First Time Mom Elizabeth’s Hypnobabies Birth Center Waterbirth
“I was in the tub for about an hour when I asked, “when will I know when to push?” My doula laughed and said that me asking that question likely meant it was close. The pushing sensations came on suddenly and we switched tracks to Pushing Baby Out (Hypnobabies track for pushing) and I switched from my back to all fours.”
Orion William joined us on September 20th at 10:16pm. I was in my last week of the course or my first maintenance week. I never actually listened to the Fear Clearing (Hypnobabies track to release any fears) or Visualize Your Birth (Hypnobabies track to help create and visualize birth) tracks because those were Sunday and Mondays tracks but we didn’t make it that far.
The Sunday prior I had lost part of my mucus plug, so I was on high alert all week. Wednesday marked 38 weeks but still no pressure waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions). I had had a few Braxton Hicks the Sunday before but then nothing. Sunday morning, the 20th, I got up and went pee around 7 am. I was about to get back into bed when my water broke. I squeaked my husband’s name and he sat bolt upright. After the momentary panic subsided, I laughed and asked if he wanted to meet our son today. Then bemoaned that my water couldn’t have broken 2 minutes before while I was on the toilet. I called my midwife and doula, but I wasn’t having any waves, so they told me to relax at home, do something that made me happy. I knew I was in a 24 hour clock to get into regular pressure wave pattern in order to birth at the birth center so my midwife told me if I wasn’t having regular waves by noon to call her and she’d get me their midwife brew.
At this point I should’ve probably started my tracks but my mom was here at the house and I wanted her to feel involved so I decided I’d wait until I was actually having regular waves. The whole day passed with me sitting in the living room on my ball or in my rocker singing along with my favorite Disney movies. I took the midwife brew around 2 pm but still nothing. I was having light irregular waves that I could easily talk and laugh through.
Around 7 pm my doula came over. She is a very intuitive person, and it took her 10 minutes in my house with me to pull me aside and recommend we leave for the birth 
center. She said the atmosphere in the house wasn’t doing me any favors. Somewhere between trying to keep my mom involved and my husband’s anxiety regarding the 45-minute drive to the birth center I was stalling my own progress.
We said goodbye around 710 pm and headed for the birth center. As soon as we got in the car the waves started coming fast. I didn’t feel like trying to get into hypnosis, so we blasted Disney music and I did my best to sing through the powerful rapid waves. My husband could tell I was uncomfortable and sped as much as he could cutting the drive down to 35 minutes. We were in our suite with the tub filling by 8 pm. They did a check, and I was already at 7 cm, my waves just 3 minutes apart or so.
As soon as the tub was filled, I climbed in and they set up a Bluetooth speaker in the rim with Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track) playing. Because it was on the tub, I could dunk my head and all I could hear was the track. It was perfect. I managed to get into hypnosis between waves with my finger drop (Hypnobabies technique to enter hypnosis) and used my Peace cue (Hypnobabies cue for instant physical comfort) through the waves. It took me a little bit to get into the rhythm so there were several that I didn’t finger drop before and ended up vocalizing through instead. I was in the tub for about an hour when I asked, “when will I know when to push?” My doula laughed and said that me asking that question likely meant it was close.
The pushing sensations came on suddenly and we switched tracks to Pushing Baby Out (Hypnobabies track for pushing) and I switched from my back to all fours. I was very vocal through the pushing phase. My husband said I roared the baby into existence. It took less than 30 minutes and around 10 waves to bring our boy into this life. The midwife said it was the most peaceful and impressive first-time birth she had seen. Total active birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor) was about 3 hours.
I fell back hard on my hypno cues. The discussion in the class about how pushing can feel like two steps forward one step back was really useful for me because it reminded me to rest in between waves. I kept thinking down and open and visualizing that orange ring opening. I can’t say it was fun, but I think it was tolerable and as peaceful as one could hope for. I think if I had gotten fully into hypnosis earlier, I would’ve done better. As it was there were a few times I thought that it was crazy people do this and swore I never would again. Lol. But I’m already looking forward to my next hypno-birth!
