Kate’s Quick Hypnobabies Water Birth
“My husband was so responsive to my needs, putting a hot pack or hot running water on my back during pressure waves (contractions), giving me the Relax cue (Cue for deepening hypnosis), changing my hypnosis tracks, hydrating me and giving me snacks.”
Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis really does help you enjoy a much easier and more comfortable birthing! Use code hypno1528 for 10% off our Hypnobabies Home Study Courses.
On the morning of 8/21 I was 40+4 and my mother in law called to see if she could take my 2 and 4-year-old boys for the morning to play with their cousins.
I was seeing some of my mucus plug release, so I wondered if I should ask my midwife to strip my membranes while I had childcare, and because I have a history of precipitous birthing.
I had decided not to use a doula for this birth after my doula had canceled on me because of unexpected back surgery and thought about hiring a new one, but when I visualized my birth I just couldn’t see a doula in the picture, and I felt that because this was my third baby and I had my new hypno-tools that my husband, baby and I could do it together. So, I called my former doula to talk through the ‘BRAIN’ of risks/benefits of membrane stripping and decided I’d go for it if my midwife could get me in.
I listened to Your Birthing Day Begins (Hypnobabies reminder track of all the tools and techniques) and an hour later we were at the birth center and I used my mental light switch (Hypnobabies technique for going into hypnosis) for the procedure, it was a breeze! I was at 4 cm, super stretchy with bulging waters.
At this point it was about 12:30 pm and my husband and I decided to go across the street and grab lunch to see if anything would happen and to stay close to the birth center just in case things got rolling. I had a couple of strong pressure waves (Hypnobabies word for contraction) during lunch and we decided to head back and get checked again. I was at 6 cm and so we grabbed my birthing bag from the car and decided to make ourselves at home.
I put on my sleek leopard-print Bluetooth headphone headband and my bright orange sports bra and started my Hypnobabies Easy First Stage track (Hypnobabies main birthing day hypnosis track). Our birth attendant filled the tub and my husband, and I settled into our beautiful dark birthing room. Later the birth attendant and I had a laugh because it was at least an hour before I told her the headband was headphones. LOL, she must have thought I was channeling my inner ‘Eye of the Tiger’ 1980’s aerobics instructor (I looked pretty silly)!
My husband was timing my pressure waves and they were a steady 5-6 minutes apart. Our birth attendant suggested that instead of timing waves that we just tally them and see how many I was having in an hour to take the focus off of time. Two hours passed with steady waves, but they felt really far apart to me. I wasn’t convinced I was in my birthing time, still at the birth center just in case.
I handled each wave easily by repeating Peaaaaaaaccccceee (Hypnobabies cue to direct hypno-anesthesia for comfort) throughout the duration of the wave. In hour three I was telling my birth attendant I just didn’t know if baby was coming today, my waves felt like they were 20 minutes apart. She smiled and told me she thought it would be very soon. She pointed out that I had three waves in the 10 minutes she had been in the room. (My husband who has had quite a bit of training in hypnosis later told me that time distortion is common when in trance/hypnosis.)
The waves started getting stronger and I needed to focus more during each wave. At one point I went to the bathroom and saw my bloody show and knew it was ‘go time’. I hopped in the tub and had my husband turn on Pushing Baby Out (Hypnobabies track to remain in hypnosis during pushing) on our speaker. Pushing was intense and quite uncomfortable, I don’t think hypno-anesthesia worked for me, but I had so much more control this time than my previous (non-Hypnobabies births). At one point during crowning I lost my composure and tightened my hands (and told the midwife to ‘just get the baby out!’), but quickly regained my focus, relaxed my hands and face, and a few minutes later our sweet baby girl was in my arms. I got to pull her up to my chest myself at 4:25 pm!
I had a very minor lesion but not a tear worth stitching, which was amazing and proof I was way more in control this time. This was just under 4 hours after my waves began. When I had visualized my birth during Hypnobabies training I had envisioned a 3-4-hour birthing time and I got exactly that!
My husband was so responsive to my needs, putting a hot pack or hot running water on my back during pressure waves, giving me the Relax cue (Cue for deepening hypnosis), changing my tracks, hydrating me and giving me snacks. Because I was so much more confident and comfortable with this birth (thanks to Hypnobabies, especially Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations) I was able to easily ask him for what I wanted and needed between waves and he was super responsive. It was mostly just the two of us in our beautiful dark birthing room, except for the birth attendant intermittently monitoring and the midwife checking in, and it was such a special and peaceful time for my husband and me and I’m glad we chose not to have a doula this time so we could have this very intimate and special experience together 💕.
If my birth story sounds uneventful it’s because it was (thanks Hypnobabies)!
I have to admit that after the birth I was disappointed that pushing was so uncomfortable. It reminded me of my previous births, but my husband reassured me I was 10x calmer and in control this time and my midwife and birth attendant were both so impressed with the peacefulness of the entire birth. I will definitely use Hypnobabies again should I be lucky enough to have another baby! 💕
