I had pressure waves around noon about 4 min apart. I put a batch of cookies in the oven (for the nurses!). The PW started getting stronger and a little closer so we dropped my toddler off at his daycare lady’s house at 1245.
We left the house for the hospital at 1pm, I listened to the birthing day track in the car on my iPOD. I never finished the track because we arrived to the hospital at 1:20 and things moved very quickly from there.
My triage nurse was supportive of natural childbirth. She gently checked me and I was already 7cm, 100% effaced – which i attribute to the Hypnobabies helping me relax and let my cervix open easily.
Still in triage, my PW got stronger and after about 4 of them my body automatically pushed at the end of one. When that happened I realized that my labor was going to be very fast, so I told the nurse about the pushing. She was surprised, so she checked me again, i was 9.
They’d called my dr but he wasn’t going to make it. The nurses poked their heads out of the room to get the on call dr. At this time my hands felt tingly so I knew I was in transition/transformation. The urges to push were overwhelming and I couldn’t stop them.
According to my husband, the nurses asked each other if there was time to get me to a real room, since I was still in triage. I was clutching the side of the gurney and moaning during the PW and saying I felt burning. They were moving my bed down the hallway and I could feel the baby’s head descend lower until it crowned as my bed was entering a room. They had barely parked the gurney in my “labor and delivery” room when the head came out, and the rest of the body came out a few seconds later, at 1:54pm.
The on call dr barely made it and I commented to him that he didn’t even get his gloves dirty. My doula was out of town, and the backup doula didn’t make it in time either.
Patrick James is 7lbs 6oz and 20 inches long, apgars of 9 and 9. He took to the breast immediately. I had no tearing. My husband says it is thanks to his excellent Perineal Massage techniques :).
They were going to give me a shot of pitocin after the birth and i declined. I was not expecting it because I did not have an IV or heplock and had to block the nurse from administering the shot. My doula had arrived at that point and helped emphasize to them that I didn’t need or want it.
I love what this mom says next, and it demonstrates that you don’t have to have a completely comfortable birth experience. That with Hypnobabies tools you can enjoy your birth even if you have some discomfort!
****BOP warning*****
I didn’t feel like I had anesthesia during the PW, BUT I was able to relax and handle each one at a time without getting all anxious and shaky, which was my ultimate goal. I had an awful time with anxiety during my first birth and got an epidural before I experienced any significant pain. I always thought the actually pushing of the baby out would be the painful part, but it was easy to do and felt like relief. I have no memory of pain during that part.
Additionally, I think Hypnobabies really did help me progress as quickly as I did, and I don’t know if I could have held on and done the drug free thing had it not gone as quickly/intense as it happened. I did have a few moments of doubt that I could “do it” and having the nurse say encouraging things to me while I was breathing through the contractions helped me out so much!
I’m really glad I chose Hypnobabies to prepare for my birth and would recommend it to anyone!