Before I tell my story I have to say once again how greatful I am to HypnoBirthing for my experiences with my births, and now also for the wonderful opportunity to teach and work with expecting couples. I truly love this program and teach from that love and desire to share.
My birthing stories are very different. With my first I had to be induced for medical reasons, but was still able to have a very calm and easy HypnoBirthing. With my second I initiated labor myself and was in for a whirlwind adventure that ended as naturally and beautifully as could be. Here is that story:
On Tuesday September 22nd, I woke up much like I had woken up for the past few weeks, tired because trying to sleep at night and take care of a toddler during the day while extremely pregnant was very difficult. I was 40 weeks and 4 days and had an appointment on Wednesday to check how baby was doing in there. At my previous appointment just 4 days prior Baby was still high, and I was just a fingertip, but very soft and 80% thinned. I really did not want to go to my next appointment, and was up early anyway so I decided to try to start labor naturally. I did not really want to get my hopes up, but I thought it was worth a try. I used a natural induction method and started having some consistent surges almost immediately I decided about 10 minutes after I got out of bed that I was still too tired to get up for the day, so I went back to bed and turned on my Rainbow Relaxation CD and did my hypnosis for the next 45 minutes with more occasional stimulation. I felt refreshed after this, and was pleased that I was still having surges.
At this point I told my husband what was happening and we made plans for our daughter for the day. I gave her a big hug and lots of kisses before she left just in case I would not see her again until after baby. I took a nice shower and bath and relaxed more. After this when surges were continuing on their own I started to think it might be baby day! I still had to pack my bags, and this took a considerable amount of time because I would squat next to our bed during each surge and focus on relaxing. This position felt so natural, and I followed my body’s lead to allow my baby to start to come into this world. At a little after 11 am, we were finished packing and I was starting to wonder about when to go to the hospital. I was positive for Group B Strep and knew I should try to get there early enough for antibiotics, but I did not want to go too early and be sent home. I could not stop questioning myself and this made relaxation more difficult so I decided to call my Nurse Midwife’s office. Just before noon, I talked to the Nurse and my Nurse Midwife had said I could either come in and get checked or wait and go to the hospital when it felt a little closer. I decided I would like to go in and get checked. I really did not know how far along I would be, but was hoping to be far enough to go ahead to the hospital. If not, I could come home and relax a little better knowing that I had time.
I found my hypnosis especially helpful on the car ride to the office because I could not position myself like I could at home, so relaxation helped me to remain calm. We pulled into the office and walked in. The receptionist asked me to sign in and told me “Then you can go ahead and have a seat”, I remember replying with a laugh “no, I really do not want a seat” while leaning against the front desk there in the middle of a surge. The nurse came right out and took me into a room. My husband was wonderful at this time doing light touch massage and letting me lean on him. My Nurse Midwife came in, started to ask how we were doing but could see how I was doing as I was in a surge. She was patient and squatted right down with me and gently checked the baby’s heartbeat. After one more surge she checked me and things got interesting. I remember so clearly her saying, impressively calmly, “Okay Katie, I need you to get in the car and go to the hospital and TRY TO NOT have a baby on the way there. You are 9 ½ cm.”
We left the office quickly and drove the short ten or fifteen minutes to the hospital, and as we pulled in I began to feel the urge to breathe the baby down. I walked into the hospital and one surge leaning against a pillar in the front breezeway of the hospital. Then we got to the elevators, I started to have another surge and remember making myself get out of the elevator before squatting because I did not want it to take me back downstairs. I squatted just outside the elevators in the hallway and felt my membranes release and the fluid soaked my legs. I looked up to see my Nurse Midwife’s face. Apparently we had taken the long way to the hospital and she had beaten us there. When I made some apology she was just calm and sweet. She helped me get up, a nurse handed me a towel for between my legs and we walked to a room.
As soon as I got into the room I knew what I needed to do. I took my clothes off quickly and squatted, leaning against the bed, just like I had all day. I knew the baby was coming. I had no idea who was there besides my husband and Nurse Midwife, I just knew I was ready. I felt a nurse put the monitor to my belly to try to find the heartbeat and remember thinking “I think you’ll be able to check on baby soon, so that is probably not necessary”, sure enough my Nurse Midwife had to place it right over my pubic bone before she could find anything. I had two surges while squatting there, and during the second one baby’s head came out. I could really feel what was happening and felt like I had so much control during this phase. I was able to let the full surge help to bring baby’s head out easily. At this point my husband was next to me he placed his hand down under her head and said “Here’s the head!”. My Nurse Midwife came over at this point and lay on her stomach in back of me. After the next surge as baby slid out she said “Okay Katie, reach down and catch your baby”. I reached down and held a beautiful perfect baby that I had just birthed. The baby’s cord was wrapped around the neck a little so we had to take a moment to unwind it before I could pull baby up to me and in this time my husband looked and announced “It’s a GIRL!” I have to say the EVERYONE had thought it would be a boy, and we were so pleasantly surprised. Then I lifted her up to my chest and we got into the bed. She was here, on my chest, and absolutely perfect. I was able to cuddle her from the beginning and we cuddled and nursed for a couple of hours before doing any measurements. I cannot describe how wonderful I felt. I was not even tired. Charlotte Rose was born September 22nd, 2009 at 1:02pm (just 7 minutes after we got to the hospital). She was 7lbs 13oz and 20 7/8 inches long. I could not believe how it had happened and I would not recommend waiting so long to others, but at the same time it seemed just perfect.
