First Time Mom Reagan’s Hypnobabies Birth
“All of the nurses and my midwife were in awe of how calm I was throughout everything. It was such a beautiful, peaceful day, despite the lack of the encouragement from my midwife. My Bubble of Peace really helped me during those moments.”
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My birthing story
I’m a first-time mom and my sister had recommended Hypnobabies to me. I saw how powerful it was for her when she birthed her second child, so I knew I wanted to give it my all.
On January 8, I woke up at 4:50am to pressure waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) that were strong enough to keep me awake, as well as losing my mucus plug and having my bloody show. After a few pressure waves that seemed to have a pattern, I decided to start timing them. I began listening to Your Birthing Time Begins (Hypnobabies reminder of what tools to use during birthing) once I was certain I was in my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor).
As the day went on, my pressure waves grew more intense and were about 3-5 min apart consistently. I continued listening to my tracks, alternating between Fear Clearing (Hypnobabies track to release fear), Birthing Day Affirmations, and Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track to deepen level of hypnosis). Around 5:00pm that evening, we decided to head to the hospital. When I got checked in triage, they told me I was only 3cm dilated and 80% effaced, so I wasn’t in “active birthing time”, therefore they couldn’t admit me. I left feeling discouraged but also felt confident that I would be back soon as I felt I was progressing.
We went back home, and I felt my birthing time had progressed and my pressure waves felt very intense and were growing closer together, so we returned back to the hospital around 8:00pm. However, I was told I was still only 3cm dilated and I hadn’t progressed at all. I had the option of walking around for about an hour, so we did that and had them check me after to see if that helped progress me, however it didn’t work. So, we decided to stay in triage overnight and they gave me some morphine to see if allowing me to sleep and my body to rest would help me progress.
At 8am Sunday morning, they checked me again and I had only progressed to 3 1/2cm. I immediately broke down because I was feeling so exhausted and discouraged. My midwife was unfortunately very negative and kept making me feel as though i would be in this phase of my birthing time for days. My sister, who is a previous Hypnobabies mom, stayed on the phone with me all day, reminding me of my goals and to use my Bubble of Peace (Hypnobabies tool to keep negativity away). Once again, we went home, and I continued to birth there.
My pressure waves got super intense, and I began feeling a lot of pressure. My sister and I both noticed I had a hard time staying in hypnosis with just listening to the tracks. So, my sister read scripts to me through the phone as my husband did counter pressure for each wave. Around 11am my water broke, and I knew with this happening, I would for sure be admitted, which gave me some relief. For the third time, we returned to the hospital. They immediately verified that my water had broken, and I was dilated to a 6! I was so excited and relieved to not be sent back home.
My goals for this birth were to go unmedicated and have very little intervention from the midwife and nurses. Once admitted, I felt at peace. My sister continued reading scripts to me and my husband continued with the counter pressure. The support from them was amazing and helped tremendously for each wave. Fast forward to 6pm, they checked me for the first time since being admitted and had found out my water bag had only partially broke, and I was still 6cm dilated. They broke the rest of my water for me because at this point, I was so exhausted both physically and mentally.
As soon as my water bag was broken, my pressure waves grew in intensity. I had spent a lot of my birthing time in sitting positions, so I knew I had to stand if I wanted to progress anymore. I stood for about 30 min, but the waves grew so strong, and I didn’t know how much longer I could do it. After being discouraged by my midwife many many times and being told I would probably be in my birthing time for possibly another day, I felt helpless and felt as though my desires for an unmedicated birth weren’t realistic for me anymore. I made the really hard decision of choosing to get an epidural.
About 20 min later, the anesthesiologist came in our room to give us the rundown. At that same point, I felt “pushy” and let my nurse know. She immediately checked me, and we discovered that I had progressed to 10cm!! I was in such disbelief because this meant I got to follow my original preferences and that my baby girl was going to be here any time now! I immediately got on the bed on my knees and leaned over the top of the bed and remained in that position for an hour, while listening to the Pushing Baby Out track, as well as my sister still reading scripts to me, until my beautiful healthy girl was born.
I am so proud of myself for fighting so hard for the birth that I wanted and the strength I had to continue when I truly thought I couldn’t anymore. All of the nurses and my midwife were in awe of how calm I was throughout everything. It was such a beautiful, peaceful day, despite the lack of the encouragement from my midwife. My Bubble of Peace really helped me during those moments. I am so blessed that I birthed a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby girl. She was born at 10:00pm January 9, weighing at 8.11lbs and 20.5” long.
