First let me say that I could not have done it without Hypnobabies. The birthing was truly an incredible experience, and I owe it all to the hypnosis. Without it, I would have been exhausted, in the hospital and hooked up to who knows what.
At my weekly appointment on Friday the doctor told me I was starting to lose my mucous plug. I had a few birthing waves in the late afternoon. I walked around the mall several times on Saturday to try to get things moving and had some birthing waves during that time also. Around 9pm on Saturday my birthing waves became more regular. They were just strong enough and close enough together that I couldn’t sleep that night. I wasn’t completely sure if they were Braxton Hicks or the real thing. The waves were anywhere from 5 to 11 minutes apart, so I laid on the couch and watched TV all night. I still wasn’t sure if it was the real thing and the birthing waves weren’t too intense yet, so I only did my hypnosis some of the time when I really needed it. Finally the next morning, I woke Jonny up around 8am and told him what had been happening. I was tired by that point, but still pretty relaxed. Jonny called Carole (our doula) around 10am to tell her what was going on. I talked to her and explained I was feeling a lot of pressure very low and Carole said it sounded like my birthing time. I was also having some other indications it was my birthing time, so it looked like things were progressing. The birthing waves continued for the rest of the day. I hung around the house all day, mostly laying on the couch or walking around the neighborhood, as the birthing waves continued. We talked to Carole again later in the afternoon but didn’t have any news to report. The birthing waves were still anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes apart. They were lasting a little longer, but they didn’t feel any stronger to me yet. During the night, the birthing waves continued. I did my finger-drops and Jonny tried to talk me through some of the waves, but it was another night without sleep. Finally on Monday morning the birthing waves were lasting between 60 and 90 seconds and were 5 to 7 minutes apart. Jonny called Carole and asked her to come over. Again, I spent most of the day on the couch, or walking outside around the neighborhood to try to get things to progress. Carole came to the house and helped me with the hypnosis. We did a special place visualization, trying to get me to relax just enough to sleep a few minutes. It was so helpful. I was able to relax even more, which felt so good even if it was only for a little while. Finally around noon the birthing waves were getting very intense. They were lasting 75 to 90 seconds, were strong and were 4 to 5 minutes apart. We all thought it was going to be time to go soon. But then the birthing waves started to slow down again. They stayed strong, but they spread out to around 6 to 7 minutes again and were lasting only around 60 seconds. I went for several more walks to try to pick things back up but they stayed the same. The birthing waves continued for the rest of the day, and I continued to use the hypnosis techniques to deal with the birthing waves and to stay relaxed since I had gone without sleep for awhile and was pretty tired. Finally around 8pm we all decided that it could still be awhile since things had stayed the same since the afternoon, so Carole went home. About that time, my birthing waves picked up a little to be every 5 minutes, so I tried to rest during the hypnosis. Then at 11:30 my water suddenly broke. It was like the big gush you see on TV. Jonny called Carole and she came back to the house. We left for the hospital and they wheeled me up to the maternity unit around 2am. I was listening to my hypnosis CD’s and smiling and talking as they wheeled my upstairs. The nurse did not believe I was in my birthing time until she examined me. She only examined me for a moment before she realized I needed to stay. They took me to a room and started setting up for the delivery. At that point, the nurse checked my progress. I had asked the nurses not to tell me any numbers, so I just continued to move my switch during the birthing waves. I later found out I was already dilated to 8 cm. They got me into a room around 3am, and shortly after I was already starting to feel like I needed to push, but I tried to breathe through the feeling (although I don’t know if I was very successful at that part). After a couple of hours at around 6am, they finally said I could start to push. It was wonderful to feel the birthing waves and know when to push instead of having to be told everything because a monitor says so. After a few hours of pushing, Evan was finally born at 9:07am. He was healthy and beautiful.
The entire birthing was the most incredible experience of my life. Although I was tired from the unusual length of my birthing time, I felt great. Everyone commented about how alert Evan was without all the drugs in his system. I could get up right away and walk and move around. I had absolutely no pain during the entire birthing time. Even during the times that others tell me can be painful, like when the nurse pushed the edge of my cervix over Evan’s head or when he crowned, I only felt pressure. The hypnosis worked better than I ever imagined it could. It kept me relaxed and focused and in control of my body and my birthing time. I tell everyone about Hypnobabies. I know that without it I couldn’t have gone through the entire birthing time since it was so long. And if I had gone to the hospital earlier, I’m sure I would have ended up with a very different birthing experience.
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