Post by DR. QUIST on Feb 7, 2010 16:47:00 GMT -5
Wendy Hall
News of the World 1994
A SPECIAL DELIVERY
Wendy Carter’s NDE did not have a bright light and it is more than 30 years since it happened. But Wendy, like all other NDEers, recalls it as if it were yesterday.
Actress Wendy was a familiar face on television in the Sixties and Seventies when she appeared in dramas like Doomwatch with actor Robert Powell.
But before the birth of her first child, Sheryl, in 1964, she was warned that it was going to be a difficult delivery. The birth was what is medically termed an “extended breach”. Wendy, who is now 52, was given painkillers and she vividly remembers a feeling of floating away and no longer being aware of what was happening.
Her TV producer husband David told her later that the doctor had warned him that both she and the baby were in real danger, and that one of them might not survive.
“The pain of the labour went, and I felt myself floating away. It was as though my spirit was above, looking down on my physical self, I could see myself at the bottom of a hill, which was a cobbled Street lined with old terraced houses. And in the doorways of the houses were a few old people, sitting watching.
“There were lots of people coming down the hill and a few pushing their way up. They were rather like the matchstick figures in an L S Lowry painting. They did not look quite real, and yet I knew they were. The whole scene was totally real to me.
“I was at the bottom of the hill, looking up, and at the top I could see a small hump-backed bridge. Across the bridge was the most wonderful, cool, lush green grass that stretched away as far as my eyes could see. I knew that if I could get to that grass, it would feel spongy to my feet and I could sleep peacefully on it.
“I vividly remember my struggle to get up the hill. I pushed up but seemed to be pushed down again by the
crush of the crowd. Against all odds, I managed to get to the top where there were even more people milling about.
“To my horror, I found that, to get to the bridge, I had to walk over bramble bushes and debris. I somehow struggled over it, and finally found myself at the small bridge.
“I knew that I only had to take a few more steps and I could plunge into the peace of that grass. I tried to walk, but I could not move my foot. As I struggled to take a step, a voice told me to go back down again. It was a strong voice, probably male, but I do not know where it came from.
“I felt very sad as I turned away from the peace of that lovely grass, especially as I did not want to face having to make my way down through all those people again.
“As I went down, I had to push and push. I realised afterwards that this was probably the point at which I was pushing out my baby, of which I have no memory.
“The next thing I remember is the scene fading and I was back in the hospital, and Sheryl was born. If it was a dream, it was strangely significant — I had dreamt through - the acute stages of labour and
childbirth, without being given a general anaesthetic.”
After Sheryl’s birth, Wendy, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, was warned she might have similar health problems if she had a second baby. At first, she agreed it was a good idea not to have another child. But over the next few years, she began to have dreams.
“I dreamt of a tiny baby boy in the most beautiful garden. I dreamt the same scene five times, but each time the child was bigger, just like a baby developing.
“By the time he was toddling, he turned to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’ve waited all this time.”
Eleven years after Sheryl was born, Wendy became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, Matthew. The birth was straightforward and both she and Matthew were perfectly healthy.
“Even now, these dreams, like the experience I had when giving birth to Sheryl, are vivid,” she says.
News of the World 1994
A SPECIAL DELIVERY
Wendy Carter’s NDE did not have a bright light and it is more than 30 years since it happened. But Wendy, like all other NDEers, recalls it as if it were yesterday.
Actress Wendy was a familiar face on television in the Sixties and Seventies when she appeared in dramas like Doomwatch with actor Robert Powell.
But before the birth of her first child, Sheryl, in 1964, she was warned that it was going to be a difficult delivery. The birth was what is medically termed an “extended breach”. Wendy, who is now 52, was given painkillers and she vividly remembers a feeling of floating away and no longer being aware of what was happening.
Her TV producer husband David told her later that the doctor had warned him that both she and the baby were in real danger, and that one of them might not survive.
“The pain of the labour went, and I felt myself floating away. It was as though my spirit was above, looking down on my physical self, I could see myself at the bottom of a hill, which was a cobbled Street lined with old terraced houses. And in the doorways of the houses were a few old people, sitting watching.
“There were lots of people coming down the hill and a few pushing their way up. They were rather like the matchstick figures in an L S Lowry painting. They did not look quite real, and yet I knew they were. The whole scene was totally real to me.
“I was at the bottom of the hill, looking up, and at the top I could see a small hump-backed bridge. Across the bridge was the most wonderful, cool, lush green grass that stretched away as far as my eyes could see. I knew that if I could get to that grass, it would feel spongy to my feet and I could sleep peacefully on it.
“I vividly remember my struggle to get up the hill. I pushed up but seemed to be pushed down again by the
crush of the crowd. Against all odds, I managed to get to the top where there were even more people milling about.
“To my horror, I found that, to get to the bridge, I had to walk over bramble bushes and debris. I somehow struggled over it, and finally found myself at the small bridge.
“I knew that I only had to take a few more steps and I could plunge into the peace of that grass. I tried to walk, but I could not move my foot. As I struggled to take a step, a voice told me to go back down again. It was a strong voice, probably male, but I do not know where it came from.
“I felt very sad as I turned away from the peace of that lovely grass, especially as I did not want to face having to make my way down through all those people again.
“As I went down, I had to push and push. I realised afterwards that this was probably the point at which I was pushing out my baby, of which I have no memory.
“The next thing I remember is the scene fading and I was back in the hospital, and Sheryl was born. If it was a dream, it was strangely significant — I had dreamt through - the acute stages of labour and
childbirth, without being given a general anaesthetic.”
After Sheryl’s birth, Wendy, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, was warned she might have similar health problems if she had a second baby. At first, she agreed it was a good idea not to have another child. But over the next few years, she began to have dreams.
“I dreamt of a tiny baby boy in the most beautiful garden. I dreamt the same scene five times, but each time the child was bigger, just like a baby developing.
“By the time he was toddling, he turned to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’ve waited all this time.”
Eleven years after Sheryl was born, Wendy became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, Matthew. The birth was straightforward and both she and Matthew were perfectly healthy.
“Even now, these dreams, like the experience I had when giving birth to Sheryl, are vivid,” she says.