Hypnobabies Birth at 43 weeks. “Babies are born on their birthdays”!

The Birth of Myles
February 9th, 2011 3:50am
7lbs 2oz and 21in

On Tuesday, February 8th, I woke up and was feeling a little “off” and kind of crampy, not a big deal or something out of the ordinary when your “due” any time! Around 11am went to the bathroom and discovered I had lost part of my mucous plug. I texted my midwife to let her know but did not think much about it since you can lose it multiple times and it really had no indication of when labor will start.

A little after lunch my crampy feeling started getting more intense and figured it was my body preparing to start up labor. I went outside at 4pm and fed the horses grains so I was up for about 45min walking around in and out of stalls and riding on the bumpy ground in the Gator going from barn to barn. I went inside and started doing some laundry and realized were pretty regular and started wondering if my “crampin” was easy contractions. They did not feel like the contractions I had been feeling for weeks with prodromal labor so I just brushed them off all day.

Around 6pm I decide to time them even though I did not think they were pressure waves, I did noy want them to be pressure waves and them get too close before I relized it. I sat on my birthing ball and rocked my hips during my “cramps” and it relieved some of the preasure I was feeling. Between 6pm and 6:30pm I had 7 “cramps” putting them at 5-6min apart and lasting about 40 seconds.
I decided they were really pressure waves but that since they were so easy that nothing was happening anytime soon or that like they had in the past weeks that they would stop.

Mark came in from work and we decided to go to the Chuckwagon to eat dinner. We shared Jalapeno & Rib Meat Potato “Nachos” for an apitizer and I had a Chicken, Onion & Pepers Quesadilla. I had pressure waves all through the meal and they stayed pretty consistant and seamed to get a bit stronger in intensity.

We got home a little after 9pm and jumped in the bed for some sex… of course having to stop every few min for pressure waves!! After we were done I went to the bathroom and lost more of my mucos plug and had some bloody show. It was around 10 and I decided to start timing my contractions again, 4min apart!! I was trying not to get too excited because for weeks I had pressure waves (some as close as 4min apart) and these were not as bad as those so surley it couldnt be labor, right?

I also figured if it was labor it was just starting and this being my first child it would be a while before my labor was in full swing and he was born. We went to bed to try and get some sleep and I was guessing that everything would cool down a little bit. I was having trouble falling alseep so a little after 11pm I decided to get into the bath tub and try to relax to help me go to sleep, I listened to a few of my Hypnobabies tracks and started feeling tired so I went back to bed hoping to get some sleep because at this point I knew I was in the begining stages of labor and needed to rest up.

That did not happen! At midnight I started feeling my pressure waves MUCH stronger and quiet often so I woke Mark up and told him he needed to wake up because I was in labor for real and I was not going to be up all by myself! For some reason it was irritating me seeing him asleep peacefully while I was having contractions. It took a good 15min for him to get up and he was a bit annoyed! My pressure waves were 3min apart at this point so we pulled out the birth pool to get it blown up, I totaly forgot we did not have a wall plug for the air pump so Mark had to take the birth pool outside to his car and plug it into the lighter plug in the freezing cold to blow it up.

While he was blowing up the pool most likely was the most stressfull  part of my birth because all I wanted to do was get into the water. I was going back and forth from laying in the bed, being on my hands and knees leaning over my birthing ball, snugling my pillow on the floor, and walking from room to room. He started filling up the pool around 1:30am and I texted one of my midwifes because I couldnt talk through my pressure waves and they were right at 2min apart from begining of one to the begining of the next. They both live about an hour away so I knew it would be a little while before they got there but I had no worried because I thought I was still at the begining stages of labor because the discomfort was not that bad at all. I decided to wait until they got there and we saw how things were going to text any family members and let them know he was coming.

My midwifes, Aimee & Desiree, got there at 3:10am and I was in the pool and decided to get out to let them check me, I was going to ask not to be told how far dialated I was. The minute I got out I felt like I had to go poop so I sat on the toilet and tried to use the bathroom but nothing was happening, got on my hands and knees and tried, squated and tried but no poop! My midwifes told me it was the baby I was feeling so I stopped trying to poop and layed on the couch for Dessire to check me. My contracting were so strong and often that before she could check anything I had to roll off the couch and get on my hands and knees because my pressure waves were coming so strong. I kept telling them, “I seriously have to poop so bad” and they said no that it was babys head making it feel like I needed to. I continued to go through pressure waves on the floor huging my pillow and leaning forward onto Marks chest. I was pushing in different possitions (trying to go poop) for a good 10min.

They then told me if I wanted to have a water birth Id better get back into the tub so I started crawling back into the kitchen and on my way back to the tub my water broke and there was a huge decrease in preassure. I got back into the tub and got on my knees leaning against the edge of the pool holding onto Mark and biting his hand with every contraction. I kept telling (im not sure who) that I wnated pictures and videos, my exact words were “Im not having a water birth and not having video proof”. But things were moving too fast for anyone to worry about getting video or pictures! When I felt his head starting to crown I said something about was this seriously it, I couldnt believe he was about to come out!

I told Mark to hurry and grab my phone to text my Mom and Dad because they would be mad if I had promised my Mom I would not wait to call until after he was born, oops! He sent a text that said, “Kade is on his way, dont call please” because I knew she would be calling and we were a little far into labor to be talking on the phone. My body then took over and started pushing itself and after 5min of being in the birth pool his head emerged, I was so excited for the pause in between birthing the head and the body that I always heard people talk about but my midwifes said to keep pushing because he had oppened his eyes and was looking like he was about to take a breath and they did not want him to breath the water in. I gave two pushes and his body was out. I started pushing at 3:35am and he was born at 3:50am.

I think my mind went blank for a second out of shock that he was here because I was in my own little world and it took me a second to capture my thoughts, they told me to reach down and bring him up out of the water. I pulled my little boy from the water and snuggled him to my chest and was speachless. It took him seconds to cry but his eyes were open and looking at me, it was a wonderful quiet moment where I conected with my son. I sat back but could not sit down because his cord was too short to keep him out of the water unless I was squating. Mark came behind me and had his arms around us and I was in pure heaven. I had to get out of the water after a few minutes since it was challenging to keep him out of the water.

We layed on the couch and he latched on wonderfully and nursed for a good 20min before I got on the birthing stool to deliver my placenta. After it was delivered we wrapped it up in a chux pad and layed back down on the couch and he continued to nurse for at least another 45min while I got checked out.
My labor and birth with Kade is by far the most amazing thing I’ve ever experianced. I can not believe how easy and natural it was. My body knew what it was doing and I believed in the ability I have as a woman to give birth. I feel very lucky to have felt what I thought was the “easy part” begining of labor when I was in my last two hours and what ive always heard to be the most difficult part. My birth had very minimal discomfort and Kade had such a beautiful passage into the world.

***I did not use any hypnobabies scripts during my birth… for me it was more help DURING pregnancy and preparing my mind to take over during labor and release… and it did!!  Goes to show that while the study is WONDEFUL its just preparing your body and putting your mind at ease to do what it is 100% capable of doing!!! And yes 43 weeks (we know date of conception) and my family births tiny babies!!! 🙂 Thanks the lord!!!

Read Full Post »

My [First Baby’s] Birth Changed My Life. It Changed Me in a Way that I Never Imagined . . .

I’m so excited to share this part of my journey! My first birth was just the birth that I had wanted and envisioned. Completely natural, no medications, no I.V., not one intervention. I thank my amazing husband, our wonderful doula, and our kind, knowledgeable midwife for this amazing experience.

The night of our first Hypnobabies class, Travis and I headed out to Rexburg, in the sun of the evening. Classes were at Kelly’s house, and I’ll admit, I was a little nervous. This was a whole new experience for me! In meeting Kelly, all of my fears were washed away, she was kind, and knowledgeable, light-hearted and warm. There were 3 other families also taking the class. I quickly found that Hypnobabies was much more than self hypnosis for childbirth, it was actually a class! There was a wealth of information, and lots of homework! After receiving our work books, and going through the materials for the first lesson, we had our first hypnosis session. This was a session that Dads also did with us. On the way home, Travis told me this was the perfect fit for me, and that it was going to work so well! This was so encouraging! My husband was in full support, and truly, without him, it would have been a struggle.

I started listening to the tracks and doing my studies. I absolutely LOVED the pregnancy affirmations every day. I would listen each day as I was getting ready, what a great way to start my day. I also really loved my time in hypnosis, I was so calm and relaxed. It was a great time for Travis and I to bond, and really prepare for our baby. I, being my typical over-achiever self completely embraced the studies. We would all laugh in class, because I was the mom who brought her own little sticky tabs and highlighters. You should see my work book. I think I’m leaving those stickies in there as long as I can. It’s so funny.

Hypnobabies is also more than just hypnosis. It was an eye opener. It was a confidence builder.

Click here to read the rest of the story! 

Read Full Post »

“I loved it! I can’t wait to have another baby and experience it all again.” ~ What first-time mom says THAT?!

It’s been 11 weeks today since my daughter was born and I really didn’t have time to sit down and write you all about my experience. It was amazing!

I was a 6 days pass my “guess date”, going bananas and running out of ideas how to get the baby out. I had a wonderful midwife and we were planning a water birth in a birthing center about 25 minutes away from where we live. My hubby was wonderful supporting my decision of having unmedicated birth and has been practicing Hypnobabies with me. We did a lot of Birth Partner sessions together and even that he wasn’t very much into it, being the skeptical man he is, he really worked hard to help me with the “relax” cue, which later on, turned out to be an amazing help.

Sunday, April 3rd I decided to take another walk with my father, but after about 20 minutes I felt strangely tired and wanted to go back home. I took a short nap and, later, cooked dinner. My husband was at work, but as usual I called him around 10pm (he works overnight) and told him that I’ve been feeling kind of strange, having pressure waves (but I’ve been having them for the past two weeks coming and going), but not really regular enough to time them. He wanted to come home right away, but I asked him not to, thinking it was another false alarm. Well, he called me 15 minutes later saying he is on the way home. Of course as soon as he got home, my PW were gone. I went to bed disappointed but had no problems falling asleep. I woke up around 2am on Monday morning not knowing exactly what was it that woke me up. I decided to use the bathroom and while I was sitting on the toilet The PW hit me. And I knew right away that this one was completely different from all the other ones I had before. I called Jayson and asked him to start timing them. I really didn’t start to listen to Hypnobabies, CD’s; I was able to use the Finger Drop Technique on my own. My PW were about 5-6 minutes apart.

Hubby called my midwife and gave her an update saying that we would call her again in another hour to let her know about our progress. I decided to take a shower while he was finishing packing our bags. The hot water felt pretty amazing on my back, but I felt like the PW were coming faster and lasted a little longer. Shower was, unfortunately, a distraction for my self-hypnosis, too. 15 min later I called Jayson back to the bathroom and asked him to time the PW again. They were 3-4 min apart.

He called my midwife, Christine, back and we were on the way to the birthing center. My best friend was following us in her car. She was supposed to film the birth for my mom who couldn’t be with us (my mom is fighting 2nd stage breast cancer and was going through chemotherapy at this time). In the car I had my IPod on and I listened to Hypnobabies Easy First Stage. Jayson told me later I was very quiet and I kept my eyes close. At one point I started humming. This was the first time during my birthing time that I went back to my special place to tell my daughter how much I loved her and how I cannot wait to meet her very soon. I also promised her I would do my best so she can have the most peaceful and loving experience entering this world.

It felt so natural to go into hypnosis and release anesthesia, maybe because I’ve been practicing for the past 4 months. When we got to the Birth Center it was after 3am and Christine was already there. She asked me if I wanted to be checked, and I said yes (that was the first time through the entire pregnancy she ever checked me). I was 6 centimeters dilated and I couldn’t believe it! She started filling up the tub for me while I was riding the PW on the birthing ball while listening to Deepening session. My husband was right behind me putting some pressure on my lower back. He also started to use the “relax” cue which was a phenomenal boost of anesthesia whenever he felt me getting distracted and anxious. My “non-believer” husband turned out to be my rock and the best tool Hypnobabies could ever give me.

When I look back at the birthing video I’m so amazed to see that the only noises coming out of my mouth was humming whenever I was climbing on the top of the PW. I was so calm with my eyes closed. Sometimes, for few minutes, my hubby joined me to listen to my IPod, to the Deepening session. I think this is the reason while he stayed so strong and so grounded during the birth of our first child.

During the breaks between PW I was able to drink some water, have something to eat, have a short conversation with my friend. It felt good to hear encouraging words from everybody.  I got into the tub at 4am and decided not to use the IPod anymore and just relay on myself and the knowledge I’ve gained from Hypnobabies. Being in a warm water helped me even more to get deeper into hypnosis, since my special place, the one where I was always meeting Emma, my daughter, during sessions was surrounded by water.

Each PW felt like I was climbing a mountain. The hardest part was getting to the top of the wave, but as soon as I got there, I just rode the wave until I felt the relief. I was so focused on relaxing my uterine muscles and imagining opening my cervix and sending anesthesia down there that I did not even realize that it was time to push. The whole transition was pretty quick and not at all uncomfortable. I just felt a little nauseous and I wanted to push.

Christine said I was ready. I’ve pushed in the water for an hour and even that I was making a progress, it didn’t feel like it at all. I was getting tired. But on the other hand I was very much glad that I didn’t have anybody standing over me and counting down or telling me to push. I let my body to be in charge, and my midwife, my husband and my friend were there to give me their love and support I needed. After pushing for an hour, around 8am, Christine suggested I would change a position. I tried to get on my fours but I felt my back hurting really badly. So I’ve decided to stand up. My husband supported me holding me by my waist while I spread my legs and pushed. I felt my baby moved down and Christine called for another midwife to come in.

Again, looking back at the video, I see myself making a lot of grunting noises, but also being completely in control of my body and being able to follow Christine’s directions. She told me to slow down and she told me the head was out, I could feel her between my legs. Christine had enough time to say the she can see my baby’s face and that she is really cute when with a final push her shoulders came out and Emma Berniece was caught in mid air, born at 8:23 am.

My beautiful baby girl was 8 lbs 6 ounces and 19 inches long (which we found out 3 hours later). I sat down in the water holding her and crying. She was so beautiful. My perfect baby girl. Christine waited for the cord to stop pulsating and Jayson cut it. They helped me move into the bed and my daughter took to my breast right away. After the midwife checked me, she said I had no tear! After couple of hours I was able to shower and change. Then, they measured Emma and checked everything out. We were home, in our own bed 4 hours later.

This was the most unbelievable experience of my life. My first baby and the most amazing birth. When people asked if I felt any pain, I say no. With the knowledge and training from Hypnobabies, I was able to be in full control over my mind, while my body did all the work. I describe the PW as climbing a mountain. As soon as you get to the top, you know the hike down is much easier and then you will get to rest. And I kept reminding myself that every PW is bringing me closer to meeting my daughter.

I loved it! I can’t wait to have another baby and experience it all again. And I still cry every time I watch the video, when I see her coming out!

Thank you, Hypnobabies!

Read Full Post »

Birth Partner Protects His Wife from the Midwife’s Negative Attitude and Words

Here is my son’s birth story.    There is one point where you might need to use your BOP as I freaked out a little during transformation…   I think that this was in part due to the fact that my midwife was not supportive of Hypnobabies at all, but I didn’t know that ahead of time…  I didn’t have very long to get to know her,  However she was better than the OB, so I’m glad that I used her instead of him…

This was my first Hypnobabies birth.  I was terrible at remembering to do the finger drop practices.  But I was really good at listening to my scripts in my sleep each night! *Grin*  Over all, I noticed that I was a lot calmer with this birth than any of my others, and it was all pressure sensations; intense pressure sensations, but nothing I’d call pain.  I will for sure use Hypnobabies if there is a next time!

 At 35 weeks I changed from an OB to a midwife.

At 36 weeks and 5 days, I went into labor, or so I thought.  I kept thinking that it would be really cool to have this baby born on April 1^st, as I thought it would be a fun birth date.  So I was pretty darn excited when I woke up about 1:30am on April 1^st to pressure waves coming every 10 minutes.  I laid in bed listening to my Hypnobabies scripts and trying to rest in between them without success for an hour before I woke up my husband.

For the next two hours or so I walked, I climbed the stairs, I took a shower – all in an attempt to either get the pressure waves to get stronger or to go away.  They were noticeable, but not uncomfortable.  I normally wouldn’t have even toyed with the idea of calling the midwife, but I’d read so many birth stories of women who had used Hypnobabies during their labors and didn’t even realize they were really in labor because everything was so easy.

After about 3 hours of pressure waves that kept coming every 10 minutes consistently I called her.  It took her 40 minutes to wake up and drive to our home.  In that time I had another 4 contractions.  However as soon as she got here everything stopped.  She checked me to see if the contractions had been doing anything and found that I was 50% effaced and 3 cm dilated.  She could feel the sutures in his skull so she knew that he was lined up in the optimum position for birth; and that the birth would probably go rather quickly when it finally started for real.  Since nothing was happening anymore she urged me to get some sleep and she was going to sleep on the couch and see if things would pick up again.  They didn’t…  This was our baby’s first April Fool’s joke he ever played on us.  I’m sure it won’t be his last.  *grin*

I went to my next midwife appointment 6 days later and mentioned that I’d been having the kind of hot, sweaty episodes that I usually get AFTER birth, for the last two nights.  My midwife said that she thought that the baby would probably come within the next couple days, probably before the weekend was out.  That gave me a lot of hope.  I was so excited to meet this little guy, and I wasn’t the only one.  That morning my almost 3 year old daughter had come into my bedroom as soon as she woke up, and the first words out of her mouth were:  “Did my little brother come last night?”  *grin*

We kept hoping that he would come before April 8^th so that we could add him to our insurance through my hubby’s old employer and he would be covered in case something went wrong within the first month of his life.  However he didn’t.  On Saturday morning, April 9^th, my hubby went to work at his new company and found out that due to a mix up that we wouldn’t be eligible for even catastrophic insurance until after he had been with this company full time for a whole month.  So now there was no way at all for Baby to be covered by ANY insurance at all at the time of birth. I started to freak out even more, but my hubby pointed out that maybe this was a test to be a trial of our faith.  We knew we were doing the right thing by taking this job now.  We just needed to decide if we were going to stress about this insurance thing, that we couldn’t do anything about, or if we were going to put our faith in the Lord and leave our health in His hands.  We made the conscious decision to put it all in His hands.  Immediately peace descended upon me and I knew that whatever happened was what was meant to be, and that the Lord wouldn’t leave us alone.

While my hubby had been at work that morning, the kids had finally filled the “bean jar” and had earned their outing to Incredible Pizza with Mom and Dad.    As soon as my hubby got home we decided to go ahead and take them to Incredible Pizza that day.  My mom had come over to spend the day with us, so we took her with us.  The kids had a blast.  I noticed with all the walking around I was having more Braxton Hicks contractions than normal but didn’t think anything of it because they were even less noticeable than they’d been on the 1^st.  After several hours I started to notice that they were getting stronger and more regular.  When I realized that I didn’t want my kids to touch me during one, I started timing them.  They were 3 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds-1 minute long.  I decided that it was time to gather everyone and head home.

We ran into a snag at this point…  I couldn’t find my husband and son.  We spent a half hour looking for them.  We even had them paged over the loud speaker, but they didn’t notice it.  They were so enjoying their time playing video games together that they had tuned out the rest of the world.

They were finally found and when my husband was told what was going on he kicked it into high gear to get all the kids loaded into the van and get us headed home.  I called the midwife from the car and told her how close together my contractions were.  I was afraid to ask her to meet us at our house as I didn’t want a repeat of April Fools Day…  But she assured me that she’d rather have a repeat, than miss the birth.  So we agreed to meet at our house.

I was apprehensive of the drive home, as I’ve heard that traveling in the car while in labor can be uncomfortable.  I was pleasantly surprised however to find that my “Peace” cue helped a lot and the trip home wasn’t bad.  I would just relax into the pressure and tell myself “peace”.  I was actually looking forward to each pressure wave as I was getting really excited to meet my son.

When we got home, my Mom herded the kids into the house and downstairs to watch Tangled.  (I had purchased it specifically for the kids to watch while I was in labor.)  I headed upstairs to the bedroom to start getting the last minute things ready.  I wanted the birth tub filled, but wasn’t sure we’d have enough time, so I decided to just use our bathtub instead.  In hind sight, I wish I’d taken the time to fill up the birth tub as the bath tub just wasn’t big enough for me to get comfortable in, plus it was really hard and that was uncomfortable on my legs and knees…  But oh well.

I got into the tub and asked my husband to put on my Easy First Stage HypnoBabies track.  The water felt so good and increased my ability to relax into the pressure.  Listening to the track was very calming and helped me to keep my focus.  I started out just resting my head on a washcloth on the side of the tub during contractions, but before too long, I found that I kept getting on my hands and knees during contractions as that is the position that my body prefers to labor in.  I’ve used that position for all of my vaginal births.  Both my husband and my 10 year old daughter took turns putting their hand on my forehead and using the “relax” cue.  I was actually really surprised at how helpful that was.

When my midwife got there, one of the first things I remember her saying was “Most people just throw that crap away.”, referring to my Hypnobabies track.  My sweet and protective husband spoke up and said “She likes it.  It is really helping her.”  That caused our midwife to back off and not say anything else negative about my track.  Yeah for protective husbands! (editors note:  GREAT JOB BIRTH PARTNER!  Also, this is a really important reason to find out what your care providers really think about Hypnobabies.  If they feel this way, then they may actually undermine your Hypnobabies experience.)

After she got everything set up, she came into the bathroom to watch me labor for a few minutes.  She asked to check me at this point.  She said that I was 80% effaced and 4 cm dilated with a bulging bag of waters.  She also mentioned that my cervix was tilted really far backwards, which I’d told her previously that it was.  I’ve always needed to have my midwives pull it forward during labor, and then once they do, birth is eminent.  She asked if she could pull it forward for me, and I agreed; however I felt like she didn’t pull it forward enough, mainly because it didn’t hurt like it always had when any of my other midwives had done it.  I credit that to Hypnobabies!

She then asked me to get out of the tub because she didn’t feel that I was far enough along to not have the water stall my labor.  She felt that my contractions were too frequent and not long enough to be doing any real productive work.  She was also not comfortable with me laboring on my hands and knees because then if I were to have a bowel movement it might get on the baby.  She had me get onto the bed and lay on my side, but almost on my stomach, with my right leg extended out to the side and raised up on several pillows.  She said that this position was very beneficial for helping the baby move down without tiring Mom out.  She massaged my legs and back while I was in this position.  I continued to use my “peace” cue and kept saying “open, open, open” to myself.  After a little while, I just couldn’t stand that position any longer and so I got up and ran to the toilet.  While there I had very loose stools.  The midwife came in and tried to do some acupressure points on my legs, but I didn’t really notice a difference with that.  When she found out that I was pooping she decided to leave us alone and went downstairs to make soup for me for after the baby was born.

For some reason, in my head, I translated that action, along with the fact that I was “only 4 cm” to mean that I still had HOURS left to go.  I got up and tried to figure out where I wanted to labor.  I tried the bed, but that wasn’t comfortable.  I tried to get back into the bathtub, but lifting my leg over the side of the tub was too uncomfortable so I decided against that.  I finally decided that I wanted to sit on the toilet backwards.  While there I had a couple contractions and then all of a sudden I had a very intense one.  (Which in hind sight was the start of Transformation, I just didn’t recognize it as such…)

*BOP* I started to get scared at this point because even though I wouldn’t use the word pain to describe it, it was more intense than I wanted to endure for hours.  Keep in mind that at this point I still thought that I had hours to go.  The midwife had never said that, in fact she said she thought it would be quick since she moved my cervix, but for some reason I was sure I still had hours left…  I told my husband that I didn’t want to do it anymore and to take me to the hospital for an epidural because I couldn’t do this for hours more.  He was so supportive and kept telling me that I was almost done, and that I’d be holding our new son in just a few minutes, but I didn’t believe him. *end BOP*(editors note:  another example of how important the birth partner is during a birth.  He knew mom just needed some encouragement.  He knew the baby was almost there and was reminding mom of this!)

I then had another really intense contraction and my water broke.  My water never breaks until the baby is crowning so I knew then that I really was close to the end.  I got off the toilet but didn’t make it any farther than a squatting position on the floor in front of the toilet before my body was pushing.  As soon as I told my husband that my water had broken he started trying to get the midwife’s attention by yelling for her, and stomping on the floor.  That didn’t work.  While I was getting off the toilet he raced to the top of the stairs and yelled down to her that the baby was coming.

He got back to me just as I was pushing the baby’s head out.  I had reached down and supported his head as it was coming out.  I never felt a “ring of fire” or anything.  It was all just pressure.  Which was pretty cool especially since he came out with his hand on his cheek!  After his head was out, the midwife came into the bathroom…  With the next contraction I was able to push the rest of his body out and I reached down and caught my Little Man and pulled him up to my chest.  I loved being the one to catch him!  The cord was looped around his shoulders and arm, so the midwife took him and unwound him from the cord and gave him back to me.

Then she and my husband helped me get to the bed.  J.C. was born on April 9, at 7:50pm.  It was 2 hours from when I first started timing pressure waves until I was holding my son.

It was so cool see him be this blue/grey color and then as soon as my placenta detached I could see him pink up right before my eyes.   After the placenta was delivered, the midwife wrapped it up and put it next to us and left us alone for an hour, just the three of us.  When she came back, she had Josef cut the cord and she did the newborn exam.  He weighed 6 pounds, and was 18 ½ inches long.  I was concerned as he hadn’t shown any interest in nursing yet, and during the exam we discovered why.  He was tongue tied, so he couldn’t even stick his tongue out.  The midwife clipped it and shortly after that he latched on and started nursing.

After everything was done, she brought me a bowl of her special lentil soup to help me get my energy back and to help my milk come in.  The rest of the kids came in to meet their new brother.  Everyone fell in love with him at first sight.

He is the most mellow baby we’ve ever had.  Since he is number 6, that is saying a lot!  The other kids can’t get enough of holding and kissing and touching him.  We knew our family was missing people before he was born; but already I am forgetting what it was like before he was here.  He has just always been a part of our family.  We love him so much and are so grateful that Heavenly Father saw fit to send him to us.

Read Full Post »

“I Owe Hypnobabies for My Easy and Comfortable Birthing”. (Mom gives great descriptions of using Hypnobabies tools during birthing)

Birth Story of Laura Eva
Born 1-7-11 at 1:09 p.m.
7 lb. 2 oz and 19 inches long

Thanks to Hypnobabies I had the birthing day that I visualized. If you don’t have the “Visualize Your Birth” CD, I highly suggest getting it. It is a powerful addition to the home study course. I started hypnobabies home study course at 31w and my birthing day was at 40w5d. I had enough time to do the maintenance program for about 4 weeks which helped solidify the course. I followed the program exactly with the exception of practicing the finger drop technique which I did about 3 times a day every other day. I looked forward to practicing every day. Since I have an 18 month old daughter, it gave me some “me” time to relax and focus on my pregnancy.

After my guess date, I listened to the affirmations cd not only at night, but also during the day to ease my anxiety. My Obgyn was going to talk about induction at the 41w appt. and I felt strongly about not getting induced. The affirmations instilled an inner peace. I felt confident that my baby would come on her birthday. I owe Hypnobabies for my easy and comfortable birthing.

A little history about my first birthing experience. I had my first daughter after being given a narcotic and an epidural at 5 cm. She came without complications, but I felt disconnected during her birth. I knew that I wanted to have a different birthing experience with my second daughter. Hypnobabies worked for me with this birth because I really believed in it and I chose to use the tools.

Here is my birth story. I had strong menstrual cramps on and off for about 3 days. I was excited that my body was preparing for my birthing day. The day before my birthing day I experienced a lot of anxiety and fear and I did 3 fear clearing and 2 deepening sessions back to back. I think that doing all those sessions helped me to prepare mentally for my birthing day. I remember afterwards feeling at peace, but drained. I went to bed that night listening to the affirmations cd and I fell asleep easily and slept soundly.

I awoke the next morning at 7. I got up with my 18 mo and we had some breakfast. I felt different than previous mornings. I felt that maybe this day would be my birthing day. My DH took care of our daughter while I listened to the birthing day affirmations lying in bed. By the end of the track I knew that today would be the day.

I was supposed to go to the zoo with my mom, sister and her kids so I called my mom to tell her the news. Since I wanted my mom and sister at the hospital with me, we decided that they wouldn’t go to the zoo. This was at 8 in the morning so about an hour after waking up. It all started to happen quickly after that. My DH called his mom since we had it arranged that she would take care of our daughter.

All I wanted to do was start listening to the Hypnobabies cds. I remember reading that it’s important to start listening early in order to become relaxed before the pw got more intense and I’m glad I did. My menstrual cramps started to feel more like pressure waves. My sister came over to help out. My DH finished packing the bags with the last minute items which we wrote on a list. I took a shower which felt great and I mentally prepared myself for my birthing day.

After I dressed I sat on the birthing ball and listened to the deepening track. My DH came in to check on me and I told him we need to call the hospital. At this point it was about 9:30 am. The hospital is 30 min away without traffic and since it was a Friday we decided to leave. The car ride was uncomfortable, but I was able to focus on listening to the Easy First Stage track.

From this point on until it was time to push, I had my headphones on listening to the track on my ipod. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the words on the cd. Kerry’s voice would relax me. Sometimes I would zone out and not even hear the words, it was enough to just hear her voice. By the time we parked and got checked into the hospital it was after 10. Time from this point on is fuzzy. On the walk to the hospital I would stop and lean on my DH. The pw were strong and it felt good to stop and turn my lightswitch to off.

After getting settled into a room the midwife checked me and I was 5-6 cm. We gave the nurse our birth plan and some brownies my DH made. The hospital staff followed it exactly. I chose Kaiser Walnut Creek because they are very supportive of natural and drug free birth and have 60% midwife assisted births. My nurse and midwife were wonderful. They were supportive of Hypnobabies.

I was standing when my water broke. It felt warm and good. I remember feeling a sense of relief and pressure. The nurse gave me an underwear with a pad to wear since the water kept flowing periodically almost the whole time. I was so happy that we got to the hospital in time because I knew that it would take a while to get settled and I would have to answer questions, get a saline lock and change. I wanted to have time to get deeply relaxed again in Hypnobabies before transformation.

I kept listening to “easy first stage” over and over again. I started listening to “deepening”, but switched back to “easy first stage”. I was either on my feet or on the birthing ball. A little after 12 the pressure waves started to change. Looking back it was transformation. The only reason I know the time is because my sister and mom arrived a little before that and they arrived at noon. At this point I kept repeating “open, open, open” and “peace”.

My DH was great support. He used the hand on the shoulder cue. He took out the Hypnobabies piece of paper that had the different laboring positions. We decided to do the squatting position where my DH is behind me while I squat and put my weight on his arms. In that position I felt my baby girl move down. It was a surprising feeling, but a welcoming feeling knowing she was on her way. I fluctuated between feeling warm and cold. Again I thank Hypnobabies for feeling calm during transformation. I feel like all the weeks of preparation paid off because all that practice was deep inside me and whenever I started to feel nervous I would automatically go back to feeling peaceful knowing everything is happening as it’s supposed to.

A little before 1 pm I told the midwife that I needed to push. My DH left me to put the “pushing baby out” cd. I was squatting with my hands on the bed. I felt the most intense need to push. It was an overwhelming feeling. I made grunting noises, which surprised me because I’m usually shy, but I just let my body do what it felt like doing. The midwife asked me if I could get on the bed and I told her I couldn’t move. I did however make it onto the bed with help between the next pressure wave. I was on all fours sideways on the bed. I pushed for total of 4 minutes. I was able to touch my baby girl’s head as it crowned.

I felt the greatest sense of relief as I pushed her body out. She just slipped out just like the cd described. I didn’t tear. It was the most incredible feeling I ever felt. It was amazing. I then turned around and sat on the bed as I took my hospital gown off and my DH laid our baby girl on my chest. I held her close and felt unconditional love. She was beautiful. I still remember her looking up at me in those first moments of life outside of me. It was better than I could imagine. All the practice was worth it for that one moment. I felt like I’ve never felt before; empowered, like no matter what, I can take care of her.

She latched on right away and she nursed for an hour. The nursing helped my placenta come out, but it took half an hour. The nurse and midwife waited patiently. The staff left us alone to bond with our baby girl for another hour. It was wonderful. My birthing day was a total of 4 1/2 hours. I feel that it progressed so quickly because I was able to stay calm and peaceful and embraced what my body was doing.

Thank you Hypnobabies! Thank you Kerry Tuschhoff!

Read Full Post »

Hypnobabies B.R.A.N.D. Acronym (tool for making informed decisions) Works for New Parents Too!

I have used my “peace” cue for many things, IUD placement, tattoo, hot wax on feet with pedicure etc. But this week I had another reason to be grateful for my training. 🙂
My poor little 21 month old Reilly was admitted to Children’s Hospital with Mastoiditis. An ear infection that had gone into his bone. He had surgery and other treatments. He is healing well and we are home now. My Hypnobabies training was a lifesaver.

When they would come in and ask us about a procedure that BRAND acronym was so drilled into my head that even in my concern and worried mindset I asked all the right questions and made sure I fully understood everything before asking them to leave so my husband and I could decide.

• B – Benefits
• R – Risks
• A – Alternative
• N- Nothing
• D – Discuss and Decide

I seriously think Hypnobabies is the best thing I have done!
Usha in San Diego
www.birthpeace.net
www.facebook.com/birthpeace

Read Full Post »