Rebecca’s Peaceful Calm Hypnobabies Birthing
“Overall Hypnobabies helped me incredibly throughout my birthing journey with my second son, and I know I wouldn’t have had the confidence, peace and calmness to stay home nearly as long as I did if it hadn’t been for Hypnobabies and using my techniques at home.”
I originally found out about Hypnobabies through interviewing different Doulas and their recommendations. Hypnobabies appealed to me, because I was determined for a unmedicated birth, and a comfortable birth. My first birth didn’t go the way I had hoped, and I did end up getting an epidural, but I wanted to do it differently the second time. After deciding between Hypnobirthing and Hypnobabies, I went with Hypnobabies because I liked the idea that it was medical grade hypnoanesthesia and I felt I needed some things strong like that to work for me to be able to give me the kind of birth I wanted this time without medication. I took an in person class around 25 weeks pregnant and it was perfect timing. I liked how I got to practice for about four months during my pregnancy because it gave me time to really invest in the process and get to get a lot of practice, which helped me to reinforce the techniques during my birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor).
What I loved about Hypnobabies was the emphasis on the woman’s natural knowledge of how to give birth, and how birthing is intuitive, instinctual, natural and normal. It was easy for me to fully embrace the Hypnobabies mindset as I already had that mindset, and I felt like it really fit with my outlook and how I wanted to embrace my baby’s birth. I had a lot of anxiety in the beginning of my pregnancy about different issues, and Hypnobabies really helped me to be at peace with them let them go and trust in my body and trust in the process. Taking the classes with my husband helped us to grow closer together and bond over this new pregnancy and new baby. He wasn’t sure at first how Hypnobabies would work, but he quickly came to enjoy the classes and our practice together. He was my biggest support in my birthing time, and I felt like he really got to be involved this time more than he did with the birth of our first son, and it was so special for us to get to have this new experience together. I also had a huge amount of support from my Doula, who I was in communication with via text for most of my birthing time at home and who helped me to stay calm and be able to stay at home as long as possible, which really helped give me the birth that I had envisioned and wanted.
On 12/25 around 530 AM, I started having waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) that were irregular and very mild, but different than what I had felt earlier in my pregnancy. I was excited because I was hoping for a Christmas baby, and I was expecting that the baby would come that day because I had heard so much how subsequent babies usually come quick. I kept having waves throughout the day that were getting somewhat stronger, but not consistently and not in any pattern. I did become a little disappointed, but my husband helped me remember that this was the baby’s time and the baby would come when it was ready which was also reinforced through my Hypnobabies training. I used my Hypnobabies Joyful Affirmations to try to remind myself of this and I accepted that the baby was not going to come on this day.
Starting the next day, 12/26 I began having some stronger waves, and they were in a pattern at times beginning in the morning. I let my doula know and she told me to just keep watching them and updating her as things progressed. I tried not to get too discouraged because I thought that I had started my birthing time when waves started the day before and I couldn’t believe how long the baby was taking to come but my doula let me know that sometimes it can take days to have waves that are irregular until they become regular and stronger and that’s when birthing time really starts.
When Around 5 AM my birthing waves were around 7 to 8 minutes apart and they did feel stronger, but I was still able to rest and relax easily. I was able to go back to sleep until around 7:30 AM and waves felt stronger, but they were not consistent and anywhere from 4 to 7 minutes apart. Throughout this time, I would be listening to tracks like Deepening Your Hypnosis (Hypnobabies track to deepen the level of hypnosis), and I would use the Peace cue (Hypnobabies cue for instant physical comfort) for almost all of my waves which helped me a lot and I liked that I could be walking and moving and still use the Peace cue.
I would be listening to a track while timing waves, and I was able to easily turn my switch to center when I needed to press the button to start a wave on my timer and use the Release cue or Finger Drop Technique (Hypnobabies tools to enter hypnosis) to quickly go back into full body, hypnosis when a wave would start.
Around 1 PM, my waves started feeling even stronger and I lost my mucous plug at that point with a lot of bloody show, but my waves were still pretty spaced out and random. Around 2 PM, I had something to eat and got in the bath which my doula had suggested. The water felt so amazing, and I listened to ‘Birthing Day Affirmations’ during my bath, which was so peaceful and relaxing. Once I got out of the bath, my waves really picked up and they felt a lot stronger and closer together, my doula suggested that I called the birthing center in the hospital and let them know and see what they recommended. I called to reach out and left a message for the midwife, but she didn’t get back to me anytime soon, so I just kept going with my hypnosis.
My waves seem to slow down a bit after calling the birth center and they were still about seven minutes apart when I timed them. I decided to do the miles circuit to try to get things going even more and make sure baby was lined up in a good position. After finishing the circuit around 7:30 PM, my waves seemed to get even stronger and still felt closer together. I was consistently using my Peace cue every time I would have a wave, and that was what seem to help me the most throughout my waves. I decided to time my waves again after the miles circuit to see how far apart they were, and they were definitely stronger, but still not quite consistent and anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes apart.
I decided to try to eat something which wasn’t very appealing and I wasn’t able to get much down but I knew I needed my energy so I wanted to at least have something in my stomach to keep me going strong. After I ate, I laid down around 10:30 PM, and my husband gave me a massage while I listened to the Hypnobabies relaxation music, I asked him to stop touching me during waves and I would use my Peace cue or my Release cue.
Around 11 PM I decided to listen to my Deepening track to try to get some sleep if I could. I would drift off during my breaks in between waves, and then wake up when a wave would come. By 12 AM I knew I was not going to sleep through the night because the waves were so intense, I couldn’t sleep through them. I also started feeling shaky and hot and cold around this time. I started feeling a little bit anxious that we might need to go soon and wanted to time my waves. When I did, they were consistently three minutes apart, lasting about one and a half minutes each wave, I knew I needed to go into the birth center at this time so I woke up my husband and told him we needed to get ready to go.
He packed up the car and we were leaving the house by around 1:15 AM. we got to the birth center close to 1:45 AM. my waves were extremely intense, but in the car, I was able to lay down in the backseat and listen to my Easier First Stage track with my headband headphones on which kept me calm and able to get through waves during the drive. Once we got there, my doula met us there and we were taken up to a to a L&D room while they monitored me waiting for a birthing suite room to be open. I could no longer talk in between waves, and I had to focus all my energy and concentration on my hypnosis and Peacing my way through waves.
It turns out the birthing suite rooms were both full and I would have to wait for one of the moms there to have their baby before I could move over so I didn’t get to use the tub which I had anticipated being able to use, but the midwife there asked me if I wanted to use the shower so I ended up getting into the shower, which really intensified my waves even more at this point it felt like I didn’t get much of a break in between waves and my doula reminded me to use the breaks my body was giving me to fully let go in between waves which helped me a lot. I had some distracting thoughts that I just wanted to get to the birthing suite so I could get in the tub, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to make it there how fast the waves or progressing. After getting out of the shower, I felt like I needed to pee although it had been hard for me to actually pee.
My doula told me it would be a great idea to sit on the toilet. Once I sat on the toilet, I had an involuntary, pushing noise, and she asked me if I felt like I was ready to start pushing which I said I might be, she went to go get the midwife and the midwife and nurses brought all their stuff and got set up. I got out of the shower and back onto the bed and onto all fours which felt natural to me. They told me to go ahead and push if I felt like it, which I did a couple times, involuntarily, but then didn’t feel the urge again in the all fours position.
I was so tired and exhausted I just wanted to lay down so I laid on my side and had my husband hold my top leg up with his hand to keep my pelvis open. I felt the urge to push again, but I got anxious that I wasn’t ready, so the midwife offered to check me and I agreed for her to. She told me I was ready and that I just had a small cervical lip, but I could push if I wanted to and felt like it. My water still hadn’t broken yet at this point and after a couple pushes, I asked how long until my water will break. She offered to break it for me which I opted for because I was just so ready to have the baby come out. Before she was about to break my water, the nurses noticed that there was already a lot of fluid and thought maybe my water had already broken a small amount. She broke the rest, and a huge gush came out, and the waves were so intense after that I was using my Peace cue as much as I could, but towards the end it was starting to get hard for me to stay in control.
When I started pushing after that, I tried visualizing the hypnoanesthesia near my babies head, which I could hear moments of playing on our speaker which was playing the ‘Pushing Baby Out track’ (Hypnobabies track just for pushing) but I wasn’t quite able to remain calm and peaceful, and I did a lot of screaming through my pushing, although the Hypnobabies program does say women can and sometimes do make noise during their pushing if it’s more comfortable for them.
My sweet baby boy Anthony Vicente was born on 12/27 at 3:47 AM, 2 days after Christmas and with 2 front teeth! He was the best belated Christmas gift ever. He was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 21.25 inches long, beautiful, healthy and perfect. His cord was wrapped around his whole body, and it was short, so he was placed on my belly. All I could think was how incredible it was to have felt everything and have felt this human coming out of me and just the whole process of his birth.
Overall Hypnobabies helped me incredibly throughout my birthing journey with my second son, and I know I wouldn’t have had the confidence, peace and calmness to stay home nearly as long as I did if it hadn’t been for Hypnobabies and using my techniques at home. I also wouldn’t have been as in control throughout my birthing time without my Hypnobabies techniques. I felt so in charge of my own birthing and knew that every decision was mine to make, and that helped me to use my voice during my birthing time just like my birthing affirmations would tell me to every day that I would listen to them in my pregnancy. I feel so incredibly proud of myself that I was able to have the birth I wanted, a drug-free and overall peaceful and in control birth. It truly was a new baby and a new birth. I was able to have the birth that I dreamed of thanks to Hypnobabies, my great doula, my loving husband and my beautiful baby boy who did such an amazing job helping his mom in being born and who I’m so proud of. I’m so in love with my boy, and I am so grateful that I used Hypnobabies.
