I FINALLY got to sit down and write this all out this evening! I did not really use Hypnobabies fully, but I can say without a doubt it CERTAINLY helped me stay relaxed, especially early in my birthing time. I know that it helped me avoid a panic attack during transformation/pushing as well!! I certainly will recommend the program to others in the future b/c even what little I was able to use made such a huge difference for me!! I want to mention specifically that I printed out the positive “what if’s” and taped them up in my bedroom so I could always remember to focus on the positive and let the negative go!!! 😉 It was a wonderful experience overall!! I wish everyone the very, very best! I will probably go special notices for a while after this. Being a mommy of three small ones is just about all I can handle right now ;-)!!
Thank you all SOOO much!!!
Birth Story of Cael
February 11, 2009
9:06AM
8 pounds 12 ounces 22 inches
I woke up around 5:30AM with some mild crampiness. Since I had prodromal labor for weeks, I wasn’t convinced this was really labor. I felt like I had to go to the bathroom, so I did. I decided to lie back down to see if I could go back to sleep. Just a short while later, I felt I needed to go to the bathroom again. I sorta laughed at myself saying this was a “sign” of labor because I was cleaning myself out :-). I tried sleeping again, but it just wasn’t going to happen. So, I timed some of the “cramps.” They were about 8-10 minutes apart while I was lying down. I got up to take a Pepcid because I had horrible heartburn. I noticed as I was up walking around it seemed like the cramps were pretty close together. I timed a few then and suddenly they were about 3 minutes apart!
I woke Jason up about 6:30AM and told him he probably should call the midwife—I thought this was finally it. I then went to run myself some bath water. While the water was running I came back and Jason was asleep again. I woke him up again and asked if he’d called her. He groggily asked me what was going on. I told him I was having contractions 3 minutes apart and he NEEDED to call the midwife!! He got up then. I got in the tub, and the water was SO relaxing. Jason called the midwife, and she said she’d get her things together and be here as soon as she could. She knew there was a possibility my labor would be fast.
In the meantime, Mom and Clayton got up and started getting Clayton ready for school. Clayton came in the bathroom a couple times and hung out with me before he went off to school. We didn’t tell him that he might come home to his baby brother.
I was very relaxed and calm in the tub, but the contractions were still coming about 3 or so minutes apart. I was playing my Hypnobabies CD in the background, but at some point it started skipping because there was a big scratch on the CD. I told Jason to please turn it off and bring me the computer. I started playing the tracks on the computer and decided I would let some people know that I was actually REALLY finally in labor :-).
My midwife and her assistant arrived and started setting things up. My mom joked later that she didn’t realize they still boiled water, and she had used almost every pot and pan in my kitchen getting everything ready (including breakfast).
I stayed in the tub as long as I could, but eventually the water started getting really cold. Around 8:15AM or so I decided I needed to get out at least for a while and then we could run more hot water if we needed to. I told Jason before I stood up that I was afraid to get out of the water. It had helped me relax so much. I think somehow, subconsciously, I knew that once I got out things were going to get really intense really quickly. I had a contraction as I was getting out of the tub and Jason held me up until I could walk again. My midwife asked me if I wanted her to check me, and while we were debating I had a couple more contractions and had to lean over on the bed. My mom said when she saw me do that, she knew I was getting close. We decided not to do a cervical check because I was afraid I might get discouraged or upset if I hadn’t made much progress.
I got on the bed and was flat on my back for the next contraction. I felt a little pop, but I didn’t know what it was until something started flowing out. I told them I thought my water broke, and they checked to make sure. She asked if she could check me then to make sure nothing was coming out or whatever. I was 7cm then, and I let out a big, “Thank you Jesus!”—and everyone laughed. 🙂 For the next contraction I rolled over on my side and I felt the most tremendous pressure. I told my midwife I felt a lot of pressure, in a confused sort of way. She then told her assistant to get by me because I was feeling “pushy”… I was really confused because she had just checked me and I was 7cm. I was scared to death to push before I was complete because I did not want to hurt myself or the baby.
I asked Jason to sit behind me and support me because I did not want to lie all the way down. My midwife reminded me to stay off my tailbone if I could, so I sorta leaned over onto my right butt cheek to take the pressure off. Jason was wiping my face with a cold wash cloth because I was sweating like crazy. He kept pushing it down in my eyes and it was really bothering me, LOL! He also tried to readjust my headband, but it was irritating me too so I ripped it out of my hair and threw it across the room :-). He really was great to me though, even when I was digging my fingernails in his legs during contractions!
The next couple of contractions I still felt like I needed to push, and this was the one moment that I really almost panicked. But, I kept telling myself that everything was fine, and my midwife kept reminding me to just do whatever my body told me to do. So, I finally did push. After that contraction I let everyone know that it was unproductive and I was slightly irritated. I told them I wanted my left leg lifted up on the next contraction, so my mom came in to help. I told them it was coming, so Mom lifted my leg up for me, and I pushed with a primal growl 🙂 Cael’s head came right out in one push. They all were telling me I was doing great, etc. I told them I just wanted it OUT!! So, they told me I was doing it. The next push forced the rest of Cael’s body out onto the bed—9:06AM, just a little over 3.5 hours after I “thought” I might be in labor and about 45 minutes after active labor kicked in, our beautiful little boy was born! The midwife’s assistant said she was expecting a bit of a sticky shoulder—she had NO IDEA he would come out so fast. So, she wasn’t really ready to catch him :-). At least there was plenty of soft bed down there for him to land on! I told them when it came down to it, I didn’t have time to mess around with all that slow pushing stuff :-)!!
They lifted him immediately onto my tummy and I started rubbing him and talking to him. He let out a couple soft grunt-cries. Once again, I was completely absorbed by the miracle that had just occurred. We waited until the cord stopped pulsing and then Jason cut it. I held him for a very long time. I can’t remember if I let him nurse before or after I delivered the placenta, but he did wonderfully! They finally took him to clean him up a bit more and measure him and weigh him. Everyone made a guess of what they thought he would weigh. No one thought he was the almost 9 pounds that he was!! 🙂 We all also commented on his head full of hair (of course my only girl was the bald one!), and his skinny long legs. His Apgars were 9 and 10, and he was just perfect!!
The midwife said he and the placenta looked about 41 weeks, so those weeks that I was afraid I was post dates, he really wasn’t that “late.” I am SO thankful that I was willing to wait and let HIM choose his birthday and be born in the best way possible!
For most of that day and night, he would spit up tremendous amounts of amniotic fluid (midwives at home births don’t typically suction a baby unless there is a problem, so he had to get it out the old-fashioned way :-)). I could not imagine where in the world he had been holding all of that!! He and I spent most of the rest of the day hanging out in the bed. We had a couple visitors—Aunt Jessie came by and held him for a while and then my daddy came for a little while. I woke Anna up when I was pushing, so Jason had brought her in to meet her new baby brother. You could tell she was completely confused, but she was already enamored with him! When Clayton got home and saw him, he asked me if the baby was in my tummy and I told him that he had finally come out. After a few minutes of confusion, he finally made the connection and he has been a wonderful big brother ever since (at least until Cael is old enough to touch his things!!)!
Finally having a home birth brought many mixed feelings for me. First of all, it was THE most amazing experience ever. It was SO much better than a hospital birth and certainly incomparable to a surgical birth! Everything was extremely peaceful and relaxed and natural. No one was bothering me or forcing me to do whatever was convenient for “them.” I was safe and comfortable in my own familiar surroundings. Cael was so calm and alert for such a long time afterward. Jason kept saying he couldn’t believe how alert he was, and I told him it was because he was born so peacefully! But, on the other hand, there is a strong possibility that this is our last baby. So, I am sad that I will probably never get to have this experience again. I won’t lie and say that I enjoy pregnancy or even labor, but that amazing high you feel after bringing life into the world—the way it was MEANT to be—is absolutely indescribable!! ❤ 🙂 🙂 🙂
Cassie
Mommy to:
Clayton 6/1/2005 – c/s
Anna Cate 1/11/2008 – VBAC!!!
Cael 2/11/2009 – HBAC!!!