. So I was breathing through them. Yeah. And probably about five-ish I had nudged hubby and woke him up to say, we’re gonna ha, I think we’re having a baby now. I think this is what’s happening. So that’s fine. The morning moved on, we were having little surges and about 10 o’clock I can remember it just stopped.
And I can remember really, really quite grumpy. I’d snapped my dad and really grumpy. So my mom took me out for a walk. So we went for a walk breathing as I was going and everything like that. And then my mom and dad took Millie out to, that’s my eldest out shopping or somewhere. I don’t know where they went. And so me and Stu went and had a snooze.
So we went at a snooze and then we kind of fooled around and things like that. And I did actually sha quite a lot here. Okay. Sha is good. So I did actually orgasm, but at the time that I did that, my surges just went po. Yes. That was it. So I got outta bed and I went to the toilet and my waters just burst.
And that was it. They just kept coming steady and smooth. And so I stayed on the toilet for a while. And then when I decided, yeah, we definitely have to phone somebody cuz they were pretty regimented, pretty strong breathing through them. Took a while to get used to them, but breathing through them. So we phoned the midwives, then it took two,
three attempts cuz you couldn’t know the right number. So that’s a key point to write the correct number down when you need it. And the midwives chat, it’s me for a bit. They stayed on the phone for a while. They were trying to gauge the, so they, the how far apart the surges were and things. Yeah. And so they said that they were coming happy.
Mom and dad came back, I started vouching in the ball, happy. And dad filled up the pool. About three o’clock the midwives came. So both midwives came at the same time. One for me and one for baby. So they both came at the same time. I remember them, I remember standing up from the ball and then my waters had gone.
So they, the waters were still dripping out and the midwife looked at them on the floor. And she didn’t actually tell me at that point that she suspected meconium, but she didn’t, she didn’t say anything, which is really good cuz that can actually be a fear enhancer, I think. But she asked me if I wanted a vaginal examination and I declined.
I declined that and got straight in the pool. So she was there about three o’clock. I was in the pool. Florence was born at half five. So I was in the pool for two and a half hours. Yeah. And like most of, I just breathe through them. I just, I, I say that like it’s easy, but not like I used hypno birthing.
Like my whole environment was quite important to me. So my whole environment was just quite a positive space. You know, I had candles everywhere. I had my affirmations up on the wall. I had my hypno birthing tracks playing. Yeah. And my mom and dad were there. And my dad making comment every so often, which was really quite comical.
Things would happen. Like they dropped the oxygen tank, which made this massive clank. But I’m really just stayed in the zone. I was in my birthing body and I was breathing and the, the surgeons would come and the midwife didn’t even know that they, how you know, that they were there. She’d have to put, she, I would have to tell her.
And then she would put her hand on my belly to feel the surge, to feel how strong it was. And she did minimal. She did have a dongle, a water underwater dongle. But like, it was unobtrusive. It was, yeah, it was, it was only occasionally. And then, and Stu was there the whole time. And then about,
it must have been about quarter past, cuz the last stage didn’t last that long. But it, it just ramped up. You could feel it. It got, the surges got stronger and more powerful and full of pressure. And so my, I just moved, I had been lying back, like on my back on the pool and I had to move.
Like I was, it was a impulsive reaction. I had to move to my knees. So I suppose it’s gravity or something, I don’t know. But it was just far more comfortable. Yeah. I could feel baby coming down. And it was diff I found it challenging. Switching from a surge breathing to J breathing. I did. Yeah. But once you found your rhythm,
it became much more easy. And Florence just plopped out. I mean, you know, you usually hear about clowning where the baby’s head comes out first and it just kinda sits there. Didn’t happen with Florence. She just went, I could feel her coming down the birth canal. That was one, you know, push. And then she just plucked out.
It’s like natural, what do they call it? Natural expulsion. It’s expulsion reflex. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it was totally, it was totally, I, I had, I, I do remember feeling scared at that point. You know, I do feel a sense of offensive of fear at that point. Yeah. Possibly this transition stage. Possibly this adrenaline,
you know, coming in and I can remember my midwife, I can remember Stu just being there all the time saying you can do this. You know, breathe. And you know, being very supportive. And then I can remember the midwife saying, don’t be scared. I, I know that sounds, but that it just was a, this a reminder of,
you know, it’s okay, you can do this. Yeah, it’s okay. You can do this. And it was lovely. And then f it was genuinely lovely. I can’t, I can’t tell you Yeah. How exhilarating it felt afterwards. Do you know this, the absolute pulsing of hormones of it was the absolute best experience. Do you know,
I’ve, I’ve, you know, I’ve, it was endorphins, wasn’t it? This flow of endorphins. Oxytocin just buzzing. Absolutely buzzing. Yeah. Florence was born. She came into my arms and she just stayed there. We stayed in the pool for about an hour afterwards. The placenta, I birthed the placenta in the pool about 45 minutes after.
Yeah. I did have to push a little bit to get the placenta out. So 45 minutes later they came out. I had to do a wee bit of pushing to get it out. Cause I was still cramping. It was still to, to work the placenta out. But it came out, waited till the cord went white, eh, stew cut the cord.
I think on that occasion. We didn’t clip our placenta on the kissing, but we did get to see it. And then they tied it away. And then about, about an hour after, like Florence, Florence was definitely nozzling the boob tennis shape. Breastfeeding. I don’t think she’d started feeding there. But she’d tr you know, she’d nozzled. And then we came out and we,
it was just lovely. My mom was there, took me and got me a shower and it was just lovely. Then we had Chinese, I went to bed. It was just lo I mean it was genuinely just lovely. And the mid worries were so understanding They had read our birth plan. I had done a written birth plan and a photo birth plan.
I think, again, in retrospect, the birth plans were more for me than anybody else. They were more about my processing and what I wanted. And it was important for the midwives to read it so that they could understand who I was. But in retrospect, really it was super helpful for me to, and for my husband. Cuz then he was able to be on the same wavelength as me and understand what I wanted.
And we were able to discuss it. So I I, I think birth plans are awesome. They’re really super, super good. But yeah, the midwives were just lovely. They just, they were so supportive. They were so quiet. Quiet. They were so unobtrusive. And they were lovely. They were very respectful. It was really super lovely.
And had you met any of them before? No I hadn’t. They were From the ho from the hospital. The home birth team. Yeah. Yes. Eh, I think they’re a mix. So they were a mix of community midwives. And I think they’re predominantly community midwives actually. Cause in magna’s birth, I did actually have my own community midwife.
Yeah. Yeah. She actually did show up, which was quite cool. It’s Nice to have that continuity. Yay. And for anyone li listen thinking, watch G breathing. That’s just another term for like birth breathing. We might hear that call if you didn’t hit the birthing or down breathing or various other things. Doth, Vader breathing, anything like that.
But yeah, Jay breathing is the idea that, you know, is the shape of the breath. Imagine the breath coming down and out. So yeah. Brilliant. I think I’m more of a visual person. Yeah. So I quite like, so I used a lot of visualizations actually when, for both of my births. So like the for surge breathing,
you know, this visualization of the balloon going in and out. I find I find that really, really super helpful. Yeah. And colors I found really helpful thing. Anything that could just help me make the it more real. Yes. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like just process things. So yeah. And then I used like visualization was a huge part.
Yeah. I didn’t actually realize I was using so much visualization until Magnus is birth I think. But I did massively, I would visualize actually giving birth in that room. Yeah. I would visualize going into the birth pool. I would like, I would Yeah. Visualize going into the hospital how I would feel. Yeah. I use visualization a lot.
It’s important To know what you what what works for you, isn’t it? Yeah. And I think it’s underrated. Yeah. A little bit. I don’t know if we use visualization or I don’t, I don’t know if we, it’s you know, I think Hypnobirthing has this idea that it’s just breathing. Yeah. And so much more relaxation and Yeah.
But I think it totally is so much more than that. And the power of affirmations. The power of visualization is when used and used when used. Yes. Full stop are really powerful. Yeah. And can really help. Your processing abilities can really help you or help me. It really helped me to find out how I would feel. Yeah. And when that came to Magna’s birth,
it was even more important. Yeah. So Magnus birth is virtually the same as Florence’s birth. There’s not a huge amount of difference in it, apart from the fact that my mom and dad weren’t there. Yeah. I Was gonna say, apart from the fact there was a global pandemic, it was a small detail. Yes. Yes. Global pandemic.
Really serious, heightened anxiety. Totally freaking out. Cause every home birth team in the holy of Scotland and England were shutting down and holy crap, what were we gonna do? Yeah. Is basically what we were faced with. So yeah, Magnus birth kind of starts much earlier. Okay. So again, I started hypnobirthing practice went really early. I,
you know, 20 weeks we were, I was had the affirmations going. I had hypno birthing, you know, the hypno birthing tracks going. Stew was reading scripts. We probably weren’t quite as diligent Yeah. As we were before. But I think I had had, I think it, it is a bit like riding a bike. You, it’s just bit getting back into the rhythm.
Yeah. And getting back into the mindset lot about mindset. But yeah, some Stu Magnus was born in on the 1st of May, 2020. Right. So we were Right. Yeah. So when March came, so I, I it’s just, I thinking back, it was a really challenging time, eh, challenging for everybody. But I can remember like this rippling rumor mill Yes.
Happening of, eh, you know, Italy had to start shut down. I had just done my last hypno birthing class at the end of February, beginning of March. Yeah. And one of the ladies there had family in Italy and I can remember us talking about this ripple in effect and how they were stuck in their homes. How terrible would that be?
Yes. Then like a week later, all the, all the N C T playgroup were closing or we decided that it was, you know, and I did the nappy library and stuff and it was all shutting down and yeah, it was like, and then it was just like there was nothing. Yeah. You were just there in your home and it was like,
what’s going on? And we were very, very, very fortunate in that grampy and n h s, the home birth team did not close, did not shut down. They were adamant that they were con going to continue. And they did. So my midwife was lovely. So at 36 weeks she dropped off my home birth package or home birth box with all the bits in it and things like that,
that I needed. Which was a week early cuz she was adamant this was gonna happen. And she was lovely, super, super lovely. And I was getting really, I mean like anxiety was high at the best of times, but I was really getting super worried cuz I had no idea what I was gonna do. Like hospital was a really, and still is a really scary thought for me.
Do you know, it was something I needed to process. And we were fortunate that we were, our stones throw away from the maternity hospital. Like we were not far. So we did start contemplating having an unassisted birth. Do you know we had, I started reading books. I start, I actually did a, a course and just a little online course,
but it, it was more about pro, it was more about processing, do you know? Yeah. And offering myself choices of what I could do. Do you know, without the information, without the knowledge you can’t make a, how do you make a choice? Do you know? So I was trying to do that and then I would use visualization to visualize walking through the doors of the hospital and going in.
I was trying really hard to do that. I think that That’s so important. Like, I always say to people, especially like who are like fixed. Like I’m definitely having a home birth when I have the home birth and I’m like, that’s great. But it’s good to also be comfortable with if plans change or if you whatever, decide halfway to your breath,
you need to go visualizing a positive hostile breath is good too. Or like you see like walking into the doors. Because then if you have to do that, it’s not gonna trigger that massive panic of like, oh no I’m here. And I’ve, I’ve just like brain my head in the sand up to this point. It’s really good to be comfortable not necessarily jumping for joy at hospital birth,
but to be comfortable with the concept of that. And I love the idea of you looking at free birthing and stuff like that as a, or unassisted birth as another option. Because when you know that you’re choosing to go to hospital, that’s an entirely different mindset than, you know, if you feel like, oh this is my only choice. I think that,
yeah, I mean the, the crushing disappointment of having choice taken away from you. Yeah. And this idea that it is this yeah. Can be overwhelming and can, can really affect your mindset and how you choose, how you are able to process things. Yeah. I mean like you see it a lot but yeah, it’s the fear of the unknown.
Do you know if and being able to like watching the videos and you know, going, going to the hospitals, having views, having pictures of it. It’s so important. Yeah. And that’s something in the Highlands we’re trying to, there’s no photos of the Highland hospitals so we’re trying to get that anyway cuz it is so important to understand where it is that you’re going understand what you’re doing and being able to process it.
And I’ll put in the show notes some pictures of Aberdeen for anyone who is wondering what the rooms look like. And there’s a video as well of years old now. But I’ll stick that cause you’re right, it’s so important to see it. Cause Environment is really important. Yeah. I mean like in life, let alone giving birth. It’s just super important and we don’t really appreciate it that much I don’t think.
Yeah. How did you, how did your liver start then? This second time or third time? Sorry. So where are we? Yes, so 36 she drops off it and then at this point I say to her, I don’t really think I need any more home visits. Yeah. So I declined home visits. So I didn’t see another midwife until my birth.
Yeah. My midwife was super supportive. We did have weekly phone conversations, but like Covid would rife at this point and to keep my anxiety levels as low as I can, we’re just like, if you don’t unnecessary visitors don’t need, you know, we just don’t need to heighten the risk. I was fully confident baby was moving loads, I was really happy with anything.
Anything like that. And there was, she did want to come. Yes. So I declined it. And I’m actually quite glad I did in Rich Vic because Magnus was a big baby. Most of my babies were seven I think seven three. Seven six. I think they, that’s what they were. So Magnus was nine pound two when he was born.
So I imagine there would’ve been some discussion about big babies, which I think I don’t think my anxiety would’ve been able to cope with. But you never know. I was quite good at the processing things. So labor started exactly the same way really. It wasn’t in the night before I woke up in the morning. It was just a different feel. Yeah.
Mom and dad weren’t there. Everything, it was like apocalypse, you know, there was nobody around. So, so things just sort of started, I woke up in the morning and it was all a bit gly, didn’t really know anything was happening. And then surges did start coming. We went for a walk. I would walk along and then all of a sudden stop and then walk along and all of a sudden stop.
It was quite funny actually to think about it now. Cause I don’t think I realized how advanced, you know, how I don’t think I can because I just, it was almost like, it was surreal. It wasn’t really, it was a really surreal feeling. And then we just went about a day. We had cheese toasties for lunch. Still filled the pool,
phoned the midwives. About three o’clock-ish was in the pool at this point. Got told off for being in the pool. Said I don’t, I’m inves came and it was my, the midwife I had had since Florence and it was another midwife. It was a slightly different feel a bit more, I did feel a little bit more viewed if you like.
Okay. It was like a viewing desk. But I think that was just part and partial of the whole weird situation. Yeah. I was a bit scared or I was a bit wey that they would come in all the ha you know, hazards. Yeah. The kinda, it’s like the black death kinda mask thing I did and I did, I was a bit concerned for the kids for for a million Florence who was only two and a half.
That that would just be too much for them. So we had been looking at pictures and had had tried to find videos of midwives and full hazard gear and stuff. Yeah. Actually they didn’t. They didn’t. They came, they had a mask on I think. And yeah, they had minimal stuff to be fair. So yeah. And it’s just,
I mean it happened exactly the same. I was in the pool. Water is my, I mean even now water is my calming agent. It’s so relaxing. I find it. So if I’m stressed I go for a swim or I have a bath. I just love it. It’s just lovely. I was just the same again. Had hypnobirthing tracks on,
had affirmations on the wall. I had actually done visualization boards Yeah. This time. So I had visualization boards on the wall just right beside me to say, you know, you’ve done it before. These are cool stuff. Did exactly the same, same position. Hep birthing, birthing body. This time round. I could feel my, my muscles working.
Yeah. And I can remember one particular moment where I just came out of a surge and I just went, oh my God, you’ll not believe what I’ve just fell. It was just like all my muscles were working. I could just feel them working and moving maybe down. It was a phenomenal experience. Yeah. To be able to feel that. And if I hadn’t,
if I hadn’t been allowed in quotation marks, if you can’t hear me. But if I hadn’t had this quiet environment, if I hadn’t been able to feel my body and be present in my body, I would never have felt that. Do you know, it was a real gift. It was really lovely to be able to feel that. And then again,
I was in the pool about, so labor, you know, it started about two. Magnus was born at 13 minutes past five. So very similar to again, I were moved from a relaxing laid back position onto my knees. Magnus Waters burst at they went, they just went pop in the water. They hadn’t gone before. They just went pop in the water.
I’m gonna make it up. But it was something like nine minutes past five. Yeah. I think that the waters popped. I had to move straight away because it was so intense. This birthing stage. I found really intense, really strong feelings, really strong pressure. And yeah, he, he did crown. So he, he did crown and then he just popped out and that was it.
Yeah. It like, yeah. So that breathing stage only lasted what, four minutes? Yeah. And he was born so from, so four minutes and he was born. So it was only like two, three pushes if you like. And he was born. And again it was just lovely. It was just lovely. Stu was there, it was a bit more hectic this time round because everybody needed to be fought.
So while I was lying in the pool, while I was laying in the pool. So Stu what I would’ve said was, Stu did a lot in Mag’s birth cuz he not only looked after, oh he like, Millie was amazing. She was 11 at the time, so she kind of did look after Florence and they were lovely watch lion together. It was really good.
But Stu was making dinner and doing pizzas and he was trying to phone people and take photos and everything. And in retrospect really, like a doula would’ve been awesome. Yes. In that, in that space. Like the midwives were great, but I don’t know that there’s, i I, I dunno it for me there’s a separation. You know, their job is not to Yeah.
Do you know they have a very particular job that they need to do. So a doula would’ve been lovely to support him. Yeah. As much as me. Do you know? But so in the LA yeah when, when we were in the pool in that hour after again, we just chilled out in the pool. Millie cut the cord. So we waited for the cord to go white Millie cut the cord this time and we did keep our hanta this time.
So we got that in a little box and we did make placenta prints of it, which is really lovely. A very good keepsake. It was quite fun. And it was very similar. We just chilled out in the pool. Yeah. Magnus nuzzled the wee bit. We came out, my midwife helped me shower and he established breastfeeding and it was just lovely.
And we went to bed and that’s it. We had pizza that night. We didn’t have Chinese. It’s funny how I clearly remember the food after given had fish chips, like after family remember like fish chips, No toast. There wasn’t nor toast had one toast. I want something very clearly different. But I would say the Abso like giving birth to Florence and Magnus was like the af postpartum.
Yeah. I was all walking on air. I had so much energy. I had minimal, like I, I think I had a, a slight graze but I had no tearing from either of them. Was able to establish breastfeeding on my own time scale. And I just felt so amazing. I felt in re but from Flo Millie’s birth I was destroyed.
Yeah. Do you know I was sent home with a baby and I was destroyed. You know, I had, yeah. I had no energy. I had, you know, and it was the, the difference is phenomenal. The between the, between the two different kinds of births and it is, yeah. But Florence and Magnus, I enjoyed their births so much.
Yeah. If I was younger I would’ve kept going but no, so brilliant. So you mentioned like earlier, like the originally you thought affirmations were pretty naf. How did you like change your mindset around that? Like you, you just listened to them enemy even though you were like this is a bit naf. I Can remember saying to you, I dunno if you remember,
but I can remember saying, I remember must have been the second class that we had. And I was like look, I’m just not gonna do the affirmations. I can remember saying, look, I’m just not gonna do them. They’re na. And you were like, yay, okay. They’re quite powerful. You should give them a try or something.
I dunno what you say. Is that really what I always says? Like That was my excellent impression. You’re lucky you’re not Australian. Yeah, I was trying to do Australian accents this morning with milli. I couldn’t do that anyway. Yeah. I don’t I to be very, cause I don’t remember like you were encouraging. You said, well whatever you feel is comfortable for a year,
go for that. Cuz there’s no right or wrong really to it. But I just sort of started listening to them. I just thought, well this is part and parcel of the package. This is what people have said that this is supposed to work. Yeah. So let’s do it. So I would just, I remember, I can remember it being summer holidays and I was still working.
So Millie was going to summer camp. So I would drive her to summer camp and then I would drive to work and in that space I would listen to and all. And I would just like, I Yeah, Yeah. And I would, I would just laugh at some of it. Yeah. But some of it was really powerful. Yeah. Like some of it was just,
and I just think there’s no right or wrong. Like maybe same with your partner reading your scripts to you, you know, it’s okay for him to be uncomfortable or you know, to find it funny or to be a bit, because that’s part of it all, isn’t it? It’s how you connect with each other. It’s how you create and it’s just all of it.
Yeah. So anything that, you know, you find it funny, that’s great. Yeah. But some of it will actually like the power of, I think the power of affirmations is really cool. I can remember with Florence, I was seven or eight months pregnant and there had been a situation in the neighborhood or I’d had an, I had an argument with one of the neighbors over nonsense.
But I was feeling very vulnerable at that point and especially quite vulnerable in my home, if you know what I mean. Quite. I decided to choose affirmations that would make me feel comfortable in my home and I would reiterate them and stick them on the wall and say, you know, my is a safe, my home is a safe space. Do you know I am comfortable in my space or whatever.
Things like that. And do you, you know, it really helped, you know, when you’re in that emotionally vulnerable state and you know, you’ve got hormones going mint all over the place and you know, it’s, it’s nice to affirm the positive rather than to allow the negative to take hold, which it so easily can do. But I just,
I had fun with them. Yeah. To be fair, I, that’s the best, you know? Yeah. I colored in affirmations. I made my own ones I laminated, which I love to do. And I just had fun with them. Do you know? Yeah. There was no pressure to to love all of them. Yeah. But it’s very help.
Like, but I, I’m an all or nothing person, so I wasn’t gonna not do them. Yeah. Cause that was cheating. Yeah. That’s in my strange mind. You know, you have to do everything. Everything or nothing. That’s what it is. But yeah. But they are, they are super powerful. Yeah. So were anyone expecting a baby in Aberdeen,
Aberdeenshire or whatever you’re listening, what, what kind of last tips or advice would you give Them if anything you’re gonna do? I would say work on mindset. Yeah. You know, if you’re not, like, if you think all the rest of it’s na and breathing’s na and work on your mindset and the only way to work on your mindset is to give yourself space to do that.
But I think we are all so stuck in a narrative we don’t even know that we’re stuck in. Does that make sense? Yeah. Do you know we’ve all been told a story about birth and about pregnancy and we think that that’s, we’re just stuck in it. Yeah. So I would say just work in your mindset, find your voice and allow yourself to process things.
It’s, it can be really tough. Like I had to grieve, you know, you have sometimes have to grieve. Allow yourself to, to grieve the birth that you once hoped for or grieve this perfect unattainable thing that you know, and give yourself space to do it. But hypno birthing is amazing. I, I mean, I am biased, but biased for a perfectly good reason.
I found it. I, I use it daily. I use it daily to help me process everything in life. And I’ve used it as for, for, for lots of other things. And it’s, if you embrace it, it can be an amazing thing for you to do. That wasn’t one that was about 12 change. That’s, but that’s all good.
That’s Brian. Thanks so much. Thanks for sharing with us today. Always Welcome. Always welcome. I think the more people that can share their positive birth stories, the better that we can all as a whole society and community change our community mindset on birth and what it is that we think it all is. Do you know? Yeah, it does.
So yeah. The more people that share, go for it. Yeah. Thanks Regina. Thank you so much to Jona for sharing your birth stories with us today. If you have a birth story from Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire that you’d like to share, do get in touch. You can email me, Jade pregnant in aberdeen.com. Here are a couple of points I want you to take away from this episode today.
Firstly, as Regina said, mindset is so important. How you feel, how confident or fearful you are has an influence on the chemicals in your body. It can create real physical differences. It’s so easy to think of hypno, birthing is breathing, relaxing, but it’s so much more to it that working on your mindset is such an important part. Unpacking stresses and fears so you can release them and learning how to use your mindset to help you is so important.
Secondly, if you think affirmations are enough, of course you’re not alone. As I said to Georgina all those years ago, it’s okay to pick and choose what works for you. I love helping clients adapt tools and techniques to suit them and to work for them. But it’s also good to actually test things out before dismissing them. What Georgina initially thought of as a bit NAF turned out to be something important and really useful for her.
Finally, hypno birthing is for life. I love the examples Georgina shares about using the tools in other areas of her life. It helps lots during pregnancy, which is why it’s a good idea to come earlier in pregnancy. And it also helps after birth too. And it’s why Hypnoparenting exists for you when you’re ready for that. So thanks for listening. Head over to the show notes for this [email protected]
slash episode eight and you can find details of our upcoming hypno birthing classes, both in Aberdeen, in Aberdeenshire and online. And you’ll find additional free resources and links. So thanks again for being here with me today and do get in touch. If you have any questions, you can email me, jade pregnant in aberdeen.com and I’ll be back very soon with our next episode.
I hope you have a lovely week.