Laurie’s Incredible Hypnobabies Hospital Birth
“As soon as I held my baby in my arms, I was overwhelmed with pride over her incredible hospital birth. I have been riding the birth high ever since! SO grateful for Hypnobabies in helping me reframe and look forward to my birthing time. My recovery has been amazing. Once we got home from the hospital, I told my husband, “It feels like giving birth was just something I happened to do this week. No big deal!””
Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis really does help you enjoy a much easier and more comfortable birthing! Use code hypno1528 for 15% off our Hypnobabies Home Study Courses.
I chose to use Hypnobabies for my second birth because during my first baby’s birth I didn’t feel I had tools to manage my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor). My first stage was relatively short for a first-time mom – four hours – and I never felt I could get my bearings. My pushing phase lasted almost five hours, and once he was finally born, I had a retained placenta and second-degree tear. Although I had the intervention-free homebirth I had wanted, I ended up feeling afraid of ever giving birth again. My recovery was difficult as my body had been pushing for so long, and I was unable to sleep due to racing thoughts around the birth.
For my second birth, I knew I wanted to try Hypnobabies based on the incredible reviews I had read. I was fairly faithful to the program but never felt like I was deeply hypnotized during the tracks – although they were excellent in helping me take naps and fall asleep at night and helping me reframe to see birth in a positive light. I think I would have had a lot more anxiety and fear based on my first birth, but the program helped me focus on the positive. It also helped me to feel confident in choosing a hospital birth this time around, as I felt comfortable saying “no thank you” and being confident in my decisions.
I was anticipating a fairly quick birthing time based on my first birth. I was also assuming I would go past my guess date (Hypnobabies term for due date) as I had with my first. However, at 39 weeks and 3 days I woke up around 6:00 AM with what felt like period cramps. I realized I had felt those from time to time overnight, but assumed it was GI related cramps and I had been able to fall back asleep easily.
My husband was about 35 minutes away at work. After lying in bed for a while, I called him to let him know I was feeling “something.” I told him I had no idea whether my birthing time had truly started yet, but most likely the baby would be born sometime today. He decided to come home immediately (thank goodness!). I also texted my friend to come over and be with my son once he woke up.
My friend and husband both arrive around 7:30. I knew at this time I was having real waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions). I had been attempting to time them on an app, but they seemed fairly irregular. They were still very easy to manage. I spent most of this time walking around my house and pausing to breathe deeply during waves. I was listening to the Birthing Day Affirmations track.
Around 7:45 I decided to take a shower, which felt amazing and basically took away any discomfort a wave may have brought. I talked and sang to my baby. I was even comfortable enough to wash my hair and put on make-up afterwards!
My husband was busily getting our things ready for the hospital birth. After my shower I switched to the Easy First Stage track (Hypnobabies main birthing time track). I knew we would need to go soon, but I didn’t realize how soon. At 8:25 I sat down on my bed to try to get into hypnosis before driving to the hospital to give birth. I had three waves within ten minutes, one of which my husband saw and then insisted it was time to get to the hospital. I started crying (probably the beginning of transformation) – I wasn’t scared, but felt a bit overwhelmed, specifically the idea of saying goodbye to my son. Between waves, I said goodbye to him, and even had the presence of mind to remember to grab my wallet and crossword puzzle book. As we headed out the door, I even mentioned to my friend that they might end up sending us home!
The car ride to the hospital was about 12 minutes, and I had at least three waves in the car, one of which felt like it was twice as long as my other waves. I was starting to realize the baby was coming very soon, and a bit of fear crept in. I was still listening to Easy First Stage, and there was an affirmation like “I deserve a comfortable birth.” I really tried to focus on that.
Once we got to the hospital it was clear we needed to get into a room fast. I had waves in the parking lot, waiting for the elevator, in the elevator, and once we got on the birthing floor. I had to stop each time, lean on my husband, and use my voice and breath to stay in control. I started to feel some pressure that felt like something was bulging. My husband asked the nurses at the nurses’ station for a room immediately, and I said, “I’m going to push!” A nurse said, “Don’t push!” (Impossible, haha) – with a little push my water broke, right in front of the nurses’ station. I insisted I needed a bed because the baby was coming.
They didn’t have a birthing room ready, so they took me to a triage room. Things started to feel chaotic at this time and I felt like I lost control. The baby was coming, and I couldn’t get my bearings. My husband and a nurse quickly took off my shoes and leggings (very tricky to do since I couldn’t sit down!) and as soon as I got on the bed my body began to push the baby out. I was not intentionally pushing – it was the fetal ejection reflex. There were about 5 or 6 nurses in the room from what I could tell, and my husband quickly came to my side to help coach me through pushing. He reminded me to breathe, which I was able to do despite the chaos of the moment. I also used my voice a lot to cope with the pushing waves.
After just 3 or so pushes, baby was out! I looked up and my midwife handed her to me – she had JUST made it in time but didn’t have time to put gloves on before catching the baby. Only my husband knew we didn’t know the baby’s sex, so he checked and told me we had a baby girl! I was in shock from having birthed the baby so quickly, and my husband and I were both crying. She was born at 9:11 AM (just 3 hours after my cramping woke me up).
I was afraid I had torn because the baby came so fast, but my midwife told me I was intact! I also immediately birthed the placenta, which was so exciting because I had a retained placenta with my first birth, and a second-degree tear. I also immediately felt the oxytocin rush I had expected with an unmedicated birth (I did not feel that with my son, probably because of the placenta issues).
As soon as I held my baby in my arms, I was overwhelmed with pride over her incredible hospital birth. I have been riding the birth high ever since! SO grateful for Hypnobabies in helping me reframe and look forward to my birthing time. My recovery has been amazing. Once we got home from the hospital, I told my husband, “It feels like giving birth was just something I happened to do this week. No big deal!”
Despite the ten or so minutes of fear and chaos, I remember my birth as being really wonderful. I would recommend Hypnobabies to anyone looking to have a better birth experience. My favorite affirmation was “I deserve a comfortable, easy, uncomplicated birth” – I feel like that’s just what I got and was completely surprised that birth could be this easy and incredible after my first experience. I can’t say that I was ever “hypnotized” during my birthing time, but that doesn’t change that I had an incredible birth. I think the program helped me reframe the discomfort and be able to manage it well. So well that I didn’t even think I needed to go to the hospital! I would absolutely use the program again for any future births.
Here is another amazing hospital birth story
