“I loved our birth, and even feel a little sad it’s over!”, says Hypnobabies mom

Molly’s Birth story

Molly Jane was born at 2:58 am on April 21, 10 days after her guess date, and after a short, ENJOYABLE birthing time. Here’s the story of Molly’s birth (long version).

After three weeks of maternity leave and several weeks of preparing our home and TRYING (as best is possible) to prepare our two year old for his new sister, I was starting to get just the slightest bit impatient (though I tried hard not to be!) I had had lots of “toning” contractions in the last weeks of my pregnancy, and I knew when it happened that it would be a quick one! Hypnobabies helped remind me that she would come when she was ready, and that our birth would be a wonderful experience.

A little stress heading into my birthing time: both my midwife and my mom were going to be out of town for the weekend (we were just over a week past the guess date at this point). This was a bit stressful for me since we’d planned that my mom would watch our two year old during the birth, and of course I wanted my regular midwife to attend my birth! But no point in allowing too much stress in. We had my dad who could come watch my son if needed and of course the midwife had a back up in place.  I think my Hypnobabies training really helped me let go of any stress this situation may have caused, and I felt very sure that things would happen in the exact way they should. And, of course, Molly decided she was ready to be born the very night both my midwife and mom were out of town!

Friday afternoon I got my fluid levels checked (41 weeks, 2 days), and all looked good. My husband took the afternoon off, we had lunch and walked a bit. I had been feeling tons of Braxton Hicks that afternoon, but that was normal for me in the last couple weeks, and I didn’t really think it meant anything. I was hoping she would at least wait until the next day when my midwife would be back.

We got our son from school, went home and had tons of fun playing in the sprinkler with him. We had our usual “Pizza Friday” dinner and put our son to bed. All along, I had a few Braxton-Hicks here and there, but nothing more than any other evening, so I didn’t think anything of them.

I went to bed early, as usual, around 8:30.  Read a little, listened to a Hypnobabies track. I woke up to go to the bathroom around 10:45, and felt a pressure wave that felt a little more “real” to me. A little while later I felt another one. At 11:00 I texted my husband (out in the front room watching tv still), “hey, can you come back here, I think my labor is starting.” Of course he ran back, and we discussed our options, waited through a few more waves.  Pretty quickly I had the “this is it” feeling, so we called my dad to come over and tried to call the on-call number for the Birth Center. Turns out they were already there for a birth, so they said come on in to be checked, especially since I had a fast birth for my first birth.

The car ride was quick and easy, I listened to my Birth Day Affirmations and felt really positive and relaxed. We got to the Birth Center around 12:15 or so, and got to meet the on-call midwife who would be attending our birth. She was really great and warm and funny, which immediately took away any residual stress about our usual midwife being out of town! She checked me, and I was 4cm, around 80%, and -2, which is pretty much where I had been at my appointment on Tuesday. I was told that I could go home and labor some more, or I could stay if I felt like I needed to (incidentally, for my first birth the dr at the hospital told me to go back home when we checked in at 1:30am; I listened to my gut, we stayed, and our son was born 4 hours later!). We chose to stay, walk around a bit, and see where we were in an hour or so.

My husband and I went out into the cul-de-sac to walk. We walked and chatted, and I listened to more affirmations. I had more waves as we walked, nothing to regular, and I could still walk and talk through them. But I was still sure our birthing time was close.

We went back in around 1:30. I sat on the birth ball, listened to Easy First Stage, and ate some dried apricots and hydrated myself. I had several more waves while sitting on the ball, and my husband used the “release” cue with his hand on my shoulder to help me relax and breathe through each one. Felt amazing. At this point, they asked about filling the tub, and I wasn’t sure because it still felt so comfortable and I didn’t want to get in too early and slow things down. We decided just to fill it and I’m glad we did.

Around 2, my pressure waves picked up, and I began kneeling over the top of the ball while my husband squeezed my hips during each wave, using the “release” and “relax” cues.  He was amazing, reading my signals and giving me just what I needed. I also kept repeating “open, open, open”during each wave, which helped me focus on what my body was doing.  All through this, the midwife, nurse, and doula were coming in and out to set up and to check on us, but they were really hands off and just let us do our thing, which was just what I needed.

Soon I was feeling like it was time to get into the tub. The midwife wanted to check me first, and I was a little discouraged to hear I was “only” at 6 (this was just after 2:30).  A few waves later I was in the tub, and it felt amazing! I tried a few different positions to see what felt best, and finished listening to Easy First Stage. My husband wondered what to put on next, and suddenly I felt like he needed to put the Pushing Baby Out track. He put it on but I don’t think I heard a word of it, I was in my “zone” at that point!

I was really focused.   I flipped onto all fours, which felt the best to me, and about two waves later I felt that urge to push. That was intense, but I knew our baby would be here soon and tried to focus on letting that happen!  My husband was right by my head as I leaned over the tub, letting me squeeze his hand (and even bite it through the last intense wave as I pushed her head out!!) I think I pushed through two or three waves, and maybe a few minutes, and then I was holding our little girl!!

She had a short cord, and it actually tore as they handed her up to me, so we had to clamp it and get out of the tub right away. Everyone seemed calm about it, so I didn’t stress, just climbed onto the bed and snuggled my baby as they massaged my belly and delivered the placenta. She cuddled a bit skin-to-skin, then she latched right on and nursed really well!

I felt amazing, despite missing most of the night’s sleep. We stayed for about 3 and a half hours, and both of us were doing great. We got to go home around 6:30, stopped for breakfast, and were home just about 30 minutes after our 2 year old got up for the day. This was a relief to me, since I really wanted to make the transition as easy for him as we could. We got to introduce our son to his baby sister, which was such a precious moment, and just spend a nice relaxing day at home with our new little family! And this recovery has been SO nice and easy too!

I loved our birth, and even feel a little sad it’s over! I can’t say enough great things about Hypnobabies, which helped me stay positive and relaxed and prepared me for a quick and easy birthing time. I also wish more women could have access to the birth center model of care, because it was just fantastic and such a nice way for our baby to be born!!

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Hypnobabies mom says about pushing, “I was certainly calm, and pain free, but I was not quiet!”

My sweet love, our five week old son, is on my lap as I write this. Jackson is our first child and his birth was amazing, in large part thanks to Hypnobabies. From the time we found out we were expecting, I had the date of March 9, 2012 in mind as the day our sweet baby would join us. Our actual guess date was March 13th, but I suppose mother’s intuition knew our little one would decided to come a few days before his guess date. Our birth story unfolded throughout the week culminating with our most precious gift joining our family on March 9th.

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful birth center in our city with two amazing midwives. They were our primary care providers throughout our pregnancy, with the exception of two visits to an OB required by state law. I think it’s worth stating that my BOP and Fear Clearing were invaluable on my second visit to the OB. He basically mocked the fact that I told him I was intending to enjoy our natural birth and felt it necessary to tell me horror stories to try and scare me. I used my BOP to block him out as much as possible during the visit.  That evening when I returned home I did a fear clearing session to try and (successfully!) get the stories he told me out of my head.  The experience with the OB made me all the more thankful to have our birth center and fabulous midwives.

On Monday morning I woke up and felt a little trickle when I got out of bed. It was just the smallest amount, but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t amniotic fluid so I went in to see my midwives. It turned out to be nothing (or the beginning of the mucus plug) and she said I didn’t appear to be dilated yet. She did say that baby was in optimal fetal positioning, which I was thrilled to hear as our little one was constantly swimming around in there (lots of fluid for him!) and changing positions almost weekly.

Tuesday morning I woke up and went to the restroom and discovered that I had lost my mucus plug. I was 39 weeks and some change and was excited that things looked like they were getting started toward our birthing time! I went on about my day and felt a periodic pressure wave, but nothing that really grabbed my attention. Apparently I did have practice pressure waves toward the end of pregnancy, but I never felt any of them. The only reason I knew they were going on was the midwife pointed it out to me at an appointment. Being aware of them at all was a change, so I knew this was a positive sign that we were progressing.

That evening around 7pm the waves began to get more frequent, but again nothing to really grab my attention. After we went to bed they began to ramp up and I became more aware of them and ended up getting out of bed and spending the evening listening to my deepening track over and over on my birthing ball. Although my sweet baby was in OFP, I began feeling the waves in my back quite strongly. As the evening progressed the waves in my back became stronger and stronger. I wouldn’t use the word (pain), but they were definitely becoming intense. I didn’t feel the waves anywhere other than my back.

When my husband woke up the next morning, I told him I thought things were progressing so he decided to stay home with me. I was supposed to have my weekly appointment at the birth center at noon, but we waited until later in the day as the waves were progressing in intensity and frequency and I thought we may end up going to the birth center that evening. The pressure on my back was very intense throughout the day and my husband was a champ and pushed on my back during each wave to try to help ease the intensity. I was unable to lay down as the pressure on my back was too great and made me need to throw up. I just kept thinking of something my midwife had told me “remember you can do anything for a minute”. So I took each wave as it came and made it through the day with my husbands help and Hypnobabies tracks. I wouldn’t call any of this “painful”, but it was definitely intense. I think I would have been in a very different frame of mind if I hadn’t had my Hypnobabies tools.  We ended up going to the birth center around 5:00pm and once I was checked, we found out I wasn’t dilated! Quite disappointed we headed home.

The waves continued in intensity and I spent Wednesday evening on my birthing ball with my husband holding my back through each wave. We did the tuck and lift multiple times to help our sweet baby descend further. Thursday progressed much the same as Wednesday had in intensity and back pressure. I took a couple of showers which were delightfully wonderful. Mid afternoon the waves began to get lower with quite a bit more pressure and I knew our birthing time was imminent. We called the midwives and headed to the birth center. I listened to my Easy First Steps track with my eyes closed the entire trip to the birth center.

When we arrived around 5:30pm they check me and found I was 7 cm dilated. My husband and I walked around the birth center, bounced on my birthing ball and tried all kids of different positions to help our birth progress. Time becomes very foggy to me at this point, but I believe around 7:30 I wanted to go ahead and get in the tub. It felt AMAZING. I’m not sure how long we were in there, but all of a sudden the waves became very intense, low and almost pushy. I didn’t realize it at the time but this was transformation. y water broke and one of the midwives fished out the sac which was almost completely intact (apparently this rarely happens). I hadn’t used the restroom in a while so the midwifes wanted me to go before we began pushing. I was unable to go and they felt it would be safest if we moved to the bed. I hadn’t decided if I wanted a waterbirth or not, but I knew I would know in the moment what was the right choice for us and the bed turned out to definitely be the right choice.

The tracks that say 20 minutes feel like 5 are totally accurate. I began pushing around 9:30pm. The midwifes were amazing, massaging me to make sure I didn’t tear, giving encouragement when needed and just in general being completely fabulous. My husband, my rock,  was up on the bed with me (a nice queen size) holding my hand when needed, letting me grab on to him and doing the release cue on my shoulder. I LOVED the release cue, it was probably the most powerful tool for me. I pushed for what felt like 20 minutes to me, but was in reality, three hours. I was in multiple different positions to try to help our sweet baby descend and join us.

I had watched amazing Hypnobabies videos online, most with the women being completely quiet and calm. I was certainly calm, and pain free, but I was not quiet! I had no idea I would make as much noise as I did, but it was involuntary, almost primal and it was just right for our birth.

Once his head was low enough for me to touch, I felt my sweet boys full head of hair for the first time. I just kept saying “come on sweet baby, come on sweet baby” and rubbing his wonderful, warm, soft head. Sometimes my husband will look at me and say “come on sweet baby” and it’s a lovely reminder of our fabulous birth. After three hours of pushing, our amazing son joined us at 12:32am on March 9th, the day I had always thought would be his birthday – all 9 lbs 4 oz and 22 1/2 inches of wonderful, snugly love!

The midwives immediately placed our baby on my chest and he picked his head right up looked directly at me, turned his head looked at his Daddy, back and me and back at his Daddy. He kept picking his head up and quietly looking around at his new world. We picked him up briefly to find out he was a boy and then he snuggled down on my chest. The placenta was out almost immediately, I barely noticed as I had my beautiful baby in my arms. It only took two minutes for the chord to stop pulsing and my husband was able to make the cut. We snuggled skin to skin for quite a while and nursed for 45 minutes before he decided he was finished! My husband called my Mom and she came to the birth center to meet her first grandchild. Since it was the middle of the night, we decided to enjoy our son and tell the rest of the world the next day. The midwives weighed him and I couldn’t believe he was over 9 lbs! We settled down for the night around 3am and the three of us slept together in the bed for five hours.

We never did an ultrasound, but at several appointments throughout our pregnancy my midwives had said “I think we have a thumb sucker here”. My boy wasn’t born sucking his thumb, but he was born sucking his hand! Thus the three hours of pushing this 9 lber and his hand out. 🙂  I had talked to my baby and told him “head down, facing back, chin to chest!” many times. It never occurred to me to add “hands down!” haha As it turns out, baby does indeed know best. I had no tearing as his somewhat slow progression allowed me to stretch and the midwifes to massage me etc. keeping me completely intact and comfortable.

I’m so incredibly proud of myself and of my son for our birth. It wasn’t easy, but it was perfect. I know Hypnobabies proved invaluable throughout our pregnancy and birth.  I enjoyed the program so much that I’ve been thinking I would like to become an instructor to help other moms.  Yes, the birth was intense (and the 48 hours of back pressure waves leading up to his actual birth) but I wouldn’t use the word pain for any of it. Bringing new life into the world should be intense, beautiful, and an experience. We got everything we wanted from our birth and ended up with the most precious gift of all, our son.

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Maia Eloise born in the caul (45 min. after mom was told she wasn’t “in labor”)

My baby girl was born on Monday night 3/12/12 at 7lb2oz. I still can’t believe what an incredible experience we had! One minute, no one thought I was in labor and 45 minutes later, we met our beautiful baby girl!

My last baby’s birth was long and included a lot of back pain. Each contraction felt like a matter of survival and I felt panicked and crazy out of control. This time, I wanted a different experience so I started the Hypnobabies home study course early in my pregnancy but at first I did not practice much or take it very seriously. Then I watched a bunch of Hypnobabies birth videos and became very inspired! I listened to my tracks often, especially in the middle of the night when I had pregnancy-induced insomnia and couldn’t sleep anyway. And I did a thorough reading of all the materials to make sure I had it all covered.

On March 12, I was 10 days past my due date and feeling discouraged that my birthing time hadn’t started yet. At 10am, I went in for NST/AFI testing and the amniotic fluid level was very low (5) so they wanted to induce that day. Then suddenly the baby’s heartbeat decelerated… several people rushed in with a wheelchair and whisked me off to a birth room. I was very upset and tried to wrap my mind around what was happening. It turned out that the decelerated heartbeat may have been a fluke because it didn’t happen again. Though I understood it was for the baby’s safety, I didn’t want to be medically induced. I had wanted it to happen spontaneously. I felt that I was quickly losing out on the birth that I had hoped for and envisioned.

Things were moving much too fast and I asked for time to process. I called my parents and had them bring my bags. I took a shower, discussed induction options with my husband, called my doula, and listened to my Hypnobabies birthing day track. After listening to Hypnobabies, I was so relaxed and in a really good mental space. I was going to meet my baby soon! We decided to move forward with pitocin since they assured me it could be regulated in tiny doses, very slowly.

At 2:30 they started administering pitocin at 1mL per hour. At that point I was 3cm dilated. I knew it would take at least a couple hours or more for the pitocin to kick in. The nurses and midwife checked in periodically to monitor the pressure waves. They didn’t feel any different from Braxton Hicks, just more frequent. After waiting around for awhile, my husband and I decided to watch a movie to pass the time.

About an hour into the movie, I needed to start focusing on the pressure waves, closing my eyes and going into hypnosis. I was really enjoying the pressure waves. They felt like more tightening and more importantly, they felt productive! I imagined and felt my cervix opening and getting soft. The nurse kept coming to check if the pressure waves were feeling “crampy” yet and I kept saying “no, absolutely not.”

Around 7:15pm, the midwife came in to check on my progress. I said I guessed I thought they were feeling a little “crampy”. But I was still lying in the bed watching the movie and breathing through them easily. Each time I had a pressure wave, I would close my eyes and go into hypnosis very easily. I really wanted and *needed* to go to into hypnosis. If I didn’t, the pressure waves were much more intense and not as comfortable. Each time I had a wave, the midwife would stop talking and wait for me to finish and open my eyes again. At that point, they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting 60 to 90 seconds. I said, “Wow isn’t that a lot, kind of close together?” The midwife said “Yes, but until you tell us they are intense, then they don’t really count. They have to be pretty uncomfortable to really work!” I remember thinking: “No! Bubble of peace!! I deserve an easy, comfortable birthing time!!” (an oft-repeated mantra of Hypnobabies) She wrote in the chart: Not in labor.

At 7:30pm I called my doula and said it’s probably a good time to head over, but that she didn’t have to rush (ha!).

After the midwife and nurse left the room, we turned the movie off and I lay on my side and started focusing more deeply on each pressure wave. Soon I needed to “ahhh” through each one. In hindsight this must have been the transition stage but I was still lying very comfortably on my side. I listened to the Easy First Stage Hypnobabies track and focused very deeply. The pressure waves began getting very intense but completely manageable as long as I was deeply relaxed and using Hypnobabies tools. I was hanging on every word of Hypnobabies, imagining my cervix opening and thinking “peace peace peace.” After intense peaks with each pressure wave, soon enough they would end and I would feel relaxed and completely fine. The waves were feeling very low at this point but I still didn’t think I was as far along as I was.

At one point my husband said he was going to the bathroom and I shrugged and said OK. Then I suddenly felt the unmistakable urge to push. A mixture between needing to poop and something much, much stronger. I fumbled around trying to find the call button and yelled “I feel pushy!!!” The midwife and nurses came rushing in and Brian came out of the bathroom, with a look on his face like “what the heck is going on?” I was dilated to 9cm and already crowning!

I was still lying on my side letting my body do the pushing. The CD player was broken but thankfully I had the Hypnobabies Pushing track on my iPhone. I heard some of it, though not much. But just enough to help me feel incredibly reassured and comforted like she knew exactly what I needed to hear. I was quiet except for moaning “Ahhh” with each push. Occasionally I smiled at my husband between pushes.

8:18pm — after about 4 or 5 pushes, she was born in the caul (very rare and lucky!) with both hands up by her face! I pulled her up onto my chest and saw her beautiful face! I could not believe she was out! And I didn’t have any perineal tearing despite how fast it went. I exclaimed, “Wow, that was awesome! So *not* hard! I feel like I could get up and run down the hallway!”

Unfortunately, my doula walked in five minutes after the baby was born! I was clearly not aware of where I was in the birth process and hadn’t given her enough time!

Everyone was shocked how quickly it happened! The midwife said in 15 years she had never seen anything like it. She said she enjoyed seeing someone use self-hypnosis tools so effectively. And she had only seen 5 babies born in the caul! It is considered a sign of good luck. And she was born in 2012, the year of the dragon, which is also good luck! We also discovered a true knot in her cord. It was a loose knot, but nonetheless we are so amazed at our lucky little miracle who came out with both fists in the air!

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Tabitha’s Birth

Thanks to Melissa from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her birth story with us.

So, I have been a member of this group, albeit somewhat in the background, for some months now. I haven’t posted any questions, mainly because everything I ever needed to know (and more!) was covered through other questions. I have really enjoyed reading all the questions and responses though, and thought I would share my story.

Tabitha was born 2 weeks late, on 1st December – I was scheduled for an induction at 12 days over, but when I went along they said I could leave it a couple more days if I wanted to. I really didn’t want to be induced and Tabitha was very happy where she was, so I jumped at the chance. I was told that 14 days over was really as long as they would recommend me waiting though, so booked me in for an induction at 14 days over.

 

Tabitha obviously decided that she didn’t want to be induced either, as my waters broke the night before the induction. I was really excited, as I had planned to give birth in a birth centre rather than in hospital. I called the birth centre, and they advised me to take two paracetamol and go to bed, as the chance of anything happening that night was very slim. About ten minutes later, my contractions started – there was no gentle build up, they were full strength from the word go! I have to be honest, this did make it difficult for me to use the techniques I had learned through the Hypnobabies course. I will say though that if my breathing was slow and controlled, and I was focussed when a pressure wave hit, I could breathe through it. If I lost focus and wasn’t ready, it was a lot harder.

My waters had broken at around 10.30pm, and by 4am I told my partner to call the birth centre again. They were still dubious that I should go in, but left the decision up to me. I decided not to go in, as the idea of going in and being sent home was pretty awful! By 6am, they phoned back again and said that seeing as my induction was scheduled for 7.30am, I may as well go to the birth centre and be assessed, just in case I could give birth there. They warned me that chances were I would be sent off to the hospital for the induction as planned, but by this stage, I was pretty sure that I was in full-blown labour, so we got in the car and went to the birth centre.

 

They were pretty surprised and I was infinitely relieved when they examined me and found I was 6cm dilated! They took me to a room, gave me the gas and air and started filling the pool. It was changeover time, and the new mid-wife arrived about 7.15 am, and I told her that I was feeling like I needed to push, which worried me as I knew it was too early to be pushing. She examined me and said that I was fully dilated, so I got in the pool and the pushing part got underway.  I had learned so much from Hypnobabies and was concentrating hard on my body and on moving the baby. The line about not being afraid no matter how much power was moving through my body was something I focussed on – little things like this were so helpful too me, as otherwise I think the whole power of the experience could have been a little overwhelming. It was all very calm, although very intense! The experience of being in the pool with my partner was one that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss for the world – absolutely incredible.

Once the head was out came the most amazing part of the whole experience – that final push when the body came out and everything just stopped. They put her on my chest and it was the most incredible moment of my entire life. She was and is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

To sum it all up, I am very glad that I got the opportunity to have a natural birth, and that I chose the Hypnobabies home study course to prepare for it. The mid-wife told me that she was amazed that it was my first baby, as I seemed so in tune with my body and just seemed to know what to do. I put this down to my Hypnobabies training. The course also helped me to relax throughout my pregnancy – I hadn’t realised how stressed out I was until I started listening to the tracks and found it very hard to slow my breathing! But the main thing that I got from the course was being able to look forward to giving birth. I had been scared of it and seen it just as something that had to be endured, and the Hypnobabies training made me see it as an incredible experience – which it was. My partner and I now have this bond that we didn’t have before, and Tabitha was born calmly and peacefully. Even though I didn’t listen to the tracks whilst in labour, the course fully prepared me for the birth, and I believe that the visualisations in the tracks helped my body move quickly through the latent stage of labour.

All in all I am very happy with my birth experience and smitten with my gorgeous daughter.

Best wishes to you all

Melissa x

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Hypnobabies Mom Goes from Complete Skepticism to Total Advocate After Giving Birth!”

When I signed up for my Hypnobabies class I had fairly low expectations – I just wanted to get through the birth of my baby without having a panic attack. The pain-free birth experience presented in the Hypnobabies testimonials – an experience which I was supposed to enjoy instead of just survive – sounded too much like an infomercial pitch to be true.

But when she shows up at the Birth Center ready to push, she becomes a believer.

This is a must read birth story.  Click here to read Nicole’s birth which made her say, “Thank you, Hypnobabies, for giving me the skills to have such a wonderful and empowering birth experience. You have earned a set of life-long advocates in my husband and myself!”

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“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!

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After 80 Hours of Birthing, a Change of Plans, and Plenty of Empowered, Informed Choices…BABY!!!

Thanks to Brittany a mom from the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group for sharing her experience with us.

Hi Hypnomamas! I finally got my daughter’s birth story written. It’s long (two parts), but I wanted to send you all the links in case anyone is interested in taking a read.

While I DID use Hypnobabies lingo, I never gave any BOP warnings, so I’ll just say this:

We ended up having to change our plans about 68 hours into my birthing time. My biggest fear was being a hospital transfer, but after doing some fear clearing and re-focusing my goal on having the healthiest, safest birth possible (not just a natural birth), my fears completely subsided.

I did end up going to the hospital, but it was still such an amazing, wonderful experience! If any of you are like I was and really fear a change in plans, reading my story might help you get past some of those fears. I can’t even begin to explain how much Hypnobabies still helped me and empowered me to have an amazing birth, even though it went differently than what I had planned.

Brittany (and Baby Brynn)

Part One:

http://lessonsinlifeandlight.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/the-birth-of-brynn-part-one/

Part Two:

http://lessonsinlifeandlight.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/the-birth-of-brynn-part-two/

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First-time Mom says, “The Techniques Work, End of Story”!

I cannot thank you enough for Hypnobabies!  Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to be a mom, but was terrified of an epidural.  My mom had all 3 of us naturally, but I did not think I was strong enough as I have never really had to deal with pain.  Growing up I always hoped there would be a “better or new way” by the time I got pregnant, and there was!  It feels like an out of body experience and I cannot believe that the same person who used to be unable to get a shot or blood test without almost passing out, gave birth naturally and peacefully.  The techniques work, end of story.  We now have a neighbor planning a home water birth and going to our instructor Carole’s Hypnobabies class as well.

Read Jennifer’s whole birth story, along with pictures here.

 

 

 

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Hypnobabies Mom’s Birthing Time Goes Better with Coca Cola…WHAT?!

My “guess date” (not due date – it’s always more of a guess anyway 😉 ) was Tuesday, July 20th. Come Monday, July 26th, we’d had a few pre-birthing time starts where I’d have pressure waves for about 3-4 hours but they never did they continue past that. We went in for a sonogram to make sure Jack and my placenta looked okay. Jack scored an 8 out of 8 but my placenta was getting “ripe” which was to be expected at 41 weeks.

The midwives said if I wasn’t in active birthing time by Wednesday, we’d have to get things going with medical intervention (rather than natural). So, after a power walk at the mall and an awesome chiropractor adjustment, my husband and I came home, prayed, and continued doing all the natural labor starts we knew to do (nipple stem, walking, etc).

Finally on Tuesday afternoon around 4, I was having regular pressure waves 5 minutes apart but they weren’t a minute long nor were they growing in intensity. The pressure waves continued throughout the night but would come and go every couple hours. I was able to sleep about 4 hours that night but by Wednesday morning we knew we would have to go in to the birthing center and might eventually have to do medicinal intervention. We packed the car (just in case and glad we did 😉 ) and headed to the birth center around 9:30 am. Once we arrived, we hit our first hurdle – the head midwife wanted Jack and me to be monitored to make sure Jack was responding well to the contractions.

At this point, we realized just how much our birth center involved the local hospital and their doctors which was annoying. I know it’s important when there’s a medical emergency but we did not realize just how often they consulted with the doctors and allowed the doctors to give input. We chose a birth center for a reason and felt like how involved the hospital was was not clearly communicated in our initial tour. Anyway, I digress.  (editors note:  maybe a good question for moms to ask their midwives!)

After a couple hours of pressure waves, they were still not seeing the response from Jack that they wanted to see. He was healthy…he was just being too chill during the contractions so they had me drink some juice we bought but they still weren’t seeing his numbers move like they wanted. We went upstairs for a consult with the midwife and if we didn’t start seeing more active numbers from Jack, we’d have to be transferred to the hospital. She then said she wanted to check me but when she did, she also started to sweep my membranes more which is not what we said we could do. I asked her to stop then pretty much broke down crying. Not only did we not really have the money to transfer to the hospital, we felt the natural birth we so badly wanted for Jack and I was continuing to slip more and more out of our fingers. The midwife told us to go back downstairs and continue getting monitored for a while longer. I drank some sugar-infused grape juice but still nothing (The juice we brought was too naturally sweetened I guess).  Enter the only “drugs” I used that day – a Coke. That’s right, a Coca Cola. Our birth assistant walked in with a Coke in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other and said, “Which one do you want?”. I replied, “Oh no, I don’t drink sodas. Like ever.”  “Well, it’s this or a transfer.” I resigned, “I’ll take the Coke.” After many shudders and bleh faces, I downed the Coke and that’s what gave Jack the zippadeedoodah we needed to get some good numbers on the monitors. Phew. Hurdle #1 was crossed. (And a good friend commented today at what a blessing it was that since I never do drink soda, my body responded dramatically which is how we needed it to. Had I been a soda drinker that might not have been the case…so true.)

It was around 12 or so by this time and my awesomely amazing doula, Katherine, arrived to assist Jon and I through the pressure waves. I walked around the room doing laps and hanging on Jon through the pressure waves. One of my favorite ways to relax through the waves was to sit on the birthing ball and lean back on Jon so I could fully relax my body from my shoulders down. As each wave would come on, I would say different things like, “Relaaaaaaxxxxx” or “Releeeeeease” which helped a lot. Although I was now in my active birthing time, the pressure waves were not enough to get me to dilate more than 5.

We needed to see me progress more and get my pressure waves to get more intense. Beverly, our birth assistant, knowing we wanted to go as natural as possible, suggested a Foley catheter induction which is a small balloon that is inflated with saline water so as to put pressure on the cervix so it will continue to open. This helped but only for a while. I continued to have pressure waves “leisurely” for a couple more hours. By leisurely, I mean I rested on the bed or on the birthing ball in between waves. However, although it was more restful for me to be that way, I was not really allowing for stronger pressure waves to build.

By 8 pm, I was still at 5 cm and Beverly sat Jon and I down. “It’s time to dig in now and get this labor going.” I remember thinking, “Haven’t I been laboring already?!” Her main concern was that I would just continue progressing slowly which is fine but then I’d be too tired once we really got to the end and wouldn’t be able to push. Her suggestion: more nipple stim and power walking. I laid back down on the bed while we did nipple stim but the pressure waves were getting too intense for me to just lay there. I found that it took me a few pressure waves to figure out how to fully relax through each so I didn’t like changing activities or positions but at this point laying down was too much. So, outside we went. Fortunately, it was 8 pm so it was a little cooler (and the 100+ degree days had not yet come upon us here in Texas).  As people were playing with their dogs in the dog park across the way, I would waddle along holding hands with Jon with my sweet doula walking behind coaching us along. When a wave would come on, I’d either walk through it saying “Ahhhhhhh” or “Reeelllaaaaxxxxx” or I blew raspberries with my mouth. (<–weird thing but helped a lot); other times I’d stop and sway back and forth while leaning on Jon. I’m sure I was a sight but I didn’t care. It was like a switch turned on in my body.

After about 45 minutes, we went back inside and as much as I wanted to get into the tub, they wouldn’t let me. I think they were worried I’d get too relaxed so my husband and I got in the shower instead. My Hypnobabies had been helping me all day but here’s the key – it worked best when I would really relax my mind and allow it to.

I now know I was in transformation during that hour and 15 minutes and by 9:15 I said, “I’m ready to push!” Afterwards, my birth assistant and doula had said they were worried it was more my brain saying I wanted to push even if my body wasn’t saying it. And, in a way, they were right. I was wishfully saying I wanted to push and, thank the Lord, I was far along enough that I could start pushing. I had gone from 5 to 8 cm in just a little over an hour!
It took me a good 15-20 minutes to learn how to push and work with the pressure waves instead of against them. Around 9:40 or so, Jack’s heart rate was getting a little low so they put me on a saline IV in like 5 seconds.

After 20 more minutes, at 10:02 pm, Jack was here! Jon, still in his bathing suit trunks from holding me in the shower, helped pull Jack out and up onto my chest. He was 7 lb 4 oz, 20.5 inches long and so alert. I’ve always thought I would just start bawling but I didn’t. I just said “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God” about a million times and just held him. He latched on pretty quickly and I got to hold him for about 45 minutes.

I was definitely in shock…a good kind of shock. Even after a couple hours I would just look at him and think, “Is he really ours? Am I really allowed to take him?”. I had known him in my belly for so long and to see him out was, I don’t know, just so different. I felt like a bad mother at first because although I knew I loved him, I didn’t feel like I knew him. I told Jon that on the way home and he said he felt the same way which made me feel better. Now, we get to learn who he really is which is great. 🙂 We left the birth center around 4:30 am and were back in our own bed by 5. It was just so surreal but awesome! My family was in such shock at the photos of him and how alert he was at that time and still even now. We were so glad to have been able to birth him naturally.

We learned later that the pushing probably would’ve gone even faster if Jack’s hands hadn’t been up.  Overall, my birthing time was 12 hours with about 40 minutes of pushing. It was quite the experience but a beautiful one. I am so thankful for my awesome birth team, my amazing husband, and Hypnobabies.

My main advice would be to listen to your track in a lot of different positions. I mainly listened at night on my left side and found that during my birthing time, laying on my left side was the most uncomfortable. So I think going into center then walking while listening to a track would’ve been good as well as on a birthing ball more, etc. I also wish I had practiced my “going into center” at diff times of day more often. I was good at listening to my tracks every day but not at practicing my switch at other times. Oh and I highly, highly recommend getting chiropractor adjustments towards the end. He was born on Wed and I went Mon, Tues, and Wed and she realigned my hips to where they needed to be for him to pass through. Who knows if I hadn’t been adjusted. Anyway, that’s my two cents. 🙂

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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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