Carrol & Seth

Hi Launi! I’m so grateful for all your help and your HypnoBirthing classes. Thank you for taking the time to teach us this wonderful way of birthing. I can not imagine giving birth any other way. For my sake, and our future babies. She came out so incredibly calm and peaceful, it was like she didn’t even know she was born and all of a sudden she was in the comfort of my arms. I loved giving this type of birth to our daughter.

Okay, so here is the birth story!

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to a surge. I thought it was a cramp, so I went back to sleep. At 7:30 a.m. I woke up again to another one. I decided to get up and see what was going on. I had a couple more, but they were about 20 minutes apart. At around 1 p.m. I thought for sure this was false labor because the surges just weren’t strong enough or close enough apart. They would come and go at such random intervals. So I told Seth that we needed to go for a walk to the park to shake things up a bit. So we walked to the park and made sure to hike up this steep hill. Still, not much happening. I would have surges, but they just didn’t seem like they were doing a thing or helping me to progress. So we continued on to the park, played with our 3 year old daughter on the slides and swings, and then continued to walk another mile or so to the grocery store. At the store I felt a small gush and went to the bathroom to find I was bleeding a bit. I thought, how could this be? I was not really feeling like the surges could be doing enough to make my cervix even dilate (hence, the blood). So we decided to walk home instead of continuing on our long walk. By the time we got home, I was starving. I fixed us all some lunch and by that time my cousin had arrived to take our daughter in case true labor really was close. I told her not to come yet, but she was convinced I was really in labor. I’m so glad she went with her instincts! Anyway, we all sat down on the living room floor to eat lunch, watch some football and just talk. I would get on my knees and squat down every time I had a surge because that was what my body was telling me felt best. I was so surprised when my cousin said: “do you realize your surges are 5 minutes apart?” I really had no idea. I knew I was having more and more, but they still didn’t seem like they were doing anything. I would just stop and breath through each one. It felt good to have them…for some reason, I don’t know why…it just felt good.

So about 2:45 p.m. I reluctantly gave in and called the midwife. She said since they were so close to come into the hospital because I had Strep B and I needed the antibiotic at least 4 hours before giving birth. About 3 p.m. we got in the car to go. I was so bummed, I knew once we got there they would just send me home. On the way, to the hospital I only had one surge. By the time we got out of the car, I was having difficulty walking. I wasn’t sure why, but my body knew I was close, I didn’t. We got to the room where they check to see if you are in true labor and the first thing I said was: “Please don’t tell me how far along I am, and please don’t ask me any pain questions or if I want pain medication, this will be a natural birth.” The nurse was happy to work with me. I was so glad. I sat up on the bed to be monitored and checked (I was at a 6). After she checked me she told me I was staying and we needed to get the antibiotic. I walked over to the room where I would be giving birth. I was really surprised that I was having such difficulty walking. As soon as we got in the room I wanted to just sit on the toilet. The nurse let me, just to go to the bathroom and then I guess I sat there too long because she said you really need to come out here and get this antibiotic. This was about 4 p.m.

So I came out and sat in the rocking chair while they gave me the antibiotics and monitored the baby for the 20 minutes. As soon as I was done I went right back to sit on the toilet. My midwife had set up pillows for me to lean up against. I was sitting on the toilet backwards with my head rested on pillows. My husband sat up behind me with one hand resting on my lower back because I was having some back labor at this point. I was still able to breath and relax through each surge. At this point they were stronger, and I was convinced things must now be happening! I sat on the toilet for 30 minutes, it felt like 5 minutes.

The midwife came in and said she needed to hear the baby’s heart beat. I reluctantly got up and then sat right back down and started pushing. I didn’t even mean to do this! The feeling to push was just so incredibly strong! My midwife rushed in and coached me on how to breath through that feeling rather than actually pushing. Right after that surge I got up and sat on the bed for her to hear the baby’s heart beat and check me (I was at an 8). My midwife said I needed to lay down to rotate the baby. I so didn’t want to do this, and I think that’s why from here on out the pain came and I forgot to breath and relax. This was nobody’s fault, it’s just that every comfortable position I found myself in, the midwife wouldn’t let me do it because my baby’s heart rate would go down. So I laid on my side for two surges, then my back since this is where baby needed me.

Right then my water broke and 15 minutes later our daughter came out (6:01 p.m.). She was so peaceful laying there on my chest. I am convinced she didn’t even know she was born at this point. She just laid there, looking around and listening to me and my husband talking to her. It was such a beautiful moment. This whole time, I had done the relaxation methods in my head. I did not want any scripts, no CD’s, and no soft music. I just wanted my husband next to me, silence and me picking where I wanted to be. From the time I had the IV with the antibiotics from my daughter’s birth was only two hours. It went so fast. I know that is because I had no epidural to slow things down. So basically, I had been in labor since 6:30 a.m. and didn’t even realize it.

I would have to say that my labor was really only 2 hours since that is when I started believing things were happening :0). Things really were happening all along, but being relaxed and calm made it seem like nothing was even going on.

I love HypnoBirthing!!