Well, he is here now and we are glad! Although things didn’t go as planned, I am so pleased with how things turned out! NOTE: This is long, you have been warned! Ha!
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To start, he came early, about 3 weeks early. That’s a first with me. My babies don’t come early. To refresh you. We have 6 kids, Max is our 7th. First baby was a hospital birth (not a good experience) and the other 5 were all homebirths with wonderful experiences. I usually go right up to 40 weeks, so I was surprised.
I was planning a homebirth with Max as well, but on Jan. 8 when I got up to get the older kids ready for school, I just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t labor, just not feeling right. I had suffered a terrible stomach bug 2 weeks before and then after that caught a bad cold and then was good for a bit and then this feeling came on. I went on about my morning and usual stuff. Then, about around 10am or so, I started feeling very dizzy, light-headed, nauseous, and seeing spots, my vision was funny. Having a nursing background (that was my job before I became a full time mommy, haven’t worked as a nurse for some time) I figured maybe toxemia and I checked my BP. It was 142/95 and that was high, well, high in general, but high for me when I normally run around 100/70 or so. I called my midwife and she said lets wait a bit and see and told me to try some things, like eating a light snack and trying to relax. I did all that but I got to feeling worse, not to mention I had 2 little ones here with me at home. I passed out, but was still semi-conscious and when I composed myself, I took my BP again and it was 162/112 and that did it for me. I knew this wasn’t right. I called my midwife again and told her I wanted to go to the hospital that I didn’t feel right with this. This doesn’t happen normally with me. She said ok.
So when I got there, my BP was still high and they quickly admitted me and I was a little nervous. It had been some time since I was in a hospital having a baby and my last time 14 years ago wasn’t so great. I told my nurse that I had been practicing with hypnosis and had planned to use that. She seemed ok with it and even mentioned she had heard of it before. She said, “we try to let our moms labor any way they choose and don’t force anything on them.” Wow! Never had heard that before from a hospital nurse. But, with me, I wasn’t in labor, just had the high BP and all. So, the plan was to keep me on a 24 hour watch and go from there. They checked my blood and urine and that was all fine, so I didn’t need an emergency c-section and they were going to keep a watch on it.
The doctor confirmed that I had toxemia, not too bad though, and since my BP was high and I wasn’t feeling well, that a homebirth didn’t seem safe. I agreed, but I wasn’t in labor so I thought maybe they can manage my BP or it will come down and all will be well, after all, I am not really “due” yet. I was thinking that maybe I would get to go home the next day. They did want to start an IV and I agreed, I mentioned the hep lock, but since I had the high BP, my nurse said the IV would be best and they could give me something for my nausea which was great to have that relieved!
So, I was sort of bored for a bit and even used my hypnosis when they started the IV and it was wonderful! I told the nurse, “give me a bit to get into hypnosis and then you can start.” I did the fingerdrop and turned my lightswich off and that was it. I felt a tiny pinch and that was it. I was so relaxed in my special place that when I finally came out of it, my nurse said, “I have been done for about 30 minutes now, you were totally relaxed and I couldn’t seem to get you to come out of it so I let you relax.” It was just so amazing, I didn’t even feel like I had been “out” that long. It seems like she had just walked in to start the IV.
Then, going into the late evening hours, here comes my sweet nurse again and she asks “are you having contractions?” I say no, I feel ok in that area. She looks at the monitor. Oh yes, they did have me hooked up to that thing and that was kinda frustrating a bit since they wanted to constantly monitor me cause of the high BP, they just wanted to keep a watch on the baby’s heart rate. But I did get to get up and walk at times, so not too bad. She looks at it and says, “well, your having them and some pretty good ones it looks like, you don’t feel that?” I tell her it’s not unusual for me to not feel them being this is my 7th, I have had that experience before. So she checks me and says, “well, well, your in labor alright, your about between 5-6 cm dilated and 90% effaced, let me get the doc to check you also.”
He comes in and says the same thing as her and then says, “well, it looks like we’re gonna have a baby in the wee hours of the am.” I was shocked, I couldn’t believe I actually went into labor. I asked if it was ok and all since I was about 37 weeks and he said all looked fine. They did an ultrasound and he said it looked like he was about 37 weeks, 7 pounds and healthy enough to be born, the lungs appeared fine. I said ok.
My nurse asks me if I want any pain relief and she said, “I’m just asking, I want you to know all the options.” I told her no, I was fine and knew all the options and I would just continue on, figuring that as usual with me, I really wouldn’t need the hypnosis until the end when I was about 8cm dilated. So, I labored fine with no discomfort and then, after about a couple of hours, I started feeling the contractions and very pushy also. I had my hubby go get my nurse and she checks me and says you are 8cm and completely effaced, lets get you sitting up in the bed a bit to help bring that baby down. I felt fine with the contractions until she got me up in bed and then I told my hubby Donnie, “ok, I need the hypnosis now, right NOW!” He gently put his hand on my forehead and said, “release” over and over and I was saying to myself, “peace” over and over and I went into my hypnosis and told Donnie to keep his hand on my forehead and keep saying release.
NOTE: I didn’t bring my CD’s or book with me when I went in at first, cause like I said, I wasn’t in labor, but Donnie brought them when he came, I did the fear release and that helped. I did that early on just to help me relax. But, that was it, I didn’t need the others. I had been doing the Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations and also doing the schedule on week 6, but I never got to the Birth Guide and Birth-Day Affirmations cause I had just hit 37 weeks. I thought to do the Birth-Day Affirmations one when I went into labor but with all my surprised-ness (I know that’s not a word) about me being in labor, I forgot.
Okay, back to the transformation part. I took it one contraction at a time and my lightswitch was in the center and when the doc came in and everyone was getting ready for the delivery, Donnie said, “she would like to push in what she has learned with hypnosis as mother- directed and not to wildly push.” He said that’s fine, we’ll let it happen, she seems to be doing well. So, what was the most EXCITING part for me was what I had read on page 159 of the workbook and I was so determined to try it. It’s towards the bottom and it starts with a great tip to help in not getting a tear. Well, I wasn’t really worried about that, this being #7, but I wanted to “push my baby’s head out between birthing waves.” I knew I wasn’t quite 10 cm yet but felt really pushy like so I very gently pushed in between them and did that for about 3 contractions and then the doc says, “ok, he’s crowning and your ready to push him out, so go ahead and push him in your way that you want.” I took a deep breath and said, “ahhhhhh” and his head came out and then the doc said, “good, one more like that and he’ll be here.”
And I did one more like that and it was so amazing! He was here! I was like, that’s it, he’s here, this seemed almost too easy! I cannot believe it! I wish we had it on tape but our camcorder was old and broken and we hadn’t had the time to get a new one, but I was so overjoyed. I kept saying, “I did it, I did it!” I so wanted to ahhhh my baby out and I did and it was so great! I totally recommend it! It’s the perfect way to push the baby out and I wish I had known about it with my others. This was the easiest and most comfortable pushing I have ever done. It really was. I had pushed so wildly it seems with my others, not long though, my longest was about 30 minutes, but this was so much better, just let the baby do his thing!
So, to wrap this up (it’s long enough) I had a most wonderful hospital experience with this birth and they have come a long way since 1993 and I was impressed. All my nurses on the post partum floor were great and the nursery nurses were awesome and pretty much just told me to let them know if I needed anything, being that he was my 7th, they knew me to be a pro at it all. It was nice also to be in the hospital, just me and Donnie, knowing the other kids were fine with grandma and having the time to relax in the hospital and not worry about the kids. It was really nice. It was almost like we were having our first child.
My BP remained a little high during the labor and delivery and sometime afterwards, but eventually came down and went back to normal and the doc related it to pregnancy induced hypertension. So, I was were I needed to be and all went well and I had a most wonderful birth and both my hubby and I agree that this was most likely the best so far, because of the hypnosis. The doc was really impressed with it and how it helped me to relax and focus. He said he will start mentioning it to patients of his that might be interested.
And, the final icing on the cake was that Max was born on January 9 at 5:55am weighing 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long. And Jan. 9 is also my sweet mother’s birthday who I lost 3 years ago to cancer and so then it all clicked, “there was a reason I went early and I totally believe that mom with some help from God made me go into labor to get Max here and all.” I didn’t even think (at the time) of it being her birthday until my dad mentioned it. What a miracle! I teased dad and said, “ok, either this was her way of helping me since I had the high BP or it was her way of saying, stop having kids….ha!”
I totally am pleased with it all and my most favorite part was ahh-ing Max out. It was so exhilarating!
KIM…..ONE HAPPY HYPNO MOM!!!!! YEAH!!!!!
Originally posted May 21, 2008
