Hypnobabies Mom says, “I yelled back at them that I couldn’t NOT push!”, and Minutes Later – BABY!

I had an OB appointment the day before my due date at 10am.  I was 3 cm and 70% effaced.  After, I had some spotting that never went away.

Around 4pm, I began having some pressure waves.  They weren’t that uncomfortable, like mild menstrual cramps.  But they were different than the Braxton Hicks I had been having non-stop.  They were every 5-10 minutes.  I was able to go about my daily business (pick up DD from daycare, make dinner, play with DD, etc.)

I put DD down for bed around 9:30PM.  The pressure waves were beginning to get a bit stronger by 10PM.  However, I didn’t have to concentrate through them.  I thought my birthing time was near, but I wasn’t sure since I had prodromal labor several nights the past week.

Around 10:30PM, I told DH I was going to try to get some sleep.  I put on my Early First Stage track and tried to sleep.  I got through the whole track and then did Fear Release.  By then it was almost midnight and I could tell it was definitely my birthing time.  I told DH I was going to the living room (where we have a computer) to time the pressure waves.  I continued to listen to more tracks, although I can’t remember which ones.

At first the waves were 6-7 min apart, and by 12:45, they were 5 min apart.  We decided we should head to the hospital soon.  I was feeling pretty good because the pressure waves were completely manageable.  We did some last minute packing and woke up MIL to come upstairs to be close to DD.  In the car, I listened to Birthing Day Affirmations, but I chatted with DH between pressure waves.

We got to the hospital around 1:45.  They couldn’t find my paperwork, so we had to give them all of our information, which was kind of annoying to do between pressure waves.  The pressure waves were more intense, but completely manageable.  I requested to use the Jacuzzi, but I had to be hooked up to a monitor for 15-20 minutes first (then she said I could get in.)

She checked me a little after 2 am and said I was 7-8 cm!  I was shocked I was so far along considering how “easy” things were.  I put on Easy First Stage and zoned out.  I ended up on my hands and knees on the bed with a birth ball (while they monitored me.)  After a bit, I felt like I had to pee, so she unhooked me and I went to the bathroom.  I wasn’t able to pee but I felt like I had to poop.

Suddenly the pressure waves got really intense, and nothing seemed to help me get through them.  The nurse checked me and I was a 9+.  My OB still wasn’t there.  Each pressure wave was really intense, and soon I felt the desire to push.  I was still on my hands and knees.

I began pushing, and the nurses were yelling at me not to push (since my OB wasn’t there.)  I yelled back at them that I couldn’t not push.  On one of the pushes, my water broke.  I kept pushing with each pressure wave and DH said he could see hair.  Eventually my OB arrived, and I pushed the head out maybe 2 or 3 pressure waves later.

On the next pressure wave, I pushed the rest of the body out.  My OB instructed DH to catch the baby and put him on my tummy.  Baby Clive was born at 2:51am…about an hour after we got to the hospital and about 10 minutes after my OB arrived.  (I never even got around to listening to the Pushing Baby Out track…since I was still listening to Easy First Stage when he was born.)

Clive was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 20” long.  I was shocked his birth was so quick and easy.  (DD’s birth was really long and difficult.)  Although his birth was not pain-free, I would say only 30 minutes was really intense, and the rest was completely manageable thanks to Hypnobabies.