This story is pretty short and sweet. And I have to say again, that I could not have done it without Hypnobabies, but for a very different reason. As my last birth was long with a lot of waiting, this one was fast and I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it.
It started at a little after 6am. I was up and starting my morning when all of a sudden I felt a contraction. I instantly thought, “I know what that is. It feels exactly like last time.” Of course, with the experience I had with Evan, I never imagined things would progress like they did. So I thought I had lots of time. I took a shower, cleaned up the kitchen and got Evan dressed and ready for the day. The contractions kept coming so I called grandma and asked her to come pick up Evan so I could concentrate. Jonny had gone to work that morning already so I called him to tell him things had started, but I was sure he had time since the last one was slow. I was certainly feeling them and had to stop and lean against the wall during the contractions. That should have told them something. I also called my doula and told her what was happening. By then I was starting to feel like I didn’t want to be home alone so I called Jonny and told him he should start heading home (so he told me he was slowly packing things up, shutting his computer down, going through last emails etc. - he was in no rush). I told him it wasn’t urgent, so he took his time. Around 8:30 grandma picked up Evan and I laid down on the couch to start listening to CD’s so I could try to get really deep into hypnosis. By then the contractions were pretty powerful, but actually nothing I couldn’t handle. They were coming quickly and were long and strong, but it’s hard to time them really well yourself. I was writing them down on a paper and they were about 4 minutes apart, but I just didn’t think my labor could possibly be that fast after last time. I thought, even if it’s half the time, I’ve still got awhile. So I just laid on the couch trying to relax. At some point my doula came in during a contraction so my switch was off. When it was over I turned my lightswitch to center so I could talk to her. She had looked at my papers of contraction times and asked if Jonny was coming home. She said with contractions that close and strong and a 2nd baby, we better get to the hospital. So she called Jonny and told him he better hurry. If he wasn’t home by the time we were ready to leave, then he would need to meet us at the hospital.
So my doula got my bag to the door and we did whatever else we needed to do. In the meantime Jonny was racing home now, driving in the median or the side of the road to get around traffic. He pulled up just as we were going to leave. So we got in the car (which took awhile since I had 2 contractions on my walk from the door to the car) and headed for the hospital. We got there around 10:30am.
When I got there they checked me and said I was at about 5. Of course, they didn’t believe I was really in labor becuase I was so calm from the hypnosis. But once they checked me and hooked me up to the monitor they figured it out real quick. So they moved me to a room and got me all hooked up. By then I was having urges to push. I was trying to stay relaxed as best as I could and breathe through the contractions until they could check me again. About an hour after I got to the hospital I was ready to push and about a half hour later, our newest addition Seth was born.
This labor was so different than my last. It was almost too quick – about 6 hours from 1st contraction to baby. I just never imagined it would go like that. I didn’t get as deep into hypnosis as I had been last time since things progressed so quickly. But despite that, I was able to go deep enough that I didn’t have any pain this time either. I felt plenty of pressure, but I stayed calm and relaxed. The hypnosis worked wonders again. I can’t say enough about what a wonderful, empowering and beautiful experience I had. I love that I can stay in control of my body and feel everything, but just not have the pain. I tell everyone I can about Hypnobabies.
