Melanie’s Hypnobabies Birth Center Waterbirth
“I put Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track) on and sat on a birthing ball with my head resting on the arm of the couch. I used my OFF switch with every wave and only chose to switch to CENTER between waves a few times.”
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I purchased the Hypnobabies home course as soon as I heard of the program at 34 weeks. It was so in-depth and was everything I needed to quickly prepare myself for a natural birth 🧡 I spent a little over 3 hours a day practicing hypnosis and ended up doing one week of maintenance before my waves (Hypnobabies word for contractions) started up at 38w6d.
Some wonderful things happened, thanks to Hypnobabies, but some mistakes were made on my part that made things not run according to plan. [The mistakes are noted with flags]
At 7 pm last Sunday, I started to feel pressure waves (Hypnobabies word for contractions), but I wasn’t sure what they were since I had never experienced natural, non-Pitocin waves. They actually felt like I was due for a BM. In fact, I kept trying to use the restroom for about an hour before it occurred to me what was happening. I started to clean the house while listening to Your Birthing Time Begins (Hypnobabies reminder of all tools for a comfortable birth) and Birthing Day Affirmations and didn’t go to bed until midnight.
I laid down and listened to Fear Clearing (Hypnobabies track to release fear), Bubble of Peace, and Special Safe Place (Hypnobabies track to create a special place with baby). My 2.5-year-old kept coming into my bed to nurse and I found it difficult to focus on my hypnosis because of that, so my husband took her to her room to try and soothe her but keeping her away from me proved to be a difficult task.
I didn’t fall asleep until 4 am (thank you, Deepening Your Hypnosis!!), and woke at 6 am feeling outrageously well rested. I woke my husband at 7:30 am to let him know the waves were 5 mins apart and the plan for my daughter’s care needed to change because of the way she was acting the night before. I realized I wouldn’t be able to focus on my birthing time with her pulling on me for attention and to nurse, so we made plans to drop her off at church with my parents.
So. Instead of continuing my hypnosis, we went to church. 🚩
I got to the car and realized I had forgotten to switch to OFF (Hypnobabies technique to enter hypnosis) and then CENTER (Hypnobabies technique to be in hypnosis with eyes open) while we were still upstairs, so I switched while we were in the car 🚩I didn’t listen to any tracks while in the car, and I stayed in CENTER through my waves so I could keep talking 🚩
Waves were 3 mins apart when we arrived and I made the mistake of going inside to arrange things with her Sunday-school program and my parents instead of letting my husband take care of everything and sitting in the car and listening to my tracks 🚩
We went to the midwife’s office for an exam because she thought I was too calm for it to be my birthing time. When we arrived at 11 am, the waves had slowed to 5 mins apart. She said if I was at a 3, today could be the day, but if I wasn’t dilated or effaced at all, it’d probably be another 12-24 hrs. I hadn’t been checked in any of my previous appointments, so I was concerned I wouldn’t be dilated or effaced at all, and that she wouldn’t believe it was truly my birthing time (I knew it was, and that the knowledge Hypnobabies had given me was keeping me calm).
I laid down and didn’t use my Bubble of Peace (Hypnobabies tool to keep negativity away) or Peace cue (Hypnobabies tool for instant physical comfort) before she did the exam 🚩I was at a 4. So, she complimented me on my ability to ride the waves with such ease and ran my antibiotics to help with my Strep B.
At 11:50 am, we left to grab a late breakfast and go home until I felt it was time. When we got home at 12:10 pm, waves were 2 mins apart, still peaceful, but I was slipping with my hypnosis as I hadn’t listened to a track in a bit and my husband wasn’t using any cues. Even though the Peace cue was the only tool I was still using, it was making a difference!
After I finished eating, I put Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track) on and sat on a birthing ball with my head resting on the arm of the couch. I used my OFF switch with every wave and only chose to switch to CENTER between waves a few times. My Sister-In-Law arrived at 12:30 pm to act as my doula and at 1:30p m, we left to go back to my midwife’s office. It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t speak to my SIL the entire hour she was there, I simply focused on my hypnosis.
This time I switched to CENTER right after a wave was finished and we raced to get out the door. I ended up experiencing a wave on my way down the stairs, so I held on to the rail and relaxed into it while staying in CENTER.
When we arrived at the birthing center 10 minutes later, I was at a 9. I didn’t speak to anyone when I walked in, just went straight for the birthing ball. I only experienced a few waves before I started to feel pushy and headed for the tub. We switched tracks and changed to listening out loud.
Once we did that, I totally stopped using my techniques. I wasn’t paying attention to the track and my attention shifted to entertaining the many people in the room that were staring at me (2 midwives, hubby, mom, and SIL) 🚩
Also. I thought everyone experienced the fetal ejection reflex, so I was waiting for my body to do the work for me instead of working with the waves. After 40 mins of trying to let my body bring the baby into the world without any effort from me, I realized I needed to do some of my own pushing. It took me 20 mins to get her out and I didn’t use ANY techniques. It was so difficult and I can’t stop kicking myself for throwing my practice out the window 😫
I’m sharing my experience so that y’all don’t make the same mistakes I did! Once I woke that morning, from 6 am-3:22 pm when she was born, I only spent about an hour and a half in hypnosis. I started so late that it was difficult to maintain…
I’m outrageously thankful that my hypnosis practice got me to 9cm happily ❤but it only works when you use it, so remember to *CHOOSE TO CONTINUE TO USE YOUR HYPNOBABIES TECHNIQUES.*
On another note. My bright orange, glowing hypno-anesthesia led me to have a little carrot-topped baby! 🤗
