I had a really wonderful homebirth. I am so glad that I used Hypnobabies again. This is my second homebirth and my second time using Hypnobabies.
Amara’s birth story
I went to a neighbor’s house on Friday the 12th of March 2010 at about 6pm to play games are just relax. At about 8:30 I stood up to go to the bathroom and felt a little gush. I thought that I had peed myself so I went in to the bathroom and found so that the pad was stained pink and smelled differently. I thought that I could stay at the party for a while but every time I stood up I was leaking so I went home and called the midwife. I was not having any PW so I knew it would be a while. Honestly, I was disappointed to have my water break early. With my son, PW were much harder to deal with after my water was broken. The midwife told me to lie down and get some sleep. I tried to sleep but just ended up laying there until I began having a few PW at 2am. They were coming close together but were not very strong. Aaron (husband) insisted on timing them and then on calling the midwife. She came by and checked me at 4 am but by then things had puttered out. I was 3 centimeters when she checked. She went home and we called my mom and sister to come over at 6am.
At this point I am not having very many PW and have been just laying down resting and listening to my Hypnobabies Early First Stage CD. At 3 pm the midwife comes back and checks and I am still at a 3 with hardly any PW. She gave me some homeopathic labor pills that dissolve under the tongue and I immediately begin to have strong regular PW. During this time my family has made food for everyone, my husband has been entertaining our son and everyone comes to check on me every few minutes, alternating sitting with me. My family and I all go for a walk around the block and I have lots of strong PW. I begin to really have to focus on them and tell myself “Pressure, pressure, pressure” each time I have them, so I remember that it is not pain but just a lot of pressure. I retire to my room and keep walking around the bed and continue to have PW. The midwife leaves (she had another woman that was in labor too and was checking on her) and in a few hours comes back to check me. I was just at a 4 and PW were slowing again so the midwife gave me more homeopathic pills. This ramps up the waves again. Feeling a little discouraged, I put on the Pushing baby out CD so that I would get my mind to start thinking about that.
I start to feel a little pushy almost immediately. Remembering an article I read where the midwife was saying that giving little pushes, if the mom feels the need to, can open up the cervix more quickly, I begin to bear down a bit when I get a PW. At 6 pm the midwife checks again and I am at a 6! I am so happy to be moving along so I keep up with the bearing down. At 8 pm I really start needing to bear down a lot and the PW are really strong. I am at an 8 at this point. I asked for oxygen because I was feeling light headed and nauseous. That was a life saver. As soon as they put it on, I felt much better.
At 8:41 pm my mom, sister and husband gathered around the bed and hold my hands when I start to push at each wave. I remembered to push with my butt and not my tummy (something I had trouble with last time) and can really feel her moving down. This is the only part of birth that was really hard. Amara was coming down with the lip of my cervix. The midwife kept trying to push it out of the way but it hurt so much I asked her to stop. Then she did it really slowly and it finally worked. When her head was coming out I was surprised at how much it hurt. With my son it did not hurt much at all. I asked for the hot wash cloths to be put on me and that really helped. Later, my midwife told me that she was turning while she was coming out.
After three good pushes, she was out and on my tummy. Born March 13th at 8:59 pm. She was covered in vernex and cried a little bit. She had her eyes wide open and black hair on her head. We were all so excited to see her. I cuddled her while the midwife rubbed her down with a warm towel. I had no tearing at all. A few minutes later the placenta came out and Aaron cut the cord. Within 30 minutes, I put her to my breast and she nursed for an hour and a half. She was 7 lbs ½ oz and 21 ½ inches long and two weeks early. Then we all snuggled up in bed and went to sleep.
