Colin was born on January 5th, around 2:45pm. He weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.
Before going into Colin’s story- I want to warn you that manageable pain is mentioned, along with a very unconventional birth (not on purpose!)
A little background… I was induced my first son, who is now 2y 3m due to GD 2 days past my due date. This time, I did not have GD and was praying not to be induced. My due date was January 1st, and at my last doctor’s appointment, he made scheduled an induction for January 8th. I had confidence that I would go before then until Monday January 5th when I started to begin to accept my fate of an induction…. little did I know!
On Monday, January 5th, I put my son down for a nap at 12:30pm. At 1pm, I was just about asleep and heard and felt a pop in my stomach followed by minor discomfort in my lower abdomen. I called my doctor, but did not get in touch with him until 1:15pm. He told me to go into the hospital and get checked- it sounded as though the pop I described was my water breaking, but nothing was coming out, so he was a not completely sure. When I hung up with him at 1:18pm, I knew it was my birthing time, because the discomfort was becoming stronger- however, it was not rhythmic and I did not feel the waves as people had described them, rather I felt them above my pelvic bone into my back.
I called my husband and told him to come home, along with my brother and mother in law who work close by. I sat on the ball and put my head on the coffee table which helped ease the pressure. I tried to get into hypnosis, but the waves came so fast, that it was difficult to focus. I continued to breathe deeply and on the exhale, said “peace” which helped tremendously.
When my brother in law came, I went upstairs because I only wanted my husband and if I couldn’t have him, I wanted to be alone. He thought I went to pack a bag, so he sent up my mother in law when she arrived. I did not want that! But I asked her to put pressure on my back for a minute (until she continued to talk to me- then I told her I’d meet her downstairs after I went the bathroom- which I had to do every couple of minutes). I was on all fours and the pressure waves did not seem to be breaking, they were intense, but manageable. I continued to exhale “peace” and did figure eights with my hips which helped very much. I finally had a small break in the intensity, so I ran downstairs to be ready to go when my husband came home.
I was kneeling down with my head and arms on my couch. I was relaxed, but was getting anxious about getting to the hospital. I felt as though I needed to push, but could feel my baby’s legs still up at my ribs and could feel that my birth canal was closed. My mother in law assured me that it was just pressure of the baby starting to come down. I did contemplate calling an ambulance for about 5 seconds, but knew they would not take me to the hospital I wanted to go to and I really wasn’t sure how far along I was. I knew once I was there I would be able to get into hypnosis more deeply and relax at a greater level.
My husband got home, around 2:10pm. My brother in law drove us into the hospital which is about 25-30 minutes from my house. I was on my knees with my head on my husband’s shoulders. I stayed completely relaxed, but could not turn my light switch off because of my position. I continued to say “peace” and breathe deep. I was experiencing pain, but it was very manageable and not at all scary.
When we were about 10 minutes from the hospital, I began to get overwhelmingly strong urges to push. I tried to breathe through them, but my body took over. I could feel a large portion of my baby’s head coming out. When we were about 2-3 minutes from the hospital, the baby’s head was out. When we turned onto the street of the hospital, he was completely out without any pushing (it was probably around 2:40 when he came out- but my husband was asked to state the birth time and he said 2:45). My husband and brother in law were very scared, but I was extremely calm- he had started crying immediately and I was psyched that I was not going to have to state my case about delaying the cord clamping.
My husband ran into the hospital and a couple of seconds later, there were about 25 doctors surrounding the car. We had wrapped Colin up in a blanket- they put him in warming blankets and took him into the NICU with my husband to warm him up and make sure he was OK.
I was then taken in to the L&D floor where they checked me out. I did have a small tear, which I know I could have prevented if I was in a sitation where I knew it was safe to push!
Overall, Colin’s birth story was certainly not how I had visualized it. However, Hypnobabies kept me relaxed, confident and comfortable. There were actually a couple times in the car where I contemplated tensing up so that he would not come out so fast! When people hear the story, their reaction is to say, “You must have been so scared,”
“How did you deal with all that pain?” etc. But it was a very peaceful experience- even with all things considered. If I have another baby, I will have full confidence in Hypnobabies and will camp out at the hospital for a week around my due date!
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