Hypnobabies Hospital Birth 5 CM to Baby in 30 Minutes
“I also felt a strong urge to push, but that seemed silly because the midwife had JUST left and said I was only 5 cm. My husband insisted that we call the midwife back in the room to see if it was time to push. Good thing he called her back in… when she checked me, I was complete!”
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On August 31, I woke up feeling “off.” I was nauseous and tired. I tried to rest as much as I could throughout the day and went to bed early that night.
Around 11:30 pm, I woke up to mild birthing waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) spaced every 5 minutes apart. They were strong enough to where I could not sleep, but too weak to convince me that my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor) had truly begun. I listened to Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track for deepening the level of hypnosis) and Special Safe Place throughout the night as I periodically timed my waves. They remained consistent in timing and intensity all the way until 4 am.
Around 4 am, I started shaking and shivering. My birthing waves remained mild and only 5 minutes apart, but at this point I thought it might be time to wake my husband and call the midwife. The midwife instructed me to come in and get checked just to see. We loaded our car, and my mom came over to stay with our two girls, so we could head to the hospital.
Once at the hospital, it was confirmed that my waves were indeed 4-5 minutes apart, but I was only 50% effaced and 2 cm dilated. The midwife asked me to walk the halls for two hours and get checked again to see how I progressed. After doing this, I came back to learn that I was now 4 cm. The midwife asked that I be admitted.
Note: I had a negative experience with the check-in process and an IV during a previous birth, so I had a lot of anxiety about this part. I used my bright orange hypno-anesthesia and decided to trust my nurse fully as part of my bubble of peace. The IV was placed easily and with no discomfort. I hesitantly agreed to receive a small amount of fluids, and then was surprised to find that the fluids completely eliminated the tired/nauseous feeling that I had felt all day. I was over the most dreaded part AND finally felt like I had energy again! Everything was going great, and I felt good!
We settled into our birthing room, and I began listening to Your Birthing Time Begins and Birthing Day Affirmations. I discovered that my Easy First Stage track (Hypnobabies main birthing day track) wouldn’t work, but I didn’t let that get to me since I had all other tracks.
Throughout the day, I felt like nothing was happening. I walked the halls, bounced on my birthing ball, changed positions, and continued to listen to my tracks. My birthing waves would at times fizzle out completely and then return to the same mild 5 minutes apart as before. I also remained 4 cm dilated.
My husband, midwife, and I discussed the options. With my anxiety about IVs and the check-in process, I felt like going home was NOT an option for me personally. I was in a great place mentally and didn’t want to lose that. Continuing to do nothing was also not an option in my opinion. My birthing waves had clearly stalled, and I felt certain they just weren’t coming back on their own anytime soon. We decided my midwife should break my waters around 3 pm.
As she did, she announced “meconium”. At that moment, I knew that using interventions to speed up my birthing time was just the birthing journey that my baby and I needed. I felt peace in my decision.
For the next two hours, I felt absolutely nothing. The monitor showed that birthing waves remained steady at 5 minutes apart, but I didn’t feel anything. I still don’t know if this was due to my hypnosis or them being so mild. Either way, Pitocin sounded more and more appealing.
We got the Pitocin started at 5 pm. But again, I spent the next two hours not feeling a thing and seeing the monitors register the same mild 5 minute-apart birthing waves.
Around 8 pm, my husband and I watched a beautiful sunset through the hospital window. I felt a sense of peace and a deep appreciation of this moment I had with my partner. In the dimmed light of the sunset, I asked him to slow dance with me. We swayed cheek-to-cheek, and I savored this precious time we had together. We have a 5-year-old and 2 year old so moments like this don’t happen often.
Around 8:30 pm, my pressure waves grew in intensity. I leaned forward on the bed, repeated the word “peaceeeeeee” (Hypnobabies cue for instant physical comfort) and my husband rubbed my back. I really enjoyed this time in my birthing and remained so connected with my husband and so engulfed in a sense of peace.
Around 9:30, things got intense. I still did not feel my birthing waves at all. But I did feel intense pressure in various parts of my abdomen. I became focused on moving my body in response to this pressure and vocalizing my feelings through low moans.
Around 10 pm, every wave became fully concentrated in my left hip. It felt as if my baby’s head was stuck in my hip. I expressed this concern to my midwife. My midwife checked me and said I was at 5 cm, and I felt SO discouraged. Fortunately, my midwife talked me through a few waves and gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going with no medication. She also showed me a great position that eliminated the discomfort in my hip within two waves as it made baby’s head rotate. The midwife left the room to let me progress a bit more.
Not long after that, I felt intense pressure in my rectum. I moved around the room as my husband gave me affirmations. At this point, I started getting a bit discouraged. I was managing fine, but I reasoned that I had a long way to go. In my mind, I still had to go through transformation (Hypnobabies word for transition) and pushing, and I felt like I was reaching my limit. I also felt a strong urge to push, but that seemed silly because the midwife had JUST left and said I was only 5 cm. My husband insisted that we call the midwife back in the room to see if it was time to push.
Good thing he called her back in… when she checked me, I was complete! But she said baby was still at a -2 position so there was a sense that it still may be a while before baby moved down. No one had any urgency in getting things set up too quickly, because we all thought it would still be a while.
With this news I felt a huge boost of energy. I asked for a “celebratory popsicle” because I felt like I needed something to carry me through the final stretch. My nurse very quickly grabbed me a popsicle in between waves, as everyone else in the room slowly prepared for pushing.
As soon as that popsicle was in my hand, I had a powerful wave. I Instinctively squatted and felt my body pushing my baby very quickly down the birth canal. I gave a very powerful roar as this happened and it felt very empowering. My husband turned on the Pushing Baby Out track. I then moved to my hands and knees. I felt my body pushing on its own again. I felt something that reminded me of a balloon inflating, but I didn’t know what it was. Surely it wasn’t baby’s head this soon! The balloon deflated for a second. And then I felt my body push again, followed by the inflating balloon feeling, followed by what I KNEW was my baby’s head, and then I looked down and saw my baby in the bed below me! All of this happened back-to-back within a single wave in less than a minute.
It was a bit of chaos as I tried to pick up my baby. There was a jumble of hands and arms from my midwife and a nurse, and I laughed as I noticed my uneaten popsicle was floating in the midst of it all! No one expected him to be born that quickly, so I think we were all caught off guard.
I rolled over and laid back with my baby boy, letting it all sink in. Birth time was 10:23 pm on September 1. I had gone from 5 cm to baby-in-arms in less than 30 minutes. I had also been in my birthing time for 23 hours. I couldn’t believe I did it! Although this was my third baby, it was my first hypno birth and first birth without an epidural.
My baby, Sullivan James, weighed in at 6 lbs, 15 oz. He had a few breathing issues and had to stay in the NICU for a few days. But he got to come home a week later, and we have had a wonderful four months with him. Hypnobabies helped me to handle the emotions of having a baby in the NICU and then the adjustment to life with three kids.
I didn’t have any tearing, and this was by far my easiest recovery. As I look back, I’m surprised that there was never once a moment where I thought “I can’t do this.” I stayed positive the entire time. I’m so thankful to Hypnobabies, my husband, my midwife, and some really incredible nurses for the support I needed to have an amazing birth experience. I will forever cherish that sweet sunset with my husband as we worked together to birth our baby.
