Belly Lift/Hypnobabies Video

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Zoe peaceful water birth

I went to my midwife appt on Tuesday (after having contractions for a while Monday night and having them stop) and I was at 4cm.  However, my blood pressure had been elevated at the last few appts–it was 156 over 96 on this day (my usual is 120 over like 70) and the midwife was concerned that it could be a precursor to something worse.  I agreed, as I’ve never had high bp, and she asked me to come in around noon on Wednesday to get things started.

We decided to take the two youngest girls out to lunch on Wednesday, so arrived at the birth center at around 2pm.   She gave me something to place under my tongue and went back to other rooms to finish her appointments.  I could have left, but decided to stay and listen to my Hypnobabies cds.  I started with a deepening session, just to help me relax and once I felt the first little pressure wave, I switched to easy first stage.  I think i listened to it twice.

The first pressure wave was truly felt around 3:15 and I told Dee I don’t know why I even bothered to come in on Monday morning, as it was a large difference in feelings.  I walked around the room a bit, sat on the birth ball, and continued listening to easy first stage.  MW came in and did the quanine wash (was gbs positive, didn’t want an iv and antibiotics would not have had time anyway!) and at 4pm, she checked me and said I was between 5 and 6.  I told her to expect baby around 6ish.  I asked for tub time and she said she’d rather wait till I dilated a bit more.  At around 4:30 I asked again and she started filling it.  I was now 6-7 cms and so it was all good.The pressure waves felt like menstrual cramps–if there was a mention of p***, it would be that type of p***, but for the most part I just listened to my mp3 and went deeper.  The water was wonderful, and I sat in it the rest of the time.  As time passed, I was a bit more vocal–my breathing out became ahhhs (soft ahhs) and it seemed to help.

I almost panicked–I knew this was transition and I’m afraid of transition.  I joked with the mw assistant, and i told her I was at the stage where my mind said, “What was I thinking? Natural Childbirth!”  Before this, they couldn’t tell when I was having contractions.  My ahhing helped.

Then the lull happened.  I don’t ever remember feeling this before.  The pw’s stopped and I had a slight breather.  It felt like a few seconds, but it was nice.  Then they started up again–at this moment the easy first stage stopped and pushing baby out mp3 started.  It was eerie, how well-timed it was.  I tried telling the assistant I was feeling pushy and instead just whispered, “Pressure.”  Then the vocal noises changed to a deeper AHH sound.  She stood up and ran to get the mw.

MW came, said, “Let’s see where you are.”  Stuck in her fingers and said, “Oh +3.”  Then the head was there and I needed to move a bit so she had more room but I didn’t want to.  The pw’s were starting to hurt, but mostly (and I knew this) it was just my fear of the pain that made me not want to move.

I calmed myself, listened to the words of the mp3 and went deeper.  Then I moved forward and pushed out the head.  I had to stop a moment as baby had cord wrapped around neck and shoulder and then I pushed her out.  Maybe totaled 5 pushes, but they were small so I wouldn’t tear.

She was placed on my chest and took a minute to pink up–was a bit blue so oxygen was held over her.  When cord was done pulsating, it was cut.  I left the tub to get warmer and pushed my placenta out on the bed.  Over all I didn’t bleed much, and it’s already pretty light.  She was born at 6:13pm –3 hours after I felt the first ‘contraction.’  I’m glad i didn’t go anywhere. 🙂

I think that’s it.  Not a lot of story, but I’m glad i chose Hypnobabies.  It was a quick, easy birthing. 🙂

written and shared with permission from a mom from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group.

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Healing Birth thanks to Hypnobabies

My husband and I decided to try Hypnobabies because I had two tramatic births previously. We started the classes and I wasn’t sure if it would work for me. My first birth was terrible and during my second my blood pressure dropped which almost caused an emergency c-section. Very unstable to say the least.

After we finished the classes and we started the ‘maintenence’ portion of the program, I didn’t have much time to do the hypnosis with two kids and home schooling. I did listen to the cd’s every night and while napping.

My birthing time started around 4:30 on a Saturday evening. By 6:00 I was soaking in a hot tub, feeling very relaxed and secure. I kept listening to Early First Stage the whole time. I never got tired of it. I found the most comfortable postition was to be on all fours rocking back and forth. I never experienced pain, only pressure. It was wonderful to be at home for all of this.

We left for the hospital around 7:30. I had to go to Triage first and be checked. The midwife wasn’t available for about an hour! When she finally made it in to check me, she said she didn’t want to disturb me because I looked to relaxed and focused. Of course, she did and I was dilated to 9.

Cage was born within 15 minutes of her checking me. They took me straight to delivery and I started moving him out. It took a total of 8 minutes! He weighed 8lbs 5ozs and was 21 inches long. My husband was right there the whole time protecting me and our special place. We also had a Hypnobabies doula that was awesome.

This way far the best birthing experience I have ever had!!

Wishing you mothers to be all the best! Melanie

written and shared with permission from a mom from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group.

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Ava’s Birth – Surprise Home Birth

This is a long birth story! I decided to write out all of the details since I really learned a lot and enjoyed reading the details of the other birth stories on the list.

A little background: Grace is our second child. I also used Hypnobabies during my pregnancy with our son, who is 16 months old. He was posterior though, and I had terrible back labor for about 5 hours with him and then pushed for 2.5 hours before he was finally born (drug-free!). I was really unable to use the relaxation techniques due to the back labor and worried the same thing would happen with Grace’s birth. But I loved using the Hypnobabies during my pregnancy and felt it would be my best chance for another drug-free birth.

For this pregnancy, I read every word of the Spinning Babies website and did the inversions regularly and did pelvic rocks every night. I also saw a Webster-technique trained Chiropractor throughout my pregnancy and hired a birth doula.

We were using a wonderful midwife who only delivered at the hospital. I was really hesitant to go to the hospital for delivery, but the local birth center closed after my son was born and we decided we weren’t ready for a home birth since my back labor had been so bad.

Back to Grace’s birth: Dec 31^st, the day before she was born, my husband and I took our son to the Zoo and walked around for about 3 hours. I started having pressure waves during that night. They woke me maybe ten times, but I was able to go right back to sleep each time. They got more regular when I got up around 7am. I told my husband that today might just be the day. I was 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant, the same length as the pregnancy with my son.

My husband took over taking care of our son and I was able to lie on the couch and read the rest of the birth stories in Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth for the second time. The PW’s continued but were not regular for a few hours. Around noon, I started doing last minute cleaning of the house and reading through the Spinning Babies techniques again while doing figure 8‘s on the birth ball..

At 1 pm, we decided we should start timing the PW’s. They were anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes apart for a couple of hours. I called my midwife around 3:30pm to let her know today may be the day. She said to call her and head to the hospital when they were between 3-5 minutes apart for an hour. The PW’s were fairly strong, but I was able to completely relax during them and felt great about it! I had only experienced back labor with my first baby, so I was excited to feel what a “normal” PW felt like.

For the next couple of hours, the PW’s were mostly from 2-7 minutes apart but then I’d have some 10 minutes apart. The Hypnobabies was so effective at eliminating any pain that I was telling my husband I thought we must have a long way to go.

Around 5:30pm, they started getting more intense. So I asked my husband to massage my shoulders at the beginning of each PW. There would be quite intense pressure, my husband would massage my shoulders and I would use the Hypnobabies relaxation techniques and the “p**n” would almost magically disappear in seconds. Most were 2-5 minutes apart, but there would be a 6 or 11 minute break that threw me off for the timing. I had to completely focus during the PW’s at this point, but they were so manageable that I was still thinking I had a long way to go.

At 7:30pm, I spoke with our Doula who suggested I lay down for a while and see what happened. Up to this point, I had been in an upright position for the last few hours. As soon as I laid in bed, I had two really intense PW’s that lasted 1.5-2 minutes long, but they were 7 minutes apart. I was starting to think we should probably go in and get checked. My husband put our son to bed at 7:45pm. I stood up for a couple of waves, then back in bed for one really intense one. At the end of it I literally jumped because I felt like something had “punched” through my cervix. I told my husband we had better get going. I stood up from the bed and a second later my water just gushed. It was 7:58pm. My husband called his mother to come stay with our son, it was a 15 minute drive for her.

It suddenly occurred to me and I told my husband: “Things are about to happen very fast!”. This was when it first crossed my mind that we may not make it to the hospital. My husband went into turbo mode and started racing around trying to load our car. I started having PW’s every 1-2 minutes. So every time he was almost out the door with a load, I called him back in to help me. I really needed his help massaging my shoulders as hard as he could at this point. It was amazingly intense but we were doing it!

I told my husband I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the car, much less the hospital. He tells me now he was horrified. He did his best to convince me we could (MUST!) make it to the car. It was right about then that I started to feel pushy. That’s when his mom arrived. I asked my husband to close our bedroom door for privacy. I told him I was pushing and went into our Master bathroom and he brought me some towels. I knew my husband was scared and that was about the time I started praying myself. I knew we could do this as long as there were no major problems. I told my husband he better go ahead and call 911.

He told the 911 operator I could feel the baby’s head and was pushing. I could hear the operator telling him to get me to lay down. I was kneeling on the floor and had no interest in laying down at that point. After just a couple of pushes I could feel the baby crowning. I tried my best to slow her head from coming out too fast but wasn’t very successful. I could hear the operator tell my husband several times that he had to get me to lay down. I said, “I’m NOT laying down”. Another push or two and I caught the baby and laid her on the towels. I glanced at the clock. Grace was born at 8:35 pm. I noticed how long the cord looked and unwrapped it from around her neck although it wasn’t tight. Thank God, she immediately started crying. Just my husband and I there to bring her into the world. It was a wonderful, amazing experience we will never forget. I felt great!

Just a couple of minutes after she was born, the Fire Department arrived. Soon our bedroom and bathroom were crowded with men. The EMT’s arrived about 5 minutes later. It was pretty funny to me when the EMT mentioned a couple of times that this was the 6^th baby he had “delivered”! They took the three of us to the hospital by ambulance.

Grace’s apgar scores were 8 and 10. She weighed just 6 pounds 3 ounces which was a surprise to us since our son had been 8 pounds 7 ounces. She is the sweetest baby, just beautiful and such a blessing – my husband and I are absolutely thrilled. He did an amazing job helping me. I couldn’t have done it without him! I feel like all of the techniques I used contributed to me having such an easy birth this time. I have loved learning and practicing Hypnobabies and know I wouldn’t have had such success without it. I will definitely be using it again for our next baby!

written and shared with permission from a mom from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group.

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The Birth of Jack Elijah

This pregnancy:

When I fell pregnant this time (I am now 41 years old), I had planned on birthing the exact same way as the last two. I never considered doing it any other way. There were two problems however. The first was that we had moved to a new area and even if we hadn’t, our doctor had suffered a very bad injury and had brain damage, so wasn’t practicing anymore. The second was that our health fund put us on the wrong plan 2 years earlier without our knowledge (they made the mistake but we had no proof of that as so much time had passed) so that meant I couldn’t claim for a private hospital and obgyn. I could have gone to a private hospital but it would have cost us thousands, even more if there was a problem after the birth. I now had to go to a free public hospital. They don’t do early epidurals/inductions there!

So now I was faced with having my 5^th baby, probably a very quick delivery, with no hope of pain relief until probably too late.

What to do?

I went googling desperately for ways to deal with childbirth naturally and at first found the Marie Mongan HypnoBirthing book on Amazon. I bought that book and felt that yes, I could do this, but that there was not enough info in the book without having to do a class and also the CD that came with the book was insufficient for what I wanted.

I then found Hypnobabies and liked what I read about it. I ordered the homestudy as there are no classes yet in Australia.

I got the course at around 28 weeks I think and started working through it, but as I am so lazy getting started with things and also as I was homeschooling our other 4 kids and didn’t have much “me” time, I found I wasn’t able to get much done at all.

I picked up doing the course again at around 34 weeks. I fell asleep during every single track! I felt like I was such a bad student but I kept on,listening to something every day and night.  I don’t know what I was taking in but it must have worked!

One thing I did for my “bubble of peace” was that I told no one besides my husband, mother and children that I was doing Hypnobabies. I didn’t want to deal with the negativity and with other people’s opinions. I also didn’t want to have to admit later that it didn’t work, just in case it didn’t! I didn’t want to look silly as my friends and family know I like my drugs when giving birth! 

Wednesday 29^th October:

I was 2 days past my guess date. I had another appointment with the midwives at the hospital. I’d seen the obgyn’s there a couple of times, but I much preferred the midwives. They were lovely (and more gentle) and would sit with me and answer questions for over an hour. The doctors would just do my checks and usher me out asap.

This time I’d made up my birth plan and took it with me. The midwife I saw thought that was wonderful and fully supported my wishes for a waterbirth, drug free, no interventions,even though I didn’t think I could actually go through with it. She made a note of it on my file on her computer so whoever was working when my birthing time started would know what I wanted and didn’t want.

I’d asked what would happen if I didn’t give birth by the following Wednesday appointment. She said I would then go on visits every few days, so no worry about having to be induced. That was good.

Monday 3^rd November:

I was 41 weeks pregnant.My husband George had taken me for a few walks, but tonight he decided we needed a longer one. We must have walked almost 1 mile (approx. 2Km) which doesn’t sound like much, but I had been feeling ligament strain for months,actually since I was 10 weeks pregnant this time and I felt so heavy and uncomfortable, walking wasn’t easy.

I had also been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks on and off, so all the time we were walking, I didn’t worry too much about the mild pressure waves I was feeling.

We got back home and put our younger kids to bed. My mother had arrived 1 week before I was due so she could help and also so she wouldn’t miss the birth, so by now, she’d been staying with us for almost 2 weeks.

I got online later that evening and used the Contraction Master website to time my pressure waves. They were coming every 3 – 4 mins, at 1 min long, which should have alerted me that something was happening, but they were so very mild, I didn’t worry about them much at all. As I had been sitting at the computer and the pressure waves were continuing for around 3 hours, I decided that if I got up and walked around and they kept going that this was it. I got up and got ready for bed and they stopped abruptly. I went to bed and slept pressure wave free all night (except for toilet visits of course).

Tuesday 4^th November:

I woke up around 6am and went to the toilet. I noticed slight spotting,very light blood. Some time later there was a bit of mucous in the blood. I had heard that some women have their show days if not weeks before, so again, I didn’t worry too much about it but kept an eye on it.

I began having mild Braxton Hicks again all day. They kept going so I had my mother time them. They were around 15 – 20 mins apart, so no big deal still.

We took the 4 kids to the park and the local shopping centre after lunch. All the while I was still having Braxton Hicks (or so I thought).

I had Mum time them while at the park. It was at this time that I began using my lightswitch and putting myself into center in between pressure waves. They were strong enough that I had to stop and concentrate and breathe through them, but as I hadn’t really experienced this before (my first was a very early epidural too), I didn’t know just how much more intense they would have to get until I knew this was “it”.

While at the park, I put my ipod headphones on and started listening to my Birthing Day Affirmations CD.I listened to this all afternoon until evening.

A friend called me while I was at the park on my mobile phone and I told her I was counting pressure waves. She kept talking to me for a while. That was interesting trying to talk and needing to switch “off”!

We went home and got the kids showered early and had an early dinner “just in case”. I couldn’t eat anything but had a sandwich a couple of hours later. My husband is a crane driver and could be working in any part of Sydney any given day. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to call him from work as he might not have made it there on time. I hoped that our baby would arrive during the evening when he was at home.

When my husband got home from work that evening, I breathed a sigh of relief as things seemed to be getting closer. At around 7pm, my pressure waves were coming anywhere between 6 mins and 10 mins apart. Still nothing I couldn’t handle. I stayed in center the whole time and switched off when I felt a wave coming while I was watching TV. I was beginning to think it was just more Braxton Hicks as they were nothing like I’d thought they’d be.

I told my husband to go to bed at 9pm in case we had to wake him up later on. He starts work very early and had already been up since 4:30am. He ended up going to bed at 10pm after getting his clothes ready. He was fairly certain this was it even if I wasn’t.

I got back online at 10pm and did some banking and also read some birth stories on the Hypnobabies yahoo group. All the while I was still timing pressure waves on the Contraction Master website (Mum was also timing them on paper). They were coming regularly now at 10 mins apart. So much for my fast 2 hour birth that I’d envisioned! Still, I could handle these slow steady pressure waves and maybe that’s what my body needed to get me through. Short fast and hard might have scared me! Lol. At this time, I started listening to Easy First Stage on my ipod.

Mum was starting to get concerned and wanted me to call the hospital. I didn’t want to as if they said to come on in and things didn’t progress, I didn’t want them to suggest being induced. I decided to wait until my pressure waves got closer together,although I knew I was taking a chance being my 5^th pregnancy that I might end up giving birth at home or in the car.

At 11pm, I had some pressure waves only 5 – 6 mins apart,lasting up to 1.5 mins long, some even over 2 mins long, so I decided to call the hospital. The midwife I spoke to, Alexis, was very calm and said I could come in if I wanted to. It was up to me.

I decided that as the pressure waves were getting stronger, I should probably make a move to get there soon as I didn’t know how I would travel and stay in hypnosis if they got too much stronger.

I woke up my husband and he very calmly sprang into action. Mum and George packed the car while I stayed on the lounge staying in “off” and “center”. Our eldest Tiffany was to come to the birth too and she was getting very excited. We got our neighbour on standby to babysit and off we went.

As soon as I got in the car (it was now 11:45pm), I had a pressure wave that was very strong. The drive to the hospital was interesting.I still had my ipod on Easy First Stage and was able to go to center and talk to my husband and daughter (Mum was following in her car) in between pressure waves. I had 4 more on the way, 5 mins apart. It’s only a 20 min drive to our local hospital. I had a travel neck pillow that I’d been using while doing Hypnobabies so I took that with me in the car and leaned up against the window using my finger drop. I started to find that annoying so just said “release” to go from center back to off. That worked just fine.

Wednesday 5^th November:

We pulled up in the Emergency bay parking area at the hospital just after midnight and I had another pressure wave, much stronger this time but still manageable. No pain, just pressure and a feeling like very strong menstrual cramps. I walked into Emergency with Tiffany and all the bags,CD player and my neck pillow and very big body pillow! George went to park the car.

Tiffany wanted to get me a wheelchair but I didn’t think I could sit down as I could feel Jack’s head very low. I ended up sitting in one anyway and leaning over on one side. Tiff wheeled me through Emergency and around to the lift (elevator). We knew we could just go right on through without telling anyone in Emergency (thank goodness. I didn’t need that hold up). I was a bit concerned for George as he hadn’t been to the maternity unit through Emergency before but he’s a big boy and he had no trouble finding us.

I kept staying in “off”the whole time I was being wheeled by Tiffany to maternity, up in the lift to the next floor. When the doors of the lift opened, most of the lights were off. We couldn’t find anyone at all. Tiff wheeled me into maternity. No one was around. She started to wheel me into the delivery rooms but all was quiet and no one was there. Oh dear! I actually found that funny at the time.

I told Tiff to leave me at the lift so Dad could find me and told her to go into the delivery rooms as the most lights were on in there. She came back when I was back in “off” and I felt her wheel me through the doors and into a room. I heard water running and thought, gosh, they’re filling up the bath! They DID listen to my birth plan!

I finished a pressure wave and opened my eyes, back in center” and saw that I was in the delivery room I wanted to be in, the one with the big spa bath. I had been told that there were only 2 midwives who worked at that hospital who were accredited to do waterbirths and that if when I got there, there was not an accredited waterbirth midwife working at that time, I wouldn’t be able to have a water birth. That did concern me but I thought “just try and get me out of the water!” I didn’t need to ask Alexis if she could do waterbirths. I just knew all was fine as she was busily filling up the bath and leaving me to my hypnosis. I told her we had a sign to put on the door but Alexis said there was no need to use it as no one else would be coming in.

George arrived soon after and he told me to get comfortable. I left my clothes on but took off my long pants and climbed up on the bed while the bath was still filling. I still had my ipod going on Easy First Stage. I found by now I had to breathe quite deeply to get through the pressure waves.

George went and got me a warmed up blanket, but I was already hot so told him “just one”. He’d come back with an armful of them! Alexis used the hand held external monitor to check Jack’s heart rate. All was fine. She checked my blood pressure. It was fine. I did notice she waited until a pressure wave was over before asking me to do anything and was asking me very quietly. At this time, George told her to speak only to him and to please do it outside. She agreed no problem.

Mum arrived not long after George. She began timing pressure waves again, I suppose just for something to do as I didn’t need anything at that point. I had already discussed on the phone with Alexis that if things stalled, I could go back home, so I wasn’t bothered if things progressed or not. I was very calm.

I told George to go to the father’s room and find a couch to lie down on. He didn’t need to be told twice!He was only up the hall a little bit so not far away if I needed him. I had packed his swimmers and had already told him that if I needed him to, he WOULD be getting in the water!

Once the water was ready, I changed into a singlet top (for modesty as Tiff was going to video) and nothing else and got into the tub. The water was very warm which was necessary for the baby. I wriggled around trying to find a comfortable spot. I had visions of myself birthing in the water while squatting, but it really wasn’t deep enough and it felt awkward so I ended up laying on my back, floating a bit as it was fairly deep anyway.

I stayed like that for the next hour and a half, breathing through pressure waves. The only way Mum knew I was having one was that my breathing got heavier. I made no sound except when I came back to center in between if I wanted a sip of water.

George came back in at some point. I didn’t notice at first. Alexis checked Jack’s heart rate with an external monitor a few times. At no point did she try to get me out of the water to do anything else. She did ask me to float my belly up out of the water to check his heart rate which was okay. Later on, she got her underwater one. Why she didn’t have that ready from the start I’ll never know.

Tiffany was videoing at this time. I thought I’d feel self-conscious, but I didn’t care at all. I still hadn’t moved.

At around 2:30am, I decided that things had progressed to the point where I needed to know where I was at. I hadn’t had any internal exams my entire pregnancy, which was unusual in my experience, so my very first internal exam showed that I was at 8cm already. Okay, I thought… I can do this!

Just after that, I started to feel like I couldn’t do this anymore. I knew this must be transition. Funny how you can go from yes I can to um I don’t think I can so fast! I felt very slight chattering in my teeth, nothing like I was expecting and I got even hotter, but that was it. Nothing terrible like I thought it would be.

I then sunk back in the water too deep during a pressure wave and blew up my ipod that was high up on my shoulder! It crackled in my ear and went dead. Oh no!!! I came out of hypnosis and tried to get back in but it didn’t work. I think I would have been okay if Mum had been able to get the tape deck working right away but for whatever reason, it took what seemed like ages. Then when she did get it going, it wasn’t very loud. It was 3am by this time and I guess they didn’t want to disturb anyone else in the hospital. She told me this later and asked my why I didn’t say I couldn’t hear it. I wasn’t thinking about that, I just tried to get though each pressure wave.

George came and sat by the tub and held my hand. Alexis, George and Mum took turns wiping a cold cloth on my face which was lovely. I think it was Mum who tried putting her hand on my head and saying “relax” but I brushed her away. Whoever it belonged to, the hand was too hot.

I remember saying “I hate Medibank Private” (the health fund that mucked us up) and everyone laughed.

I started making these moaning sounds. I was determined not to make any noise and keep calm, but it just didn’t happen. I’d heard women describe the sounds as primal. That’s what they were. I was louder than my Polish background loud husband for once! Lol

I felt a bit pushy and felt some liquid squish out of me a few times during the one pressure wave. I told Alexis that I thought my waters had broken but it wasn’t all that much. She said it was either urine or water in front of baby’s head as it was too clear.

Then I started to really think I couldn’t do it. I’d never pushed a baby out without drugs before and I had no idea what to expect. I said I needed drugs, anything… what could I have? Alexis said no, you need to push. Yikes!

I was still lying in the bath on my back and knew that if I got up into a squat it would be easier, but I just couldn’t make myself move. I guess I was trying to stay “off” and simply lost my focus as I could have just gone into center had I been thinking straight. I ended up doing the purple pushing and making quite a lot of noise and felt like I was getting nowhere. I said a few times, it’s not coming out! I can’t do this! Negativity… I tried not to do that but couldn’t help myself.

George was a wonderful coach, telling me to relax, even though I did feel like telling him to get in and give it a try! He then told me to put one leg up on the side of the bath and Alexis held my other leg. He said I wasn’t opening up my pelvis enough and that the baby couldn’t move down… clever thing that he is!

Alexis said my bag of water was right there and was holding things up and did she want me to break them? I agreed and with the next pressure wave, she broke my water. I didn’t feel a thing.

No sooner had I opened up my pelvis and had my waters broken than Alexis told me to feel for my baby’s head. Jack’s head was just inside and felt all wrinkly. That gave me all the motivation I needed and I began bearing down hard.

I still couldn’t hear the Pushing Baby Out CD on the tape deck, but once or twice I heard a couple of encouraging words like powerful, strong or something like that. I then had the song “I am woman hear me roar” running through my head and felt empowered. LOL

It only took about two more pushes until his head was out. There was just a lot of pressure. I was worrying over nothing! On the video, you can see him moving and wriggling trying to help me get himself out. It is such a wonderful thing to see. I could even feel Jack pushing with his feet to try and get out. I pushed with the next pressure wave and he came out up to his chest and had the cord around his neck. Not choking him but up over one shoulder, around his neck and back down again. Alexis removed the cord and then I pushed a bit more of him out.

I stopped pushing and wondered why Alexis didn’t pick Jack up right away. George said his legs were still inside! Lol. I thought I’d pushed him right out and didn’t even realise there was still some of him inside me. I gave one more gentle push and he floated out into the water all by himself. Alexis picked him up gently and gave him to me right away onto my chest. Bliss!! My vision was to pick him up from a squatting position myself but that didn’t happen. No matter. I’ll try that next time. I was still ecstatic with how I birthed him.

At no time did anyone try to pull him out. Jack and I did that all by ourselves. He got the nickname “banana boy” from Tiffany as he looked like a bendy banana swimming out of me apparently!

I had no drugs, not even a panadol. I pushed for only 28 mins.

Jack Elijah was born at 3:33am on Nov 5^th, weighing 8 pounds 14 ounces (4030 grams), 54cm long and 37.5cm head. He passed all his tests too.

I was left in the bath to cuddle Jack for a while. I tried to breastfeed him right away but he wasn’t interested. We did cuddle skin on skin and it was wonderful. I thought I’d be a blubbering mess, but I was just so chuffed at myself for having done it drug free! (When I watched the video later, I cried). I said “Thank you Jesus!” and still can’t truly believe that I did something that had previously terrified me and it was actually what I would call easy! I don’t know what I was so fussed about all these years.

George cut the cord soon after and Jack was free!

In my birth plan, I had also requested that I not be given any artificial hormones to birth the placenta, which was apparently routine and they gave you that just before birthing baby. I’d also said absolutely no IV unless medically necessary in an emergency, so I had no needles at all during the birth either. Alexis wanted me to have a routine IV when I arrived at the hospital just in case, especially as this was my 5^thbirth, but I said the needle in my hand restricted my movement so I declined unless absolutely necessary. She agreed.

Alexis reminded me that I’d need to birth the placenta, not that I needed it as pressure waves began again after about 10 mins. I asked her whether I could birth that in the bath or if I needed to get out. She said she would prefer me to get out as she needed to make sure she got it all and that she could pull on the cord to help. I said no I’d try it myself. Alexis then said I could push it out on the toilet. I told her I’d do that.

She put a pan in the toilet bowl and George helped me out. He made a nice little pathway out of towels so I could climb out of the spa, down the couple of steps and onto the toilet and that I wouldn’t slip over.

I sat on the toilet while Jack was being weighed and in only one push, pushed the placenta out by myself taking Alexis by surprise! She wasn’t expecting that and said it was the very first time she’d had a mother push the placenta out without help! Go me!! Lol

After that, I got wrapped up in warm blankets and climbed up on the bed. Alexis asked if she could check me for tears at which point I said there was no need as I hadn’t torn since Tiffany, but I let her anyway and sure enough, no tears at all.

My recovery has been good.  The bleeding is lighter too than it’s been in the past.

I was taken to the ward later that morning and the new midwives I met when I said I’d had a waterbirth said “oh you’re the one!”. Apparently it doesn’t happen too often at that hospital but things are changing.

We were sent home the next night. Gone are the days where you could stay in for 5 or 6 days like I did with Tiffany! That’s a good reason to birth at home… no packing and moving around with a 1 day old baby.

My entire pregnancy and birthing time, I only had 2 internals, one at 8cm and the other when Alexis broke my water. Plus I only had 2 needles. One blood test at 20 weeks and the other the day after I birthed Jack to check my white blood count as it was low. I only had the one ultrasound at 20 weeks also. Talk about minimum interventions!

I had earlier been concerned that my husband wouldn’t be quiet enough to allow me to stay in hypnosis, but when it came down to it, he was such a fabulous support person. He spoke quietly and softly and kept me relaxed and focused as much as possible. He also helped to keep me comfortable. At first after the birth, I felt that I hadn’t done it “right” as I’d started saying I couldn’t do it, but realised soon after that everything I went through was perfectly normal. George I know is proud of me too as he tells everyone I did it drug free in the water, like I just ran a marathon and came first!

Next time (and they’re just might be a next time now) I’m fairly certain I will get a midwife and a birthing pool at home. That way I can have the hypnosis on CD as loud as I want and not have the bother of having to move and travel to the hospital.

I know for a fact that it would have been a lot harder for me to go through this without Hypnobabies. I know I would have panicked and asked for drugs a lot sooner and would have been given them. I also know that I would still have felt like I was missing out on something that I’m now so very happy to have experienced!

Cheers,

from one very happy Hypnobaby Mummy! Kathy 

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Birth Story of Andrew and William – Twins Hypnobabies Birth

Their birth story began on September 20 when I was 33 weeks pregnant
with the twins. At 2am I woke with pressure waves (PWs) that were
strong and intense and 10 minutes apart. Within 30 minutes, they were
5 minutes apart so we headed to the hospital. When we got there, they
checked my dilation and I was 4 cm and 75% effaced. Since it was so
early, they immediately started me on Terbutaline, antibiotics, and
steroid shots. The Terbutaline didn’t have any real effect on the
PWs, so they next started me on Magnesium Sulfate. At that point,
delivery seemed imminent. The local hospital doesn’t have the
facilities for babies prior to 35 weeks, so I was transferred by
ambulance to a hospital about 60 miles away.

I stayed on Magnesium Sulfate for 3 days and then they turned it off
to see if the labor would restart. I had PWs the whole time but they
weren’t “productive”. I stayed in the hospital 24 hours longer and
when I didn’t dilate any further, I went home. It took 2 weeks to
recuperate from the Mag-Sulfate so my mom stayed with me and cooked
for me.

On October 14, labor started again. This time I was 36 weeks. After 4
hours of PWs that were 5 minutes apart, we headed back to the
hospital. I dilated from 4 cm to 6 cm in the triage area within the
first 20 minutes. The standard procedure for delivering twins is in
the operating room (which I was okay with) so we headed straight
there. After 30 minutes or so I felt the intensity of the PWs die way
down. After spending 3 hours in the OR, I finally told the MW that I
didn’t think the PW were productive anymore. We headed to a regular
room to rest and see if the PWs picked up again. The next morning,
they were completely gone. We spent that day in the hospital, walking
the halls and seeing if we could get things going again. No luck.

At this point the OB was very reluctant to see me go home since I was
so dilated. We agreed to stay one more night and check again for
dilation in the morning. I was so tired from little sleep, walking
all day and the stress from being in the hospital again. My
confidence in my body was severely shaken with the starts and stops.
The OB on call that night came in to talk to us about doing an amnio
to check if the babies’ lungs were developed enough to induce labor.
I was so frazzled that I almost agreed. My DH was much steadier of
mind and reminded me that the babies should choose their own
birthday. There was no sign of distress in the babies and I was fine –
why induce at 36 weeks?

So the next morning, our favorite midwife (she also attended the
birth of our daughter) checked me and since there was no change,
discharged us.

We spent the next week getting stuff ready around the house. We are
also house-hunting since we are currently in a 2-bedroom condo with
soon-to-be 4 kids so we looked through some houses.

On the afternoon of October 21, while looking through the house that
we ultimately decided to buy, labor started again. We monitored the
PWs for a while, but then had the bloody show and very intense PWs.
So we headed in to the hospital – again. This time I was at 8 cm at
check-in (no triage this time). In about an hour I was at 9 cm and we
headed to the OR again. All this time I had been using my hypnosis
tools very effectively.

One thing was very different from my DD’s birth. This time, the OBs
really pushed the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to
me and try to convince me that epidurals are completely safe and that
I should get one “just in case”. I refused, stating that I was
consenting to deliver in the OR “just in case”. He was sure to let me
know that he would be right there in the OR if I changed my mind.

It’s odd, but the operating room is icy-cold! DH and our MW (the same
one again), made sure I had warm blankets and tried to warm me up.
Slowly I noticed that the PWs were getting less intense and spacing
further out. After an hour or so I didn’t need to focus to get
through the PWs. I asked the MW to start some pitocin at a low level,
just get things moving again. Every 30 minutes or so, they turned up
the pitocin. I would get a couple of good PWs each time it got turned
up, then they would taper all the way down again. I was getting
discouraged – I thought pitocin was a sure thing; it never occurred
to me that it would not give me hard, intense PWs!

I will never forget sitting on the operating table at midnight in a
freezing cold operating room, singing great 70’s and 80’s rock songs
with the MW and nurses, dilated to 9 cm, maxed out on pitocin, and
feeling nothing. We were playing “name that song/artist” and chatting
about life in general.

Finally, at around 12:30, I asked the MW to break Andrew’s bag of
water. Thing got really intense after that. The PWs were definitely
uncomfortable at that point, but I went back to using my hypnosis
tools and stayed very much in control. I felt every sensation as
Andrew made his way out. There was pressure outward on my hips as
Andrew pushed past William. Once Andrew was out, William began to
settle into place, staying head down. William was still floating in
his bag of water, and the bag didn’t break until I was pushing him
out. It almost felt like he got “washed” out when the water
released!

Andrew arrived at 1:00 am, October 22 and William followed at 1:28
am. It was a wild ride from the water breaking to William’s arrival.
The intense cold of the room made it very difficult to relax the way
I wanted. I birthed them both laying on my left side, but the nurse
had to pry my right leg up to allow the boys to come out because I
had my legs clamped together. There were only two things that I
remember hurting – moving that leg and having the heart monitor
touching my belly. Otherwise, it was a very satisfying experience. I
felt like I was on a high for a while after the birth, even though
our babies ended up in the NICU before I could hold them. They both
had 1 minute apgars of 8, but then had breathing problems at 4
minutes. They were both in my room with me within 12 hours, doing
great! Both immediately nursed, having nice big mouths and perfect
latches.

Both the MW and the nurses thanked me several times after the birth.
Apparently it is so rare that twins are birthed naturally and even
more so that the MW gets to catch both. I’m pretty convinced that I
would have had a c-section if I had gotten the epidural. With that
and the pitocin, I would have had failure to progress and the boys
heart rates may have suffered. I am so thankful to my supportive DH
and Hypnobabies. None of it would have been possible without them.
Three weeks later, I am tired but still feeling so powerful – amazing!

Andrew – 6lbs 11oz, 19 inches long
William – 6lbs 6 oz, 19 inches long

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Michael is Here! Easy First Birth Thanks to Hypnobabies.

How excited I am to share my wonderful birth story. Sorry if this is a little long but this is my first birth and I am not sure where to start since I am not sure when “labor” actually began so I will first say that around Sunday the 2nd of November I started having what felt to be like pms cramps. I called my Doula and she asked that I just keep her informed if anything progresses. They subsided and then would come and go till Tuesday the 4th.

I had a doctors appt. that morning and when he checked me he said that I was at 0-1 dialated. No problem since my 40 week mark was that Thursday anyways and I wasn’t worried or rushing it. I let him know about the “cramps” and that I had started just a little bit of bloody show. Went home and just hung out around the house with DH.

The cramps got a little more intense as the day progressed and around 10:00 pm I joked to my DH that he might not be going into work tomorrow. Around 10:30 he fell asleep but I was unable to get comfortable. They were getting stronger and to be honest I was getting a little scared because I kept thinking that if this is just signs of upcoming birthing time I can’t imagine what that is going to be like. I debated waking my DH and just kinda walked around the house doing my peace cues and trying different positions.

At 2:00am I suddenly got really sick and threw up. I called my doula and told her what what was going on so she said to get dressed and that she and her doula partner (I got two doulas for the price of one!) would meet me at the hospital. I was really worried that I was waking everyone up for no reason and that I would get sent back home. We arrive there and get checked in. The nurse asked if she could check my progress ( the staff was awesome andtotally respected my Birth plan ) and I said yes. She checked and I was at 5cm : )

I couldn’t believe it. Just that morning I wasn’t even fully at 1 and I didn’t even think that I had truly begun my birthing time and yet here I was at 5cm. They get me into my room and by this time it is about 3:00am. My DH and doulas were incredible. When my PW would start my DH would do the release cue and my Doula would press on my back and hips. That extra pressure plus release cues made me think that the waves were over until I would move or they would let go of my hips and I would realize that I was actually peaking at that time.

Pretty soon the PW were right on top of each other with no breaks in between but I just relaxed and let my body do what it needed to do. I really started to go in myself and not focus on anything. I could hear them talking to me and giving me my cues but it all kinda sounded muted or muffled. I didn’t really have a concept of time.

By 8:30 I was at 10cm. Pushed for 2 hours and at 10:25am I gave birth to a beautiful 8lb 19in boy with lots of brown hair!!

My DH said he overheard the nurses talking about how they couldn’t believe how calm I was and my doulas said it was inspirational the way my body and baby was working together. My Dh is so proud of me and I am so thrilled I took this chance on Hypnobabies. No drugs were needed and I would say that I was only in “labor” for about 10-12 hours. BTW my water broke minutes before I started pushing.

Thank you to all the women on this site, when I had doubts just reading the posts made me feel better and more focused. I couldn’t have done it without my DH,my doulas and the strength and wisdom I got from the women in this group*. Keep having faith in yourselves because you can do it!!

*Hypnobabies Yahoo Group is a great place to interact with other moms using hypnosis for birth

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Nora’s Birth – Pushing Minutes after getting to hospital

I wanted to thank you sincerely for such a wonderful site and offer my Hypnobabies story. I love hearing birth stories but once I started my Hypnobabies self study course, I found myself steering clear of all birth stories.  I was worried I would hear something negative and my bubble of peace wouldn’t do it’s job.  I came across your website when I was about 30 weeks pregnant and it was a breath of fresh air.  I needed to hear those positive and beautiful stories.  Thank you for sharing them!

If you are still collecting stories for your website, here is mine.  It was not an entirely painfree childbirth but it was very close to it.  This was my 2nd birth and my first hypnobaby.  With my first child, I was in labor for close to 11 hours and it was not a very good experience (except for the beautiful outcome – my son!).  My birthing time with this birth was the complete opposite.

I woke up on my due date about 2:30 in the morning and just didn’t feel right. My stomach hurt and I was uncomfortable so I got up and started walking around my living room a bit. I realized I was having pressure waves and they weren’t very consistent but I could really feel them. About 3, I decided to get together my things and take a shower before I woke up my husband.   When I woke him up at 3:30, he wanted to know how far apart my ctx were and I had no idea. He started timing them for me while playing in an online poker tournament. I would say, ‘write down the time’ when I felt one start. And he’d write it down and go back to his game. (BTW, he finished 7th in the tournament. lol)I walked around my living room and when I would feel a pressure wave, I would kneel over my birthing ball and rock back and forth, concentrating my mental anesthesia where I needed it. At 4, my husband told me my pressure waves were really inconsistent. I said, I’d rather them be inconsistent here than at the hospital! I decided to listen to my Easy First Stage cd from Hypnobabies to regulate them.

I flipped my light switch to the center and continued leaning over my birthing ball.  I would say to myself, open open open and I really could feel my cervix opening. At 4:30 when my pressure waves were consistently 4 min apart, I had my husband call his mom to come watch our son. He said Why? I said because I don’t wanna have this baby here! I was kind of hungry and trying to listen to my body so I ate a couple bites of toast. Not as delicious as I had hoped. His mom got there about 5:15 and my pressure waves were 2 min apart at that point. I was ready to go!

We left for the hospital and I put on my birthing day affirmations cd. It was relaxing and positive but being in the car for 20 min was tough. I just closed my eyes and focused on the cd.  My husband actually asked me if I was still having contractions! He then went by mcd’s but they were closed so we stopped for a few minutes at the gas station while he bought a paper, donuts, and a breakfast sandwich.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00. I walked in and they said yes? I said yeh I’m in labor. They got me back into a triage room  and the tech guy was getting me hooked up to the ctx and fetal monitor. I was getting really pissy about having to lay down. My husband was just bsing with the guy while they tried to get the monitor in the right spot. The baby was freaking out about the monitor being on her and all of a sudden she kicked REAL hard and then I heard POP! And my water broke everywhere.

I said “oooh. My water broke”…And that was the end of my pleasantness! I don’t know if I suddenly lost my focus or what but my pws went from being completely manageable to being very intense. I started to feel really pushy and they wanted me to lift up to put a pad under my butt. NO! They wanted me to lay on my back to be checked. NO! I started to puke up my couple bites of toast, yum.

The nurse agreed to check me on my side while I was still in triage and I was complete and +2. No wonder I was feeling pushy! They rolled me down the hall to a delivery room and asked me to move beds. I said NO once again. But I had to….so I finally just sucked it up and moved. Right away the dr came in and they set everything up for delivery.

The dr insisted that I push the traditional way and I was trying to tell him no, my dr had said it was ok to push how I wanted but he didn’t care and I just wanted the baby out. I used the Hypnobabies suggestion and ‘talked’ to my baby, assuring her that we could do this and that she was just fine.  Out loud, I was saying “I can do this I can do this I can do this.” So I put my legs in the stirrups and they said push when you feel like it. I used the Ah technique suggested by Hypnobabies and it was incredibly effective!

3 pressure waves later at 6:57am, Nora Christine was born. She weight 8lb 3oz and was 21 inches long.

The nurses and my husband were astonished!  The nurses kept telling me, you make this look so easy.  My husband is a bit ornery so he wasn’t quite as vocal about his surprise at the ease of my birthing time.  He did tell me he was disappointed he hadn’t gotten to read the paper!  He had misjudged how my birthing time was progressing because he expected it to be similar to my first child’s birth.

In addition to having such a wonderful birth experience, I fully credit Hypnobabies for the length of my birthing time and the timing itself.  I had used imagery to picture my birthing time from beginning to end during my last few weeks.  In my mind, my husband would be home (he often works out of town), I would comfortably “labor” at home, arrive at the hospital at least 8cm dilated, and have my baby within 4 and a half hours from my first pressure wave.

The mind is an incredible thing!  And Hypnobabies truly works.  Once my children are older, I’m very interested in becoming a hypnodoula myself.  In the mean time, I just want to share my story and let women know that childbirth does not need to be a terrifying and painful event.

You are certainly welcome to share my birth story if you so choose.  Otherwise, thank you again for you website.  I hope other women find it as positive and inspiring as I did.

Lauren

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