First Time Mom Sowmya’s Amazing Hypnobabies Induction
“With less than 12 hours in the hospital and just over an hour of pushing, I had a wonderful pregnancy and birthing experience. Not once did I feel like getting an epidural or that I couldn’t do it.”
Before going into details of my baby’s birth, I want to share how Hypnobabies helped with just the pregnancy as well. I had a smooth and calming pregnancy (positively uneventful as my doctor would say). Joyful affirmations in particular were very helpful for my regular checkups and whenever I found myself being tested even outside of the pregnancy itself (e.g., I affirmed myself I need to be taken seriously at work and I have a voice – which even led me to finding an amazing job while 6 months pregnant!). My glucose screening came positive and so I had to take the longer test for gestational diabetes. The affirmations also helped me during this and my results came back normal.
Fast forward to 35 weeks, I was having trouble walking comfortably. During my OB visit, I asked that they do a cervical exam. Turned out I started dilating, with my cervix effaced 70% and that baby had dropped quite low. I imagined potentially needing “Baby Stay In” track (Hypnobabies track for encouraging baby to stay in) but days went by and while I continued progressing, nothing was too crazy and I never got any noticeable birthing waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions.
I started listening to “Come Out Baby” (Hypnobabies track to encourage baby to be born) starting at 39 weeks but turns out my baby was too comfortable to come out by then. Mid-week 39, I had my bloody show and what I thought were pressure waves. However, they weren’t strong enough and so I started listening to “Strengthening Your Birthing Time” (Hypnobabies track to strengthen birthing waves) in addition to many of the other tracks but nothing happened. My doctor suggested induction at 41 weeks if things my pregnancy the same way (I was only at 3cm dilation with almost no birthing waves) as I was a small person and could end up with a large baby potentially too big for my pelvic area or complicate things for my health if it took longer. It also could affect my desire to avoid a C-section. Of course, she suggested few natural induction methods to help trigger but in vain.
Week 41 and I got admitted to be induced. My doctor first broke my waters and started a small dose of Pitocin around 10 AM. The staff was very mindful of my birthing preferences and respected my plan throughout. I started getting significant pressure waves around 11 AM. Like the tracks suggest, they felt like blood pressure cuffs, and I was smiling between waves. Things got intense within the hour, and I progressed really well. My nurse and my husband were impressed with how I was handling the intensity and could still have a conversation between those intense waves. I had “Easier First Stage” (Hypnobabies main birthing time track), “Birthing Day Affirmations”, “Deepening Your Hypnosis” (Hypnobabies track for deepening the level of hypnosis) playing for a while.
After things got very intense, with waves being less than 2 minutes apart, I asked my nurse to take off the Pitocin. She also helped me move around and use a birthing ball even while I had to be monitored continuously. At this point, I struggled listening to the tracks and so decided to turn to the center/off switch as needed and just focus on my breathing and think about my Special Safe Place (which was an imaginary place while practicing but turned out to just be my dog playing around and being goofy during my birthing time). My husband also coached me and encouraged me to move. After a while, I got eager to push. Nurse checked me and I was almost fully dilated. About an hour prior to this, I discussed the pushing stage and while discussing, they said they preferred that I push on my back because baby was facing sideways. They did help try some Spinning Babies techniques to turn baby (it turned too effective, and baby turned to the other side ).
I was planning to insist that I push on all fours or side lying etc. However, when it was time, I couldn’t argue as I was shaking too much to put weight on my legs and couldn’t bear the pressure caused by the baby’s position. Lying on my back, I started pushing around 5:15 PM and the whole crew was impressed with how effective my pushes were and how I was calm and even smiled between waves. My nurse guided me to breathe slowly and deeply through the waves. I was completely in the zone and had my Center switch (Hypnobabies tool for remaining in hypnosis while being able to move, etc.) throughout. We all joked and even guessed the baby’s birthing time. When offered a mirror, I refused. My husband was amazed with my progress and shared that he could see the baby’s head. My baby boy was born at 6:24 PM and the entire staff was impressed with the whole experience. As predicted by my doctor, my baby boy was fairly big for my size (both me and my husband and everyone in our families have been about 6lb babies and my baby turned out to be 8.5lb and really long). Since he was a big boy, I ended up with 2nd degree tears while birthing his shoulders, which my doctor stitched up right away after I birthed the placenta 8 minutes after my baby was born.
With less than 12 hours in the hospital and just over an hour of pushing, I had a wonderful pregnancy and birthing experience. Not once did I feel like getting an epidural or that I couldn’t do it. (I did not want an epidural due to family history with spinal anesthesia complications). When I asked my husband to help me recall my birthing experience, he said he never noticed me in discomfort or suffering. It just felt like I was in deep concentration. He has been my partner through this journey, including listening to the tracks and educating himself through the other Hypnobabies learning materials so he certainly knew how to look out for me. Thanks to the amazing staff at the hospital, my husband and my dog, and Hypnobabies, I had a near perfect pregnancy and birthing experience.
