Hi Cindy,
It’s official. Baby L has arrived...We are all home and doing well. Adjusting to new life has had some bumpy moments, but all in all I couldn’t feel more blessed or grateful. I thought you would be eager to hear how things went:
I experienced a lot of practice labor during the month of June. Lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions and lots of cramping. Nothing that ever mounted to anything or had any kind of rhythm until Sunday night. I started experiencing lower abdominal cramping, felt like period cramps. These were different then ones I had experienced before because I could feel it in my lower back and they were coming and going. It wasn’t an intense cramp, very mild. I started timing them, Z came home and I told him he should pack his bags, this could be the night. However the contractions didn’t seem to be progressing it was getting late and we decided to go to bed and that was that. Skip forward to Tuesday. I had a midwife appointment at 7:30pm. I was experiencing some cramping and Braxton-Hicks contractions during the visit. It was kind of like a dull ache, nothing that was cyclical. My midwives don’t check to see if you are dilated or not, they let the baby come when the baby is ready to come. I told them about Sunday, they said to just keep doing what I was doing, things looked good and we set up an appointment for the following week.
Sunday night starting around 9:00pm. I started feeling the cramps again with the lower back pain and a cycle. Z and I timed them. They weren’t at the right intervals to call the midwives and they weren’t very strong. I could move around just fine through the contractions, I would be a little short on breath, but I could speak. So we monitored things, but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so we decided to get some rest. This is when things started to pick up. I went to bed around 11:00pm. Not long after l laid down, I started to feel a stronger uterine contraction and it was coming and going. I had already had it in my head that this was probably going to be like Sunday again, so it didn’t register immediately that this was something to pay attention to. I was tired and I just wanted to fall asleep. I was doing some breathing techniques to ease the pressure and I was getting irritated that the cramping was keeping me up. That’s when it registered that this was different, they are keeping me awake, I should pay attention to these. I took out the watch and started timing them. They were coming around every three to five minutes. Stronger, they weren’t painful, just uncomfortable, so I thought it would be a good time to get out one of the meditations and see if things would calm down or increase. I wasn’t but 5 minutes into the meditation when my membranes released, this happened at about 12:10am. Then it was on and it was on FAST. Z timed my contractions as I got into the shower to wash off. We then called the midwives to let them know what was going on. They said come on in. By this time the contractions had increased tenfold. I was trying to concentrate and get my body and mind calm, but it was difficult, because the task at hand was to get to the hospital. It was really starting to get painful. When a contraction hit, I was on the floor on all fours trying to stay with it. I told Z in between a contraction that this baby was coming fast. I was able to walk to the car between a contraction. We were on the road at about 12:50am.
The contractions only continued to increase and become more powerful. Somewhere between North Ave and Division Street while driving south to get to the highway I started to getting the urge to push and I yelled out to Z that my body wants to PUSH!!! We kept hitting every red light. It just happened to be that we pulled up to a police officer at the next the red light. Z rolled down the window and yelled out to them that I was in labor and we needed to get to the hospital fast and that he was just going to go through the red light. They let us go and then followed along next to us with their flashers on helping us through the intersections till we could get to the highway. I wish I could tell you that I was totally in control and staying calm through the drive, but I lost it a few times because I couldn’t fight what my body needed to do and we still had to get to the hospital. It was an extremely intense feeling, and I could feel the babies head trying to come down through the birth canal. Z was awesome though, he stayed calm. He told me to pull it together and stay with him. I was able to bring it back together, it took everything I had not to push the baby out in the car. I was doing the short, frequent breaths with a tone and that brought me back in control. We pulled up to the hospital. There just happened to be a wheel chair sitting outside close to the car. Z ran for that while I got out of the car. I got hit with another huge contraction and I was on all fours again trying to stay with it. We left everything in the car, we didn’t even bother to shut the passenger door that I had left open. Z got me in the wheel chair and we bounded for the ER. The ER nurse was a little slow to respond to the immediacy of the situation, but when I started yelling that I needed to push she moved real fast. I told Z he could push the wheelchair faster through the hallways. By some minor miracle our midwife was already at the hospital with another mom. She met us before triage and helped us bi-pass and get us to the room. It was not ready, but there was no more time left. They pushed me to the bed. I got up on all fours and surrendered to the urges. They had barely pulled my pants off, before the baby came sliding right out of me. It took two or three pushes and there he was. The relief of the pressure felt amazing, but my body and mind were in a state of shock due to how fast everything went. They helped me lay down and put the baby on my chest to hold. Z didn’t get his chance to announce the sex at first. I had to ask. I didn’t get to hold him very long, I had the shakes and they needed me deliver the placenta. Once things calmed down and I was all taken care of, they helped me sit up so that I could have L latch. He latched on like a pro and he’s been a greedy little guy ever since. We couldn’t be more happy or grateful for our little guy.
So that’s the story. I hope all goes well with your deliveries. It’s an incredible feeling to meet that little being that has been held inside of you for so long. I will say this, the breathing is really important. Although I did loose it a couple times, I was able to bring it back together and it was all about the mind and the breath. So if you loose your concentration or control during your labor, just know that you can get it back together. I can’t wait to hear from you and your stories and see pictures of you little ones.
Blessings to you,
S
Showing posts with label Birth Stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birth Stories. Show all posts
Sunday, April 1, 2012
HypnoBirthing Birth Story
This is a story from a new first-time mom who took my class.
Cindy:
Sorry it has taken me so long to thank you for the HypnoBirthing class. I wanted to share my amazing birthing story with you. I delivered an eight pound boy with absolutely NO pain medicine.
My labor was 18 hours and was filled with a lot of excitement. It all started when I went to the hospital at 1 AM because I thought my water broke and my contractions were like 4 minutes apart. I soon found out there are different kinds of contractions and my urine was leaking it was not the water breaking and I was only one cm. So I went home and woke up at 7 AM feeling a lot more intense contractions.
I returned to the hospital at 10 AM and was 3 cm. Seeing how we were in the middle of massive renovations I decided the hospital was the best place to labor. I was lucky to have an awsome nurse who gave me a silicone hep lock and didnt evaluate me unless I requested it. She even let me go outside and eat too! The only pain I felt was at the beginning before listening to my HypnoBirthing cd. The CD helped me breathe through the contractions and suddenly the pain dissapeared. I got tired of the hospital and decided to try the nipple stimulation and thanks to my husband, my water broke probably 10 minutes later.
I was breathing down the baby until my doctor said if I didnt start pushing I would not be able to have my baby vaginally (how rude). So I pushed the baby out in 15 minutes. I delivered only 2 hours after my water breaking! Thanks for everything I loved giving birth so much I wanna have another baby soon! I love being a mom too!
P.S. - During labor I enjoyed rocking back and forth holding onto my husband, the bed, on the birthing ball, on the toilet and also enjoyed showering a few times and walking. Another thing I forgot to mention, resting when I got tired was really really important. I just popped the tape in and went to sleep.
Cindy:
Sorry it has taken me so long to thank you for the HypnoBirthing class. I wanted to share my amazing birthing story with you. I delivered an eight pound boy with absolutely NO pain medicine.
My labor was 18 hours and was filled with a lot of excitement. It all started when I went to the hospital at 1 AM because I thought my water broke and my contractions were like 4 minutes apart. I soon found out there are different kinds of contractions and my urine was leaking it was not the water breaking and I was only one cm. So I went home and woke up at 7 AM feeling a lot more intense contractions.
I returned to the hospital at 10 AM and was 3 cm. Seeing how we were in the middle of massive renovations I decided the hospital was the best place to labor. I was lucky to have an awsome nurse who gave me a silicone hep lock and didnt evaluate me unless I requested it. She even let me go outside and eat too! The only pain I felt was at the beginning before listening to my HypnoBirthing cd. The CD helped me breathe through the contractions and suddenly the pain dissapeared. I got tired of the hospital and decided to try the nipple stimulation and thanks to my husband, my water broke probably 10 minutes later.
I was breathing down the baby until my doctor said if I didnt start pushing I would not be able to have my baby vaginally (how rude). So I pushed the baby out in 15 minutes. I delivered only 2 hours after my water breaking! Thanks for everything I loved giving birth so much I wanna have another baby soon! I love being a mom too!
P.S. - During labor I enjoyed rocking back and forth holding onto my husband, the bed, on the birthing ball, on the toilet and also enjoyed showering a few times and walking. Another thing I forgot to mention, resting when I got tired was really really important. I just popped the tape in and went to sleep.
Birth Story
Another wonderful birth story from a 3rd-time mom who took my class:
Cindy,
Here's our GREAT birth story!
Last Wednesday night I dozed off after listening to Rainbow Relaxation on my ipod. Between midnight and 3 am, I realized that birthing waves were waking me up every few minutes. They weren't strong, and I'd had a few nights like this, so I didn't think much of it.
By 3 am, the waves were coming every 4 minutes, so I was no longer falling asleep in between them. I decided to throw our last minute items in the suitcase, but I still thought it was just practice labor. The waves were short and not at all painful, so I didn't wake up X or call the midwife until 6 am. The waves at that point got closer together and stronger, so I asked X to get our daughters ready for daycare. We decided to leave for the hospital around 7:15 am. I felt like we were leaving home much too early, but I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour, which might lengthen our drive from 15 minutes to an hour.
When we got to the hospital, I was still smiling and chatting between waves, although now when the waves came I needed to go silent and limp in order to stay relaxed. They monitored the baby for twenty minutes before checking me and announcing that I was at 6 centimeters. WHAT?? I wasn't even sure I was really in labor up until that point! I hadn't experienced a second of pain, and after two previous unmedicated births, I didn't think I could possibly progress that far without any discomfort! But there I was.
So they sent us to the alternative birthing center room as we'd planned, and I got into the shower for 15 minutes while X and our midwife filled the tub. I climbed into the tub, and after one contraction my water broke. Suddenly, the contractions changed, and I started shaking and feeling a lot of pressure. I ought to have recognized it as transition, but it seemed far too soon for that! Still, my body (and midwife) knew that it was time for the baby to come. After two incredibly powerful contractions, he was in my arms! And he was perfect.
He was born at 9:15 am, so it was a VERY good thing we didn't get stuck in rush hour! I'm pretty sure we'd have had him in the car.
[Baby] was (and still is) calm, bright eyed, and alert at birth. He didn't even cry, he just looked at us all as though a bit surprised by his new surroundings.He nursed well immediately. At our request, we were discharged just 12 hours after we arrived at the hospital, since baby and I were both healthy and ready to roll. It was wonderful to spend [baby]'s first night in our home.
Our fast, easy, peaceful, beautiful waterbirth was not only everything we'd hoped - it was more than we hoped. My two previous births were empowering, wonderful experiences, but there was pain and at least a few moments of fear. This time, I felt in control and confident throughout, and I felt wonderful afterwards. X and I are thrilled that we were able to have such a fantastic experience during our third, and likely our last, birth.
Thanks for telling us about West Suburban Hospital and Gayle and Julie's midwife practice. As you know, they are wonderful midwives, and West Suburban is a great place for families seeking a natural, positive birth experience. We are so glad that we learned about HypnoBirthing, and we're grateful to you for your instruction and support throughout the pregnancy! Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you once you're back in Chicago. We'd be thrilled to act as references for your class and to share our great experience with other couples.
A pic of the little guy at less than an hour old is attached. Thank you again-- so much -- for everything!
Cindy,
Here's our GREAT birth story!
Last Wednesday night I dozed off after listening to Rainbow Relaxation on my ipod. Between midnight and 3 am, I realized that birthing waves were waking me up every few minutes. They weren't strong, and I'd had a few nights like this, so I didn't think much of it.
By 3 am, the waves were coming every 4 minutes, so I was no longer falling asleep in between them. I decided to throw our last minute items in the suitcase, but I still thought it was just practice labor. The waves were short and not at all painful, so I didn't wake up X or call the midwife until 6 am. The waves at that point got closer together and stronger, so I asked X to get our daughters ready for daycare. We decided to leave for the hospital around 7:15 am. I felt like we were leaving home much too early, but I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour, which might lengthen our drive from 15 minutes to an hour.
When we got to the hospital, I was still smiling and chatting between waves, although now when the waves came I needed to go silent and limp in order to stay relaxed. They monitored the baby for twenty minutes before checking me and announcing that I was at 6 centimeters. WHAT?? I wasn't even sure I was really in labor up until that point! I hadn't experienced a second of pain, and after two previous unmedicated births, I didn't think I could possibly progress that far without any discomfort! But there I was.
So they sent us to the alternative birthing center room as we'd planned, and I got into the shower for 15 minutes while X and our midwife filled the tub. I climbed into the tub, and after one contraction my water broke. Suddenly, the contractions changed, and I started shaking and feeling a lot of pressure. I ought to have recognized it as transition, but it seemed far too soon for that! Still, my body (and midwife) knew that it was time for the baby to come. After two incredibly powerful contractions, he was in my arms! And he was perfect.
He was born at 9:15 am, so it was a VERY good thing we didn't get stuck in rush hour! I'm pretty sure we'd have had him in the car.
[Baby] was (and still is) calm, bright eyed, and alert at birth. He didn't even cry, he just looked at us all as though a bit surprised by his new surroundings.He nursed well immediately. At our request, we were discharged just 12 hours after we arrived at the hospital, since baby and I were both healthy and ready to roll. It was wonderful to spend [baby]'s first night in our home.
Our fast, easy, peaceful, beautiful waterbirth was not only everything we'd hoped - it was more than we hoped. My two previous births were empowering, wonderful experiences, but there was pain and at least a few moments of fear. This time, I felt in control and confident throughout, and I felt wonderful afterwards. X and I are thrilled that we were able to have such a fantastic experience during our third, and likely our last, birth.
Thanks for telling us about West Suburban Hospital and Gayle and Julie's midwife practice. As you know, they are wonderful midwives, and West Suburban is a great place for families seeking a natural, positive birth experience. We are so glad that we learned about HypnoBirthing, and we're grateful to you for your instruction and support throughout the pregnancy! Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you once you're back in Chicago. We'd be thrilled to act as references for your class and to share our great experience with other couples.
A pic of the little guy at less than an hour old is attached. Thank you again-- so much -- for everything!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
HypnoBirthing Birth Stories - Digest #1
In my quest to offer a glimpse into the births of other HypnoBirthing moms, I have decided to post several beautiful birthing stories, which I have received from other HypnoBirthing instructors. Note: These stories have not been edited, with the exception of names, which have been changed.
1. First, a birth story from the UK; a wonderful account of the many sensations of labor...
Like most pregnant women, during the last trimester of my pregnancy I'd nervously read as much as possible about the signs of labour. All the books told me about mucus shows experienced days and possibly weeks before active labour; about worsening Braxton Hicks;about waters breaking. Most of all about how, if you're not sure whether or not you're in labour, you're almost certainly not. After completing the Hypnobirthing course, you'd have thought I'd be more cautious about blindly believing everything the pregnancy books tell you.
The night before the birth at 36+5 weeks pregnant, my husband Dan and I had gone out for a meal with one of Dan's colleagues, to a trendy new restaurant in town where I'd had prawn and salmon salad and a couple of incidences of backache which I put down to the restaurant chairs. Nothing unusual or untoward was happening – certainly nothing to suggest a baby might be arriving soon.
After a lovely night out, Dan and I tucked ourselves up into bed with the "Parenting" relaxation track on the Hypnobirthing CD, and I fell into the comfortable sleep I always experience when I'm listening to any of those self-hypnosis scripts. I slept on, uninterrupted, until about 4.00 am when I was drowsily aware of some period-like cramps in my lower belly. Too drowsy to think about it, I shifted about for a while to try and get comfortable and drifted in and out of sleep. The drowsiness didn't last though; as the crampy feeling got more intense over the next half an hour, I became more and more convinced that I had an upset stomach which I immediately put down to the fact that I'd eaten dodgy seafood at therestaurant. I had a sudden, desperate urge to go to the loo (which fed my conviction that I'd had some kind of reaction to the food) and began a relentless, unvarying cycle of trying to find a comfortable position in bed, shifting about impatiently, getting up to go to the loo yet again, before returning to find some comfort in bed. I considered just shutting myself in the bathroom and having done with it, but I was longing to curl up in the warmth of bed as well. In any case, I tried hard not to wake Dan – he had to get up for work in a few hours anyway, and it was pointless interrupting him for nothing. Besides, judging by how he was last night, he'd be grumpy with a hangover.
At 6am, Dan finally responded to my restlessness and woke up. "My tummy feels really uncomfortable low down", I explained "and I keep needing the loo. I'm getting so frustrated with it – I wonder what's wrong". "It's probably just down to a bad prawn", he reasoned. Earlier, about an hour into this little episode, I'd briefly entertained the notion that I might be in labour but discounted it immediately, surmising that it was far too early (I was going to go on till at least 41 weeks), and anyway I'd had no show and no waters had broken. I was with Dan on this one - the damn restaurant hadgiven me a bad prawn.
Ten minutes later during yet another visit to the loo, I noticed there was a tiny bit of blood when I wiped. Now I was angry. "This stress of this stomach upset has made me bleed so it must be affecting the baby. I'm going to sue that bloody restaurant if anything happens" I vowed, and went to tell Dan what was going on.
"I think we ought to call someone and ask for advice", he said. "Bleeding can't be good. I'll find someone to call". I continued pacing back and forth, rubbing my tummy and listening to the one-way conversation on the phone:"…crampy pains low down…yes…well no she's not in a lot of pain at all, but she's obviously uncomfortable… not a lot of blood, just spotting, but we'd like to get it checked out…no, no contractions… no show or waters breaking, no…ok, we can be there in twenty minutes".
"Right, we have to go now, they want to look at you and see what's causing the bleeding", he said. Having something to do took my mind of the discomfort. "I'll just have a quick shower then".
Dan looked at me in disbelief then, while I showered, dashed round the house chucking stuff in an overnight bag in case I had to stay in. In a moment of blessed lucidity, he chucked the iPOD and earphones in while I faffed around trying to find some clothes that were comfortable enough.
In the car, things got more uncomfortable. Had I known what was happening I'd have lain on the back seat, but as it was I strapped myself into the front and regretted it for every bump we encountered on the road.
We arrived at the hospital and Dan dropped me off at the entrance. "I'll just park the car – go to Reception, they'reexpecting you". I didn't think to ask which Reception was expecting me. Instead of going to Delivery, I set off for the Fetal Assessment Unit. Luckily, Dan found me before I disappeared and steered me in the right direction. The midwife who checked me in led us to a spare delivery room where I could be examined. She was obviously overworked and in a hurry soI explained that I had some crampy pains and had to take my time. "Oh, I thought it was just bleeding. Ok, I'll tell the doctor".
A midwife came and sat with us, but explained that they were very short-staffed and she couldn't stay. She'd sent in a student midwife when one was free, and the doctor would be with us shortly. At this point I was in a world of my own. The room had a rocking chair so I sat and rocked myself gently back and forth, nodding drowsily to anything anyone said, not really caring. I decided that it was a good time to try some 20-20 breathing in practice for the birth in a couple of weeks' time. The breathing helped ease the crampiness, and I felt pleasantly dozy. Suddenly I felt sick. As I was throwing up in the sink, a midwife walked in. "Ah yes!" she said cheerfully, "that's a sure sign of labour!". I looked at her bemused, thinking "no, it's a sure sign of food poisoning", and went back to my chair to continue rocking sleepily.
A student midwife and her colleague arrived to tell me the doctor would be with me shortly, and asked me to describe how I was feeling. I tried to give some brief details, aided by Dan. I just couldn't be bothered to speak. Between us we relayed the message that I had an upset stomach with constant cramps low down like period pain, but that cramps didn't really come and go much so probably weren't contractions, and that I'd had a tiny bit of blood loss. "Ok", said the midwife, "well it could be that you're in the very early stages of labour, but we'll let the doctor see what the bleeding is about before we do anything else" "They're all insane", I thought. "They'll soon realise I've got food poisoning and send me home once they've sorted out the bleeding".
Although I have to admit that reality was slowly starting to dawn. Deep down I think the certainty was there - I know that if they'd tried to send me home I would have refused to move. At about 8am the doctor arrived and asked me to get onto the bed. My cramps had got worse, so I serenely held my hand up to signal "please wait", and continued to rock back and forth, breathing calmly. After asking me twice she started to get tetchy. "I can't examine you in the chair, you need to get on the bed", she snapped. "She understands" , said Dan, "but she's a bit uncomfortable so if you could just wait for it to pass".
The doctor huffed for a bit but waited. The cramp started to ease and I did as I'd been told. "Right, I'm just going to examine you with this", she said, waving a speculum in front of my face. "Uh huh", I mumbled. A few brief moments later, and with slight surprise in her voice, I heard her exclaim, "oh – umm – that's the head". There was a rapid movement around me as the two midwives darted to the end of the bed. "Where? Are you sure?" "Yes of course I'm sure. Look, that's hair" Some more fumbling ensued.
"Err, I'd say she was at least seven centimetres. Actually, make that eight". There was a sudden flurry of activity as people dashed in and out of the room bringing equipment, a cot, blankets. At least, that's what Dan tells me happened. I was still sort of dozing. The doctor, now more conciliatory, kindly asked me if I'd be more comfortable in thechair. I sat and rocked again. That chair was bliss. The midwives, now back in the room, were thoroughly disconcerted. "How on earth did you do that?" one asked. "How did you get to eight centimetres just by sitting there breathing?" I didn't answer. Again, I just couldn't be bothered. Dan mumbled something about Hypnobirthing and the midwife replied "ah ok. I'll just let you get on with things".
Oddly enough, as soon as the doctor had confirmed I was in labour, the cramps felt more intense. After all, I'd had stomach upsets plenty of times before, but I'd never been in labour. I was excited but nervous. This was it. Oh my god, I was having a baby. I lent on the bed and asked Dan to rub my back, while the midwife asked if I'd like gas and air. Overwhelmed, I nodded. I didn't feel that I needed pain relief, but now I knew I was in labour I wanted something there, just in case.
I knew that relaxation was the key. I'd been extremely successful so far – the Hypnobirthing was working – and I knew I just needed to maintain my relaxation. I asked Dan to plug me into the iPOD at the same time that the midwives were plugging me onto the monitor, and I switched to the Rainbow Relaxation. It had been sending me to sleep nightly for the past two months. Immediately I started to relax again. The rest of the labour is pretty much a blur. It's not that I'veforgotten it, it's that I just wasn't fully aware of what was going on around me. The time whizzed by – I'd glance at the clock every now and then thinking that five minutes had passed, to find that it was more like twenty-five. The "few minutes" I thought I'd spent leaning on the bed having my back rubbed by Dan later turned out to be three quarters of an hour. During that time the cramps became more intense then eased, on and off but with no rhythm and no discernable pattern. I remember feeling it mostly in my back, and thinking that if I could just get in a comfortable position, my backwould feel better. The wires on the monitors were impeding my movement, and I felt frustrated. In my birthplan I'd requested no continuous monitoring, but I was together enough to realise this was a slightly premature birth and that the rules might have to be different. Besides which, making the request would entail stringing a sentence together and I wasn't sure I wanted to. The midwives were buzzing round behind and underneath me with a torch. They were taking to Dan but with the iPOD on I couldn't make out what was being said and although I was curious, I didn't really care. He told me later that they were telling him a blue line had appeared on my lower back which indicated I'd reached 10centimetres. I was beginning to want to bear down. "Do you feel a little bit pushy?" asked the student midwife"A little" I mumbled.
"That's fine, just go with what your body tells you". I continued making teeny little pushes. Disconcerted, I took myfirst suck on the gas and air, partly to distract myself and help with the breathing, partly just to see what it was like. As pain relief it was useless and made no difference whatsoever to the way I felt, but that was ok. I wasn't really in much pain; it was just intense and uncomfortable. I kept hold of the tube anyway. For some reason I found it's presence comforting. Eventually the spasms in my back became more uncomfortable. "I want to kneel on the bed", I said to Dan. They all helped me up, but the position didn't ease things. "We'd just like to examine you again", said the studentmidwife. "Sometimes you can want to push before the cervix is totally dilated and it can cause swelling, so we'd just like to check".
"I'd rather not actually", I replied. "I'll just go with what my body is doing – it's worked so far". Dan took the time to explain politely that I wanted to be left alone. The urge to push was getting stronger, I turned over – half on myback and half on my side (I couldn't stand having all the weight on my back) and I started to bear down. The midwives obviously had a good view and were encouraging me along. One of them started rubbing my back. It was bliss. I don't know how long that stage lasted for, although on my notes it's recorded as 53 minutes. It felt more like quarter of an hour.
Every so often I'd want to bear down, so I did. In between I rested. The feeling got more and more intense and I could feel that the baby was making her way down. The midwives became more encouraging. "That's it! That's a really nice push! Keep going!" At one point I asked what was happening – where she was. "We can just start to see the head coming – it won't be long now, keep going. Use the pain. Every time you feel the pain use it to push, don't waste it". I glanced at Dan. I wasn't feeling any pain, I was just feeling very full and needing to push. I ignored them and carried on. The intensity peaked as she started to crown. I took more sucks on the gas and air, trying to keep my breathing deep, but I noticed mybreaths were very shaky. "How much can I stretch?" I thought. I'd turned off the Rainbow Relaxation (I'd had it on loop three times) and was just listening to the music. I reminded myself that my body was built to do this, and that it would open for my baby just as it should. "She's doing very well, this is amazing" I heard someone say. "What on earth is it she's listening to?" As she crowned I could feel myself stretching more and more. I started to make a noise. It wasn't down to pain although it WAS uncomfortable and my back was hurting – it was down to determination; I was nervous of how far I could stretch, but I knew I had to keep pushing and I was longing for her to be born. I tried to use the J-breathing but kept forgetting and ended up doing a weird combination where I'd take a breath, hold it and push, thenrealise I shouldn't be doing that and turn it into a J-breath. It seemed to work anyway and the deep breaths were relaxing.
"That's it – she's crowning now so it'll feel a bit stingy" said the midwife in response to my shouts and growls. "Use the pain – don't waste it – when the pain comes, use it to push". Again I looked at Dan and rolled my eyes at him in an attempt to tell him that there wasn't any pain. I wasn't feeling contractions, I was just feeling the need to push, coming in waves. Driven on by the encouragement the midwives were giving me ("just a couple more big pushes!"), I gave it everything I had and her head was out. The midwife told me excitedly that I'd done the hard bit now.
"Ok, now just rest till you feel the next contraction and then give me a couple of little pushes to get her shoulders out".Well ok, I thought, although I still wasn't feeling contractions and the urge to push had passed, so I rested and waited. Nothing happened. "Do you want to reach down and feel the head?" someone asked me. "No thanks, that'd freak me out" I said and giggled. "I'd rather just concentrate on doing this". They laughed nervously, disconcerted by my sudden communicativeness perhaps. Or maybe by the giggle. "What IS she listening to?" the midwives asked for the umpteenthtime. "It's a Hypnobirthing relaxation thing" Dan tried to explain again.
"We'll have to find out more about this", came the reply. I'd still had no urge to push and I could feel a slight impatienceemanating from the opposite end of the bed. "Ah well" I thought, "I'd better just get on and do it". Without waiting for the surges I gave a couple of little pushes, and felt my baby's body slither out. She was plopped down on my chest and I finally got to say hello to my daughter. "Oh Callie, we've got a girl" said Dan through a sudden burst of tears. I looked at her and cried. I was totally elated. "A bad prawn indeed", I said to Dan. "She's not a bad prawn, she's a lovely prawn".Pink and wrinkly, she was beautiful. After the third stage had been completed (a managed delivery – again not on my birthplan which was a disappointment, but again something I wasn't "together" enough to communicate) the midwives turned their attention to getting me to talk. "How the hell did you do that? What were you listening to, what wasit all about?" In my drowsy state I cuddled my baby and tried to briefly explain the Hypnobirthing theory. They looked slightly bemused.
"We'll have to find out more about this", they said. "In any case, that was a brilliant birth to start the day with – we've never seen anything like it. You can come again. When you have your second one next year, can you ask for us?"I didn't have the heart to tell them that my husband and I had only ever planned to have one. Although who knows - after such a positive, profound experience I might be dying to do it again. It was 10.45. From the start of my "upset stomach" to delivery, labour had taken six and a half hours - exactly the time I'd thought of when we'd done the visualisation exercise during the Hypnobirthing class. The baby was 6lb 12oz, my pulse had never gone above 70 throughout the entire labour, and my blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat had stayed relaxed and constant. Downstairs I was the talk of the ward for a short while. Dan, who, in genuine awe, had told me several times throughout the labour how amazingly I was doing, filled me in on the details that I'd missed while I'd been in my own head-space.
Apparently I'd not made a sound until the crowning stage, when I'd given a few mild shouts. A couple of midwives on the ward popped their heads round the curtain. "We've heard about you!" they said. Before the birth everyone had told about the "amazing and wonderful way" the mind has of forgetting childbirth, and I can only conclude that this theory is a load of nonsense. You don't forget childbirth, you forget a traumatic experience. I might have been in my own zone during labour, and I might not have noticed what everyone else in the room was saying or doing, but I can certainly remember every feeling and every sensation I had when I was birthing my daughter.
And I can say with all honestly that my experience is one I'll want to remember and treasure forever.
********************
2. This is a story from NM:
"I want to share a birth story from one of my Moms who had a 'Big Baby' (10 lbs. 3 oz)totally natural. Perhaps it iwll be an inspiration for other Moms who have GD [Gestational Diabetes] and big babies.
"I am so pleased by my hypnobirthing experience. I did not want my baby to be drugged at birth. I learned alot during the class. Throughout my pregnancy I was seen by prenatal development doctor and nutritionist due to gestational diabetes. ( I was originally referred because I mistakenly told my midwife I have a family history of down syndrome, so they sent me there for genetic testing. I do not have any relatives w/ DS, they have cerebal palsy) These specialists informed me they would induce at about 38 weeks. I informed my midwife I was strongly opposed to induction, and she agreed I could go to term due to the gestational diabetes being at a mild level, and only a low dose of medication was being used to control it. I was scheduled for a Thurs AM. I decided not to go.
"I had worked full time up until Tue of that week, and decided it was time to stop working so I could get a couple days rest before baby was born. I had seen an acupunturist about 4 times in the preceeding few weeks to help so I would not need to be induced. She informed me she would have like to see me more rested/stronger for the birth, but worked to get the birth started. I saw her Tue or Wed and she thought I would start surges within the next couple of days. Well again, Thurs I did not show up for the inducement: I tried to weigh a) my desire for a natural birth and b) the medical advise I was given. So I decided to give the baby a couple days more...the weekend. If he was not born by Mon, I would go in for induction. Early Sun April 1, I thought my water released - (it was really the "plug") surges began. OH NO - I did not want him born on "april fool's day".
"I had surges for most of the day, they stopped that evening. Then Early Mon AM the water did release...I then knew the difference. Surges began again. I did not want to go to the hospital. My husband finally convinced me to go in (I had called the hospital earlier, and the suggested I come in to be "checked" - to make sure my water really did release - like I didn't know.) I already knew if I went in they would keep me, so I took all my gear and reluctantly went to the hospital. They admitted me around 5pm. Husband goes home - we had planned on him not being there. Called Brenda to let her know I was there...don't rush I'm okay (had been keeping in communication the last two days) .
"Surges proceeded thruough the night...Brenda was right there with me every move I made. I was so impressed and thankful. She did an outstanding, wonderful job, I can't say enough about the support she gave me during my birth. At times the surges were pretty intense, but I wouldn't say painful. They were pretty uncomfortable, and I got tired of feeling them, so when they slowed down I did not mind. My midwife was wonderful also. I lucked out that the midwife I saw throughout my pregnancy was on duty during my birth. She knew my wishes and was very good about letting me do it my way.
"Because over 24 hrs passed from water release, and irregular, far spaced surges, midwife informed that doctor was pushing for induction. I told her we were going to try some natural stimulation first. I told Brenda 'let me rest for a few minutes, then we'll go for it.' And we did. I positioned myself on the bar and began nipple stimulation which immediatley caused surges to start. These were strong surges that caused a strong pushing urge. My son was very large, and my first child. I was determined to push him out. I took alot of pushes squatting and pushing with everything I had. surge stopped, stand, wait, next surge, squat, push and push and push. Finally Midwife said he's almost under the bone. A few more pushed and down he came. She helped with warm compresses and we slowly brought him down the birth canal to the opening. We slowly worked to make sure there was no tearing, and she did a good job manuvering him out - he had broad shoulders too! Of course Brenda was by my side through it all. What a wonderful birthing experience!
"Today my son is 4 months old. very alert, healthy 22 lbs 26 inches 2 teeth, friendly as can be, and tough as nails. I beleive my relaxation, as well as his birth helped him be the good baby he is. He sleeps well, and does not cry for anything really. (I was so proud of him too...he was so strong throughout the long birth - no problems at all with heart rate etc) I knew it could be different, and no one around me beleived I could have and plan a positive birth. They thought because it was my first child, I was dreaming, didn't know what I was talking about...you'll see when you go through it... take the drugs etc...all the stereotypes were there, but I did not let that stop me, and I did have the birthing experience I wanted. It's funny how things happen because I only heard about hypnobirthing when I happened to read an article in a magazine in the doctor's office waiting room when I went with my husband to his appointment. If it wasn't for that article, I may have had to endure a 'typical' birth experience. Boy am I glad I didn't!"
**************
3. This is a story from Singapore:
"It was shortly past midnight when I woke up because of regular surges. I knew immediately that that this was the day for our first child to be born. Having waited for almost 42 weeks for him to arrive, I was so excited that I couldn't get back to sleep anymore. I knew it would be sensible to save my energy for the actual labour and birth. Still, I got out of bed, listened to my Hypnobirthing relaxation cds, and regularly checked the time that elapsed between surges. Having heard from a friend of mine that she had just given birth to her first child after only four hours of labour, I felt a bit nervous about how fast things would progress in my case. At 3am my contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart, and I thought I'd better inform Helen, my doula. While speaking to her on the phone, I became aware again that things usually don't happen that fast. So I went back to my relaxation exercises, slowly breathing through every surge, and at some point got up to prepare some snacks to take to the hospital. I called Helen again at 6 o'clock, and she came to our place to see how I was doing. Two hours later the surges had become more intense, and I felt that we should go to the hospital.
"My husband, Helen and I arrived at the hospital shortly past 8 o'clock. I settled myself in the bathtub as soon as it had filled up, not knowing then that I was to spend more than 5 hours in the water. While in the tub, I was breathing throughmy surges and relaxing in between. We had brought along some soothing music that was playing in the background. I felt very calm and focused on what was going on within my body. I didn't feel any pain, but experienced the surges as tension in my pelvis and later in my lower back. I was most comfortable kneeling in the tub, because my tailbone would start aching as soon as I tried to sit. The only sensation of pain that I felt during labour resulted from cramps in my legs. My body was just not used to kneeling in a bathtub for a long time. During the last couple hours of labour I felt the urge tobear down. When it was time for birthing, I found myself in a rather strange position for a water birth. Because of my sore tailbone I was not able to sit or lean against my lower back, at the same time I was trying to avoid another cramp in my leg. Thus I supported myself on my arms, hips raised up almost horizontally and legs braced against the side of the bathtub. Sensing that I could stay neither in this position nor in the tub much longer, I pushed rather hard for the baby to emerge. Finally, he was born, and my doctor passed him to me.
"Looking back to that day, I'm still amazed at all the little wonders that life holds for women when giving birth. It is amazing how a woman's body opens up naturally to let a baby pass out into the world. When giving birth I found it very easy to go deep within my body, forgetting about time and people around me. I'm glad that with the antenatal Hypnobirthing course that I took, I had learned to focus on the positive aspects of birth, expecting a naturally easy,calm and safe birth without pains. My husband, Helen, and my doctor all helped me to create exactly this experience, for which I'm verygrateful."
4. This story is from Florida (a 2nd time mom):
"I just had to share the amazing birth I attended earlier this morning...
"I met mom at the hospital at 12:30 AM, she was 4 cm and 100% effaced. Mom was chatting, rarely even stopping to breathe through her surges. We went for a long walk around 1:30 AM. She finally stopped talking through her surges, but did not stop walking. She kept telling me that she was feeling really GREAT, really in touch with the process. When we would pass by the nurses station, I kept getting the impression that they didn't think she was really active yet ;)
"At 2AM her water bag released with a BIG gush. She wanted to shower as she felt really messy from the big splash. In the shower she whispers that she feels the need to change her breathing. I assist her back to the bed after the shower and onto her hands and knees.? The husband goes to tell the nurse (who by the way is pregnant, just took the HB course AND is now having a homebirth!) that we think she is close, to please notify her midwife who was already in the hospital.
"Mom is quiet, still on her hands and knees, and whispers "a little something is coming out"...I pull back the towel expecting more fluid/show to find her beautiful baby girl's head born!? Midwife slides in, no gloves and catches. Baby born at 2:13 AM, 13 minutes after SROM [Spontaneous Release of Membranes). Perfect in every possible way!
"Our expectant nurse was tearful, and kept repeating 'a little something coming out...oh my gosh...I'm doing it this way...HB is great!'"
5. This is a story from Utah (a natural breech Hypnobirth!):
"MY BIRTH STORY
"This was my second baby—with my first birthing being a wonderful experience using HypnoBirthing. After becoming a HypnoBirthing Practitioner during this pregnancy, I was excited to birth my second son. After my 40 week appointment, I began to have surges throughout the day. I was already 4 cm (almost 5 cm) open at the office but I continued using HypnoBirthing imagery and relaxation throughout the day.
"Later that evening, my surges became more intense and we decided to head over to the hospital as I listened to music and more imagery in the car. We arrived at the hospital a little before 7 p.m. "When the nurse checked me, I was 6.5 cm. She proceeded to admit me and then the midwife came into the room and checked me again. I was then 8.5 cm, but...she wasn't sure it was a head that she felt. So they got the ultrasound out which showed that the baby was, indeed, breech.
She called the attending doctor as we decided what we wanted to do. I was, of course, worried…especially since (being a labor and birthing nurse), I knew that usually, a breech presentation will mean a cesarean section. However, my doctor was one of the few in that hospital who will actually deliver a breech baby and gave me the option to decide (a live example of how important choosing your provider is). The midwife asked me what I wanted to do and I told her I would like to try delivering vaginally.
"They took me to the Operating Room and I was progressing so rapidly, that by the time the doctor arrived, I was completely opened with bulging membranes. They released my membranes and I breathed down about three times before our beautiful baby boy arrived—bottom first! It was 8:05 p.m. The midwife, doctor, and nurses were allamazed that I did so well through it all, using HypnoBirthing, and despite the disturbance in my ideal situation (the OR was quite bright and I didn't bring in my music or anything that I had practiced). "This was the first unmedicated vaginal breech delivery at this hospital in TEN years! It was a beautiful experience, with absolutely no complications—not even a tear! I couldn't have done it without HypnoBirthing!!"
1. First, a birth story from the UK; a wonderful account of the many sensations of labor...
Like most pregnant women, during the last trimester of my pregnancy I'd nervously read as much as possible about the signs of labour. All the books told me about mucus shows experienced days and possibly weeks before active labour; about worsening Braxton Hicks;about waters breaking. Most of all about how, if you're not sure whether or not you're in labour, you're almost certainly not. After completing the Hypnobirthing course, you'd have thought I'd be more cautious about blindly believing everything the pregnancy books tell you.
The night before the birth at 36+5 weeks pregnant, my husband Dan and I had gone out for a meal with one of Dan's colleagues, to a trendy new restaurant in town where I'd had prawn and salmon salad and a couple of incidences of backache which I put down to the restaurant chairs. Nothing unusual or untoward was happening – certainly nothing to suggest a baby might be arriving soon.
After a lovely night out, Dan and I tucked ourselves up into bed with the "Parenting" relaxation track on the Hypnobirthing CD, and I fell into the comfortable sleep I always experience when I'm listening to any of those self-hypnosis scripts. I slept on, uninterrupted, until about 4.00 am when I was drowsily aware of some period-like cramps in my lower belly. Too drowsy to think about it, I shifted about for a while to try and get comfortable and drifted in and out of sleep. The drowsiness didn't last though; as the crampy feeling got more intense over the next half an hour, I became more and more convinced that I had an upset stomach which I immediately put down to the fact that I'd eaten dodgy seafood at therestaurant. I had a sudden, desperate urge to go to the loo (which fed my conviction that I'd had some kind of reaction to the food) and began a relentless, unvarying cycle of trying to find a comfortable position in bed, shifting about impatiently, getting up to go to the loo yet again, before returning to find some comfort in bed. I considered just shutting myself in the bathroom and having done with it, but I was longing to curl up in the warmth of bed as well. In any case, I tried hard not to wake Dan – he had to get up for work in a few hours anyway, and it was pointless interrupting him for nothing. Besides, judging by how he was last night, he'd be grumpy with a hangover.
At 6am, Dan finally responded to my restlessness and woke up. "My tummy feels really uncomfortable low down", I explained "and I keep needing the loo. I'm getting so frustrated with it – I wonder what's wrong". "It's probably just down to a bad prawn", he reasoned. Earlier, about an hour into this little episode, I'd briefly entertained the notion that I might be in labour but discounted it immediately, surmising that it was far too early (I was going to go on till at least 41 weeks), and anyway I'd had no show and no waters had broken. I was with Dan on this one - the damn restaurant hadgiven me a bad prawn.
Ten minutes later during yet another visit to the loo, I noticed there was a tiny bit of blood when I wiped. Now I was angry. "This stress of this stomach upset has made me bleed so it must be affecting the baby. I'm going to sue that bloody restaurant if anything happens" I vowed, and went to tell Dan what was going on.
"I think we ought to call someone and ask for advice", he said. "Bleeding can't be good. I'll find someone to call". I continued pacing back and forth, rubbing my tummy and listening to the one-way conversation on the phone:"…crampy pains low down…yes…well no she's not in a lot of pain at all, but she's obviously uncomfortable… not a lot of blood, just spotting, but we'd like to get it checked out…no, no contractions… no show or waters breaking, no…ok, we can be there in twenty minutes".
"Right, we have to go now, they want to look at you and see what's causing the bleeding", he said. Having something to do took my mind of the discomfort. "I'll just have a quick shower then".
Dan looked at me in disbelief then, while I showered, dashed round the house chucking stuff in an overnight bag in case I had to stay in. In a moment of blessed lucidity, he chucked the iPOD and earphones in while I faffed around trying to find some clothes that were comfortable enough.
In the car, things got more uncomfortable. Had I known what was happening I'd have lain on the back seat, but as it was I strapped myself into the front and regretted it for every bump we encountered on the road.
We arrived at the hospital and Dan dropped me off at the entrance. "I'll just park the car – go to Reception, they'reexpecting you". I didn't think to ask which Reception was expecting me. Instead of going to Delivery, I set off for the Fetal Assessment Unit. Luckily, Dan found me before I disappeared and steered me in the right direction. The midwife who checked me in led us to a spare delivery room where I could be examined. She was obviously overworked and in a hurry soI explained that I had some crampy pains and had to take my time. "Oh, I thought it was just bleeding. Ok, I'll tell the doctor".
A midwife came and sat with us, but explained that they were very short-staffed and she couldn't stay. She'd sent in a student midwife when one was free, and the doctor would be with us shortly. At this point I was in a world of my own. The room had a rocking chair so I sat and rocked myself gently back and forth, nodding drowsily to anything anyone said, not really caring. I decided that it was a good time to try some 20-20 breathing in practice for the birth in a couple of weeks' time. The breathing helped ease the crampiness, and I felt pleasantly dozy. Suddenly I felt sick. As I was throwing up in the sink, a midwife walked in. "Ah yes!" she said cheerfully, "that's a sure sign of labour!". I looked at her bemused, thinking "no, it's a sure sign of food poisoning", and went back to my chair to continue rocking sleepily.
A student midwife and her colleague arrived to tell me the doctor would be with me shortly, and asked me to describe how I was feeling. I tried to give some brief details, aided by Dan. I just couldn't be bothered to speak. Between us we relayed the message that I had an upset stomach with constant cramps low down like period pain, but that cramps didn't really come and go much so probably weren't contractions, and that I'd had a tiny bit of blood loss. "Ok", said the midwife, "well it could be that you're in the very early stages of labour, but we'll let the doctor see what the bleeding is about before we do anything else" "They're all insane", I thought. "They'll soon realise I've got food poisoning and send me home once they've sorted out the bleeding".
Although I have to admit that reality was slowly starting to dawn. Deep down I think the certainty was there - I know that if they'd tried to send me home I would have refused to move. At about 8am the doctor arrived and asked me to get onto the bed. My cramps had got worse, so I serenely held my hand up to signal "please wait", and continued to rock back and forth, breathing calmly. After asking me twice she started to get tetchy. "I can't examine you in the chair, you need to get on the bed", she snapped. "She understands" , said Dan, "but she's a bit uncomfortable so if you could just wait for it to pass".
The doctor huffed for a bit but waited. The cramp started to ease and I did as I'd been told. "Right, I'm just going to examine you with this", she said, waving a speculum in front of my face. "Uh huh", I mumbled. A few brief moments later, and with slight surprise in her voice, I heard her exclaim, "oh – umm – that's the head". There was a rapid movement around me as the two midwives darted to the end of the bed. "Where? Are you sure?" "Yes of course I'm sure. Look, that's hair" Some more fumbling ensued.
"Err, I'd say she was at least seven centimetres. Actually, make that eight". There was a sudden flurry of activity as people dashed in and out of the room bringing equipment, a cot, blankets. At least, that's what Dan tells me happened. I was still sort of dozing. The doctor, now more conciliatory, kindly asked me if I'd be more comfortable in thechair. I sat and rocked again. That chair was bliss. The midwives, now back in the room, were thoroughly disconcerted. "How on earth did you do that?" one asked. "How did you get to eight centimetres just by sitting there breathing?" I didn't answer. Again, I just couldn't be bothered. Dan mumbled something about Hypnobirthing and the midwife replied "ah ok. I'll just let you get on with things".
Oddly enough, as soon as the doctor had confirmed I was in labour, the cramps felt more intense. After all, I'd had stomach upsets plenty of times before, but I'd never been in labour. I was excited but nervous. This was it. Oh my god, I was having a baby. I lent on the bed and asked Dan to rub my back, while the midwife asked if I'd like gas and air. Overwhelmed, I nodded. I didn't feel that I needed pain relief, but now I knew I was in labour I wanted something there, just in case.
I knew that relaxation was the key. I'd been extremely successful so far – the Hypnobirthing was working – and I knew I just needed to maintain my relaxation. I asked Dan to plug me into the iPOD at the same time that the midwives were plugging me onto the monitor, and I switched to the Rainbow Relaxation. It had been sending me to sleep nightly for the past two months. Immediately I started to relax again. The rest of the labour is pretty much a blur. It's not that I'veforgotten it, it's that I just wasn't fully aware of what was going on around me. The time whizzed by – I'd glance at the clock every now and then thinking that five minutes had passed, to find that it was more like twenty-five. The "few minutes" I thought I'd spent leaning on the bed having my back rubbed by Dan later turned out to be three quarters of an hour. During that time the cramps became more intense then eased, on and off but with no rhythm and no discernable pattern. I remember feeling it mostly in my back, and thinking that if I could just get in a comfortable position, my backwould feel better. The wires on the monitors were impeding my movement, and I felt frustrated. In my birthplan I'd requested no continuous monitoring, but I was together enough to realise this was a slightly premature birth and that the rules might have to be different. Besides which, making the request would entail stringing a sentence together and I wasn't sure I wanted to. The midwives were buzzing round behind and underneath me with a torch. They were taking to Dan but with the iPOD on I couldn't make out what was being said and although I was curious, I didn't really care. He told me later that they were telling him a blue line had appeared on my lower back which indicated I'd reached 10centimetres. I was beginning to want to bear down. "Do you feel a little bit pushy?" asked the student midwife"A little" I mumbled.
"That's fine, just go with what your body tells you". I continued making teeny little pushes. Disconcerted, I took myfirst suck on the gas and air, partly to distract myself and help with the breathing, partly just to see what it was like. As pain relief it was useless and made no difference whatsoever to the way I felt, but that was ok. I wasn't really in much pain; it was just intense and uncomfortable. I kept hold of the tube anyway. For some reason I found it's presence comforting. Eventually the spasms in my back became more uncomfortable. "I want to kneel on the bed", I said to Dan. They all helped me up, but the position didn't ease things. "We'd just like to examine you again", said the studentmidwife. "Sometimes you can want to push before the cervix is totally dilated and it can cause swelling, so we'd just like to check".
"I'd rather not actually", I replied. "I'll just go with what my body is doing – it's worked so far". Dan took the time to explain politely that I wanted to be left alone. The urge to push was getting stronger, I turned over – half on myback and half on my side (I couldn't stand having all the weight on my back) and I started to bear down. The midwives obviously had a good view and were encouraging me along. One of them started rubbing my back. It was bliss. I don't know how long that stage lasted for, although on my notes it's recorded as 53 minutes. It felt more like quarter of an hour.
Every so often I'd want to bear down, so I did. In between I rested. The feeling got more and more intense and I could feel that the baby was making her way down. The midwives became more encouraging. "That's it! That's a really nice push! Keep going!" At one point I asked what was happening – where she was. "We can just start to see the head coming – it won't be long now, keep going. Use the pain. Every time you feel the pain use it to push, don't waste it". I glanced at Dan. I wasn't feeling any pain, I was just feeling very full and needing to push. I ignored them and carried on. The intensity peaked as she started to crown. I took more sucks on the gas and air, trying to keep my breathing deep, but I noticed mybreaths were very shaky. "How much can I stretch?" I thought. I'd turned off the Rainbow Relaxation (I'd had it on loop three times) and was just listening to the music. I reminded myself that my body was built to do this, and that it would open for my baby just as it should. "She's doing very well, this is amazing" I heard someone say. "What on earth is it she's listening to?" As she crowned I could feel myself stretching more and more. I started to make a noise. It wasn't down to pain although it WAS uncomfortable and my back was hurting – it was down to determination; I was nervous of how far I could stretch, but I knew I had to keep pushing and I was longing for her to be born. I tried to use the J-breathing but kept forgetting and ended up doing a weird combination where I'd take a breath, hold it and push, thenrealise I shouldn't be doing that and turn it into a J-breath. It seemed to work anyway and the deep breaths were relaxing.
"That's it – she's crowning now so it'll feel a bit stingy" said the midwife in response to my shouts and growls. "Use the pain – don't waste it – when the pain comes, use it to push". Again I looked at Dan and rolled my eyes at him in an attempt to tell him that there wasn't any pain. I wasn't feeling contractions, I was just feeling the need to push, coming in waves. Driven on by the encouragement the midwives were giving me ("just a couple more big pushes!"), I gave it everything I had and her head was out. The midwife told me excitedly that I'd done the hard bit now.
"Ok, now just rest till you feel the next contraction and then give me a couple of little pushes to get her shoulders out".Well ok, I thought, although I still wasn't feeling contractions and the urge to push had passed, so I rested and waited. Nothing happened. "Do you want to reach down and feel the head?" someone asked me. "No thanks, that'd freak me out" I said and giggled. "I'd rather just concentrate on doing this". They laughed nervously, disconcerted by my sudden communicativeness perhaps. Or maybe by the giggle. "What IS she listening to?" the midwives asked for the umpteenthtime. "It's a Hypnobirthing relaxation thing" Dan tried to explain again.
"We'll have to find out more about this", came the reply. I'd still had no urge to push and I could feel a slight impatienceemanating from the opposite end of the bed. "Ah well" I thought, "I'd better just get on and do it". Without waiting for the surges I gave a couple of little pushes, and felt my baby's body slither out. She was plopped down on my chest and I finally got to say hello to my daughter. "Oh Callie, we've got a girl" said Dan through a sudden burst of tears. I looked at her and cried. I was totally elated. "A bad prawn indeed", I said to Dan. "She's not a bad prawn, she's a lovely prawn".Pink and wrinkly, she was beautiful. After the third stage had been completed (a managed delivery – again not on my birthplan which was a disappointment, but again something I wasn't "together" enough to communicate) the midwives turned their attention to getting me to talk. "How the hell did you do that? What were you listening to, what wasit all about?" In my drowsy state I cuddled my baby and tried to briefly explain the Hypnobirthing theory. They looked slightly bemused.
"We'll have to find out more about this", they said. "In any case, that was a brilliant birth to start the day with – we've never seen anything like it. You can come again. When you have your second one next year, can you ask for us?"I didn't have the heart to tell them that my husband and I had only ever planned to have one. Although who knows - after such a positive, profound experience I might be dying to do it again. It was 10.45. From the start of my "upset stomach" to delivery, labour had taken six and a half hours - exactly the time I'd thought of when we'd done the visualisation exercise during the Hypnobirthing class. The baby was 6lb 12oz, my pulse had never gone above 70 throughout the entire labour, and my blood pressure and the baby's heartbeat had stayed relaxed and constant. Downstairs I was the talk of the ward for a short while. Dan, who, in genuine awe, had told me several times throughout the labour how amazingly I was doing, filled me in on the details that I'd missed while I'd been in my own head-space.
Apparently I'd not made a sound until the crowning stage, when I'd given a few mild shouts. A couple of midwives on the ward popped their heads round the curtain. "We've heard about you!" they said. Before the birth everyone had told about the "amazing and wonderful way" the mind has of forgetting childbirth, and I can only conclude that this theory is a load of nonsense. You don't forget childbirth, you forget a traumatic experience. I might have been in my own zone during labour, and I might not have noticed what everyone else in the room was saying or doing, but I can certainly remember every feeling and every sensation I had when I was birthing my daughter.
And I can say with all honestly that my experience is one I'll want to remember and treasure forever.
********************
2. This is a story from NM:
"I want to share a birth story from one of my Moms who had a 'Big Baby' (10 lbs. 3 oz)totally natural. Perhaps it iwll be an inspiration for other Moms who have GD [Gestational Diabetes] and big babies.
"I am so pleased by my hypnobirthing experience. I did not want my baby to be drugged at birth. I learned alot during the class. Throughout my pregnancy I was seen by prenatal development doctor and nutritionist due to gestational diabetes. ( I was originally referred because I mistakenly told my midwife I have a family history of down syndrome, so they sent me there for genetic testing. I do not have any relatives w/ DS, they have cerebal palsy) These specialists informed me they would induce at about 38 weeks. I informed my midwife I was strongly opposed to induction, and she agreed I could go to term due to the gestational diabetes being at a mild level, and only a low dose of medication was being used to control it. I was scheduled for a Thurs AM. I decided not to go.
"I had worked full time up until Tue of that week, and decided it was time to stop working so I could get a couple days rest before baby was born. I had seen an acupunturist about 4 times in the preceeding few weeks to help so I would not need to be induced. She informed me she would have like to see me more rested/stronger for the birth, but worked to get the birth started. I saw her Tue or Wed and she thought I would start surges within the next couple of days. Well again, Thurs I did not show up for the inducement: I tried to weigh a) my desire for a natural birth and b) the medical advise I was given. So I decided to give the baby a couple days more...the weekend. If he was not born by Mon, I would go in for induction. Early Sun April 1, I thought my water released - (it was really the "plug") surges began. OH NO - I did not want him born on "april fool's day".
"I had surges for most of the day, they stopped that evening. Then Early Mon AM the water did release...I then knew the difference. Surges began again. I did not want to go to the hospital. My husband finally convinced me to go in (I had called the hospital earlier, and the suggested I come in to be "checked" - to make sure my water really did release - like I didn't know.) I already knew if I went in they would keep me, so I took all my gear and reluctantly went to the hospital. They admitted me around 5pm. Husband goes home - we had planned on him not being there. Called Brenda to let her know I was there...don't rush I'm okay (had been keeping in communication the last two days) .
"Surges proceeded thruough the night...Brenda was right there with me every move I made. I was so impressed and thankful. She did an outstanding, wonderful job, I can't say enough about the support she gave me during my birth. At times the surges were pretty intense, but I wouldn't say painful. They were pretty uncomfortable, and I got tired of feeling them, so when they slowed down I did not mind. My midwife was wonderful also. I lucked out that the midwife I saw throughout my pregnancy was on duty during my birth. She knew my wishes and was very good about letting me do it my way.
"Because over 24 hrs passed from water release, and irregular, far spaced surges, midwife informed that doctor was pushing for induction. I told her we were going to try some natural stimulation first. I told Brenda 'let me rest for a few minutes, then we'll go for it.' And we did. I positioned myself on the bar and began nipple stimulation which immediatley caused surges to start. These were strong surges that caused a strong pushing urge. My son was very large, and my first child. I was determined to push him out. I took alot of pushes squatting and pushing with everything I had. surge stopped, stand, wait, next surge, squat, push and push and push. Finally Midwife said he's almost under the bone. A few more pushed and down he came. She helped with warm compresses and we slowly brought him down the birth canal to the opening. We slowly worked to make sure there was no tearing, and she did a good job manuvering him out - he had broad shoulders too! Of course Brenda was by my side through it all. What a wonderful birthing experience!
"Today my son is 4 months old. very alert, healthy 22 lbs 26 inches 2 teeth, friendly as can be, and tough as nails. I beleive my relaxation, as well as his birth helped him be the good baby he is. He sleeps well, and does not cry for anything really. (I was so proud of him too...he was so strong throughout the long birth - no problems at all with heart rate etc) I knew it could be different, and no one around me beleived I could have and plan a positive birth. They thought because it was my first child, I was dreaming, didn't know what I was talking about...you'll see when you go through it... take the drugs etc...all the stereotypes were there, but I did not let that stop me, and I did have the birthing experience I wanted. It's funny how things happen because I only heard about hypnobirthing when I happened to read an article in a magazine in the doctor's office waiting room when I went with my husband to his appointment. If it wasn't for that article, I may have had to endure a 'typical' birth experience. Boy am I glad I didn't!"
**************
3. This is a story from Singapore:
"It was shortly past midnight when I woke up because of regular surges. I knew immediately that that this was the day for our first child to be born. Having waited for almost 42 weeks for him to arrive, I was so excited that I couldn't get back to sleep anymore. I knew it would be sensible to save my energy for the actual labour and birth. Still, I got out of bed, listened to my Hypnobirthing relaxation cds, and regularly checked the time that elapsed between surges. Having heard from a friend of mine that she had just given birth to her first child after only four hours of labour, I felt a bit nervous about how fast things would progress in my case. At 3am my contractions were about 6-8 minutes apart, and I thought I'd better inform Helen, my doula. While speaking to her on the phone, I became aware again that things usually don't happen that fast. So I went back to my relaxation exercises, slowly breathing through every surge, and at some point got up to prepare some snacks to take to the hospital. I called Helen again at 6 o'clock, and she came to our place to see how I was doing. Two hours later the surges had become more intense, and I felt that we should go to the hospital.
"My husband, Helen and I arrived at the hospital shortly past 8 o'clock. I settled myself in the bathtub as soon as it had filled up, not knowing then that I was to spend more than 5 hours in the water. While in the tub, I was breathing throughmy surges and relaxing in between. We had brought along some soothing music that was playing in the background. I felt very calm and focused on what was going on within my body. I didn't feel any pain, but experienced the surges as tension in my pelvis and later in my lower back. I was most comfortable kneeling in the tub, because my tailbone would start aching as soon as I tried to sit. The only sensation of pain that I felt during labour resulted from cramps in my legs. My body was just not used to kneeling in a bathtub for a long time. During the last couple hours of labour I felt the urge tobear down. When it was time for birthing, I found myself in a rather strange position for a water birth. Because of my sore tailbone I was not able to sit or lean against my lower back, at the same time I was trying to avoid another cramp in my leg. Thus I supported myself on my arms, hips raised up almost horizontally and legs braced against the side of the bathtub. Sensing that I could stay neither in this position nor in the tub much longer, I pushed rather hard for the baby to emerge. Finally, he was born, and my doctor passed him to me.
"Looking back to that day, I'm still amazed at all the little wonders that life holds for women when giving birth. It is amazing how a woman's body opens up naturally to let a baby pass out into the world. When giving birth I found it very easy to go deep within my body, forgetting about time and people around me. I'm glad that with the antenatal Hypnobirthing course that I took, I had learned to focus on the positive aspects of birth, expecting a naturally easy,calm and safe birth without pains. My husband, Helen, and my doctor all helped me to create exactly this experience, for which I'm verygrateful."
4. This story is from Florida (a 2nd time mom):
"I just had to share the amazing birth I attended earlier this morning...
"I met mom at the hospital at 12:30 AM, she was 4 cm and 100% effaced. Mom was chatting, rarely even stopping to breathe through her surges. We went for a long walk around 1:30 AM. She finally stopped talking through her surges, but did not stop walking. She kept telling me that she was feeling really GREAT, really in touch with the process. When we would pass by the nurses station, I kept getting the impression that they didn't think she was really active yet ;)
"At 2AM her water bag released with a BIG gush. She wanted to shower as she felt really messy from the big splash. In the shower she whispers that she feels the need to change her breathing. I assist her back to the bed after the shower and onto her hands and knees.? The husband goes to tell the nurse (who by the way is pregnant, just took the HB course AND is now having a homebirth!) that we think she is close, to please notify her midwife who was already in the hospital.
"Mom is quiet, still on her hands and knees, and whispers "a little something is coming out"...I pull back the towel expecting more fluid/show to find her beautiful baby girl's head born!? Midwife slides in, no gloves and catches. Baby born at 2:13 AM, 13 minutes after SROM [Spontaneous Release of Membranes). Perfect in every possible way!
"Our expectant nurse was tearful, and kept repeating 'a little something coming out...oh my gosh...I'm doing it this way...HB is great!'"
5. This is a story from Utah (a natural breech Hypnobirth!):
"MY BIRTH STORY
"This was my second baby—with my first birthing being a wonderful experience using HypnoBirthing. After becoming a HypnoBirthing Practitioner during this pregnancy, I was excited to birth my second son. After my 40 week appointment, I began to have surges throughout the day. I was already 4 cm (almost 5 cm) open at the office but I continued using HypnoBirthing imagery and relaxation throughout the day.
"Later that evening, my surges became more intense and we decided to head over to the hospital as I listened to music and more imagery in the car. We arrived at the hospital a little before 7 p.m. "When the nurse checked me, I was 6.5 cm. She proceeded to admit me and then the midwife came into the room and checked me again. I was then 8.5 cm, but...she wasn't sure it was a head that she felt. So they got the ultrasound out which showed that the baby was, indeed, breech.
She called the attending doctor as we decided what we wanted to do. I was, of course, worried…especially since (being a labor and birthing nurse), I knew that usually, a breech presentation will mean a cesarean section. However, my doctor was one of the few in that hospital who will actually deliver a breech baby and gave me the option to decide (a live example of how important choosing your provider is). The midwife asked me what I wanted to do and I told her I would like to try delivering vaginally.
"They took me to the Operating Room and I was progressing so rapidly, that by the time the doctor arrived, I was completely opened with bulging membranes. They released my membranes and I breathed down about three times before our beautiful baby boy arrived—bottom first! It was 8:05 p.m. The midwife, doctor, and nurses were allamazed that I did so well through it all, using HypnoBirthing, and despite the disturbance in my ideal situation (the OR was quite bright and I didn't bring in my music or anything that I had practiced). "This was the first unmedicated vaginal breech delivery at this hospital in TEN years! It was a beautiful experience, with absolutely no complications—not even a tear! I couldn't have done it without HypnoBirthing!!"
Efren's Birth
This is a beautiful birth story from a mom who took my HypnoBirthing class in 2007. Enjoy! -Cindy
I woke up on my birthday (September 27th) thinking about how nice it would be to have the whole day off, to relax and run some errands, and especially about the delicious mac & cheese I was going to have for my birthday dinner at the fancy French restaurant. When 10 am rolled around and I was still in the house with no interest in leaving the house I started to get suspicious that something might be happening. My due date was the day before, but for some reason (mainly wishful thinking daydreaming of having a few days off) I really thought my baby would be coming on Saturday. At any rate, around 11am the contractions started, nothing too intense, but consistent at about 10 minutes apart. I remember thinking how I was supposed to eat up and drink tons of liquids to have energy for labor, but I wasn’t hungry and didn’t really feel like food (another sure sign something was happening). I forced down half a bowl of pasta, ate a Cliff bar, drank lots of water, and called Armand to let him know what was going on. At this point I had no real idea of how long the labor would last (a pediatrician at work who gave birth the week before was having contractions every 5 minutes for two days before giving birth!), but knew I wanted Armand with me so when he asked if I wanted him to come home I said yes. I also gave Bethany a call letting her know, the plan was that she would hop on a plane from San Francisco when I started labor so she could make it here in time for the birth. She was driving to work when I called and she turned around, went home and grabbed a bag and hopped on the first flight to Chicago. When Armand made it home I was still having contractions every 10 minutes apart, and he made sure I had plenty of fluids and helped me as I tried various labor positions trying to find a comfortable position. I had him play one of my favorite calming records – an old National Geographic album “Music of Hawaii.” Soon the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and after about 20 minutes of this I called Jen Benson, a friend and a midwife in the practice I had been going to for prenatal care. Jen said she could come check me after she finished seeing patients at the clinic, I said great. The goal was to labor at home for as long as possible to be comfortable at home and to avoid showing up at the hospital at only 3 or 4 centimeters and then having a long hospital labor with possible unnecessary interventions. Initially we had hoped for a homebirth but after finding out that my insurance wouldn’t cover it we decided the next best option would be a hospital birth center with a great practice of midwives.
When I spoke to Jen on the phone I told her I was starting to have a lot of low back pressure with the contractions and she suggested a hot shower with water pressure on the low back. I tried this, which helped some. Armand and I had taken a great hypnobirthing class with the goal of training my body to go into deep relaxation through breathing and visualization techniques among other things. He was trying to help me visualize being at the Laguna de Apoyo in Nicaragua (one of my most favorite places in the world - calm, peaceful, beautiful), floating in the laguna surrounded by tropical forests, blue skies and the howler monkeys. For some reason as hard as I tried I couldn’t picture myself at the laguna, it seemed too abstract, and my mind kept coming back to one of the visualization exercises in our hypnobirthing class that I honestly thought was pretty corny – “picture your uterus as blue satin ribbons”. So that is what I did, and I think because it was something easy, direct and tangible the blue satin ribbons helped after all!
At a certain point in labor all I wanted to do was get in bed and play the hypnobirthing CD we had been listening to (or more appropriately falling asleep to) for the past two months. We laid in bed and listened to the CD which had the birth affirmations and rainbow relaxation exercise. I asked Armand to push on my low back to provide counterpressure whenever I had a contraction. He asked how he would know I was having a contraction (I wasn’t very verbal at this point, mainly focusing on breathing and relaxing), and I told him I would lift my hand up so he would know. Sometime during the rainbow relaxation I felt the counterpressure Armand was giving stop – Armand got too relaxed and fell asleep so I had to wake him up in order to get him to push on my low back! Close to 6:30pm I had a few contractions which felt completely different than the contractions up until that point. It felt like my baby was trying to push itself out. As we were still at home and the plan was to go to the hospital I was a little nervous and asked Armand to call Jen and find out how close she was, it turns out she was only two blocks away, hallelujah! She luckily found a parking spot right in front and came upstairs to check me. When she walked in the door I told her “I think this baby is coming.” She checked me and I was fully dilated and +2 (I learned that +2 means the baby’s head is right at the gate ready to come out). Jen said, “We have two options, we can either go to the nearest emergency room or have this baby here.” I voted for the second option, there was no way I was leaving my bed at that point. I knew Jen had never attended a home birth (although she had caught many many babies in the hospital), but I felt calm and secure and knew I was in great hands. And as luck (or manna) would have it, Jen being the super prepared person that she is (she says she aspires to be the ‘Sydney Bristow’ of midwives) had packed a little kit of the most essential home birth items and had been carrying it around in her car for the past three weeks ‘just in case’.
Jen decided to call Carrie, another midwife in the practice, who lives in Evanston just a few minutes away, to see if she could come assist as backup. When Jen was telling her the situation on the phone Armand overheard Carrie say “It’s that damn hypnobirthing!” as to how fast the labor progressed. She was eating dinner with her family when Jen called and arrived at our place 15 minutes later. Armand gathered some plastic, clean towels for the bed and a metal salad bowl for the placenta.
I was on my side in the bed with Armand and Carrie helping to support my leg. With each contraction I focused on breathing and relaxing (and trying not to curl my toes under) and letting the process of birth happen. Jen and Carrie asked if I wanted to touch my baby’s head and I immediately had a huge smile and the excitement of anticipation of finally meeting the baby who had been living and growing inside of me for so long. It didn’t occur to me to push with the contractions because no one was telling me to push, and I thought “I’m sure they will tell me to push when I need to.” Once Efren’s head was halfway out Jen said “Okay, you need to push, come welcome your baby into the world.” It seemed like I got about two good pushes in and he came squirming out! What an intense rush of overwhelming emotion and excitement incomparable to anything else you can think of. If I recall correctly the only thing I could verbalize at the moment was a very loud “Baby!” Armand’s hands caught him with Jen’s assist (yes, we discovered for the first time then that it was a boy) and put him on my chest. They cleaned him off with a towel and I got to snuggle with him on my chest, overcome with awe and amazement and love for this little creature Armand and I had been blessed with.
Soon after Armand got to cut the cord and not too long after that the placenta came. Everything was healthy and normal and was on a wonderful natural high from the birth. Words are inadequate to describe the whole of the experience, but it was beautiful and peaceful and perfect and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Within an hour after the birth Bethany arrived, as did Armand’s mom Sue and sister Consuela (Armand had to call everyone and tell them to come to our house instead of the hospital!), and Gwen came with a portable baby scale she borrowed from her clinic so we could weigh our new little guy, Efren Gabriel Rogers Esai, born at 7:18pm, 19 inches long and weighing 7 lbs 5 oz. We spent the rest of the evening at home surrounded by the abundant love and care of family and friends.
I woke up on my birthday (September 27th) thinking about how nice it would be to have the whole day off, to relax and run some errands, and especially about the delicious mac & cheese I was going to have for my birthday dinner at the fancy French restaurant. When 10 am rolled around and I was still in the house with no interest in leaving the house I started to get suspicious that something might be happening. My due date was the day before, but for some reason (mainly wishful thinking daydreaming of having a few days off) I really thought my baby would be coming on Saturday. At any rate, around 11am the contractions started, nothing too intense, but consistent at about 10 minutes apart. I remember thinking how I was supposed to eat up and drink tons of liquids to have energy for labor, but I wasn’t hungry and didn’t really feel like food (another sure sign something was happening). I forced down half a bowl of pasta, ate a Cliff bar, drank lots of water, and called Armand to let him know what was going on. At this point I had no real idea of how long the labor would last (a pediatrician at work who gave birth the week before was having contractions every 5 minutes for two days before giving birth!), but knew I wanted Armand with me so when he asked if I wanted him to come home I said yes. I also gave Bethany a call letting her know, the plan was that she would hop on a plane from San Francisco when I started labor so she could make it here in time for the birth. She was driving to work when I called and she turned around, went home and grabbed a bag and hopped on the first flight to Chicago. When Armand made it home I was still having contractions every 10 minutes apart, and he made sure I had plenty of fluids and helped me as I tried various labor positions trying to find a comfortable position. I had him play one of my favorite calming records – an old National Geographic album “Music of Hawaii.” Soon the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and after about 20 minutes of this I called Jen Benson, a friend and a midwife in the practice I had been going to for prenatal care. Jen said she could come check me after she finished seeing patients at the clinic, I said great. The goal was to labor at home for as long as possible to be comfortable at home and to avoid showing up at the hospital at only 3 or 4 centimeters and then having a long hospital labor with possible unnecessary interventions. Initially we had hoped for a homebirth but after finding out that my insurance wouldn’t cover it we decided the next best option would be a hospital birth center with a great practice of midwives.
When I spoke to Jen on the phone I told her I was starting to have a lot of low back pressure with the contractions and she suggested a hot shower with water pressure on the low back. I tried this, which helped some. Armand and I had taken a great hypnobirthing class with the goal of training my body to go into deep relaxation through breathing and visualization techniques among other things. He was trying to help me visualize being at the Laguna de Apoyo in Nicaragua (one of my most favorite places in the world - calm, peaceful, beautiful), floating in the laguna surrounded by tropical forests, blue skies and the howler monkeys. For some reason as hard as I tried I couldn’t picture myself at the laguna, it seemed too abstract, and my mind kept coming back to one of the visualization exercises in our hypnobirthing class that I honestly thought was pretty corny – “picture your uterus as blue satin ribbons”. So that is what I did, and I think because it was something easy, direct and tangible the blue satin ribbons helped after all!
At a certain point in labor all I wanted to do was get in bed and play the hypnobirthing CD we had been listening to (or more appropriately falling asleep to) for the past two months. We laid in bed and listened to the CD which had the birth affirmations and rainbow relaxation exercise. I asked Armand to push on my low back to provide counterpressure whenever I had a contraction. He asked how he would know I was having a contraction (I wasn’t very verbal at this point, mainly focusing on breathing and relaxing), and I told him I would lift my hand up so he would know. Sometime during the rainbow relaxation I felt the counterpressure Armand was giving stop – Armand got too relaxed and fell asleep so I had to wake him up in order to get him to push on my low back! Close to 6:30pm I had a few contractions which felt completely different than the contractions up until that point. It felt like my baby was trying to push itself out. As we were still at home and the plan was to go to the hospital I was a little nervous and asked Armand to call Jen and find out how close she was, it turns out she was only two blocks away, hallelujah! She luckily found a parking spot right in front and came upstairs to check me. When she walked in the door I told her “I think this baby is coming.” She checked me and I was fully dilated and +2 (I learned that +2 means the baby’s head is right at the gate ready to come out). Jen said, “We have two options, we can either go to the nearest emergency room or have this baby here.” I voted for the second option, there was no way I was leaving my bed at that point. I knew Jen had never attended a home birth (although she had caught many many babies in the hospital), but I felt calm and secure and knew I was in great hands. And as luck (or manna) would have it, Jen being the super prepared person that she is (she says she aspires to be the ‘Sydney Bristow’ of midwives) had packed a little kit of the most essential home birth items and had been carrying it around in her car for the past three weeks ‘just in case’.
Jen decided to call Carrie, another midwife in the practice, who lives in Evanston just a few minutes away, to see if she could come assist as backup. When Jen was telling her the situation on the phone Armand overheard Carrie say “It’s that damn hypnobirthing!” as to how fast the labor progressed. She was eating dinner with her family when Jen called and arrived at our place 15 minutes later. Armand gathered some plastic, clean towels for the bed and a metal salad bowl for the placenta.
I was on my side in the bed with Armand and Carrie helping to support my leg. With each contraction I focused on breathing and relaxing (and trying not to curl my toes under) and letting the process of birth happen. Jen and Carrie asked if I wanted to touch my baby’s head and I immediately had a huge smile and the excitement of anticipation of finally meeting the baby who had been living and growing inside of me for so long. It didn’t occur to me to push with the contractions because no one was telling me to push, and I thought “I’m sure they will tell me to push when I need to.” Once Efren’s head was halfway out Jen said “Okay, you need to push, come welcome your baby into the world.” It seemed like I got about two good pushes in and he came squirming out! What an intense rush of overwhelming emotion and excitement incomparable to anything else you can think of. If I recall correctly the only thing I could verbalize at the moment was a very loud “Baby!” Armand’s hands caught him with Jen’s assist (yes, we discovered for the first time then that it was a boy) and put him on my chest. They cleaned him off with a towel and I got to snuggle with him on my chest, overcome with awe and amazement and love for this little creature Armand and I had been blessed with.
Soon after Armand got to cut the cord and not too long after that the placenta came. Everything was healthy and normal and was on a wonderful natural high from the birth. Words are inadequate to describe the whole of the experience, but it was beautiful and peaceful and perfect and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Within an hour after the birth Bethany arrived, as did Armand’s mom Sue and sister Consuela (Armand had to call everyone and tell them to come to our house instead of the hospital!), and Gwen came with a portable baby scale she borrowed from her clinic so we could weigh our new little guy, Efren Gabriel Rogers Esai, born at 7:18pm, 19 inches long and weighing 7 lbs 5 oz. We spent the rest of the evening at home surrounded by the abundant love and care of family and friends.
Birth Story
Here is a birth story from a 2nd-time mom in one of my classes. Notice her description of the sensations of Nearing Completion (*) and the power of suggestion by the OB (**).
(Of course, we are glad that the OB suggested that the birth would take 15 minutes with one birthing option, but my HypnoBirthing side doesn't applaud the doc about the suggestion for a 5 hour birthing phase with breathing down! Sounds like it definitely would NOT have taken that long...!)
Our “due date” was March 25, but I avoided telling people that date like the plague. I would just say “the end of March” in an attempt to avoid having everyone ask me why I was still there if the date passed with no baby (my son was 5 days “late”). I went to work on Monday, March 24. I had been having practice labor off and on for weeks. I had declined all internals since they had no medical purpose for me, and also so that I wouldn’t obsess about something that had no bearing whatsoever on when I would give birth. I finally got an indication that something was happening when I noticed a tiny bit of mucus on one of my dozens of trips to the ladies’ room. With my son, I lost the uterine seal all at once, so this was something different for me.
We got home that evening, and went to bed around 10:00. As we lay down, I said that maybe we should call our friend who was going to watch our son when we went to the hospital – just to give him a heads up. I almost didn’t say anything since I would have felt foolish for bothering him if this weren’t really it. So my husband called him, and we went to sleep. Between 10:00 and 1:00, I woke up twice feeling the surges, but was able to just go the bathroom and go back to sleep. At 1:30, I finally got up. I didn’t want to wake my husband just yet, so I got onto ContractionMaster to gauge how far apart and how long they were. I didn’t want to obsess over it, but since it was my second baby, I also didn’t want to wait too long. I was also positive for Group B strep, and wanted to make sure I was able to get the antibiotics in enough time. I timed for about an hour, and they were 4-6 minutes apart and about 1min 10sec each. I was also having a lot of “show”. The contractions were strong enough that I had to breathe through them, so we called our doula around 2:30 a.m. to let her know that we were in labor.
I called my OB around 6:00 to let her know that we would be coming in. I actually work for the hospital, and our daycare opened at 6:30 and was right next to the hospital, so I really wanted to wait to leave so that at least I wouldn’t worry about our son getting there.
We dropped our son off at daycare around 7:00, parked the car and walked the 4 blocks to the hospital. When we got there, I was checked in triage and found to be 5.5 cm – I forget how effaced I was, but the opening was enough to get us up to L&D around 8:00. Our doula met us there, and I spent the next 7.5 hours mostly on the birthing ball with my husband sitting on the bed behind me to steady the ball and our doula sitting in front of me holding my hands. My husband talked to me almost nonstop the whole time, which I needed in order to stay relaxed. He didn’t use the exercises really, but he recited a lot of the birthing prompts over and over, and added his own encouraging words. When I would break out of it, to go to the bathroom or answer questions from the nurse, etc. the surges were much harder to manage. When I would have a surge while my husband was speaking to me, I was able to ride it out much more easily. I was even nodding off in between them.
By about 2:00, I was starting to get tired, both from lack of sleep and from the surges. They still weren’t completely unbearable, but despite hypnobirthing suggestions, they were getting painful. I had not admitted to anyone (including myself) but I think a part of me was still convinced that, like my first birth, I would use the techniques to get to a certain point, and then get the epidural. Now that I was getting to that point, I was starting to lose my Happy Thoughts. My husband and doula were so encouraging. I laid on the bed for a while and listened to Rainbow Relaxation – and I actually dozed in and out between surges. I agreed to be checked again around 3:30, and was 8.5 cm. They offered to break the membranes to hurry her along, but I declined. Partly I was worried about feeling even MORE pressure, even though knew that I’d have to go through that pressure in order to get her out.
They left the room, and I rolled on my side in the bed and listened to the Rainbow Relaxation again, and that’s when my waters released. WOW! I felt a HUGE gush and actually thought I’d pooped all over myself. *At that point, I told them I wanted the epidural. I was just crying and shaking all over and saying how I’d tried but I’d had enough. They called everyone back in and my OB checked me. She said that she knew how much I wanted this and how great we had done, and then she said…. If I didn’t get the epi, I would probably have the baby out in 15-30 minutes. I had wanted to use the Breathing Down techniques we learned in our Hypnobirthing class, but the OB said that she had a mother the day before use that technique and it took her 5 hours to birth the baby**. Whether it was true or she just wanted to go home, I don’t know, but that’s all I needed to hear – I was going to push. Also, the baby had passed the meconium and I wanted to have her taken care of.
They got ready, and I felt a surge coming, and started to push. I could feel her beginning to move down the birth path, but I was having trouble focusing. I didn’t want to listen to anyone, I just wanted this to be done and over. I got to the point where her head was almost out, and thought, “There’s the ring of fire!” I barely noticed that though, because now the pressure was incredibly intense. Somewhere in my mind I thought I had better take a break so I had time to stretch and not tear. I stopped pushing for a second, and then resumed with the next contraction. I think it was at that point that I was yelling pretty loudly at my daughter – I’m not proud of it, but I was ready to be DONE, so I kept shouting “CLAIRE!” much to everyone’s amusement. I guess most women yell at the father, not the baby! She was finally born at 4:50 p.m. – after 15 minutes of pushing. Her head was actually round, not cone-shaped, since she came out so quickly. Claire Alethia weighed 8lb 2oz and was 19.5" long.
I had two tears – one very small near the perineum and one about 1 cm long on the upper side. Yeah, not fun (especially getting stitched up!), but I actually haven’t had any pain from them. Claire is a great nurser once she gets going, and we are so glad to have our family all together at last.
Donna
(Of course, we are glad that the OB suggested that the birth would take 15 minutes with one birthing option, but my HypnoBirthing side doesn't applaud the doc about the suggestion for a 5 hour birthing phase with breathing down! Sounds like it definitely would NOT have taken that long...!)
Our “due date” was March 25, but I avoided telling people that date like the plague. I would just say “the end of March” in an attempt to avoid having everyone ask me why I was still there if the date passed with no baby (my son was 5 days “late”). I went to work on Monday, March 24. I had been having practice labor off and on for weeks. I had declined all internals since they had no medical purpose for me, and also so that I wouldn’t obsess about something that had no bearing whatsoever on when I would give birth. I finally got an indication that something was happening when I noticed a tiny bit of mucus on one of my dozens of trips to the ladies’ room. With my son, I lost the uterine seal all at once, so this was something different for me.
We got home that evening, and went to bed around 10:00. As we lay down, I said that maybe we should call our friend who was going to watch our son when we went to the hospital – just to give him a heads up. I almost didn’t say anything since I would have felt foolish for bothering him if this weren’t really it. So my husband called him, and we went to sleep. Between 10:00 and 1:00, I woke up twice feeling the surges, but was able to just go the bathroom and go back to sleep. At 1:30, I finally got up. I didn’t want to wake my husband just yet, so I got onto ContractionMaster to gauge how far apart and how long they were. I didn’t want to obsess over it, but since it was my second baby, I also didn’t want to wait too long. I was also positive for Group B strep, and wanted to make sure I was able to get the antibiotics in enough time. I timed for about an hour, and they were 4-6 minutes apart and about 1min 10sec each. I was also having a lot of “show”. The contractions were strong enough that I had to breathe through them, so we called our doula around 2:30 a.m. to let her know that we were in labor.
I called my OB around 6:00 to let her know that we would be coming in. I actually work for the hospital, and our daycare opened at 6:30 and was right next to the hospital, so I really wanted to wait to leave so that at least I wouldn’t worry about our son getting there.
We dropped our son off at daycare around 7:00, parked the car and walked the 4 blocks to the hospital. When we got there, I was checked in triage and found to be 5.5 cm – I forget how effaced I was, but the opening was enough to get us up to L&D around 8:00. Our doula met us there, and I spent the next 7.5 hours mostly on the birthing ball with my husband sitting on the bed behind me to steady the ball and our doula sitting in front of me holding my hands. My husband talked to me almost nonstop the whole time, which I needed in order to stay relaxed. He didn’t use the exercises really, but he recited a lot of the birthing prompts over and over, and added his own encouraging words. When I would break out of it, to go to the bathroom or answer questions from the nurse, etc. the surges were much harder to manage. When I would have a surge while my husband was speaking to me, I was able to ride it out much more easily. I was even nodding off in between them.
By about 2:00, I was starting to get tired, both from lack of sleep and from the surges. They still weren’t completely unbearable, but despite hypnobirthing suggestions, they were getting painful. I had not admitted to anyone (including myself) but I think a part of me was still convinced that, like my first birth, I would use the techniques to get to a certain point, and then get the epidural. Now that I was getting to that point, I was starting to lose my Happy Thoughts. My husband and doula were so encouraging. I laid on the bed for a while and listened to Rainbow Relaxation – and I actually dozed in and out between surges. I agreed to be checked again around 3:30, and was 8.5 cm. They offered to break the membranes to hurry her along, but I declined. Partly I was worried about feeling even MORE pressure, even though knew that I’d have to go through that pressure in order to get her out.
They left the room, and I rolled on my side in the bed and listened to the Rainbow Relaxation again, and that’s when my waters released. WOW! I felt a HUGE gush and actually thought I’d pooped all over myself. *At that point, I told them I wanted the epidural. I was just crying and shaking all over and saying how I’d tried but I’d had enough. They called everyone back in and my OB checked me. She said that she knew how much I wanted this and how great we had done, and then she said…. If I didn’t get the epi, I would probably have the baby out in 15-30 minutes. I had wanted to use the Breathing Down techniques we learned in our Hypnobirthing class, but the OB said that she had a mother the day before use that technique and it took her 5 hours to birth the baby**. Whether it was true or she just wanted to go home, I don’t know, but that’s all I needed to hear – I was going to push. Also, the baby had passed the meconium and I wanted to have her taken care of.
They got ready, and I felt a surge coming, and started to push. I could feel her beginning to move down the birth path, but I was having trouble focusing. I didn’t want to listen to anyone, I just wanted this to be done and over. I got to the point where her head was almost out, and thought, “There’s the ring of fire!” I barely noticed that though, because now the pressure was incredibly intense. Somewhere in my mind I thought I had better take a break so I had time to stretch and not tear. I stopped pushing for a second, and then resumed with the next contraction. I think it was at that point that I was yelling pretty loudly at my daughter – I’m not proud of it, but I was ready to be DONE, so I kept shouting “CLAIRE!” much to everyone’s amusement. I guess most women yell at the father, not the baby! She was finally born at 4:50 p.m. – after 15 minutes of pushing. Her head was actually round, not cone-shaped, since she came out so quickly. Claire Alethia weighed 8lb 2oz and was 19.5" long.
I had two tears – one very small near the perineum and one about 1 cm long on the upper side. Yeah, not fun (especially getting stitched up!), but I actually haven’t had any pain from them. Claire is a great nurser once she gets going, and we are so glad to have our family all together at last.
Donna
"Baby's Choice" Story
A "Baby's Choice" birth story:
One of the many couples I taught HypnoBirthing to (this one took the class this past spring) didn't have a doula. I was already contracted with the other couple from the same class, so after their baby was born (before their guess date), I said, as I say to most of the couples in my classes, "Call me when you're in labor. If I'm available, I'll come." That was the arrangement. I was thrilled because they planned to birth at the West Suburban Hospital ABC, one of the most natural-birth-friendly environments in town and only about 20 minutes from my new home.
So, they called one night around 6:30pm. Labor was starting; Dad said, "We're either experiencing some really intense practice labor, or things are starting," and surges were about 7 minutes apart. He said they didn't quite want me there yet, but we agreed that we should touch base by 10/10:30 if not before.
So, Dad called at 9pm. Things were really intense, he said--surges 2 minutes apart. TWO MINUTES APART??! There was blood. Okay, I said, that's totally normal, what has the midwife said? He said the midwife told him that she was in early labor and it could take a while. I suggested he talk to them again and said, "You should probably start thinking about going to the hospital". I asked if Mom was staying calm, and he hesitated. I saw this as a sign that things were intense for this normally very laid-back couple. I assured them that it can be very intense when things start happening fast (as it sounded like they were). I told him to help her focus on her breathing, relax her belly, take a shower, take it step by step. We hung up as Dad was going to call the midwives.
20 minutes later, another call...Dad said they were headed to the hospital. I agreed to meet them there.
Exactly 7 minutes later, while I'm in the car with my sweetheart (who agreed to give me a ride), heading to the hospital, Dad calls and says he can see the baby's head (and he said it was pointy). He's definitely nervous. Wow! I said, that's fine, just stay calm--it's normal for the head to be "pointy" (it's the molding, of course). At some point he put me on speakerphone. I say to mom, "Just keep doing what you're doing, you're doing great!" Next thing I know, he says something about the baby's eyes. She says the baby is coming out. I say something about "just let him come" (all I could think to say), and while whispering expletives ("The baby is being born right now!") and slapping my chauffeur on the arm, I hear mom grunting and the baby being born. I hear, "What is it? It's a boy! Oh, baby..." and then I hear the familiar cries of a newborn baby. Dad asks what to do, is he okay? I said as long as he is breathing and crying and turning pink, he is fine. We talked briefly about what to do next (Call 911? Call midwives?) and I told him to call his midwives. This was a 5-minute conversation!
Since we didn't get far from home, I dropped my chauffeur and went directly to their house--a 20 minute drive. Baby looks amazingly good (pink, calm, cozy), still connected to the cord, and mom is lying in bed in a mess of blood and tissue! And all I can think about is getting a bowl for the placenta (which had not appeared yet)--I was obsessed with getting a bowl. I found a pot. About 5 minutes after I arrived, the paramedics arrived. Mom & Dad went to the closest hospital (not where they were planning) and the placenta was soon born, breastfeeding initiated...and all was well.
Wow. Really, there are no other words.
I am in total awe of this amazing woman who felt her own baby emerging between her legs and was able to follow her body and birth the way she & nature intended.
And I just can't express fully how much joy I feel when I realize that this wonderful man was this Mom's sole birthing attendant...and that he received his own baby!
Now, I just want to add that, after speaking to this couple a few weeks after the birth and reminiscing together, that Mom now knows that she was laboring all day long. As is common with HypnoBirthing moms, she just chilled out and didn't think much of it. When they called me, things really started getting intense. Their midwives did not believe them, that labor was really moving as fast as it was. They assumed their calm demeanor and lack of discomfort or drama could only mean very early labor. Boy, were they wrong!
One of the many couples I taught HypnoBirthing to (this one took the class this past spring) didn't have a doula. I was already contracted with the other couple from the same class, so after their baby was born (before their guess date), I said, as I say to most of the couples in my classes, "Call me when you're in labor. If I'm available, I'll come." That was the arrangement. I was thrilled because they planned to birth at the West Suburban Hospital ABC, one of the most natural-birth-friendly environments in town and only about 20 minutes from my new home.
So, they called one night around 6:30pm. Labor was starting; Dad said, "We're either experiencing some really intense practice labor, or things are starting," and surges were about 7 minutes apart. He said they didn't quite want me there yet, but we agreed that we should touch base by 10/10:30 if not before.
So, Dad called at 9pm. Things were really intense, he said--surges 2 minutes apart. TWO MINUTES APART??! There was blood. Okay, I said, that's totally normal, what has the midwife said? He said the midwife told him that she was in early labor and it could take a while. I suggested he talk to them again and said, "You should probably start thinking about going to the hospital". I asked if Mom was staying calm, and he hesitated. I saw this as a sign that things were intense for this normally very laid-back couple. I assured them that it can be very intense when things start happening fast (as it sounded like they were). I told him to help her focus on her breathing, relax her belly, take a shower, take it step by step. We hung up as Dad was going to call the midwives.
20 minutes later, another call...Dad said they were headed to the hospital. I agreed to meet them there.
Exactly 7 minutes later, while I'm in the car with my sweetheart (who agreed to give me a ride), heading to the hospital, Dad calls and says he can see the baby's head (and he said it was pointy). He's definitely nervous. Wow! I said, that's fine, just stay calm--it's normal for the head to be "pointy" (it's the molding, of course). At some point he put me on speakerphone. I say to mom, "Just keep doing what you're doing, you're doing great!" Next thing I know, he says something about the baby's eyes. She says the baby is coming out. I say something about "just let him come" (all I could think to say), and while whispering expletives ("The baby is being born right now!") and slapping my chauffeur on the arm, I hear mom grunting and the baby being born. I hear, "What is it? It's a boy! Oh, baby..." and then I hear the familiar cries of a newborn baby. Dad asks what to do, is he okay? I said as long as he is breathing and crying and turning pink, he is fine. We talked briefly about what to do next (Call 911? Call midwives?) and I told him to call his midwives. This was a 5-minute conversation!
Since we didn't get far from home, I dropped my chauffeur and went directly to their house--a 20 minute drive. Baby looks amazingly good (pink, calm, cozy), still connected to the cord, and mom is lying in bed in a mess of blood and tissue! And all I can think about is getting a bowl for the placenta (which had not appeared yet)--I was obsessed with getting a bowl. I found a pot. About 5 minutes after I arrived, the paramedics arrived. Mom & Dad went to the closest hospital (not where they were planning) and the placenta was soon born, breastfeeding initiated...and all was well.
Wow. Really, there are no other words.
I am in total awe of this amazing woman who felt her own baby emerging between her legs and was able to follow her body and birth the way she & nature intended.
And I just can't express fully how much joy I feel when I realize that this wonderful man was this Mom's sole birthing attendant...and that he received his own baby!
Now, I just want to add that, after speaking to this couple a few weeks after the birth and reminiscing together, that Mom now knows that she was laboring all day long. As is common with HypnoBirthing moms, she just chilled out and didn't think much of it. When they called me, things really started getting intense. Their midwives did not believe them, that labor was really moving as fast as it was. They assumed their calm demeanor and lack of discomfort or drama could only mean very early labor. Boy, were they wrong!
Deeply Ingrained - Even for an MD
The following is a series of emails that was shared with us by Lorne Campbell, MD--you'll recognize him as the Family Physician who wrote the Foreward to our book, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method. He is the doctor with the "Take this hand, put it in your pocket, take this hand, put it in your other pocket, now step back and watch," method of teaching new doctors to attend births. Notice how even this well-trained doctor/mom has a hard time releasing her previous conditioning about birth.
Also notice how Mom's disbelief about the reality of labor and how thoughts about how "breathing down didn't work" are very similar to what I hear from many of YOU! It's very deeply ingrained in our culture. Very deep.
Note: Names, Dates and locations have been intentionally eliminated to allow anonymity.
This is a series of emails that IHave exchanged with X, a Family Physician in [city]. I trained her to attend at births and X taught to HypnoBirth. She had a successful HypnoBirth on Sunday.Pay attention to her language to see how dificult it is to release old beliefs that are deeply held. Remember this when working with medical people.
Lorne
[From the Mom:]
X was born Sunday August X at [time] to X and X! Labor was induced by pitocin for X's high blood pressure but there were no problems or complications. We planned for a water birth and decided to get in the tub around 8 cm, 6 pm Saturday night, but X became so relaxed in the tub with the pitocin off that labor stopped completely so we had to get out of the tub and birth on "dry land." We used hypnosis for relief of pain which was very effective, and I really only experienced a low back ache. The final half hour or so of pushing was unbelievable hard work, but the reward was great with a healthy 9 pound 7.4 ounce 20 inch baby boy! (Wow thats alot of baby).
Pictures attached.
Love,X, X & X
Campbell, Lorne wrote: Congratulations[Baby] is beautifulI posted his picture here and everybody says her looks like you. I think he looks like a baby. Now you know why I said that birth does not hurt. There was no pain relief. You just did not cause abnormal labor.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
Youre right. It never even occured to me to ask for pain medication, and until the final pushing stage which was relatively short, I do not even recall feeling anything like a "contraction" even though they apperared on the monitor.I kept asking if the pitocin was expired. I didnt even need any cues for handling "surges" because I never felt any until the very end.
I requested induction friday because my two best friends were in town through Sunday and I really wanted them present to support me and X while I was in labor. I am so glad I did because it made a huge difference in my ability to relax and enjoy the process. They brought music and we spent most of labor dancing to the soundtrack of Hairspray which was hilarious, and when I needed help getting to the bathoom or backrubs, they were able to help so X could get some periods of sleep, allowing him to enjoy it so much more. X was amazing, she stayed at the hospital with us from Friday night when we arrived all the way to delivery Sunday midnight and my postpartum check Sunday morning. The only thiing I would have done differently would have been to let her break my water Saturday midnight when she offered instead of waiting till Saturday 11 am, since I probably would have finished about 12 hours sooner. I did not go into active labor until she did that Saturday.
The principles of de-programming all the incorrect things I had learned in training about pain, and doing fear release was really all I needed, not the actual hypnosis. I hadnt fully released the fear of tearing, and as a result I struggled to push effectively near the end. I think "breathing down" is good but probably did not work for me because I was not fully relaxed by that point. In the last few minutes I could read the body language of my nurse and midwife. I could see without looking at the strip that there were deep decelerations on the monitor as I tried to help the baby past the symphysis pubis and she was doing scalp stim. At this point I got determined, let go of my fear of tearing, and brought out some much more effective pushes.
Had I not had the fear of tearing in my mind beginning the pushing stage it probably would have required alot less pushing altogether as my perineum would have stayed more relaxed. The most helpful thing [the doctor] said to me then was that it was not how strongly I pushed, but how long I pushed that mattered. With this I was less afraid of tearing and able to hold the push twice as long with great results. I had a very minor 2nd degree tear which took no time to sew, I didnt notice the lidocaine or sewing and was able to bond and nurse while it was done. I have had no continence issues, no discomfort with bowel movements, and have only taken motrin 2-3 times for perineal soreness. I did feel like I had the crap beat of of me the next two days. I think this was intercostal/oblique muscle soreness from my initial ineffective pushing. By day 4 I started feeling like myself again and am feeling better everyday. We are really enjoying our "babymoon". We spent almost on hour last night laughing in bed hysterically at all the faces he makes in his sleep. Leaving the phones off was the best advice also.
Thank you so much for introducing us to hypnobirthing in residency. I am already looking forward to my next birth. After delivering my almost 10 pounder, next time I want a 7 pound girl in the birthing tub ;)
Please send us your new email in the fall when you get to [city] so we can keep in touch. Hopefully we will make our way up north again in the next 2-3 years.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote:
Next birth do a fear release around the issue of pushing. There is no need to push. It actually slows the birth down. Pushing involves the pelvic floor muscles tightening. This impedes the movement of the head along the birth path. Next time breathe the baby down. Give up all of the residual bad things you learned about birthing. You are too smart to believe the crap you were taught. I would like to forward this email to other HypnoBirth practitioners so they may learn.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
ok. You are welcome to forward the email. I will probably type it into a 1 page story to give to X to keep for her collection of stories also. I will forward you that sometime.Thanks again.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote :
Do Not answer my email. Get off the computer and enjoy being a mom. Happy Babymoon. Thank you
Lorne
Also notice how Mom's disbelief about the reality of labor and how thoughts about how "breathing down didn't work" are very similar to what I hear from many of YOU! It's very deeply ingrained in our culture. Very deep.
Note: Names, Dates and locations have been intentionally eliminated to allow anonymity.
This is a series of emails that IHave exchanged with X, a Family Physician in [city]. I trained her to attend at births and X taught to HypnoBirth. She had a successful HypnoBirth on Sunday.Pay attention to her language to see how dificult it is to release old beliefs that are deeply held. Remember this when working with medical people.
Lorne
[From the Mom:]
X was born Sunday August X at [time] to X and X! Labor was induced by pitocin for X's high blood pressure but there were no problems or complications. We planned for a water birth and decided to get in the tub around 8 cm, 6 pm Saturday night, but X became so relaxed in the tub with the pitocin off that labor stopped completely so we had to get out of the tub and birth on "dry land." We used hypnosis for relief of pain which was very effective, and I really only experienced a low back ache. The final half hour or so of pushing was unbelievable hard work, but the reward was great with a healthy 9 pound 7.4 ounce 20 inch baby boy! (Wow thats alot of baby).
Pictures attached.
Love,X, X & X
Campbell, Lorne wrote: Congratulations[Baby] is beautifulI posted his picture here and everybody says her looks like you. I think he looks like a baby. Now you know why I said that birth does not hurt. There was no pain relief. You just did not cause abnormal labor.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
Youre right. It never even occured to me to ask for pain medication, and until the final pushing stage which was relatively short, I do not even recall feeling anything like a "contraction" even though they apperared on the monitor.I kept asking if the pitocin was expired. I didnt even need any cues for handling "surges" because I never felt any until the very end.
I requested induction friday because my two best friends were in town through Sunday and I really wanted them present to support me and X while I was in labor. I am so glad I did because it made a huge difference in my ability to relax and enjoy the process. They brought music and we spent most of labor dancing to the soundtrack of Hairspray which was hilarious, and when I needed help getting to the bathoom or backrubs, they were able to help so X could get some periods of sleep, allowing him to enjoy it so much more. X was amazing, she stayed at the hospital with us from Friday night when we arrived all the way to delivery Sunday midnight and my postpartum check Sunday morning. The only thiing I would have done differently would have been to let her break my water Saturday midnight when she offered instead of waiting till Saturday 11 am, since I probably would have finished about 12 hours sooner. I did not go into active labor until she did that Saturday.
The principles of de-programming all the incorrect things I had learned in training about pain, and doing fear release was really all I needed, not the actual hypnosis. I hadnt fully released the fear of tearing, and as a result I struggled to push effectively near the end. I think "breathing down" is good but probably did not work for me because I was not fully relaxed by that point. In the last few minutes I could read the body language of my nurse and midwife. I could see without looking at the strip that there were deep decelerations on the monitor as I tried to help the baby past the symphysis pubis and she was doing scalp stim. At this point I got determined, let go of my fear of tearing, and brought out some much more effective pushes.
Had I not had the fear of tearing in my mind beginning the pushing stage it probably would have required alot less pushing altogether as my perineum would have stayed more relaxed. The most helpful thing [the doctor] said to me then was that it was not how strongly I pushed, but how long I pushed that mattered. With this I was less afraid of tearing and able to hold the push twice as long with great results. I had a very minor 2nd degree tear which took no time to sew, I didnt notice the lidocaine or sewing and was able to bond and nurse while it was done. I have had no continence issues, no discomfort with bowel movements, and have only taken motrin 2-3 times for perineal soreness. I did feel like I had the crap beat of of me the next two days. I think this was intercostal/oblique muscle soreness from my initial ineffective pushing. By day 4 I started feeling like myself again and am feeling better everyday. We are really enjoying our "babymoon". We spent almost on hour last night laughing in bed hysterically at all the faces he makes in his sleep. Leaving the phones off was the best advice also.
Thank you so much for introducing us to hypnobirthing in residency. I am already looking forward to my next birth. After delivering my almost 10 pounder, next time I want a 7 pound girl in the birthing tub ;)
Please send us your new email in the fall when you get to [city] so we can keep in touch. Hopefully we will make our way up north again in the next 2-3 years.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote:
Next birth do a fear release around the issue of pushing. There is no need to push. It actually slows the birth down. Pushing involves the pelvic floor muscles tightening. This impedes the movement of the head along the birth path. Next time breathe the baby down. Give up all of the residual bad things you learned about birthing. You are too smart to believe the crap you were taught. I would like to forward this email to other HypnoBirth practitioners so they may learn.
Lorne
[From the Mom]:
ok. You are welcome to forward the email. I will probably type it into a 1 page story to give to X to keep for her collection of stories also. I will forward you that sometime.Thanks again.
X
Campbell, Lorne wrote :
Do Not answer my email. Get off the computer and enjoy being a mom. Happy Babymoon. Thank you
Lorne
45 Minute Labor - Start to Finish!
Here is a fabulous birth story, passed on from another HypnoBirthing practitioner in Canada...
(Comments from the HypnoBirthing instructor: "It is rare for me to share a birth story with you all. This one was so comfortable, quick and the parents so wise is knowing what was best for their family, wiser than the 911 and emergency workers, that I had to share. It is their second birth, 45 minutes total:")
I still can't believe how it all happened. It seems like a dream. When I started to feel like things were starting, I told D to put the hose on and fill up the pool. He made me a milkshake. I sipped it in the bath. It was past midnight and I said something along the lines of "I hope the baby is born before our son wakes up in the morning." The midwives told me to take his labour and cut the time in half, and that would be a rough estimate. So they were predicting 6-12 hours start to birth.
After my bath I sat on the couch and watched the pool filling up. We called the midwives and I told the student midwife that things had started but that I had not seen any "show" and also still had the water intact. She asked me if I had felt three "good" contractions. I said, these are very intense but I only feel the tightening in the lowest part of my abdomen, where I normally feel my period cramps. I told her that my balloon breathing exercise was not working to help, because I couldn't get my breath down low enough, and that the upper part of my uterus didn't seem to be engaged in the process. But the surges were coming really close together, like 2 or 3 minutes apart. She told me to call back when things start to get more intense. I thought things were already pretty intense, but I was also starting to feel nice and space-y and so I just shrugged my shoulders and said I would call back.
As I sat on the couch I felt that great sensation of floating and (this should have been a hint!) so I asked D to escort me to the bathroom because I wasn't too secure on my feet. Sure enough, on our way back from the bathroom I felt a really big surge in the hallway and had to stop to catch my breath. I kept trying to fill up my balloon but to no avail. D helped me into the tub and put on some relaxing music, and I asked him: Why can't I fill up my balloon? He saw the look on my face and called the midwives right away, and left a message for them to come.
As soon as he hung up the phone, my water released, and out with the rush I suddenly felt a head. I said to D, "you are going to have to receive her yourself." I'm pretty sure there was some adult language used at this point, when we realized we were all alone. Then, with the next surge the head popped out. I looked at D and said, you better dial 911 and ask them how to best receive the baby so we don't hurt her. D dialed 911, but the lady on the other end was obsessed about me getting out of the pool, and not helping D figure out how to deal with the birth, so he dropped the phone and got behind me.
The third surge brought the rest of the baby out, and then we just sort of sat there in shock. I was totally stoned from the endorphins. Here I had this perfect little girl in my arms, and it was so quiet in the house, we were all alone. D covered her up with some receiving blankets, and she started to root right away. So I put her to my breast and she started nursing. That's when I heard the footsteps of all the emergency workers ( EMS, fire and Police. 2 of each).
The 911 operator had D running around looking for a shoe lace, and I kept telling him, don't worry about the cord, it can stay for a long time, the baby is already breathing. The EMS people didn't agree and wanted D to cut the cord right away and to wipe off the vernix. I remember saying to the six men standing over me in the pool, while I sat there naked, "hey, thanks so much for coming but you can go now, our midwives are on their way." D was trying to coax at least 4 of the 6 guys to go back downstairs. The midwives arrived last, and couldn't believe what had happened. They said they would never have picked me for the rush delivery, given the length of my first labour.
In retrospect I now realize that when I called the midwives the first time, I was already probably fully dilated. That's why the surges were so low down in my abdomen, and if I had been aware of it, I would have tried to breathe her down. But, it's funny how blindly we believe in the "textbook" version of labour. I just assumed I was in prelabour because that's what I've been told happens first. I never dreamed it could happen in my sleep or without my knowledge!
M
(Comments from the HypnoBirthing instructor: "It is rare for me to share a birth story with you all. This one was so comfortable, quick and the parents so wise is knowing what was best for their family, wiser than the 911 and emergency workers, that I had to share. It is their second birth, 45 minutes total:")
I still can't believe how it all happened. It seems like a dream. When I started to feel like things were starting, I told D to put the hose on and fill up the pool. He made me a milkshake. I sipped it in the bath. It was past midnight and I said something along the lines of "I hope the baby is born before our son wakes up in the morning." The midwives told me to take his labour and cut the time in half, and that would be a rough estimate. So they were predicting 6-12 hours start to birth.
After my bath I sat on the couch and watched the pool filling up. We called the midwives and I told the student midwife that things had started but that I had not seen any "show" and also still had the water intact. She asked me if I had felt three "good" contractions. I said, these are very intense but I only feel the tightening in the lowest part of my abdomen, where I normally feel my period cramps. I told her that my balloon breathing exercise was not working to help, because I couldn't get my breath down low enough, and that the upper part of my uterus didn't seem to be engaged in the process. But the surges were coming really close together, like 2 or 3 minutes apart. She told me to call back when things start to get more intense. I thought things were already pretty intense, but I was also starting to feel nice and space-y and so I just shrugged my shoulders and said I would call back.
As I sat on the couch I felt that great sensation of floating and (this should have been a hint!) so I asked D to escort me to the bathroom because I wasn't too secure on my feet. Sure enough, on our way back from the bathroom I felt a really big surge in the hallway and had to stop to catch my breath. I kept trying to fill up my balloon but to no avail. D helped me into the tub and put on some relaxing music, and I asked him: Why can't I fill up my balloon? He saw the look on my face and called the midwives right away, and left a message for them to come.
As soon as he hung up the phone, my water released, and out with the rush I suddenly felt a head. I said to D, "you are going to have to receive her yourself." I'm pretty sure there was some adult language used at this point, when we realized we were all alone. Then, with the next surge the head popped out. I looked at D and said, you better dial 911 and ask them how to best receive the baby so we don't hurt her. D dialed 911, but the lady on the other end was obsessed about me getting out of the pool, and not helping D figure out how to deal with the birth, so he dropped the phone and got behind me.
The third surge brought the rest of the baby out, and then we just sort of sat there in shock. I was totally stoned from the endorphins. Here I had this perfect little girl in my arms, and it was so quiet in the house, we were all alone. D covered her up with some receiving blankets, and she started to root right away. So I put her to my breast and she started nursing. That's when I heard the footsteps of all the emergency workers ( EMS, fire and Police. 2 of each).
The 911 operator had D running around looking for a shoe lace, and I kept telling him, don't worry about the cord, it can stay for a long time, the baby is already breathing. The EMS people didn't agree and wanted D to cut the cord right away and to wipe off the vernix. I remember saying to the six men standing over me in the pool, while I sat there naked, "hey, thanks so much for coming but you can go now, our midwives are on their way." D was trying to coax at least 4 of the 6 guys to go back downstairs. The midwives arrived last, and couldn't believe what had happened. They said they would never have picked me for the rush delivery, given the length of my first labour.
In retrospect I now realize that when I called the midwives the first time, I was already probably fully dilated. That's why the surges were so low down in my abdomen, and if I had been aware of it, I would have tried to breathe her down. But, it's funny how blindly we believe in the "textbook" version of labour. I just assumed I was in prelabour because that's what I've been told happens first. I never dreamed it could happen in my sleep or without my knowledge!
M
Mason's Birth Story - 2008
A beautiful birth story, passed on from another HypnoBirthing practitioner:
My pregnancy was wonderful and enjoyable from the start: no morning sickness, absent was unbearable fatigue and crazy cravings never found me! All of the things I had been told by many to expect. Throughout my pregnancy, in addition to the congratulatory excitement from family, friends and strangers also came the ‘doom and gloom’ birth stories. I would politely listen but would never let them get the better of my positive outlook.
Positive attitude is what I believe created my pregnancy and birth outcome! That is how I knew HypnoBirthing was the right choice for my husband, my baby and me. Growing up, I was always fascinated by pregnancy and birth. From a young age, I would ask my mom what labor was like for her and what it felt like to be pregnant. I have never forgotten her responses. She shared with me that she never felt more beautiful or amazed by her body then when she was pregnant. She also told me that the pain you feel in childbirth can’t be described because it is the only discomfort where there is a joyous outcome!
My midwife thought that I would go earlier than my guess date (a Thursday). At my appointment a week beforehand, she said the baby’s head was at a zero station and I was dilated 1 cm. My parents rushed in from out of state a few days earlier than planned but the baby did not! My husband and I enjoyed the next week + with my parents; walking, watching movies, walking some more, eating great meals outside in the backyard and enjoying each other’s company!
My husband decided to take the few days around my guess date off from work in case anything should happen. It ended up being a great time to prepare for the baby and relax! He decided over the weekend that he would return to work on Monday. On Monday morning, around 5:30 AM, I woke up for my third or fourth usual bathroom trip of the night. When I returned to bed and tried to fall back asleep, I felt a small ‘gush’ of fluid and thought, “Oh great, I AM going to experience that part of pregnancy when you can’t hold your bladder from acting on its own!” It happened a second time and this made me return to the bathroom where I stayed for the next 20 min or so trying to decide if this was indeed my water breaking. Still not 100% sure (my mom never had her water break with the three of us and since I had replicated her wonderful pregnancies, I was not expecting this to happen!), I returned to the bedroom and woke up my husband saying; “I think my water broke”. He told me he thought something was going on when I did not return to bed right away. As I stood there, a more noticeable gush of fluid happened and we were both sure at that point this was indeed my water breaking!
I told him that he wasn’t going to work that day! He told me he had a feeling that this would be the case! My first thought was, “what do we do now?!” I suggested to my husband that we try to get some sleep since my surges didn’t seem to have started a regular pattern yet and we were up for a long day ahead of us. Of course, that didn’t happen! We were too excited to sleep! I thought maybe we should wait to wake my parents but my husband reminded me that this was what they were here for and he went downstairs to tell them they would be grandparents that day! When he let them know what had happened, my mom said “Thank god!” and gave my husband a high five! My dad was still half-asleep but was still able to say, “Cool!” in an excited voice! I started to have some surges shortly after my water broke and Mark timed them, although still inconsistent, at about 10 minutes apart.
It now made sense why I was hungry before going to bed. My body must have been preparing for the big event! I told Mark we should eat breakfast before I might not want to eat anymore and he left to go and get bagels. My dad made breakfast while my mom continued to time my surges. They were happening about 8-10 min apart at this point but they were tolerable and not bothering me. We enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing breakfast outside in the backyard and I noticed my surges start to gain some intensity and get closer together. Something in my mind told me I should take a shower. This is when my mind/body connection started to take over!
My surges continued to get closer and at about 10:15 AM, Mark asked me if we should call our midwife. I spoke to her and she asked me how I was feeling now that the surges were getting stronger and closer together. I told her I was doing well and that the surges were still inconsistent but some were coming as close as 6 min apart. She said to call back when they were under 5 minutes apart or if the intensity went to the next level, whichever came first. I then decided I wanted to lie down in my bed and listen to my affirmations and Rainbow Relaxation. The surges started to become more and more intense and I needed to focus inward to get through each one. This still wasn’t really difficult to do though! During the time when I was listening to my HypnoBirthing exercises, I relied more and more on my labor support team (Mark and my mom!). Mark was applying counter pressure on my hips and my mom held my hand or helped with the counter pressure.
At this point, I was listening to a CD my sister made for me to relax (I asked her to do this so I could save it for ‘birth day’!). My surges quickly became 2-4 minutes apart and Mark said he thought we should call the midwife back. Time distortion was beginning to happen at this point for me; things seemed to be happening quickly but I still didn’t feel like it was time to go to the hospital. My biggest fear was getting to the hospital too quickly. Especially knowing that my water had already broken, I knew in the back of my mind that induction could become a reality if I was admitted too soon. Mark spoke to our midwife and she said she would meet us at the hospital. I started to cry because I said it was too soon and it didn’t seem “bad enough yet” (although I wasn’t sure what I meant by that)! My mom reassured me that it wasn’t too soon, my surges were coming so close together. I decided it was time to go.
We had a 25-minute ride to the hospital. Mark drove my car with me in the front seat and my mom behind me pressing on my shoulders every time I signaled, “OK!” with another surge. It was a bit more difficult to stay focused in the car but I tuned into my sister’s CD and we all began singing the closer we got to the hospital. We arrived and were checked into the room at about 2:00 PM. Donna, our midwife, was there and right away I was at ease with her calming spirit. I told the nurse I wanted to keep my own clothes on and she looked at me as if she didn’t know what to do with that answer. Donna let her know it was okay for me to wear my own clothes, as long as I knew my pants had to come off eventually!
They monitored me for the required 15-20 minutes and Donna watched me as I relaxed through my surges. We talked about her checking me but she didn’t want to do the one exam she would probably end up doing too soon because it would “start another clock” now that I was in the hospital with my water broken. She said by observing me, she would guess I was still in early labor but then decided we would see where I was at. After checking me, she said I was open about 2 cm. (and then ‘stretched’ me a bit closer to 3 cm). Thinking back to this, I wonder why I wasn’t extremely upset upon hearing this news. I was in early labor, I could be possibly facing induction- the awful pitocin and then EPIDURAL?!?! Donna had me try the chest down, butt up position to encourage the baby to move into the best position. This was the most uncomfortable part of my birthing and when I do remember feeling pain. When Donna said, I only had to try it for three surges, that made all the difference for me. I was out of that position immediately after those three surges passed and my body told me I wanted to go into the shower.
My body was telling me exactly what I needed. At times, it was almost as if I was hearing a voice in my head commenting on what was happening to me and around me but it never took my focus away from my body or my baby. It is something that is difficult to explain but it was truly amazing. Mark sat on the bench in the shower with me and provided counter pressure and support the entire time. The water felt so good. All of a sudden though, I said I have to get out now. I just knew I was done with the water but I didn’t know why, the thought came up pretty abruptly! I got out and wanted to lie on my side in the bed. I thought I had been in the shower for about 20 minutes but I was in there for almost an hour!! After getting out, I remember having a wavering moment when I told Mark I wasn’t sure if I could do it. When he told me I could, I said adamantly- “No! You have to say, I AM doing it!!”. I realize now that I was telling this to myself, it was the first, and last time I had a slightly negative thought cross my mind.
Lying in the bed, I told my mom to turn on “Rainbow Relaxation”. The powerful surges rushed through my entire body and forced a low grunting sound that ‘pushed’ my energy downward. This feeling really embodied the word ‘surge”. At that point, I had no control of my body but I felt so IN control of what was happening and what my baby was doing at the same time. Donna came into the room and I remember hearing her say to my mom, “Is she pushing?!” My mom told her I had been responding to the last several surges this way. Donna asked me if I felt like I wanted to push and I told her I didn’t know! I just knew that my body was doing what it needed to do. She decided to check me again- it was only 4:00 PM at this point but when she checked me, I was completely open and ready to have the baby!
I pushed for just under two hours. It was extremely tiring but so empowering at the same time. I lost all sense of time and place at that point but I was still tuned in to “Rainbow Relaxation”. It had played a couple times already but as focused inward as I was, I always became aware of when it was about to end. I would say, “Again!” to my mom and she quickly realized I needed the CD re-set to make “Rainbow” play again. I focused on the ritual of it playing. Every time Jessica Porter’s voice was ending the relaxation, it was only then that I consciously heard her voice and knew to tell my mom to press play again. I remember opening my eyes at one point and seeing a few nurses just standing at the foot of the bed watching. I didn’t know when they got there or that they WERE there! Every single person who came into the room whispered and never disrupted me. I still have no idea when or for how long the nurses came into the room! The lights were kept low the entire time. They ASKED for my birth preferences, which pleasantly surprised me. They read them and followed my requests from beginning to end. These were all things I really noticed afterwards but I KNOW they made a huge difference in the success of my birthing experience.
It was wonderful to touch my baby’s head as it was emerging. I decided in the moment to not use a mirror as I thought I would want to but it didn’t matter. I could hear and listen to each word Donna said to me in her low and calming voice. Near the end, I remember feeling tense and telling my body to relax and noticing how much easier it felt after that. Donna told me to give her my hands so I could bring my baby to me. This was something I wrote in my birth preferences and I am so glad that I did. It was unbelievable to feel my baby under the arms and bring him onto my chest. Another preference and a memory I wouldn’t trade for the world was when Mark leaned over and said to me, “It’s a boy! We have a son!”
Mason came into the world at 6:07 PM on Monday. His birth was the most wonderful, powerful and incredible experience I have ever had. It still is hard for me to believe sometimes that my birthing experience was what I dreamed it would be. However, I know this is what made it a reality.
I believed in my body, and myself,
I trusted my baby and knew he had an active part in his birth,
I remained positive from the start of my pregnancy through the birth,
I relished in the amazing support of my husband and my mom,
I was comforted by my midwife’s presence and
I used all the lessons learned in Hypnobirthing to maintain all of these feelings during this most wonderful time.
My pregnancy was wonderful and enjoyable from the start: no morning sickness, absent was unbearable fatigue and crazy cravings never found me! All of the things I had been told by many to expect. Throughout my pregnancy, in addition to the congratulatory excitement from family, friends and strangers also came the ‘doom and gloom’ birth stories. I would politely listen but would never let them get the better of my positive outlook.
Positive attitude is what I believe created my pregnancy and birth outcome! That is how I knew HypnoBirthing was the right choice for my husband, my baby and me. Growing up, I was always fascinated by pregnancy and birth. From a young age, I would ask my mom what labor was like for her and what it felt like to be pregnant. I have never forgotten her responses. She shared with me that she never felt more beautiful or amazed by her body then when she was pregnant. She also told me that the pain you feel in childbirth can’t be described because it is the only discomfort where there is a joyous outcome!
My midwife thought that I would go earlier than my guess date (a Thursday). At my appointment a week beforehand, she said the baby’s head was at a zero station and I was dilated 1 cm. My parents rushed in from out of state a few days earlier than planned but the baby did not! My husband and I enjoyed the next week + with my parents; walking, watching movies, walking some more, eating great meals outside in the backyard and enjoying each other’s company!
My husband decided to take the few days around my guess date off from work in case anything should happen. It ended up being a great time to prepare for the baby and relax! He decided over the weekend that he would return to work on Monday. On Monday morning, around 5:30 AM, I woke up for my third or fourth usual bathroom trip of the night. When I returned to bed and tried to fall back asleep, I felt a small ‘gush’ of fluid and thought, “Oh great, I AM going to experience that part of pregnancy when you can’t hold your bladder from acting on its own!” It happened a second time and this made me return to the bathroom where I stayed for the next 20 min or so trying to decide if this was indeed my water breaking. Still not 100% sure (my mom never had her water break with the three of us and since I had replicated her wonderful pregnancies, I was not expecting this to happen!), I returned to the bedroom and woke up my husband saying; “I think my water broke”. He told me he thought something was going on when I did not return to bed right away. As I stood there, a more noticeable gush of fluid happened and we were both sure at that point this was indeed my water breaking!
I told him that he wasn’t going to work that day! He told me he had a feeling that this would be the case! My first thought was, “what do we do now?!” I suggested to my husband that we try to get some sleep since my surges didn’t seem to have started a regular pattern yet and we were up for a long day ahead of us. Of course, that didn’t happen! We were too excited to sleep! I thought maybe we should wait to wake my parents but my husband reminded me that this was what they were here for and he went downstairs to tell them they would be grandparents that day! When he let them know what had happened, my mom said “Thank god!” and gave my husband a high five! My dad was still half-asleep but was still able to say, “Cool!” in an excited voice! I started to have some surges shortly after my water broke and Mark timed them, although still inconsistent, at about 10 minutes apart.
It now made sense why I was hungry before going to bed. My body must have been preparing for the big event! I told Mark we should eat breakfast before I might not want to eat anymore and he left to go and get bagels. My dad made breakfast while my mom continued to time my surges. They were happening about 8-10 min apart at this point but they were tolerable and not bothering me. We enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing breakfast outside in the backyard and I noticed my surges start to gain some intensity and get closer together. Something in my mind told me I should take a shower. This is when my mind/body connection started to take over!
My surges continued to get closer and at about 10:15 AM, Mark asked me if we should call our midwife. I spoke to her and she asked me how I was feeling now that the surges were getting stronger and closer together. I told her I was doing well and that the surges were still inconsistent but some were coming as close as 6 min apart. She said to call back when they were under 5 minutes apart or if the intensity went to the next level, whichever came first. I then decided I wanted to lie down in my bed and listen to my affirmations and Rainbow Relaxation. The surges started to become more and more intense and I needed to focus inward to get through each one. This still wasn’t really difficult to do though! During the time when I was listening to my HypnoBirthing exercises, I relied more and more on my labor support team (Mark and my mom!). Mark was applying counter pressure on my hips and my mom held my hand or helped with the counter pressure.
At this point, I was listening to a CD my sister made for me to relax (I asked her to do this so I could save it for ‘birth day’!). My surges quickly became 2-4 minutes apart and Mark said he thought we should call the midwife back. Time distortion was beginning to happen at this point for me; things seemed to be happening quickly but I still didn’t feel like it was time to go to the hospital. My biggest fear was getting to the hospital too quickly. Especially knowing that my water had already broken, I knew in the back of my mind that induction could become a reality if I was admitted too soon. Mark spoke to our midwife and she said she would meet us at the hospital. I started to cry because I said it was too soon and it didn’t seem “bad enough yet” (although I wasn’t sure what I meant by that)! My mom reassured me that it wasn’t too soon, my surges were coming so close together. I decided it was time to go.
We had a 25-minute ride to the hospital. Mark drove my car with me in the front seat and my mom behind me pressing on my shoulders every time I signaled, “OK!” with another surge. It was a bit more difficult to stay focused in the car but I tuned into my sister’s CD and we all began singing the closer we got to the hospital. We arrived and were checked into the room at about 2:00 PM. Donna, our midwife, was there and right away I was at ease with her calming spirit. I told the nurse I wanted to keep my own clothes on and she looked at me as if she didn’t know what to do with that answer. Donna let her know it was okay for me to wear my own clothes, as long as I knew my pants had to come off eventually!
They monitored me for the required 15-20 minutes and Donna watched me as I relaxed through my surges. We talked about her checking me but she didn’t want to do the one exam she would probably end up doing too soon because it would “start another clock” now that I was in the hospital with my water broken. She said by observing me, she would guess I was still in early labor but then decided we would see where I was at. After checking me, she said I was open about 2 cm. (and then ‘stretched’ me a bit closer to 3 cm). Thinking back to this, I wonder why I wasn’t extremely upset upon hearing this news. I was in early labor, I could be possibly facing induction- the awful pitocin and then EPIDURAL?!?! Donna had me try the chest down, butt up position to encourage the baby to move into the best position. This was the most uncomfortable part of my birthing and when I do remember feeling pain. When Donna said, I only had to try it for three surges, that made all the difference for me. I was out of that position immediately after those three surges passed and my body told me I wanted to go into the shower.
My body was telling me exactly what I needed. At times, it was almost as if I was hearing a voice in my head commenting on what was happening to me and around me but it never took my focus away from my body or my baby. It is something that is difficult to explain but it was truly amazing. Mark sat on the bench in the shower with me and provided counter pressure and support the entire time. The water felt so good. All of a sudden though, I said I have to get out now. I just knew I was done with the water but I didn’t know why, the thought came up pretty abruptly! I got out and wanted to lie on my side in the bed. I thought I had been in the shower for about 20 minutes but I was in there for almost an hour!! After getting out, I remember having a wavering moment when I told Mark I wasn’t sure if I could do it. When he told me I could, I said adamantly- “No! You have to say, I AM doing it!!”. I realize now that I was telling this to myself, it was the first, and last time I had a slightly negative thought cross my mind.
Lying in the bed, I told my mom to turn on “Rainbow Relaxation”. The powerful surges rushed through my entire body and forced a low grunting sound that ‘pushed’ my energy downward. This feeling really embodied the word ‘surge”. At that point, I had no control of my body but I felt so IN control of what was happening and what my baby was doing at the same time. Donna came into the room and I remember hearing her say to my mom, “Is she pushing?!” My mom told her I had been responding to the last several surges this way. Donna asked me if I felt like I wanted to push and I told her I didn’t know! I just knew that my body was doing what it needed to do. She decided to check me again- it was only 4:00 PM at this point but when she checked me, I was completely open and ready to have the baby!
I pushed for just under two hours. It was extremely tiring but so empowering at the same time. I lost all sense of time and place at that point but I was still tuned in to “Rainbow Relaxation”. It had played a couple times already but as focused inward as I was, I always became aware of when it was about to end. I would say, “Again!” to my mom and she quickly realized I needed the CD re-set to make “Rainbow” play again. I focused on the ritual of it playing. Every time Jessica Porter’s voice was ending the relaxation, it was only then that I consciously heard her voice and knew to tell my mom to press play again. I remember opening my eyes at one point and seeing a few nurses just standing at the foot of the bed watching. I didn’t know when they got there or that they WERE there! Every single person who came into the room whispered and never disrupted me. I still have no idea when or for how long the nurses came into the room! The lights were kept low the entire time. They ASKED for my birth preferences, which pleasantly surprised me. They read them and followed my requests from beginning to end. These were all things I really noticed afterwards but I KNOW they made a huge difference in the success of my birthing experience.
It was wonderful to touch my baby’s head as it was emerging. I decided in the moment to not use a mirror as I thought I would want to but it didn’t matter. I could hear and listen to each word Donna said to me in her low and calming voice. Near the end, I remember feeling tense and telling my body to relax and noticing how much easier it felt after that. Donna told me to give her my hands so I could bring my baby to me. This was something I wrote in my birth preferences and I am so glad that I did. It was unbelievable to feel my baby under the arms and bring him onto my chest. Another preference and a memory I wouldn’t trade for the world was when Mark leaned over and said to me, “It’s a boy! We have a son!”
Mason came into the world at 6:07 PM on Monday. His birth was the most wonderful, powerful and incredible experience I have ever had. It still is hard for me to believe sometimes that my birthing experience was what I dreamed it would be. However, I know this is what made it a reality.
I believed in my body, and myself,
I trusted my baby and knew he had an active part in his birth,
I remained positive from the start of my pregnancy through the birth,
I relished in the amazing support of my husband and my mom,
I was comforted by my midwife’s presence and
I used all the lessons learned in Hypnobirthing to maintain all of these feelings during this most wonderful time.
HypnoBirthing Story from Australia
Here is a birth story just passed on from a HypnoBirthing practitioner in Australia. Enjoy!
It all started about at about 3.30am when I woke up feeling crampy as if I had some food poisoning. I had eaten an omelette at a new cafe the day before so I thought it might have been disagreeing with me. If you've ever had bad food poisoning, you'll know the pains come in waves so I didn't even think that I was in labour. The cramps literally weren't any more uncomfortable than food poisoning.
I thought I'd put on my ipod and listen to the Rainbow Relaxation to try to get some more sleep. I should have known something was up though.......I actually made it through to the end of the Rainbow Relaxation without falling asleep FOR THE FIRST TIME!!
After about an hour of trying to get back to sleep, I thought I'd move to the couch and watch some bad TV to try to make me sleepy. At just before 5am, I went to the loo and had some diarrhoea. Still thinking I had food poisoning...but starting to wonder if perhaps this was the first signs of labour. Our doula mentioned that for each of her three births, she had diarrhoea beforehand.
My state was decided though when I discovered some blood. "Oh no", I cried....."I'm in labour!"I then (now don't laugh)....logged on to my work emails and sent a message to the management to consider me on leave from that point. Yes, seriously!
At this point, I thought maybe I should start seeing if those food poisoning cramps were coming at certain intervals, but I didn't try too hard as all the info you read and all the mid-wives tell you not to get pedantic about it as it stresses you out. I figured they were coming approx 2-3 mins apart.
To figure out when I needed to call the Birth Centre, I started to read through their info booklet that they gave us at the info night only 2 nights before. They mentioned to call the Birth Centre if the blood was a rich, bright red. Mine was, so I called them at about 5.30am. The mid-wife asked how I was feeling and I said I was feeling quite good, and experiencing cramps every few minutes or so but I wasn't really timing them. I was starting to have to breathe deeply through them at this stage to make the cramps more comfortable to deal with. She asked me to keep them updated and try to get some rest.
S woke up with the sound of me chatting to the Birth Centre. I told him I was in labour and he wondered why I hadn't woke him up before then. Everyone tells you to let the hubby sleep as long as possible so they can get rest, so that's what I was doing. Since he was now awake though, I asked him to help me pack a bag for the Birth Centre. I know, I know......I should have had the bag packed already! In my defence, I was a week out from my due date and the midwives kept telling me that first times mums 85% of the time birth late. I did have a list though, and the bag ready ;-) Just before 6am, I couldn't help S any longer with packing the bag.
I was curled up on the bed trying to concentrate on my breathing. I was using the count to 20 and then count backwards to 1 to get through the surges and really concentrating on going "lucy limp" in between every surge. I tried to help S in between surges to tell him where things were to pack the bag. It didn't help that the clothes I wanted were waiting to be washed! As well as sending him all over the house finding things, I was starting to get annoyed at him because he wasn't helping me to relax in between surges or helping me with any of the hypnobirthing techniques. I think I yelled at him "you seriously have forgotten EVERYTHING you've learnt, haven't you!" Side Note - to help your hypnobirthing partner during this 'exciting' time, print out reminder signs of all the techniques that can be employed.......and pin them to the bedroom wall and the bathroom wall!!
The dogs started to get worried about me now as I was starting to get quite cranky. K (our 2 year old), jumped up on the bed and was trying to kiss me all better. I barked at S to "give me the phone now!" I then called my mother and calmly announced that I thought I was in labour, and could she come around and get the dogs as K was starting to get freaked out by me. I said to S that I was going to have a shower now and he should call our doula to come around. In the shower, I shaved my legs in between surges and chatted to S. By the end of the shower though,I was shivering, feeling nauseous and I curled up on the floor repeating "have you called D?"(D is our doula).
My mum poked her head in at this stage and tried to perk me up by saying that I'd soon meet my baby. It probably would have helped to listen to the Birth Affirmations at this stage as I wasn't even thinking of the baby, I was lost in the feelings I was experiencing.
I managed to get back to the bed and the surges ramped up at this stage. They were about a minute apart. The surges started to feel quite different now, I think it was after 6.30am. During some of the surges, my body was starting to 'push'. My waters released during one of these. I started to get a little panicky now as I didn't feel that I should be progressing quite so fast. I was also sounding like Rain Man with my counting to 20! I suggested to S that I thought we should leave for the Birth Centre. He thought it was too early and to wait for D, who thank goodness arrived soon after that.
D's gentle suggestions to let my body do what it needed to do, and her support were just what I needed....someone who knew what they were doing! She asked if I wanted to have a bath, but I told her I wanted to go to the birth centre as I was pushing. S called the Birth Centre to tell them we were coming and that I was pushing. They suggested we leave immediately or head to the nearest hospital.
We went in D's car as I was too nervous to be without her for the car ride. After about 10 mins or so, I announced that I could feel ahead. D calmly asked me how I felt about X Hospital. S responded by driving faster as he kept thinking 'L doesn't want to go to a hospital, I've got to get her to the Birth Centre'! By that stage, I felt perfectly fine about X Hospital.
So we detoured.....
D kept me focused on the baby now by announcing that our baby had a beautiful head of hair!
At the hospital, D ran in and found the midwives and four came running out to the car. After determining that I was not going to move from where I was, and checking the baby's heartbeat (which was a little low), the midwife told me that they needed me to birth the baby as soon as possible. After two or so more surges, I had my beautiful little boy on my chest. It was 8:01am.
What a sight.....four midwives standing at the car door holding up sheets so I could have some privacy...D was in the car boot taking photos of me...and proud Daddy S was in the driver's seat crying with happiness....oh, and the garbage man was moving his garbage truck out of the way as he was trying to collect the garbage at that particular moment!
After shimmying out of the car into a wheelchair I was wheeled through the ante-natal clinic past a room full of expectant mothers waiting for their appointments. I could have died of embarrassment ifI had been at all with it. Apparently they all thought I was a hero.
I birthed the placenta about 10 mins later, and was resting comfortably soon thereafter. Just a few stitches were necessary, but they weren't a problem at all.
So much for my desired water-birth! I firmly believed that I did make this kind of birth happen though. Every person upon asking me which hospital I was booked into commented that Y [another hospital] was so far away. My standard response (which I must have said about 20-30 times) was that if I was going to have a baby that fast on the side of the road, that the birth would be so normal and fine that I wouldn't even need a hospital!!
Without even realising, I visualised the birth I was going to have. I felt so great that we were home relaxing on the couch by 2pm.
Hypnobirthing helped me immensely to relax in between every single surge. I believe everything happened so fast because I was so relaxed and was letting my body do what it was supposed to do. I didn't use the breathing towards the end as it was in my head to try to slow things down, so I was using a Lamaze style blowing-out-the-candle type breathing to cope with the baby coming down so fast which D suggested to me.
It all started about at about 3.30am when I woke up feeling crampy as if I had some food poisoning. I had eaten an omelette at a new cafe the day before so I thought it might have been disagreeing with me. If you've ever had bad food poisoning, you'll know the pains come in waves so I didn't even think that I was in labour. The cramps literally weren't any more uncomfortable than food poisoning.
I thought I'd put on my ipod and listen to the Rainbow Relaxation to try to get some more sleep. I should have known something was up though.......I actually made it through to the end of the Rainbow Relaxation without falling asleep FOR THE FIRST TIME!!
After about an hour of trying to get back to sleep, I thought I'd move to the couch and watch some bad TV to try to make me sleepy. At just before 5am, I went to the loo and had some diarrhoea. Still thinking I had food poisoning...but starting to wonder if perhaps this was the first signs of labour. Our doula mentioned that for each of her three births, she had diarrhoea beforehand.
My state was decided though when I discovered some blood. "Oh no", I cried....."I'm in labour!"I then (now don't laugh)....logged on to my work emails and sent a message to the management to consider me on leave from that point. Yes, seriously!
At this point, I thought maybe I should start seeing if those food poisoning cramps were coming at certain intervals, but I didn't try too hard as all the info you read and all the mid-wives tell you not to get pedantic about it as it stresses you out. I figured they were coming approx 2-3 mins apart.
To figure out when I needed to call the Birth Centre, I started to read through their info booklet that they gave us at the info night only 2 nights before. They mentioned to call the Birth Centre if the blood was a rich, bright red. Mine was, so I called them at about 5.30am. The mid-wife asked how I was feeling and I said I was feeling quite good, and experiencing cramps every few minutes or so but I wasn't really timing them. I was starting to have to breathe deeply through them at this stage to make the cramps more comfortable to deal with. She asked me to keep them updated and try to get some rest.
S woke up with the sound of me chatting to the Birth Centre. I told him I was in labour and he wondered why I hadn't woke him up before then. Everyone tells you to let the hubby sleep as long as possible so they can get rest, so that's what I was doing. Since he was now awake though, I asked him to help me pack a bag for the Birth Centre. I know, I know......I should have had the bag packed already! In my defence, I was a week out from my due date and the midwives kept telling me that first times mums 85% of the time birth late. I did have a list though, and the bag ready ;-) Just before 6am, I couldn't help S any longer with packing the bag.
I was curled up on the bed trying to concentrate on my breathing. I was using the count to 20 and then count backwards to 1 to get through the surges and really concentrating on going "lucy limp" in between every surge. I tried to help S in between surges to tell him where things were to pack the bag. It didn't help that the clothes I wanted were waiting to be washed! As well as sending him all over the house finding things, I was starting to get annoyed at him because he wasn't helping me to relax in between surges or helping me with any of the hypnobirthing techniques. I think I yelled at him "you seriously have forgotten EVERYTHING you've learnt, haven't you!" Side Note - to help your hypnobirthing partner during this 'exciting' time, print out reminder signs of all the techniques that can be employed.......and pin them to the bedroom wall and the bathroom wall!!
The dogs started to get worried about me now as I was starting to get quite cranky. K (our 2 year old), jumped up on the bed and was trying to kiss me all better. I barked at S to "give me the phone now!" I then called my mother and calmly announced that I thought I was in labour, and could she come around and get the dogs as K was starting to get freaked out by me. I said to S that I was going to have a shower now and he should call our doula to come around. In the shower, I shaved my legs in between surges and chatted to S. By the end of the shower though,I was shivering, feeling nauseous and I curled up on the floor repeating "have you called D?"(D is our doula).
My mum poked her head in at this stage and tried to perk me up by saying that I'd soon meet my baby. It probably would have helped to listen to the Birth Affirmations at this stage as I wasn't even thinking of the baby, I was lost in the feelings I was experiencing.
I managed to get back to the bed and the surges ramped up at this stage. They were about a minute apart. The surges started to feel quite different now, I think it was after 6.30am. During some of the surges, my body was starting to 'push'. My waters released during one of these. I started to get a little panicky now as I didn't feel that I should be progressing quite so fast. I was also sounding like Rain Man with my counting to 20! I suggested to S that I thought we should leave for the Birth Centre. He thought it was too early and to wait for D, who thank goodness arrived soon after that.
D's gentle suggestions to let my body do what it needed to do, and her support were just what I needed....someone who knew what they were doing! She asked if I wanted to have a bath, but I told her I wanted to go to the birth centre as I was pushing. S called the Birth Centre to tell them we were coming and that I was pushing. They suggested we leave immediately or head to the nearest hospital.
We went in D's car as I was too nervous to be without her for the car ride. After about 10 mins or so, I announced that I could feel ahead. D calmly asked me how I felt about X Hospital. S responded by driving faster as he kept thinking 'L doesn't want to go to a hospital, I've got to get her to the Birth Centre'! By that stage, I felt perfectly fine about X Hospital.
So we detoured.....
D kept me focused on the baby now by announcing that our baby had a beautiful head of hair!
At the hospital, D ran in and found the midwives and four came running out to the car. After determining that I was not going to move from where I was, and checking the baby's heartbeat (which was a little low), the midwife told me that they needed me to birth the baby as soon as possible. After two or so more surges, I had my beautiful little boy on my chest. It was 8:01am.
What a sight.....four midwives standing at the car door holding up sheets so I could have some privacy...D was in the car boot taking photos of me...and proud Daddy S was in the driver's seat crying with happiness....oh, and the garbage man was moving his garbage truck out of the way as he was trying to collect the garbage at that particular moment!
After shimmying out of the car into a wheelchair I was wheeled through the ante-natal clinic past a room full of expectant mothers waiting for their appointments. I could have died of embarrassment ifI had been at all with it. Apparently they all thought I was a hero.
I birthed the placenta about 10 mins later, and was resting comfortably soon thereafter. Just a few stitches were necessary, but they weren't a problem at all.
So much for my desired water-birth! I firmly believed that I did make this kind of birth happen though. Every person upon asking me which hospital I was booked into commented that Y [another hospital] was so far away. My standard response (which I must have said about 20-30 times) was that if I was going to have a baby that fast on the side of the road, that the birth would be so normal and fine that I wouldn't even need a hospital!!
Without even realising, I visualised the birth I was going to have. I felt so great that we were home relaxing on the couch by 2pm.
Hypnobirthing helped me immensely to relax in between every single surge. I believe everything happened so fast because I was so relaxed and was letting my body do what it was supposed to do. I didn't use the breathing towards the end as it was in my head to try to slow things down, so I was using a Lamaze style blowing-out-the-candle type breathing to cope with the baby coming down so fast which D suggested to me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)