Rebecca’s Hypnobabies Hospital Birth Story
“I remembered that bodies give birth in their own time, and so what if I had only dilated 1 cm over the course of the past 7 hours?! I knew from previous hospital birth story experience that Hypnobabies WORKS, and I knew my body could very well be opening quickly now. Sure enough, when they checked me, I was 6-7cm.”
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I just gave birth to my third baby and third Hypno-baby on Sunday, May 16 (41w3d). He was 10lb 7 oz, 21.5 inches long!
For the week leading up to his birth, I had some symptoms that my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor) would be starting soon. Days of (what I thought was) bloody show, and nights of practice waves that eventually fizzled out by morning. I was growing more confused and discouraged but continued listening to my tracks and rehearsing my positive affirmations. “My job is to relax and allow my baby’s birth to happen…my body knows how to give birth, and I trust it…everything is going right.”
At 41w3d, I woke up to what I thought was leaking fluid. Yay! Another positive sign! But no consistent pressure waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) began, so I decided to call my doctor and see if they wanted me to come in and check to see whether it was fluid or not.
At 10:00am, I consented to my first cervical check (dilated to 3). The ultrasound showed that baby’s fluid was very low, suggesting that what I had been noticing for days was not bloody show, but likely very slowly leaking fluid caused by a small tear high up on the sac. Baby looked healthy, but they recommended staying to give birth due to low fluid. I felt comfortable with this path and agreed to a membrane sweep to help jumpstart waves. I asked for a moment to go into hypnosis, which the doctor waited patiently for me to do, and I felt totally comfortable during both the internal check and sweep!
For the next four hours, my husband and I stayed in our hospital room working through regular, moderately strong waves. I listened to my birthing day tracks like Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track), Birthing Day Affirmations and Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track to deepen hypnosis) on repeat.
At 2:00pm, I was checked again but still at a 3! I was very disappointed that my body hadn’t progressed. The doctor didn’t think I’d progress on my own and suggested starting Pitocin. BUT I knew that “my body gives birth in its own time”, and because baby was healthy, we chose to wait another 2-3 hours before doing any medical interventions.
At 5:00 I was checked again and had progressed to a 4. You’d think I’d be frustrated by such small progress, but I wasn’t! I was very thankful, and when we discussed the options, we decided to let the doctor break my waters to encourage stronger waves. I immediately felt the waves get strong and intense, but viewed this with gratitude and gladness, thanks to my Hypnobabies training.
So, at 5:00pm my water was broken, and just to jump ahead in the story, my baby was born at 8:30pm. This means I progressed from 4cm to baby in my arms in just 3.5 hours! I’m pretty satisfied with that! During this three-hour time frame, I stayed plugged into my HB tracks continuously. It felt best to stand and sway and lean into my husband for the length of each wave. They certainly felt intense and powerful, but my HB training came through. I felt calm between each wave, I imagined opening more with each one, and I remained relaxed through each one.
I started wanting to vocalize through them which felt good, but I thought, “There’s no way I could be far enough along to want to vocalize” (with my previous births this signaled that I was close to Transformation (Hypnobabies term for transition)). But again, I remembered that bodies give birth in their own time, and so what if I had only dilated 1 cm over the course of the past 7 hours?! I knew from previous experience that Hypnobabies WORKS, and I knew my body could very well be opening quickly now. Sure enough, when they checked me, I was 6-7cm. The waves grew very strong and extremely powerful. And then they changed to pushy waves, and when I got checked again, I was 9.5cm!
I got up on my bed on all fours leaning into my birth ball. I pushed along with my body and was thankful for the relief that came with each pushing urge. I could feel his body twisting and adjusting and sliding down, and was aware of when he began to crown, although this wasn’t uncomfortable either! It was just what I expected it to be- stretching and fullness. It gave me a burst of energy to just push him out because I wanted to see him so badly! After a quick adjusting and maneuvering due to a sticky shoulder, he was born. Safely and naturally. And weighing a whopping 10lb 7oz! As my SIL texted me earlier that day, “joy is at the end of this story”, and it absolutely was pure JOY and a great hospital birth story.
Here is another of Rebecca’s birth stories.
