HypnoBirthing changed my life
“Gratitude is an energy, a miraculous force that attracts more into our lives. Wherever we direct our energy, the energy we put out is exactly what we will get back”
This idea has invited me to look at my birthing experience in a whole new light. Our 5 week journey with Jennifer Elliott was a fun, welcoming, open, loving one that prepared us for more then we knew at the time. The tools she gave us were easy to welcome into our daily lives as we prepared to welcome our daughter. Many car rides to work I would listen to my affirmations. I only later realized how POWERFUL they would be.
Jennifer’s tough questions of our anxieties allowed for openness and courage in my relationship with my husband and our PLAN. The list we created gave us a great starting point of PREPAREDNESS. The “J” breath was a daily ritual ☺ and the breathing exercise helped in my career as well. The visualizations I use routinely as a tool to enter calm in my life.
We planned for a home birth and prepared everything to facilitate that plan. I struggle at times to accept that our intended plan didn’t goes as planned. I was almost 43 weeks pregnant and went for routine ultrasounds that landed me in the hospital because of lower amniotic fluid. My care was transferred to an OB and I was sent home to try to push things along naturally until our deadline of midnight.
We returned to St. Joseph’s Toronto where I would spend the next 18 hours practicing and using every tool Jennifer taught us. Nurses that weren’t on our team would enter in “awe” of our room filled with positive affirmations, HynoBirthing music, and a supportive husband walking me through visualizations, my eyes closed, deep breaths and exercises on the ball. We tried to stick as close to our birthing plan as possible. I’m grateful for the letter we prepared in advance that told our team we were a HynpnoBirthing family. They knew how to approach us and give suggestions because of it.
At the 18th hour after walking the halls with my hubby, focused and using deep breaths and self-talk, our OB came to ask us to make a hard, scary decision. They wanted to perform an emergency C-section. To this day I’m unsure if it was what we HAD to do but that could be just my struggle. We said yes.
This is where I am so appreciative of our HypnoBirthing practice as my mind switched from a moment of fear to “I’ve got this”. The calm, the power of my breath, the intention I put into releasing love and holding onto strength is all because of the HypnoBirthing practice. It allowed me to handle an “emergency” with ease, flow, positivity and even laughter. l remember the anaesthesiologist being surprised at how present I was through contractions as he did his thing to prepare me. It was just he, a nurse and me for a brief period, which was scary but manageable because I had the tools. As my husband entered he heard me telling jokes. He whispered affirmations in my ear.
At 7:13 p.m. on July 13 2013 our daughter was born. She was vital, beautiful and perfect. I’ve come to understand that my cellular energy was and is transferable to her. That my HypnoBirthing practice helped to create a little baby who latched right after surgery in recovery, who endured tests with strength, who has now and always had an amazing healthy attachment to me, who is strong, healthy and vibrant. I believe the energy I put out during the shift in our plan and the calm, positive attitude I had during surgery – is the energy she got back from me. I owe this to my husband, to Jennifer, to HypnoBirthing and to myself.
Thank you,
Valerie