Our precious Ian Edward arrived this past Wednesday, Apr 28 at 3:51am. 3 days “early” – yep, he knew when to be born!
He’s a lovely teeny little thing, 6 lbs, 5 oz, 18 1/2 inches. This was all very shocking to our whole family, as my husband and I were both 21 1/2 inches and over 8 lbs. Anyway, I did it!!!
Hypnobabies was amazing, and I had the wonderful natural birth that I wanted. I wouldn’t call it p*** free or discomfort free, but I was able to handle everything and Ian was born safely and happily after about 13 hours of birthing time, the first few hours being really really easy – sort of like, is this it?
One of these days I will sit down and write a more detailed story, but I must share something that my husband was very impressed with – he noticed that in between pressure waves (and man, does “pressure” describe it – especially at the end! Whoa!), my heart rate would drop to around 72 every time. Uh… my resting heart rate, hanging out on the couch doing nothing, is around 90. Well then! DH attributes this – my being able to stay calm in between PWs – the key to what was our easy birthing.
My sister-in-law was our birth partner assistant, and she had a natural birth (but not hypno) a year and a half ago, and she now calls me her birth warrior hero – which is hilarious, because she is one tough chick – and wants me to be her “doula” whenever she has her next baby! She’s been telling everyone how amazing I was and that I just kept saying PEACE through the PWs and it was awesome.
So many more details to share, but to everyone who is doing this for the first time or questioning whether it will really work – IT WILL!!! It’s incredible! You and your baby can do it!