This birth story was written by me a couple days after the birth of my second child Joshua in July of 2013. Josh was my first HypnoBaby. I'm excited to share my story now:
Ok, so my water broke at 2 am on the 30th. I called my midwives to let them know that I would try to sleep and come in if things picked up. I had pressure waves every 10 minutes and I was listening to my hypnobabies tracks, practicing my relaxation and going completely limp and loose through each wave. I was able to go to sleep listening to my hypnosis and things slowed down by morning. I let my mom and Anna (my sister in law and Doula) know that today was the day and had my mom get someone to cover her shift so she could take care of my 22 month old Caleb, and I could relax and let things happen. I had Anna and my husband Reese finish packing everything up and we went to get (a second) breakfast and go to my scheduled appointment. We decided with my midwives that I would get settled in at the birth suite, get relaxed and things play out. It was such a light mood without my mom or Caleb around. We were able to laugh and joke with enjoy each other. We went out to lunch and walked around the grounds. Anna and I even went to a yoga class taught by my midwife at the birth-center that evening. Reese went to the grocery store and made dinner and we were joking all evening that we forgot our laptops and tablets! We thought things would be moving much more quickly but they were actually playing out much the same way Caleb's birth did.
Around 10 or 11 pm Anna says I "decided to go into active labor all of a sudden." My pressure waves started to get more intense and I listened to my hypnosis tracks to get through them. I wouldn't say that the hypnosis made my body completely anesthetized, but I was able to relax my muscles and not fight the pressure wave. Things started getting hazy to me at this point lol. I spent most of the night on my side sleeping in between pressure waves. Anna or Reese would put pressure on my hip and it felt really nice. They made sure I was drinking water, coconut water, or the laborade we made after each wave. I also ate a lot of fruit and amazeballs (oatmeal peanut butter balls with flax yum!!!) I felt like I was getting up pee every ten minutes but Anna said it was every hour (one of the hypnobabies scrips says that time will pass and every 20 minutes will only feel like 5 minutes. So that was true for me.) One of Anna's friends wanted to hire her to be his poop doula so I would joke as I was up to pee or poop and they would support me through a wave that she was my poop doula! I was all so light and fun, in between my deep concentration. We also joked that they were a train following me around for bathroom trips. The midwives were in and out to listen on the doppler, but I honestly didn't notice them there much. They just let us do our thing.
At some point the sun came up and sometime after that things got really intense. Waves were coming one on top of the other, so I decided to get in the shower. There's like 20 shower nozzles in there and they had jets going on my back and it felt so good, there was a shower stool in there and foam pads to kneel on. The midwives asked if I wanted to birth in the outdoor tub and they started filling it. Suddenly I had the urge and started pushing during my waves. We let the midwives know and they told us the tub was almost ready. We started moving outside and I was getting paranoid that I would push him out in the shower and then on the deck as we walked out slowly (it was slippery from rain.) The pushing baby out track was playing on my phone in Anna's shirt but I have no idea what was being said on that track lol. I was so in the moment! I got in the tub and Reese got in behind me. Anna sat on the side of the tub and I kneeled and held on to her. After I think 4-5 pushes in the water the head was out and then the body. They coached me to push quickly and when he was brought up on my chest they rubbed him and then they needed to quickly cut the cord and they took him inside. He was a little unresponsive and had a 3 at his one minute apgar. Anna went with him and she says her aunty voice brought him around. Reese stayed with me. I was pretty out of it and wasn't worried. Reese kept telling me how amazing I was and how wonderful I was. They brought him back to me after just a minute. They got me up and back inside. I birthed the placenta on the birth stool holding and nursing bubba. Then I got in bed and had a bit of bleeding. With my low iron from my blood draw the previous week they wanted to be safe so I got a shot of pitocin in my leg and then they shoved some misopristol/cytotec up my butt. Anna said afterword that I looked really pale, but I think they were just being extra cautious with me because of my blood results. I also had just one small tear. They debated not stitching it but I got one stitch.
Josh nursed for over an hour before they did his newborn exam next to me on the bed. We declined some of the newborn stuff and they didn't try to talk us into anything. They were so respectful to us, and impressed with the hypnobabies and with me. It was such a beautiful peaceful place to enjoy my birthing time. Even with a couple scary moments it was so wonderful I wouldn't change a thing!
