New Baby News and Hypnobirthing Rocks!

Well, I know its been 6.5 weeks since my last post, but I guess thats what happens when you have two kids! It was the night of the labour inducing curry incident that everything started to happen. It was about 10.30 in the evening and I didn't believe it was actually happening at first as the sensations were so mild it could have been Braxton Hicks or practice labour. So I went to bed and relaxed listening to my CD. It was about two hours later that I was pretty certain it was the real thing, so I told my partner I was in labour (I hadn't wanted to get him excited before just incase it wasn't!) and I continued to breathe and visualise through each contraction. At 4am we dicided it was time to call the midwife, so he did that while I had a shower and continued breathing and relaxing through each contraction. I made my way to the living room where we planned to have the baby and I used the birth ball to lean on and breathe until the midwife arrived at 5am. She examined me and said I was already 5cm dilated! I was really pleased and continued to relax and focus on my breathing. At sometime between 6 and 6:30am I started to feel a sensation of pressure on my back passage. It was at this point my partners mother came to pick up my other daughter, who was rousing from her sleep. Then at 7:05 my second daughter arrived. It was an immensely powerful experience which thanks to hypnobirthing techniques was not painful. I had had a tens machine on standby which I hadn't had the chance to use and I had no pain relief whatsoever, not even gas and air which the midwife hadn't even needed to unpack from the car! I had remained in an upright position all the way through labour and birth which to me at the time felt like the most natural way to do it. I was on the biggest natural high when my daughter was placed on my chest, a healthy 4.06kg (8lbs 15oz). And to this day I still feel so powerful from the experience. So to anyone reading this, whether it is yourself who is expecting or your partner, a friend or relative or you in the future plan to have children I would whole heartedly recommend looking into hypnobirthing as a way to deliver the baby. I had had a really painful long drawn out labour with my first (and much smaller) daughter that the thought of going through it all again filled me with fear. It really couldn't have been any different. It really was the perfect labour.

Labour inducing curry!

I'm 6 days overdue now! I can't believe it! Seeing as how my little girl was a whole week early I really didn't expect to still be pregnant almost a week late this time round! The CD has been helping to keep me chilled out though.
So, today I'm on a mision to try natural methods of bringing on the birth as I really don't fancy hanging on til I get induced! So far I'm doing well, I woke up this morning and took my raspberry leaf tablet (I was going to drink the tea but my midwife suggested the tablets so that I know exactly how much I'm getting). Then I did my normal morning yoga etc before getting ready for a nice long hilly walk! I even sacrificed doing the roast dinner we had planned to have in order to make a hellishly hot curry! It was pretty tasty so I'll put the recipe in here:

Vegetable Madras

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Coriander Leaf
1 tbsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed and chopped
1 tsp Ground Ginger
3 tsp Chilli Flakes (depending how brave you feel)
2 1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 Onions, peeled and chopped
4 medium Potatoes, peeled and chopped
300g Jerusalem Artichoke, peeled and chopped
300g Greens, washed and sliced
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 cup Beef Stock

Method:
1. Combine the Coriander Leaf, Ground Cumin, Tumeric, Cracked Black Pepper, Chilli Powder, Garlic Cloves, Ground Ginger, Chilli Flakes and Lemon Juice and mix to for a paste.

2. Heat the Oil in a Wok and cook the paste for 1 min before adding the Onion.

3. When the Onion is nicely coated in the paste add the Beef Stock and Tomato Puree. Then add the Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes and simmer covered up for 15 mins.

4. Add the Greens and simmer covered up for a further 30 mins or until the veg is nice and tender. Check the sauce every now and then and add more water as necessary.

5. Serve with Rice and Naan

This recipe is also delicious as a Beef Curry, just swap the Potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes and Greens for up to a kilo of cubed Chuck Steak and cook it before adding the paste. I have a nice recipe for Garlic and Coriander Naan for making in the bread machine but I will post soon in the future! I sat and ate my lunch on a birth ball and now I'm going to go into the garden with my little girl as the suns come out. Then I guess later I'll be eating a large bowl of Pineapple and having another Raspberry Leaf tablet!

My first post

I guess my first post should be something about me, some sort of introduction. Well, I'm due to have a baby any day now. I already have one little girl and don't know what the next one is going to be. I can't wait though! At the moment it feels like I've been pregnant forever and despite everyone telling me what a neat little bump I have I feel huge and have been ready to have this baby for the last week or so!
Obviously I'm hoping everything goes well with the birth, but this time I feel a lot more prepared. I've been reading about Hypnobirthing (HypnoBirthing by Marie Mongan) and listening to a Natal Hypnotherapy CD (Effective birth preparation). I've not actually been to any classes but feel like I've learnt a lot using the book and CD. The principal is brilliant, it is the fear of pain that brings about the actual pain and not actually birth itself. If you are fearful then your body will be tense which will cause pain. So by releasing your fears towards childbirth and focusing on breathing, relaxing and visualisations you can work with your body to birth your baby as calmly, safely and naturally as possible. So this time I am actually looking forward to the birth rather than fearing it. Hopefully everything will go as well as we're expecting and I'll be able to blog this to you sometime in the near future!