Abby’s Amazing, Empowering Hypnobabies Home Birth

New parent in tub holding brand new baby

Abby’s Amazing, Empowering Hypnobabies Home Birth

“My amazing doula was in the tub with me and caught her. She said as soon as her head was out, she was already letting out cries and looking around. She was an amazing pink color, so healthy and so alert. We were all in shock. My active birthing time was less than 3 hours from start to finish.”

Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis really does help you enjoy a much easier and more comfortable birthing! Use code hypno1528 for 10% off our Hypnobabies Home Study Courses.

My beautiful empowering birth made possible by my amazing birth team and the effectiveness of the Hypnobabies program! I’m still using the relaxation music to help me sleep. Thanks to my amazing instructor Christy High, she got us super prepared and was so amazing, and then Brandi Eversman Hendricks helped us to use the program to get the most out of it during the actual birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor).

Pregnant person laying in bed with partner giving massageThis birth was so manageable and beautiful because of the tranquility and peace I was able to feel while going through my birthing time. We used the Strengthen My Birthing Time (Hypnobabies track to strengthen birthing waves in birthing time), Easier First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track), and Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track for deepening the level of hypnosis), during my birthing time (no time for the Pushing Baby Out track, but the practice I had with the Comfortable Pushing Practice track allowed me to have absolutely no “ring of fire”) I also found the Change of Plans track (due to some marital things) as well as Come Out Baby (Hypnobabies track to encourage baby to be born) and Fear Clearing (Hypnobabies track to release any fear) useful in the weeks leading up to the birth to really help get my headspace right.

This program really brought my husband and I together to work as a team and I can honestly say he was my rock and stayed so calm and collected and knew exactly how to help thanks to the classes we took together. Wouldn’t change my experience for the world and will shout from the rooftops about the effectiveness of this program.

Things did not go as planned with my blue moon baby girl, but in the most beautiful way! August 22nd, we took Milo to the fair as a family of just 3. We wanted to have a day with him doing something fun before the baby came. Knowing there was a rare full blue moon that evening, I knew we probably didn’t have a lot of time to do that with him. I was right! After walking around at the fair all day, we came home and settled in. After Milo went to bed, Calvin and I hung out on our deck, and I bounced on my ball in the moonlight. We came back inside and before I fell asleep, I started to feel some pressure waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions). They were mild and inconsistent. It wasn’t quite time yet, but it was getting there!New parent in tub holding brand new baby

I woke up at 5 am with more pressure waves but still mild. I ended up puking and basically my body was cleaning out. Mild waves all the while. The next day (August 23rd), things slowed down and I went about my day normal. That evening, my doula and I decided maybe I should try to pump to see if that kicked anything up. It sure did. I was having waves 2-3 minutes apart. Once I stopped pumping, the waves continued but not as frequent. My doula thought it was best if I tried to sleep and let them slow down so that I had the energy for my active birthing time (Hypnobabies word for labor), Calvin left work early just in case.

The next morning (August 24) the waves did fizzle but were still coming every 20 minutes or so. I saw my chiropractor, got all fixed up and went home just to rest. My mom came over to help clean and take care of Milo while I pumped to get things in high gear again. Waves started to pick up. Every 10 mins apart after I stopped pumping, I’d say. My doula decided to head down (she came from Florence and likes to be way early to births because she’s awesome like that), she arrived at 6:30. We were all pretty much expecting to have several hours to chill and prepare and do some exercises and things to help move things along. We were wrong! Brandi (my doula) helped me learn how to really utilize my Hypnobabies and my breathing during each wave. With the help of Calvin, who was such an amazing birth partner.

New parent smiling and skin to skin with newbornAfter I started to really feel confident and like I could do this, things picked up. Fast. Pressure waves went from medium intensity, 30 seconds long and 7 minutes apart, to super intense, over a minute long and 2 minutes apart. In a matter of seconds. Brandi was in contact with Wantina (my midwife) the moment she felt like things were really starting to happen. She also lives about an hour and a half away. She was listening to me on the phone while hauling ass to Louisville and everyone was wondering if she was going to make it.

We tried a couple different positions and decided to let me take a hot shower and see if that would slow things down enough to allow Wantina and her assistant to arrive in time. The shower really helped, and it did slow things down a bit, but by that point there was little we could do to really buy more time. Calvin got in the shower with me (in his boxers, bless his heart. He was freezing). With every wave I would hug Calvin and he would sway with me and guide my breathing in my ear. Brandi was helping to keep me calm and also guide my breathing and my hypnosis, all while helping my mom set things up in my bedroom, preparing for me to have the baby.

We decided to let me try and lay down in the tub and see if that would relieve some pressure and slow things down even more. I was feeling very pushy at this point. After laying in the tub for a few minutes (I’m unsure how long it was, time was not a concept for me by this point), things really started to pick up. I took a little cat nap and then a wave came, and my instincts told me to go on my hands and knees, so I did. I really started to push at this point. I thought the sensation I was having was just my cervix dilating, but it was actually the baby descending through my birth canal. Fetal ejection reflex kicked in and after 3 waves Juniper was born.

New family and doula sitting on bed and smiling with newborn baby

My amazing doula was in the tub with me and caught her. She said as soon as her head was out, she was already letting out cries and looking around. She was an amazing pink color, so healthy and so alert. We were all in shock. My active birthing time was less than 3 hours from start to finish. My pushing time was 5 minutes if that. We had paramedics come just in case something went wrong while we waited for Wantina. It was just as a precaution but ended up being unneeded. Wantina arrived about 5 minutes after paramedics arrived and sent them on their way. She was such a calming presence. I birthed my placenta and moved to the bed where we got everything checked out. Everything was in perfect health. I had zero tearing and Juniper was so healthy.

Newborn baby in bassinet wearing a born at home onesie We were all reminiscing over the night while I had a bite to eat. I am so blessed and thankful to have had the birth team that I had. I seriously can’t say for sure I would’ve been able to do it without the amazing support from Calvin, my fabulous doula Brandi and my wonderful, brilliant midwife Wantina and her assistant Terry. There aren’t enough words to describe how amazing this experience was because of everyone who had my back. A huge thanks to everyone who made this possible, including my mom who took care of Milo and got my house spotless for the arrival of this little squish. And thank you to Wantina, who took me on as a patient halfway through my pregnancy and making the trips to my house to see me. If you got this far, thank you so much for reading. We are doing fantastic and relishing in all the newborn cuddles. There’s nothing quite like the empowering feeling of a homebirth high!

I would also like to add a special thank you to Brandi. Every single thing I did in my pregnancy and in my birthing time was as a result of her expertise. Having her made every single thing so manageable and enjoyable. And she had baby in the right position (by having me do certain exercises) weeks before she was even born. She even helped me through marital problems, my water heater breaking and a fruit fly infestation. She even managed to snap a few pics while dealing with this whole whirlwind of a birth Her support was worth a million bucks and then some.

I definitely had the dream team and a birth that will always bring me such joy to remember. We are so in love with baby Junie.