Kimmy’s Fast, Calm, Dream Hypnobabies Birth
“I felt so healthy and strong. We were released 4 hours postpartum and my husband and I were just giddy with laughter the whole drive home, recounting our daughter’s beautiful birth day.”
I woke up at 40+2 days feeling extremely tired after a night of tossing and turning due to just feeling very pregnant and uncomfortable, thirsty, restless, etc. Sleep is hard in general that late in pregnancy, but this night had been noticeable more difficult than most. I had been having barely noticeable practice waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) for a while and was having very sporadic but stronger ones today. I told my husband at 6:15 am to rest up because it could be the day…but kept changing my mind and deciding maybe not since the waves weren’t getting into a pattern.
Around 9, I got in the shower and had maybe 5 strong waves in that 15-20 minutes so I was like alright, I’m going to start timing these when I get out and I can probably even alert my two best friends! So, I got out, texted them and then…the waves just stopped completely. So, I was back to thinking I spoke too soon.
At that point, I actually went ahead and worked since I have been working remotely. I did so on my yoga ball. Every now and then I would get a random wave. I was unconvinced due to irregularity but very hopeful, so I did start listening to Birthing Day Affirmations, just in case. I would also go take a walk around the block every half hour or so. By 12:30 pm, the waves just seemed random, but they were strong. (BOP for fear: I was worried because with my last baby, the waves felt manageable from the moment I was certain my birthing time was beginning due to consistency. These very random, irregular waves felt much stronger already and I wasn’t convinced it was my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor), so them feeling so strong got in my head a little.)
By 1 pm, I just was super restless again and couldn’t focus on work. My waves were so random and far apart, they weren’t even worth timing but since a few worries were starting to slip in, I decided to go listen to some of my Hypnobabies tracks just to relax myself. I listened to Fear Clearing (Hypnobabies track for releasing fear) and Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track for deepening level of hypnosis). I think switching between tracks, I maybe felt a wave, but I was completely hypnotized and honestly felt like I was napping.
When I finished those tracks, shortly after 2 pm, my husband sent me up to take a bath. I listened to another track while I did but can’t remember which now! While in the tub, I started feeling some waves, so I decided to move to center and start timing them. Surprise, surprise, they were about 2 minutes apart and around 30-40 seconds each. At 2:45, I had my husband come up and very calmly asked him what the plan was if I thought we should leave soon. I think he kind of freaked out that I was asking that but also seemed so calm. He called the birthing center first, and I think they doubted I was having waves so close together and they very nonchalantly said we could just come in whenever we wanted and at least get checked. He also arranged for his mom to pick up our daughter from daycare and had her start heading over.
By the time I was getting out of the tub, I really couldn’t talk through my waves but felt very relaxed and in control. I continued to listen to my birthing day tracks. While we waited for his mom, I sat on my yoga ball and at one point even on the toilet backwards. All the while, very calm, collected and hypnotized.
We left the house around 4 pm, and everything transformed on the drive. 😜 Of course, it was just the beginning of rush hour and we were about 30-40 minutes from the birthing center. I had to be in center the whole drive over. I remember feeling deeply relaxed but lucid. This was when I really started saying and using my Peace cue (Hypnobabies cue for instant physical comfort). My waves were really intensifying and my mind was kind of bouncing between thinking I couldn’t do it and reminding myself that probably meant I was in transformation (Hypnobabies term for transition), while also having a hard time believing I could be in transformation already after only having measurable waves for two hours.
We arrived at the birthing center at 4:30 pm. I had headphone issues walking in, so during that time I didn’t have my tracks and was out of hypnosis. They led me to my birthing room where I went to the bathroom and then immediately laid on my side on the bed and got my headphones back on and started my tracks again. This felt amazingly comfortable and relaxing and I was right back into my hypnosis.
A midwife came in to check me and joked with my husband “are you sure she’s even in labor?” One of my big requests for my birthing plan was to NOT be told of any cervical progress because I know women don’t give birth by numbers and I didn’t want a mental block by arriving and not being as far as I hoped. Well… the midwife checked and immediately revealed that I was 9 cm with a bulging bag of waters and that I could probably just push whenever I felt like it since there was hardly any cervix left! Yes!! What a relief! I will be okay with being told that kind of progress!
The midwives started filling up the tub for me and I started kissing my husband and my water broke. I went over and got in the tub and my husband put the Pushing Baby Out track (Hypnobabies track just for pushing) on the speakers. I was extremely comfortable in the water and alternate between leaning against the edges, being on all fours and leaning back and squatting. Keeping my eyes closed the majority of the time helped me stay in the zone. All the little reminders on the track helped a ton. I remember specifically starting to get vocal and I sounded pretty primal and I would change that to more singsong noises and that helped immensely for me to just relax everything and I could feel my hands, my face, just everything stop tensing up.
(Bop: I felt very relaxed and in control no matter how intense things got but there were points where I was getting frustrated from impatience and felt pushing should be going faster.)
At some point, the midwife did tell me she was getting some peeks of the head and reminded me of two steps forward and a little back. She suggested I try a semi squatting position for a few waves and then get out of the tub and try to see if I could go to the bathroom while they got a birthing stool ready for me to try pushing on.
So, I rode a few more waves in the tub and then went over to the bathroom. I was able to pee and then felt my daughters head right there! The midwife asked me to walk to the birthing stool and I was like “nope, I can’t do that”. She tried to have the nurse bring the stool to me but then I felt the urge to push again and she had me get on the floor on all fours. It took two more pushes and I could feel my daughters head and shoulders pass with just some intense pressure and then just instant relief as my daughter was guided into my arms.
I had lost all track of time while pushing, but she ended up arriving just 2 hours after we arrived at the birthing center and just 4.5 hours after I had waves that I could time. Amazing. Being in the birthing center, I was able to just relax and hold my baby while we waited for the placenta. That went smoothly and the whole time, I was not only elated and overjoyed but amazed at how great and lucid I was feeling.
After, we were able to just bond with our new baby girl for hours. It was amazing the difference being in a birth center and having just vitals and my bleeding checked so non-invasively. I felt so healthy and strong. We were released 4 hours postpartum and my husband and I were just giddy with laughter the whole drive home, recounting our daughter’s beautiful birth day.
