Hello everyone!

Thought I’d share a quick birth story of our fabulous Hypnobabies water birth. Early Thursday morning at 6:40 am on November 3rd, 2011 our little girl, Maysie, glided out into a pool of warm water and up into our arms all while sleeping peacefully.

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It all began when noticeable regular pressure waves started (after much walking and spicy food) on Wednesday, November 2 around 4:30 pm. I had been out all day Christmas shopping, but upon returning home I started to notice what seemed to be regular waves about 1hr apart. I continued with my normal evening activities like dinner and putting my 3 year old to bed, but I did notice I didn’t feel much like eating dinner. I had hopes that these waves were the real thing, and after bouncing on my birth ball awhile and watching TV with the in-laws, around 10pm I decided I had best try to get some sleep. Ha! I might have dosed on and off for an hour or so.

The waves were starting to grow progressively closer and while I did continue to listen to the tracks, I found myself struggling to fall deep into hypnosis or the off position. No worries though. Everything was manageable in “center” especially the frequent bathroom trips that accompanied each pressure wave. By 2:00 am the waves were roughly 15min apart and I was cuddled on the bed with my husband using the “relax/release” command and debating going to the hospital so we could set up the pool. I didn’t want to go too early but we did need time to set up the birthing pool and this was our second baby.

Finally when my legs started shaking I decided it was time to go. We were out of the house and on our way to the hospital by 3:00 am. I listened to easy first stage on the way to the hospital and had a couple of mild pressure waves along the way, but really I wasn’t sure I was that far along. I even told my husband that anything under 5 cm we were going back home.

The middle of the night proved the opportune time to drive to the hospital and we were in the ER checking in within 15 min. of leaving the house. The hospital was quite and no one thought I was actually in labor as I was walking around and joking with my doula as my hubby did the paperwork. Even when we finally got a room the nurses were all very relaxed about getting things started which made my relaxing easy. No one was in a hurry and they were all very receptive of our birth plan.

When they finally got around to checking me… I was 7 cm ( thank you birth visualizations) You see, 7 cm had been my goal all along when visualizing my hospital arrival. After that shock for my delivery nurse, the birth pool went up in a flash (15 min really did feel like 5 to me). All the while I was managing each pressure wave with the “release cue” and some counter pressure on my lower back and chatting away with my doula. I was surprised I didn’t want to listen to my hypno tracks at that time as that had been my plan all along, but I guess things change. I was soaking in the nice warm waters in no time.

Warm water is absolutely fabulous during labor, and once I was in the pool I was nearly 9 cm in no time. The nurses even joked that they had best call my midwife again to make sure she was on her way and wouldn’t miss the big event. (She missed my first child’s birth a few years ago.) Once she arrived she just told me to relax and that she’d be back in to check on me in a bit.  I must have just look ready cause she didn’t bother to check me again, but instead told me to let her know when I felt like pushing. We listened to quite music and I floated, changing position with each wave, now very close together. At some point she did come back and everyone else did too, but I barely noticed.

They were getting everything ready for the baby’s arrival, and again she told me to push whenever I thought it was time. Yeah. Well even though this was my second baby I had no clue. I remembering asking “really?” over and over between waves. The last cm was a bit intense but manageable. This was nothing like my first birth, and I’ll spare you all that story as it needs a BOP. (*)

I knew my little girl would be swimming into my arms very soon. I pushed whenever I thought I should (though really I thought I just needed to go to the restroom). The pushing the baby out track was playing out loud in the room and while I could only really hear it between the ahhs I know my subconscious was listening. My body did what it needed to do since I was relaxed and I owe that relaxation to Hypnobabies. With gentle continual encouragement and reassurance that everything was OK and “yes you can do this” from my doula, my husband, and my midwives, I AAHHHH’ed her out. The midwives passed her to me and she lay sleeping on my chest for a few moments before we woke her up while drying off.

Hypnobabies helped me have a great birthing experience. I had amazing support from my husband, my doula, the midwives and nurses. All involved were really impressed with the Hypnobabies techniques we used even me. And before we checked out of the hospital even the nurse who teaches the typical hospital childbirth classes came to talk with me about the program  in hopes of sharing it with others. Hypnobabies is great if you choose to use it!
Best wishes to all,

Maggie

How do you put an experience that moves you to our soul…down in mere words?  How can I possibly convey the way my heart felt, the strength and power in the room, the atmosphere and the miracle that unfolded before my eyes?

I can’t.  I have to accept that to move on with this blog post…I won’t be able to REALLY tell her story the way that I believe it deserves to be told.  But she specifically asked me to share it from my point of view, and how can I deny her this request when she just gifted me with the privilege of being there when her baby took her first breath…

I love how this midwife shares this amazing birth story of a Hypnobabies Mom.  There are even some incredible birth pictures included.

The perfect video introducing dads/partners to the basics about homebirth – from the dad’s perspective. When a family considers having a homebirth, it is rare for the dad to have another experienced dad to talk to. In this video a cross section of dads candidly answer questions about their concerns and considerations.

For those of you wondering, waterbirth really isn’t as mysterious as it sounds. It’s simply natural childbirth’s version of an epidural, and I saw it as one more tool available to me to help aid the process. Especially because I’d had a prolonged pushing phase with our daughter (also a Hypnobaby), I was looking forward to the soothing nature of the water which would help Liam to be born more gently. I did a lot of research about what happens in a waterbirth, making sure that it would be safe for him. Essentially he is unable to take his first breath until he is gently lifted above the water. It’s quite fascinating to read about the way it works.

Liam’s “guess date” was Friday, October 8th. I had started having a few pressure waves Monday, October 3rd indicating he might be thinking about making his arrival, but then they stopped. The next time I remember noticing some mild pressure waves was Friday, October 13th. They stopped again.

Liam scored an 8 out of a possible 8 on the biophysical profile at my visit on Monday, October 10th. It was also revealed that he was facing out (posterior) but at the time I didn’t think much of it. Looking back I realized that using a wait and see approach was not the way to go.

It was clear by the time the following week had nearly come and gone that Liam wasn’t planning on exiting any time soon. I was doing kick counts and knew he was happy as a clam in there, which generally means he needs a bit more time to cook. We even walked around the entire zoo Sunday the 9th, and it felt awesome to be out in the sunshine.

Since I wasn’t yet having any consistent pressure waves (the ones I’d had throughout the night had barely been enough to keep me awake), we decided we’d request to go home, relax, and try getting things going naturally with brief walks, bouncing on the yoga ball, and just resting up. The midwife was cool with that, and said to call her that afternoon to check in, but indicated without saying it outright that we might be admitted that night if nothing had changed.

The good thing about her role in my birth is that she used her experience regarding infection to guide her advice to us. Knowing me as a patient told her that it wasn’t very likely that I would get an infection, especially if I was declining cervical checks, which I did have to do once with the nurse upon arriving at the hospital, not having sex, etc. Sure, infections are still possible, however the good thing is the baby’s head had created a seal which eventually stopped the fluid from leaking and created a protective barrier. I was still leaking some fluid though, which was causing me anxiety.

We called the on-call staff at the hospital on Saturday night, approaching 24 hours since my water had broken. I spoke to the doctor who was on duty, who explained that typical hospital policy calls for induction 18 hours after the water breaks. She knew having spoken with my regular midwife, that as someone who wanted a natural childbirth, this wouldn’t be my preference, but she informed me of the policy which gave me more anxiety. She also said, “you should talk to the midwife on call.”

However, entering the scene is now our wonderful care provider who I had never met before because she sees patients in the other office. She has a wonderful, supportive philosophy which is completely no-pressure. The patient’s body is their own, and she is just there to advise. She is highly skilled and competent in her job, and immediately we know we’re in good hands. When the doctor handed over the phone, the midwife said, “Darn! I wish they had sent you to me earlier!” She started me on a breast pumping regimen, once every hour for 15 minutes. This was 10 PM. Our doula reminded us to REST in between. The pump allows your body to produce more oxytocin naturally, as opposed to Pitocin which is the synthetic form.

Pressure waves are still sporadic and not intense. We rested some until 6 AM, but not well. Trying to stay aware of Liam’s movements kept me pretty anxious and awake.

October 15, 2011 at 8 AM we arrived at hospital with Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits. I was in tears, feeling like we were walking into prison. But when we got admitted, I knew that things were going to be alright. Much to our delight and surprise, the midwife recommended continuing on the pumping regimen for awhile, and if it didn’t work, then we could talk about starting a low dose of Pitocin with the goal of getting my body in a pattern and then turning the Pitocin back off. She also recommended an antibiotic as a precaution. I felt good about the decision to have that administered, and it was given every 6 hours and didn’t take very long so that I could be up and about as I wished in between. (I have a suspicion it might be causing us a case of thrush right now though, since an antibiotic can upset your natural balance.)

Even though I hadn’t slept well the night before, I had gotten fantastic sleep the week before being off work, so I was really ready for this with plenty of sleep in my “bank.” Really grateful for that.

We also ate (peanut butter sandwiches) much to the surprise of our nurse (who would later play a crucial role in this story). She was supportive, but I sensed not very used to patients breaking the rules so brazenly.

Our doula and I walked the L&D floor for about 30-40 minutes and it was way boring. We actually thought about checking ourselves back out. (Basically signing a form saying “against medical advice,” we’re outta here.) Looking back, I’m glad that we didn’t do that. Really glad. The midwife checked in again at 1:30 PM and suggested more breast pump stimulation. With intermittent monitoring we were still confident Liam was doing great.

Our nurse had been watching us from afar, and must have seen me gazing longingly at the sunshine outside. Bless her soul, she suggested to the midwife that we be released for a walk outside. (YAY!!!!) Best news EVER. I honestly didn’t believe they were serious when they came in to tell us. And I gave her the biggest hug and was nearly in tears. We had a great time on our walk, went across the street for a milkshake and walked until it got REALLY warm out. I felt like a freak in my PJ pants and IV lock, but whatever. We were outside enjoying the day!

We came back to the hospital for an afternoon nap. Liam still looks great on the monitor. His heartrate dipped momentarily as I was on the breast pump, because I’d started having pressure waves one on top of the other, which we attributed to the calzones we ate for dinner. The body’s natural response to fuel and yet another reason to eat.

As our doula and I discussed the events of the week, it dawned on me that the biophysical profile had shown that Liam was posterior. Thankfully she had some tricks up her sleeve to try to turn him. We did “figure 8s” on the yoga ball, pelvic rocks, and Rebozo sifting which is a gentle scarf shimmy under the belly while the mother is on all fours (which felt great)! I felt a little ridiculous during all of this but I’ll try anything at this point to get this party started! I just want to meet him! It’s things like this that make a doula worth her weight in gold!

Also worth noting that a nurse shift change occurred at 7 PM. Time to bid farewell to our heroine nurse and little sad that we could not yet introduce her to our new baby. Enter nurse 2, who immediately said she had read our birth plan and had a very positive, “let’s do this” attitude. Honestly I think these nurses were excited to be seeing something a little different. The midwife would later thank me for doing a birth plan and giving them the chance to support it. That made me feel so good!

When my pressure waves stopped yet AGAIN, I knew it was my body telling me to rest. So we talked with the midwife and I was about to fall asleep as she was saying that she would check in again at 5 AM and that we’d get serious about the low-dose Pit at that point, approaching 48 hours since my water had broken! In another hospital, this scenario would NEVER have happened. Major props to the care providers for their confidence and knowledge in what the body can do. She was completely trusting that since I had no fever, Liam was getting antibiotics and was looking great on the monitor, that there wasn’t a need to rush it. Again, cannot stress enough what a blessing this was!

At 1 AM I got up to pee, and was feeling intense pressure in my back and saw some bloody show. I relied on our doula for counter pressure and double hip squeeze which felt awesome, and rocked on the ball which was bringing the baby down very quickly. I could now feel him making direct contact with my pubic bone. This baby was finally coming and coming fast!  When your baby says it’s “go time,” there is very little that can be done to slow it down. And heck, we’d been waiting ALL weekend for this moment, so most of what I felt was joy and excitement!

Our doula suggested side lying as a way that I could start to use my tools. That worked for about 2.5 seconds when I began vocalizing loudly. “Ahhhhh” nd blowing air out my lips like a horse. I was completely surprised by my involuntary ability to make these sounds and how awesome they felt.

However I was so excited that with Liam’s birth, I was really able to tune into my body in a way that I hadn’t with my first birth. I used hypnosis very successfully with our first birth. Almost so much, that at times I wasn’t listening to my body because I was so relaxed and felt as though I was in a dream-like state.

With Liam’s birth, I experienced it to the fullest, knowing the whole time that my body was doing what it needed to do, and that gave me so much confidence and was so empowering! And I was able to choose my own positions which helped not only to relieve discomfort, but to give me even more confidence that I was doing this correctly.

At 1:50 AM after a brief time lying on my side, I exclaimed “I have to poop!” And truly I did. To the potty I go. TMI, sorry. Our doula reminded me while I was on the potty that I should use my uterine muscles to push Liam out rather than go with the pressure I was feeling in my bottom. Babies don’t come out of bottoms, in case you hadn’t noticed.

Miraculously I was able to achieve both efforts nearly simultaneously. LOL. But the important thing is that I immediately felt a difference when she reminded me to push Liam out by pretending to “push the seat belt” away from me. When I said “do you think I could get in the tub?” I needed some relief. I thought surely I’m at least at 6 cm. They want you at a 6 before you can get in the tub. I believe that is to avoid having to get in and out, if it relaxes you so much that your birthing time stops, which has been known to happen. Kinda silly if you ask me.

The nurse came in to check me on the potty (how rockin’ is that?!) and said I was NINE centimeters! I cannot tell you what a moment this was and how grateful we were to her for not requiring me to get on the bed for the exam. I knew that Liamwould be here soon!

I swayed and rocked through the next several pressure waves which was a nice little break from the inevitable, while the nurse came and checked Liam’s heartbeat. Still perfect. The midwife was still not here; she had been resting at home and had just gotten the call. She was rushing into the parking deck by about 2:20 AM.

As soon as they finished changing the sheets I moved up on the bed on all fours which felt so great, and Baby Liam was beginning to crown! My doula whispered to me to remember the pushing technique (push as though you are pushing away your seat belt. Do NOT bear down like you are having to poop) and that it was not important to ‘resist’ or wait for the midwife or the nurses to deliver Liam, but to relax into it and gently guide Liam out. His head was gently born at 2:35, so quietly that we hardly knew what had happened. But we heard his first cry and that was an AWESOME moment, especially for me because I couldn’t see him yet. But I could hear him! At 2:36, just as the midwife ran in the door, Liam was born into Daddy’s arms!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

He weighed 6.74 oz, 19 inches long and his head was 13 inches. He was born anterior, facing my back, with his hand up by his face.

When I signed up for my Hypnobabies class I had fairly low expectations – I just wanted to get through the birth of my baby without having a panic attack. The pain-free birth experience presented in the Hypnobabies testimonials – an experience which I was supposed to enjoy instead of just survive – sounded too much like an infomercial pitch to be true.

But when she shows up at the Birth Center ready to push, she becomes a believer.

This is a must read birth story.  Click here to read Nicole’s birth which made her say, “Thank you, Hypnobabies, for giving me the skills to have such a wonderful and empowering birth experience. You have earned a set of life-long advocates in my husband and myself!”

So we started getting ready to go. I was anxious to not jump the gun too early. I didn’t want to hang around triage too long if I hadn’t progressed much. Also thinking, that since they just started and they were strong but not terribly I felt that we had some time. So I took a shower and got ready, he packed up. By the end of the shower I was needing to stop what I was doing more and bend over and lean against a counter or wall to relax and breathe through the pressure waves. So I started feeling a little more anxious to get on our way. We got out the of the house eventually at about 5ish. Luckily my Mother was there already and to watch the other kids.

The hospital is only about 5 minutes away, luckily. So we got there a little after 5 and they put me in the triage room to get checked and monitor me. At about 5:30 I was at a 6 and they didn’t take took long after that to put me in a room, while we were getting settled the pressure waves started getting stronger where I felt like I needed my husband for support. I liked to bend over a lean into him with my arms around him while he supported me by my arms.

I started needing to make noises as I breathed and soon I started having little pushy urges once or twice.  I asked the girl helping us (not a RN, but really helpful as a few times she pressed in on my hips during a wave and that felt nice) to have our nurse come and check me again since I was feeling a little pushy. She finally made it back in (I guess a lot of other women showed up around the same time) and checked me and I was at an 8. This was about 6:30. She tried to put in a saline lock, but I wouldn’t hold still for long as I didn’t want to be on the bed during a pressure wave. A PW or two later, my water broke while I was standing. Then the next one I really started pushing and felt like she was going to come out very soon. The nurse really urged me to get on the bed at this time and I did, the next one I pushed out her head and the next the rest of her. It felt so good to get her out. It was very intense and I know I was fairly vocal and cried out when she crowned.

Cara was born straight out onto the bed at 6:37. It was basically just the nurse and my husband who helped me deliver her, the doctor was on his way.  He showed up about 10 minutes later. She was a healthy 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long with a full head of hair.

It was an interesting/cool experience and I’m really glad I planned to go natural/unmedicated. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have had time anyways to have an epidural and I would have probably had a much harder time dealing with the pressure waves.

I wouldn’t say it was pain-free or comfortable, but I wouldn’t say that it was painful either. It was “intense”. I felt prepared to deal with the PWs knowing that they’d come and go and eventually end.   I had expected to be more sedate and of course having more time to relax and turn off my lightswitch like I’d seen in a lot of videos. I am really glad I used the Hynobabies home study course to prepare myself.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

8pm is when the pressure waves started lasting a minute or longer and they were 3 minutes apart. I remained calm, imagining my cervix like a gold ring and listening the Hypnobabies “Easy first stage” through my earphone. Pretty soon, the midwife told me she was on her way!

DH still wasn’t back from the party, and the birthing tub hadn’t been set up yet. Also, DS had to be put to sleep and I was wondering if he would be able to go to sleep, knowing his little brother might be coming soon. The midwife waited outside until DS was asleep (9:30) and that’s when I also told DH that I didn’t want to be bothered by anyone. This whole time I had been laying in bed listening to the tracks. When the midwife checked me, she seemed surprised that I was already at 4cm.

Pressure Waves went on until about 1:00am. They were easy to handle. At 1 they picked up and I started feeling them a little more. They started coming faster, and with a pain in my back. I got into the tub which was heaven!  I was coping well, but the babys heart rate was accelerated in the tub, so the midwife had me come out.

The midwife checked me and I was 9cm. Everyone there was so surprised!

MW told me it was time to push and those pressure waves I was having for the last hour are “pushing” contractions. I had no idea or believe me, I would have been pushing lol!

I didn’t think I could do it, and told the midwife that I didn’t want to go on. She said “well, this baby has to come out some way, so you might as well push!” I knew she was right and with all my strength I pushed with the next 3 pressure waves. The following 3 pressure waves, my body was pushing by itself.

I told myself I’m not waiting another minute to get this baby born and I pushed the head out. I knew the hard work was done and like I had seen in videos, the body would come wriggling out soon enough. I gave myself a chance to relax and then a minute later DG was here at 3:03 am on Sept 6!

The midwife said she was expecting the baby to be born around 7am. There were 2 other midwives there who told me it was a beautiful, quick birth. I’m so glad I finally got my homebirth. Thank you Hypnobabies!