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These four (very smug) women have something in common and it will infuriate EVERY new mum

As more horror stories emerge about birth, four ladies give their accounts of pain free, euphoric and 'better than sex' labours

ACTRESS Emma Thompson recently hit out at the "lies" told about the pain of childbirth, saying women are now terrified of giving birth naturally.

The actress - who gave birth to daughter Gaia, now 19, without pain relief - said many women are opting for C-sections because they are so scared.

 Emma Thompson (seen with her husband Greg Wise and kids Gaia and Tindyebwa)  recently hit out at the 'lies' told about childbirth
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Emma Thompson (seen with her husband Greg Wise and kids Gaia and Tindyebwa)  recently hit out at the 'lies' told about childbirthCredit: Rex Features

Speaking up in a recent interview, the 59-year-old star said: "They do tell lies... and people are now terrified.

"So you’re getting an awful lot of elective C-sections, which is a huge operation and very difficult to recover from.  It’s odd how frightened we’ve been made to feel about the pain of it."

Mumsnet and Facebook have blamed for scaring mums-to-be with a "tsunami of horror stories".

Here, four mothers insist childbirth is anything BUT painful - and their experiences will infuriate every new mum.

‘Giving birth was better than any orgasm’ 

Tamara Cianfini, 46, is the director of The Wise Hippo, which trains women in hypnobirthing. She is separated from her husband and lives in Hertfordshire and has two children, Frankie, 17, and Alana, 11. 

 Tamara Cianfini says giving birth is better than sex
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Tamara Cianfini says giving birth is better than sexCredit: Dan Jones

My first birth seventeen years ago was traumatic. It was on the day the Twin Towers went down and thanks to the fear surrounding me that day, my body simply tensed up and I endured a very painful labour.

I took every drug they offered and the doctors even hurt my baby when they forcefully pulled him out of me with a ventouse.

It was a vacuum-assisted delivery, they just wanted him out of me. It was the final step before a C-section after forceps didn’t work. Luckily, I didn’t have to get a C-section.

 Tamara's first birth with son Frankie was traumatic
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Tamara's first birth with son Frankie was traumaticCredit: Tamara Cianfini
 Tamara says her second birth was better than sex
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Tamara says her second birth was better than sexCredit: Tamara Cianfini

Five years later, I accidentally fell pregnant again, so I immediately booked a C-section. It felt like my safest option, one that gave me some control.

But before the birth, I met a woman who did hypno-birthing who told me birth could be relaxing and even enjoyable.

There wasn’t a single minute where I needed pain relief, not even gas and air

Tamara Cianfini46

I didn’t believe her at first but thought I’d try the techniques and when it got to the due date, I decided to give birth naturally.

The birth was incredible. Thanks to the breathing techniques I’d learned, there wasn’t a single minute where I needed pain relief, not even gas and air.

When my daughter’s head came out after only seven hours of labour I remember smiling like a Cheshire cat. She was a big baby – nine and a half pounds – but the sensation was wonderful and similar to having a massage.

 Mum-of-two Tamara says giving birth to her nine and half pound daughter Alana was euphoric
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Mum-of-two Tamara says giving birth to her nine and half pound daughter Alana was euphoricCredit: Dan Jones

I had some soft, sexy music on in the background which seemed to only help heighten the wonderful sensation flooding around my body. It was all the oxytocin, the pleasure hormone that is released when you have sex.

Even thinking about it now gives me shivers of pleasure. It was amazing, absolutely mind-blowing. Better than any orgasm I’ve had before, that’s for sure.

The experience made me want to become a hypno-birthing teacher.

There are a lot of scary messages out there with giving birth. People who watch One Born Every Minute are usually terrified of birth. But I know differently and need to get the message out there and tell the world that it’s not scary – it’s the most incredible day of your life.

Given the choice between having sex or giving birth again, I know which I'd choose.

'I found it so relaxing I slept through the entire birth'

Hollie Hutchinson, 33, is a project manager from Hull with two little ones, James, 2, and Ted, 21 months, she is separated from the children’s father.  

 

 Hollie Hutchinson was so relaxed she slept through her labour and birth
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Hollie Hutchinson was so relaxed she slept through her labour and birthCredit: Dan Jones

I find it really hard to appreciate it when women say they’ve had traumatic births.

I think we just accept other people’s horror stories and think we’ll have the same experience.

But from the start, I knew what kind of birth I wanted so I put in the work beforehand. I went to hypno-birthing classes and listened to hypnotising tracks leading up to my labour.

I wanted a water birth at home and spent 15 hours in a warm pool in my dining room.

I sat there with my arms raised, floating in water for 15 hours and I didn’t notice anything until my baby was pulled out of the water and laid onto my chest. It was so lovely – I’d never felt so relaxed in my life and slept through the whole thing.

 Hollie with her son James
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Hollie with her son JamesCredit: Hollie Gregerson
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Credit: Hollie Gregerson

Hollie said she slept through her birth with son JamesI got into my birthing pool in my dining room around 9:30am and started to listen to my hypnobirthing track on repeat.

After a few minutes, I fell asleep sat upright in the pool. The track kept me asleep until 6pm when I was woken up by my son being placed on my chest.

My body just took over and did what it needed to do at the same time as just letting me rest.

I find it really hard to appreciate it when women say they’ve had traumatic births

Holly Hutchinson33

It was self hypnosis, so lucky there was no risk of drowning, because going under water would have just woken me up. It’s just the deepest point of relaxation.

The experience was really good for the whole family too, because it meant that for the first few weeks I still had all of the energy I needed. I felt completely recharged because of that day."

 Hollie says she woke up as her son was placed on her chest
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Hollie says she woke up as her son was placed on her chestCredit: Dan Jones

The hypno-birthing worked so well that when my second baby’s birth started to go wrong half-way through, I didn't panic.

I was at home again but he was arriving quicker than we expected and the midwife wasn’t there. But I was able to stay calm while my son was being born as my partner went to get the help.

The fact I wasn’t in a hospital also meant I was relaxed. I think having lots of people around you can really affect your birth.

Whether it’s midwives having a bad day, or other women in labour, it really makes a difference. Hypno-birthing and staying at home really made it easy for me.”

'It was just as easy as going to the loo!'

Samantha Ball, 21 and her partner Dylan Yarborough, 22, are students from Sheffield who had their first son Leo in 2017. 

 Samantha Ball says she felt no pain when giving birth to son Leo, just relief
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Samantha Ball says she felt no pain when giving birth to son Leo, just reliefCredit: Dan Jones

When I got pregnant, I didn’t want to know what I was letting myself in for.

Everyone said it was going to be the most painful thing I’d do in my life and I’d heard all the horror stories.

Even my mum told me it would absolutely kill, but after 21 hours of labour, I thought giving birth was absolutely fine.

It took just three pushes and my baby boy was out

Samantha Ball21

My midwife told me that I was really calm and polite through it all.

If anything, I kept thinking of other people – even sending my partner out of the room when I had an injection because he has a phobia of needles.

When the midwife broke my waters, she said I didn’t need to push yet, as I was only 9.5cm dilated, but I had already started and with just three pushes my baby boy was out.

 Samantha with new born son Leo
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Samantha with new born son LeoCredit: Samantha Ball
 It took Samantha just three pushes to get Leo out
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It took Samantha just three pushes to get Leo outCredit: Samantha Ball

It was similar to that sensation of desperately wanting to go to the loo and then emptying your bowels. No real pain, but a feeling of pure relief.

My partner thought I was pooing at one point, but it was just Leo’s head. I thought I was too, but I didn’t. He definitely would have told me if I did.

I did have a tear but I didn’t feel a thing. After the birth, I had my stitches but I was up and around after about 30 minutes to have a shower, it was absolutely pain free, I was showering and walking.

 Samantha had stitches but had showered and was walking around in 30 mins
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Samantha had stitches but had showered and was walking around in 30 minsCredit: Dan Jones

I’d been told by other women that I wouldn’t be able to move on my own or sit comfortably for days. But that was nonsense.

I would happily go through labour again, it was more of a sensation of release from pressure than any kind of pain.

'One of my twins was born breech – but I didn’t feel a thing!'

Kirsty Butterworth, 23 from Sheffield is a hospital secretary, she has three children, Tommy, 3, and 9-month-old twins, George and Lyla, with her partner Benjamin Hatfield, a 24-year-old Site Manager. 

 One of Kirsty's twins was born breech but she says it was pain free apart from a quick burning sensation
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One of Kirsty's twins was born breech but she says it was pain free apart from a quick burning sensationCredit: Dan Jones

My first birth with Tommy was so painful. I had a forceps delivery and it was pretty all rushed.

I took every drug going and I was crippled over and crying, I was a mess. When I found out I was expecting twins, I didn’t want to think at all about the pain that lay ahead so I didn’t prepare at all.

But it was a completely different experience. I was induced at 37 weeks and five days and the doctors said I could give birth naturally to twin one and have a C-section for twin two because he was breech.

But I didn't need an operation. The midwives broke my waters at 10am when I was 2cm dilated and the contractions started within 20 minutes.

Twin one, George, was born at 11:20am weighing 6lb 1oz, twin two, Lyla, was born breach at 11:38am, weighing 5lb 15 oz.

 Kirsty with her first twin, George
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Kirsty with her first twin, GeorgeCredit: Kirsty Butterworth
 Kirsty with Lyla who was born breech
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Kirsty with Lyla who was born breechCredit: Kirsty Butterworth

It was absolutely painless, all I did was breathing exercises through the contractions and before I knew it my babies were born safely and I hardly felt a thing.

The only thing I did feel was a bit of burning sensation as the first baby’s head appeared, but that’s more or less it.

I remember saying to my mum ‘Ooh, that hurts,’ and just pushed him out and got on with the second one.

It all helped with the recovery. With my firstborn, it was a week before I could do anything.

"I felt like I failed him by having all the drugs during birth and it was seven hours before I could even hold him because I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

But with the twins, I simply got on with it - cuddling them, breastfeeding them, we were home the next day and back to a normal life.

In other news... Mum told she’s ‘let herself go’ after having kids slams critic with an epic response. 

A childless woman, 24, slams ‘entitled’ parents for expecting ‘mum privilege’ after coffee shop sign goes viral.

While this ‘mortified’ mum was left in tears after easyJet air steward told her to stop breastfeeding son, one, during take off at Gatwick.

Mummy blogger gives birth at home without a midwife... and posts the footage on Instagram