How Hypnobirthing Helped Lucie’s 12-Hour Birth Journey
Lucie and Tjarco joined my in-person group Hypnobirthing: From Jitters to Joy class, where we focused on building confidence, practicing relaxation techniques, and understanding the natural rhythm of birth. Their story beautifully shows how Hypnobirthing tools can help families stay calm, connected, and adaptable—even when plans change.
Hi Marlene,
I wanted to introduce you to Julia!
Our baby came on Feb 26th at 37 weeks and 4 days. The delivery went well. The hypnobirthing classes were tremendously helpful to birth my baby.
The birth process took 12h. During the first 8h I could birth at home. The surges started around 1:00AM. I was able to sleep until 4:00AM through them. Then I made myself a bath, I relaxed on the birthing ball and woke up Tjarco to have him informing the midwife that labor started and that I started to lose my mucus plug. Around 5:00 to 6:00AM my water broke. The surges were getting closer and more intense. I tried to get breakfast but it was difficult to eat. I focused on my upper breathing and made sure I wasn’t tense (especially on my hands).
At 9:00AM the surges changed and I got the urge to push! We rushed into the car to go to the birth center. Sitting in the car was the most unpleasant position and the trip was difficult to handle. Once there the midwife checked me and I was 8 to 9 cm dilated! I did all the work at home. I was so relieved. But the baby’s heart had dropped below 110 bpm. We needed more monitoring so we all went to the hospital.
At the hospital (around 10AM) I got plugged to many different machines to monitor myself and the baby. Luckily her heart went up and we avoided to go for an emergency C-Section. Then we needed to correct the baby's head position that was slightly tilted. The midwives helped us with that by changing positions and it worked. I stayed at 8-9cm for 3 extra hours. That was the hardest part. I think that the car ride, going to the hospital and being worried for the baby made me tense. It was difficult to relax to let my cervix finishing to efface.
Eventually I reached 10cm at 12:45PM! The push took only 10 min and 3 surges to get the baby out. She was born at 12:55PM. The birth did not go as per plan but overall I am very happy with how things turned out. With the classes I knew what to expect at the hospital and Tjarco and the midwives made sure that we had a birth center experience at the hospital so to speak. I wish I could have more time to practice relaxation but I got only 3 maternity days off before birth!
Have a great weekend,
Lucie, Tjarco, and Julia
