Dear Hypnobabies,
I thought I should probably write down my birth story and send it to you. Better late than never right? It was the most amazing experience ever.
My husband and I live in Utah and had taken the Hypnobabies 6 week course with an instructor in our town. Our baby's guess date was around January 14th 2008. On the evening of January 20th around 11:00 pm I felt a little crampy. Nothing major or out of the norm. We told our other 3 children we didn't think their little brother would be coming tonight and to go get some rest and we would wake them in the morning. At around midnight I was curious myself to see if this was really it. So we bundle up in our snow clothes and scarves and headed out into the snowy night to take a walk and see if that might help encourage things along.
At about 12:15 I felt my first noticeable pressure wave. After a few of them I would have to stop and lean on my husband so I could turn off my “Lightswitch”.(a Hypnobabies technique) We would just hold each other and sway, almost as if we were dancing in the silent still of the night. It was so peaceful and quiet outside. I knew after getting around the block once that this WAS IT!!! The pressure waves were about 3 minutes apart and by the time we got home and unbundled ourselves I looked at the clock and it was 1:00 am. I told my husband that he should call the Midwife. He thought we should wait a little longer so she wouldn't be too early and sitting around... just in case it would be a while. I told him no and that she should come now seeing as how she also had a 30 minute drive. This was our fourth baby but our first home birth.
So my husband called her and then began filling up the birthing pool. I called my sister to tell her that I was in labor and we had a wonderful conversation for about a half an hour. My husband was so surprised to see me sitting on my birth ball laughing while talking to my sister that he had to take a picture. My midwife arrived at 2:00 and wanted to know if I wanted her to check me. I told her lets just wait a little longer (I didn't want to be disappointed if she told me I was only at a 2). I wasn't uncomfortable at all so I was just watching them get things set up and ready for the arrival of our new baby. My husband wanted me to get in the tub to relax but I didn't want the water to relax me so much that it would slow down my labor so I chose to wait for a little longer. With each birthing wave I would rest on the side of the bed so I could "turn off" and breathe through it.
It was amazing how I didn't feel anything except pressure and was so relaxed but at the same time I knew everything that was going on in the room. At about 3am she asked again if I wanted her to check me and I agreed because I was really curious to know. So she checked me and I was an 8. Yay......I couldn't believe that I progressed all the way to 8 centimeters and I felt just fine! Wow, never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be this easy. I decided a few minutes later to get in the water. I then had two more pressure waves and then I felt this "POP" inside of me. My husband heard it it was so loud! I wasn't sure what it was for a brief second and then realized it was my bag of water that burst. The moment my water broke things started to get intense.
I couldn't have my headphones on anymore they were irritating to me so I just took them off and leaned over the side of the tub on my husband's shoulder. The plan was originally that he wanted to deliver the baby. He had previously helped deliver our 2nd and 3rd babies in the hospital so he knew a little bit about what to do. BUT.......... our room was so small he was sitting in the closet so as to be out of the way for the midwife and her assistant. Then when I started pushing I wouldn't let go of him so he didn't want to leave my side to move out of the closet opening to go to the other side of the tub. So in the closet he was! I pushed for maybe all of 10 minutes and that is when it got really intense! I felt like I was trying to push a bowling ball out.
But then out came his head and I felt instant relief! I could feel my little guy’s head under the water. What an amazing thing! Then I pushed out the rest of his body and it was almost euphoric. I pulled him up on my chest and just looked at him. Our little Luke was born at 3:22 am on January 21st. The midwife covered us up in towels and we just sat there soaking up the moment and all that it had to offer. He was perfect! We waited for some time before my husband cut the cord and after 20 minutes or so they took the baby to check him and do what they needed to do. The midwife helped me out and got me ready to get into bed. I did tear and so she had to stitch me up and that was a little uncomfortable......but Hey...I had just had a natural birth, just the way I envisioned it! There was nothing in the world that could bring me down now. Then my midwife's assistant exclaimed 9 lbs 13 oz! "What?" I gasped....I thought she was kidding! No wonder.........I did push out a 10 pound ball of joy! I have no doubts that our bodies are amazing machines. Wow!
I have to give all the credit to Hypnobabies for getting me through delivering a 10 lb baby NATURALLY. I was in labor for a total of 3 hours and 10 minutes. Truly one of God's greatest miracles happened to us! We were in our bed with our newest addition at 5 am just marveling over what had just taken place. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful Hypnobabies is and that you must do your research and you will soon see why it is the only way to have a baby. Thank you for all you do!
Sincerely,
Tiffany R
