Short but Sweet Hypnobabies Birth Story

Thanks to a Hypnobabies Instructor for passing on this birth story from her Hypnobabies Student.

Sophia’s Birth
I think our baby was just waiting for us to finish learning all the tools we needed for her birth!

Sophia was born Sunday afternoon at 2:32 pm. The hypnosis really helped me sleep through most of my early birthing time and tools like Peace, Open, Relax and Release were instrumental in an extremely positive, quick and wonderful birthing experience. First pre-birthing waves were on Saturday at midnight, we used the techniques you taught us to slow down the progress get a good rest before things picked up.

 

On Sunday, we woke to powerful birthing waves that were 6 minutes apart at 5am, by 10:30am they were 3 to 4 minutes apart and well over a minute long, and at their peak felt distinctly ‘pushy’. Chloe and the rest of the team arrived to 9 cm dilation.

 

Two hours later, John caught perfect, little Sophia and placed her on my chest. No tearing and no drugs, a short and wonderful birthing experience. We cannot thank you enough for everything you taught us. Please pass this story to the rest of our Hypno-classmates and feel free to use it in any other way you wish.

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Hypnobabies Home Birth with 1st Baby ~ cont. Mom’s Comments about Her 1st Baby’s Birth

Confidence in Body

I was having a lot of pre-birthing waves before Elizabeth’s arrival.  In fact, my sister in law noticed when I was having a practice PW because I would suddenly relax for a minute as if I was turning off while at her son’s first birthday party.  When she figured out what I was doing, she asked me how far apart they were.  I told her I didn’t know, and I wasn’t worried about it.  She thought they were pretty frequent and started to get worried about me.  I smiled and knew that I would know when my birthing time would start, Hypnobabies gave me confidence about my body.

Happier During Pregnancy

My husband noticed a change in my mood after I started listening to HB’s Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations, he said I was very pleasant, and I never complained about any pregnancy discomfort.  His co-workers would tell him stories about their wives while pregnant, how rough it was, and how bad they hurt or complained.  He would smile and tell them that everything had been perfect with me, I was still working and going to school, and keeping up with life.  He said that the pregnancy did not slow me down, and he was proud of me. That gave me warm fuzzies.  I truly attribute my positive outlook during my pregnancy to Hypnobabies .

Late in my pregnancy, Hypnobabies was a tremendous help.  It reminded me that all my practice waves were for a reason, and not happening to just annoy me.  It helped me cope mentally, and it relaxed me physically.

Birthing Time

When my waves switched from being practice to the real thing, (about 2 am the day Elizabeth was born), I stopped listening to Hypnobabies tracks, but still practiced my relaxation.  My husband would say “you’re not really in labor are you?” because I was doing so well.  My midwife was hesitant to drive over because I wasn’t showing any signs that would make her think birth was imminent.

I wish I would have had a video of DD’s birth, it was perfect, and I wanted to show the world what a first time mom could do!  Elizabeth was crowning two minutes before my MW’s Assistant arrived, and she brought in the rest of the stuff my MW needed from her car.  I honestly wonder if my birthing time would have been much much shorter (it was short already) if my MW arrived shortly after I called her the first time.  I have a feeling that if she would have arrived sooner, my body would have also let Elizabeth arrive sooner too.

HYPNOBABIES IS AMAZING!

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Hypnobabies Home Birth with 1st Baby ~ 6cm to BABY in less than an hour!

Thanks to Mary from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her birth story with us!

Our little one is finally sleeping on my chest, so I thought I would attempt to write her birth story…

Elizabeth Marie was born into her fathers arms after a beautiful birth during an April blizzard.  This was my first pregnancy and birth, but because of my background, I knew that I did not want to have a baby in the hospital.  My husband was VERY reluctant to consider my desire to birth at home, but after extensive research, he decided it was the best choice for us.  I didn’t have any cervical checks until my MW came over to asses my birthing time.

On the afternoon of Wednesday April 6th, I started to have menstrual like cramping, I was in the NICU working on my bachelors project as I was graduating with my BS April 22nd.  I didn’t think much of the cramping because all of my other experiences with Braxton Hicks felt like sharp tightening and from what I previously read on the Internet, what I was experiencing was not my birthing time.  That evening, they became more noticeable.

I was texting my MW, asking questions, and she decided to stop by after leaving her office to check up on me as it was hard to assess me via text.  She arrived around 8:00 pm and checked me at about 8:30pm.  I was 1.5 cm dilated, 85-90% effaced with an anterior cervix.  She told me that if this was my birthing time, it was very very early in it.  She said if everything continued, she could be born that night, but reminded me that things could still stop.  I told her I would be happy with our baby being born 30-40 hours from now, and I wasn’t worried about it taking a long time.  She suggested that we go to bed and sleep as much as possible.  That was the best advice someone could have given me.  The pressure waves (felt like menstrual cramps rather than tightening), continued through the night and I continued to listen to easy first stage and birthing day affirmations.

April 7th, my pressure waves slowed and pretty much stopped between 8am and 10am (I think I only had 4 total in that 2 hours).  They then picked up again and mimicked what had been happening previously.  I think the PW’s were 4-8 minutes apart with the occasional PW that waited until 9 or 11 minutes to come.  My husband and I spent the day shopping, picked up a new laptop, printer, and network storage.  It was raining, and I had a few PW’s that I had to stop walking in the middle of the road until it was over while getting soaked.  It made me smile thinking about how our little girl could be here soon.  I was extremely comfortable, and continued to go to stores with my husband.  At one point, I told him we really needed to get home.  I didn’t want to inconvenience my super awesome midwife, so I did not tell her my contractions picked back up from that morning.

I went to bed early (following yesterday’s advice), but I woke up and felt the need to get into the tub.  I listened to Hypnobabies in the tub for about 20 minutes with pressure waves 4-7 minutes apart.  I got out because the water did not seem to slow them down as it had previously, and I wanted to try to sleep again.

At about 2am, my husband woke me up, and we were intimate.  At that point, it was like someone threw a light switch!  PW’s became stronger and I had to start focusing on them more.  I called my MW at about 2:30 am (April 8th), she did not think I was very far along as I was talking to her on the phone and sounded calm and happy.  I put my husband on the phone, and she asked him questions about how uncomfortable I was etc and he said I was doing great and did only 4-7 minutes apart and I sounded too comfortable.

At about 5:30, my PW’s were averaging closer to 4 minutes apart, so we called her back. I think I was a little frustrated as I knew that my little girl would be here soon.  I made my husband call.  She had us update her in an hour as I was still “too comfortable” and I told her during our prenatal visits that I didn’t want her here until I was unable to cope with my doula and husband.  She asked me if I felt like I needed Benni (my doula), and I said no, but I would call her if she wanted me too.  My doula lives an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes away depending on traffic and would have to drop her kids off to a babysitter on the way to my house so she asked that I give her a 1.5 hr heads up.

My husband talked to my MW, and she said “I bet Mary wants me to check her,” he agreed.  Again, he asked me if I was really in labor.  I didn’t know if I wanted to smile, or hit him lol.  At 6:23am, I broke down and told my husband that I was calling my MW because if she didn’t get here quickly, I was going to drive my self to the hospital.  I said this to make a point, I did not want to go to the hospital, I just wanted my MW here and I didn’t feel as if they took me seriously.

I called her and when she answered I said “Where are you!!” and her reply was “In your driveway.”  I suddenly relaxed.  She left her supplies in the car, and watched me labor until 6:45am when I layed down on the floor for her to check me.  She said I was 6cm and 100% effaced with bulging membranes.  I thought that was perfect.  It was the magic number I had in my head.  She quietly told my husband that it could either go really really fast, or really really slow at this point.

She asked me if I wanted her to call my doula, I said yes.  I wanted to make sure I was really in my birthing time before I called her because I did not want her to make an unnecessary trip to my house.  I asked my MW if her assistant was coming, she said “Do you want her to?” and I said yes.  She called her assistant who lived about 25 minutes away.  My MW said I should change positions, so I moved from keeling over the seat of my rocker/glider chair to laying on the floor on my side.  One contraction, I started to squirm, and she placed one hand on my hip, and the other on my shoulder and said “just stay put.” I later learned that I was at the point in which I just had to let my body take over and not run away scared.

I felt the urge to pee, so I went upstairs to the toilet.  I couldn’t go because I felt that the seat was too low to the ground.  I had a PW on the toilet and it was not enjoyable.  I moved to my bedroom and leaned over my bed for a PW, and again felt as if I needed to pee.  I went to the master bathroom, but was unable to go for the same reason.  I then asked my husband for a towel to go on instead.  My MW had him fetch a chuck, and I was finally able to go (it was literally just a dribble).  I climbed into my bed, and layed on my side with a pillow between my knees.

All of a sudden, my top leg jerked forward.  I thought that was weird, but didn’t think anything of it.  During my next PW, my midwife said “Are we going down to the birthing pool or are we having this baby on your bed?”  I was so confused at this point, I learned that the weird sensation I was experiencing that caused my leg to jerk with the first one was actually my body pushing.  I never felt pushy at all.  I told her that I really wanted to be in the water, but I wasn’t about to move.  My MW and husband quickly covered my bed with surgical drapes and such to protect it.

MY MW quickly called her assistant who was in-route, and said I was pushing and her equipment was still in the car.  Her assistant said she would bring everything in with her when she arrived.  My MW said “During one of your next PW’s I need you to roll to the other side of the bed.”  The side I was on was not protected.  I rolled across my king size bed like a pro!  Within minutes, my daughters head emerged, my midwife peeled the amniotic sac off her face (my water never broke and my MW did not want to break it), then my husband reached down to catch our baby.  My MW told me to push, which caught me off guard as I never had to consciously push up to that point.  I smiled, gave a push, and my husband caught our first born!

It was a beautiful experience.  I held her for a few minutes and then asked my hubby to hold her skin to skin (she was still attached to the placenta).  He took off his shirt and threw on his bath robe and held her.  It was amazing.  This was an experience I would have never had if we were in the hospital.  He gave her back to me, and after the cord stopped pulsing, my husband cut it.  My doula arrived a few minutes later.

Although she didn’t have a name for a few days, Elizabeth was born at 7:42am, less than an hour after my cervical check at 6 cm.  My body pushed for me, she was out in 11 minutes.  I would have never been able to get through all of the early birthing time without Hypnobabies, and I attribute my succes during my late birthing time to Hypnobabies because it taught me to relax and trust my body.

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Vaginal Birth After 2 Cesareans…Comfortable with Hypnobabies!

Thank for Gina from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her birth story.

Brief background: 1st c-section for twin boys – scheduled due to baby positioning; 2nd c-section for youngest boy – scheduled due to my own misunderstanding of VBAC risks; successful VBA2C at 41 weeks, 1 day on 9/20/11 using the Hypnobabies home-study course for Persephone Maria

As the days after her “due date” kept passing by with no sign of baby Persephone making her debut, I thought about buying the Hypnobabies mp3 track called, “Come OUT, Baby.” I was hesitant to spend over $10 on something that may or may not work when I may or may not actually need it. I mean, she has to come out eventually, right? What’s the rush? There wasn’t a rush, really, but we were all so ready for her to join us that I decided to go ahead and get it after she decided not to show up over the weekend. So, on Sunday evening, I listened to it in the kitchen after dinner.

I woke up in the middle of the night, around 1:30 a.m., with a warm gush of fluid. I got up and went to the bathroom, leaking the whole way, underwear and legs soaked. It seemed like I peed in the toilet and then didn’t notice any more trickling fluid. I smelled the wet spots on the sheets to see if it smelled like urine, and there were some parts that did, so I resigned myself to having wet the bed like a potty-training toddler. Maybe Persephone was moving lower and caused my bladder to explode or something, even though I’d emptied my bladder around 11:30 when we went to bed.

I tried to lie back down, but I noticed there were some pressure waves coming. They actually seemed to be in a pattern of some sort, something I might be able to time. I had about four before I decided I could not get back to sleep. I got up and did some dishes and made the big boys’ lunches for the next day in case labor started by morning. Of course, the pressure waves died down by the time this was all done, so I went back to sleep.

Monday seemed like it might get exciting as I noticed globs of mucous plug coming out whenever I’d use the restroom. But, no excitement in the very important aspect of pressure waves was to be found. I’d contract randomly throughout the day, usually when I was sitting down or resting in some way. I took Xander to our usual Monday playgroup. We ate lunch afterwards and went to Costco to get some things we needed (eggs, fruit, etc.)…just in case. I will say that I did notice small gushes of fluid throughout the day; I just needed to keep myself in denial, I suppose, to avoid any panicking over prolonged broken water.

Monday evening didn’t get much more interesting other than some traces of blood in the mucous. Surely, things should be starting up very soon. I decided when we went to bed that I would put my Easy First Stage, the first of the two Hypnobabies birthing day tracks, on repeat along with the Birthing Day Affirmations all night to see if it could help get the random, sporadic pressure waves to settle in a pattern and eventually intensify.

Within a couple hours of going to bed, I was noticing the pressure waves becoming more regular and more intense. I don’t think I ever really slept that night. I would relax in bed, lying on my left side and using my Hypnobabies techniques through some pressure waves, get up to go to the bathroom, check my temperature, and then just did that again and again and again. I remember going into the kitchen around 5 a.m. to get something to eat because I was super hungry, and I remember saying to myself how much fun (being completely sincere) this was as I strolled back down the hallway to return to the bed.

My husband woke up around 7:30 in the morning. He had forgotten to set his alarm for work and was about to call to tell them he couldn’t come in when I told him he couldn’t go to work. He asked if I was serious, and I told him I was absolutely serious; the baby was coming today. He made the call and went to the living room, and I decided to move into the living room, too.

I rested on the couch, relaxing through my pressure waves and using my hypnosis, finally able to see that they were coming about every 4-5 minutes and were lasting approximately 45-60 seconds each. My husband got breakfast ready for everyone (but me; I was no longer interested in food) and got the boys’ lunches ready and sent them off to school, being sure to explain to them that they would probably have to go to the neighbor’s house when they got off the bus because we’d be at the hospital.

Within 30 minutes of them leaving to catch the bus, I told my husband we should probably leave for the hospital soon. The pressure waves were feeling more intense and maybe getting a little bit closer together. He went through my packing list and got things together and put in the car. Then, he got Xander ready to take to the neighbor’s house so we could drive to the hospital. Just as we were all set to go, I said I needed to go to the bathroom. I don’t know what exactly happened in that short timeframe, but we didn’t get to leave for over an hour later.

I left the bathroom and went back to my place on the couch. I was now humming, maybe moaning, along with breathing my relaxation into my pressure waves. They seemed to be right on top of each other. I couldn’t get more than 30 seconds in between, so I couldn’t get myself to walk down the stairs to the car. Since I was doing hypnosis as well, my husband couldn’t really talk to me. I mean, he could, and I’d hear him, but I wasn’t able to respond.

He decided to take Xander to the neighbor’s house himself. When he came back, he called his mom. I heard him sound a little anxious about not being in the car and on the way to the hospital. I was feeling a bit anxious about this myself. As much as I would have loved to have a homebirth, I didn’t want an unassisted homebirth, especially when that isn’t what I planned, so I’d have no clue what to be looking for in the way of complications. Something about this sent me back to a more conscious level, and I was able to move off the couch and make an effort towards walking to the stairs after making one last trip to the toilet and finding a massive bloody show.

Another pressure wave hit about half way down the stairs; I stopped at the door and squatted down to the floor, leaning back into my husband’s arms. We made it out the door; another pressure wave came as we reached the end of the walkway. I dealt with this one by having one foot up on the walkway and the other on the driveway. He helped me into the car, and we were on our way to the hospital.

We get to the hospital, and I ask him to get a wheelchair for me. I needed to continue my relaxation, and that did not involve walking through the parking lot, into the hospital, onto the elevator, or down the hallways. I needed to breathe my calming thoughts: peace (for my mental anesthesia); I am comfortable and relaxed; my baby will be in my arms soon. He eventually returns with a wheelchair, and we make our way into the hospital.

My poor husband has been so left out of the events of the past 12 hours that he has no clue how to answer the questions he’s bombarded with…When did they start? How far apart are they? How long are they lasting? I hear it all, and I answer when I am not in the midst of a pressure wave, but I feel so sorry for him trying to deal with them. They get me into a triage room and ask for a urine sample. I try my best to get one, but I just can’t reach far enough with the pressure waves coming to get anything useful.

I go to the hospital bed and resume my left-side-lying position. The doctor comes in; he’s the same doctor that conducted the VBAC consultation class that I thought was so wonderful and positive towards VBACs. His tune wasn’t so positive now. He was trying to talk to me about my last appointment and being 41 weeks with a history of two c-sections and not having any cervical progress last time and what the midwife said. All I could think to answer was that she’d said we’d be fine waiting until 42 weeks; in my head, I’m wondering why the hell any of that stuff matters when I’m laying here in obvious birthing time right now. (After hearing my husband describe my birth, I guess it may not have been so obvious.)

Next thing I know, I feel my body pushing. I find my voice long enough to say I am feeling pushy. Doctor checks me and announces that I’m feeling pushy because I’m completely dilated and ready to push my baby out. There is a lot of movement in the room, people telling me not to push until we switch rooms, and just a lot of commotion that seemed to be completely separate from my calm and peaceful state at the time.

We get into a very bright room, and I am eventually instructed to take two deep breaths and then hold my breath to push for a count of ten with my next pressure wave. I think it took another two pressure waves for my body to allow me to attempt this. In the meantime, my husband puts on the Pushing Baby Out Hypnobabies track to have playing in the background.

My first pushing attempts were too gentle for what they wanted. I told them to “just leave me alone, please.” That was countered with some unnecessarily rude replies about whether or not I wanted to have my baby and that I needed to push. I stayed relaxed as I focused on the Hypnobabies voice in the background, the one that was (maybe not explicitly) telling me my body would do what it needed to do at the right time.

As far as I’m concerned, this whole labor has been gentle enough for my body to handle, and I’m going to continue to allow my body to dictate when it’s time to use proper force and when it’s best to be gentle. The time to push comes quickly, and Persephone was born with maybe a total of six or seven pushes through three or four pressure waves. There was a minor second degree tear that was stitched up with just a couple stitches. Baby was given to me, and we cuddled as the doctors and nurses did their cleanup.

Everything about this experience has been completely amazing for me. It is so much different to be able to move freely and without pain after having my baby. Although getting to the hospital so late meant that some of the things on my birthplan didn’t go as I’d hoped (heplock instead of saline IV, mother-directed pushing, delayed cord clamping – to name a few), I am certain that it needed to go this way to have the birth I wanted.

Even the nurse said that was absolutely the best way to do it, coming in ready to push, to avoid having to deal with all the monitoring and scrutiny that would have come from spending more of my labor time in the hospital. I had always intended to labor at home a long time (longer than the 5-1-1 rule, i.e. 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, for more than an hour), but I’d figured we’d get to the hospital around 7-8 cm dilated and be there for a few hours; I never thought I’d show up and then have a baby in my arms less than 45 minutes later. It was a very peaceful labor.

I didn’t do anything I thought I would, though, like use my birthing ball (though it was a lifesaver during pregnancy) or alternate birthing positions (I even pushed while lying on my left side) or lighting candles or using the river stream mp3 to relate to my special, safe place…but it was absolutely perfect anyhow.
I would whole-heartedly endorse using Hypnobabies for a really great natural birth, and my husband said he would have to as well after seeing how well I handled the entire birth and how great I’ve felt since. He was rather skeptical about how well it was really going to work and even said afterwards that he kept thinking I was going to end up one of those angry, screaming women for trying to give birth without pain medicine.

We are all doing really well. I feel great, and Persephone hasn’t made life anything but more wonderful thus far. It is great to feel like my family is finally complete and looking forward to our future.

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Scrub Jays and Hummingbirds Attend Outdoor Hypnobabies Water Birth!

Thanks to Jennie for sharing her story!

A couple days ago I was just reaching the point of thinking this baby would never come out. I wasn’t at my due date yet, but I was beyond the points when my other two came, and I was SURE this one would be earlier. It’s amazing how soon kids remind you they have minds of their own…

I had had a few “practice waves” over a couple days, but nothing strong or regular. They were mostly the kind of thing I wouldn’t even notice if I weren’t expecting the kid to make an appearance at any moment.

On Sept. 21 I woke up around 5 am and got up to go to the bathroom and get some water. I got back into bed but couldn’t fall asleep again. About half an hour later, I had a fairly strong birthing wave but didn’t think much of it. A few minutes later I had another. I decided if I had one more I’d get up and start timing them since I wasn’t getting back to sleep anyway.

A few minutes later, there was another one. I couldn’t go into the living room since my mom was sleeping out there, so I took my exercise ball and my phone into the bathroom and bounced/rolled a bit while timing waves and Facebooking.

The waves were consistently five minutes apart, lasting about 45 seconds. Although they were fairly strong, they weren’t yet to the point that I needed to use my hypnosis techniques.

Steve got up around 5:45 and I told him he might need to call Lindsey and Carole (our midwife and doula) soon. Around that time Anna woke up and wanted me to snuggle. I tried to get her to snuggle with Steve instead, but she insisted on me. I snuggled with her for a few minutes, then bribed her with the promise of peanut butter crackers if she went to snuggle with Grannie instead.

It became clear that this was the real deal, so I decided to draw a bath and told Steve to call Lindsey and Carole. I also told him to set up the birthing pool on the patio as we had planned, weather permitting. It was early in the morning and still chilly, but I figured it might be warm enough by the time we needed it, plus we have a propane heater we could turn on if necessary.

While my bath water was running I decided to get the bed ready for later, too. I took the covers off, put a shower curtain down, and put another sheet on top. Keep in mind this is a king-size bed pushed up against a wall and a twin-size bed, so it’s a major PITA to make it even under normal circumstances, much less during one’s birthing time. I wanted to feel useful, though.

I got in the tub and listened to some of my Hypnobabies “Easy First Stage” track and to the Beatles’ “Let it Be” a few times. (“Let it Be” had sort of become my mantra during the pregnancy, and it seemed like a nice accompaniment to the whole idea of just relaxing and letting go.)

After a little while in the tub I got restless and decided to get out.

I walked out to the living room and had the first wave that made me need to stop what I was doing and focus. A few minutes later, Carole, our doula, arrived.

I went out back to see what the temperature was like. Steve had turned on the heater, so even though it was still a bit cool, the patio felt quite nice. With our fountain running, birds flying around our bird feeders, and fog in the background, it felt extremely peaceful, so I decided to stay out there.

Carole and I talked (pausing for waves) while Steve finished setting things up. By this point I had grown tired of “Let it Be,” but didn’t feel like listening to a hypnosis track, so I was listening to my Beatles mix. I wanted to keep things upbeat and fun.

Our midwife Lindsey and her assistant Courtney arrived and got some other things set up, then they went into the living room to hang out so I wouldn’t feel “watched.”

My waves started getting longer and a little more intense, so I told Steve it was probably time to finish filling the pool. (Which was very easy, by the way, as Steve had run a hose directly from our tankless water heater.)

Even after the pool was filled, I didn’t get in right away because things were going so well on land and I didn’t want to mess up a good thing.

Then my waves started getting shorter but closer together and much more intense, so I figured it was time to get in the pool. It was so nice to sit in the warm water and watch scrub jays and hummingbirds flying around the feeders! I told Steve we’re getting a hot tub for the patio.

Steve, Carole, and I hung out for a while, with Lindsey and Courtney coming out occasionally to check on me.

Probably about half an hour after getting in the tub (though my concept of time is hazy at this point) my birthing waves started to get very intense. Carole helped me relax my shoulders and gave me hypnosis cues. Lindsey and Courtney came out for good, so between that and my strengthened waves, I knew we were getting close.

I also got EXTREMELY hot, which happened just before my other two kids were born. I had Steve turn down the heater, and Carole put cold washcloths on my neck and forehead.

I had several very long, very close, very intense waves, and I knew (and hoped!) I’d need to start pushing soon.

With Elias, pushing was very easy but took a long time, probably because I was in the standard “stranded beetle” position. With Anna, pushing was easy and very fast (and stealth!). A few gentle pushes and she came right out.

I assumed pushing would be similar to Anna’s birth, where my body just took over, pushed, rested, push, push, rested, then she was out.

This time I did feel my body start to push (obviously) but there was no resting! As soon as I started to push, I needed the kid OUT!

I pushed a few times and was sure the kid was stuck. So I just kept pushing until I felt crowning. Another push and the head was out. Two more and the shoulders were out. One more for the body. If I had to guess, the whole thing took a minute.

Lindsey told me to get my baby (after each of my births I had to be reminded by someone to look at/get my baby). I looked down and saw this little creature floating in the water, reached in, and picked it up. Carole announced the time of birth as 10:03 am, 4.5 hours after my birthing time began.

Steve looked and announced that it was a boy. I had been a bit unsure about our choice of boy’s name, but this kid was definitely an Oliver.

We covered the baby with a blanket to keep him warm, and the kids came out to see their new brother. We hung out for a few minutes, then I wanted to get out of the pool before I delivered the placenta.

It was surprisingly easy to walk through the house and into the bedroom with an umbilical cord and baby still attached to me.

We settled into bed and Lindsey checked me for tears. I needed stitches with the other kids, and they were a bit smaller and had come out much more slowly. I was sure I’d need a ton of stitches–but no! Not one! I was pretty happy about that!

Oliver started nursing and Steve made some calls to let people know about the birth. Carole and Lindsey thought the baby would be over 9 pounds, but when we weighed him he was “only” 8 lbs, 6 oz. I think his big round head and chubby cheeks made him look bigger than he really is.

The kids came in and held their new brother and we made some more calls/texts. Lindsey and Courtney finished up some other things, then they and Carole left right around noon. It was very nice spending the rest of the day relaxing with my family at home rather than being continually poked and prodded by hospital personnel.

Thanks in large part to Hypnobabies, Oliver’s birth was just as easy and peaceful as the other two. Other than one grunt while I was pushing out Oliver, I didn’t make (nor feel the need to make) a single peep during any of the births. I definitely recommend the program to any pregnant women!

My wonderful husband and birth team also deserve tremendous credit for being so calm and supportive. I couldn’t have done it without them!

 

Jennie and Steve

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