Stephanie’s Positive Precipitous Hypnobabies Birth
“Two hours of active birthing time! And I went from 5 cm to complete in about a minute, just goes to show that the numbers truly mean nothing!”
Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis really does help you enjoy a much easier and more comfortable birthing! Use code hypno1528 for 10% off our Hypnobabies Home Study Courses.
My daughter (third baby and first hypno-baby) was born on Sunday, December 29th at 6:05 AM at 40+5 days and it was a wonderfully fast and redemptive birth for me. However, my pregnancy with her was a complete roller coaster. We were told at 20 weeks that the baby (we didn’t know she was a girl at the time) was measuring less than 3rd percentile and based on that and a few other things they labeled baby as IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) and suddenly I was in a high-risk pregnancy. This meant twice a week scans/dopplers/NST’s and switching from my midwife led-birth center to a hospital. Both of my sons were born in a hospital setting with an epidural and ended up having shoulder dystocia. Even though I couldn’t have the setting I wanted, I was determined to still have the birth I desired as long as baby was growing enough to stay inside.
Thankfully baby kept growing and I signed up for the home study Hypnobabies course at 26 weeks. The joyful affirmations helped with my anxiety and I really looked forward to hearing the tracks. After I finished the course I kept up with the maintenance schedule and never missed a day of practice.
At 35 weeks I was released from the care of the perinatologists and was told I could be considered a normal pregnancy again. I went from being told I’d have an induction at 37 weeks to induction at 39 weeks to no induction at all. It was a relief for sure but every day of December dragged on as I had prepared myself to have my baby early.
The Birth
Saturday night at 11:30 PM I was lying in bed listening to my track and I heard/felt two pops up high in my belly. I instantly knew my water had broken. When I went to the bathroom I felt a gush and saw murky greenish-brown stuff in the toilet, meconium. I texted my doula, the awesome Laura Hanstad, and she suggested I lay down and try to rest while listening to my tracks. I called my mom to let her know tonight would be the night but I said she didn’t have to come over quite yet. She reminded me that my brother (her third kiddo) came 1.5 hours after her water had broken.
Since I wasn’t having consistent waves (Hypnobabies word for contractions) I did lay down for a few hours and kept going to the bathroom for gushes of my waters. I was unable to sleep and after 3 relatively strong waves, I decided to call the OB. This was around 3ish AM. They, of course, suggested I come in and my instincts told me that was the right call. By the time we finished packing up, it was about 3:40 AM when we left. Thankfully my mom had come over earlier and just went to sleep in our basement. I listened to Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time hypnosis track)on the 20 min drive to the hospital and I remained very calm. Waves were still inconsistent and manageable at this point.
My husband parked our van in the circle drive in front of the hospital and we went up to triage. This is when something shifted. It was about 4 AM. Every single movement I made brought on multiple waves. And they were intense. The triage nurse confirmed my water had broken and tried to get monitoring for 20 minutes but I couldn’t keep still. I was checked but not told the number. I was 3 cm at this time. In my head I knew I wasn’t very far dilated but at the same time, I also knew baby was close. Hard to describe but I did ask if they would admit me and she said yes. I was so grateful.
After triage, we went to our room and I sat on a birthing ball and clutched a cold washcloth. My husband applied counter pressure during every wave while a nurse crouched below me held a monitor to my belly to check baby’s heart rate. This was the most difficult 20 minutes of my birthing time (Hypnobabies word for labor). My waves were double peaking and on top of each other, they never let up and my discomfort level was high. I was still listening to my Easy First Stage hypnosis track but I had so much trouble focusing on my hypno-anesthesia because I couldn’t get a break or even focus on my breathing. It was all happening so fast.
I kept asking my hubby and my nurse why I wasn’t getting a break and they didn’t know what to tell me. I remember I kept repeating “open, open, open” out loud and that seemed to help but I was seriously doubting my ability to give birth unmedicated.
However, looking back just when I wanted to give up was the time that baby was about to come. I also remember begging my husband not to leave me, because in the back of my mind I knew he had to bring in our stuff and park the van in the parking lot but I couldn’t imagine him leaving me for even one second. He assured me he wasn’t going anywhere.
After the nurse finished her 20 minutes of monitoring I announced that I had to go to the bathroom, again this was my instinct and probably in the back of my mind from all my HB coursework. She asked me to lay on my back to check me and I said no, so she checked me while I was on all fours. 5 cm. At this point I felt a different kind of wave that I believe was transformation (Hypnobabies word for transition). I couldn’t even explain how it felt different but I just knew.
I went to the bathroom and right after I peed I felt my baby fall into my birth canal in two different motions and I made a guttural sound each time. I walked out saying “pushing, pushing!” The nurse frantically told me to stop pushing because I was only 5 cm. I climbed onto the bed on all fours and held onto the headboard. She checked me said, “we’re having a baby!”
I could not control the sounds coming from my mouth and the FER totally kicked in. I really enjoyed pushing, and I felt like I had to simply assist my body, as it knew exactly what to do. The OB on call walked in at 6:04 AM and asked me to lay on back and I said no (again). I did agree to side-lying and at 6:05 AM my sweet baby girl Orianna Lynn was born!! Laura walked in seconds after baby was born, and our birth photographer arrived a little while later.
Orianna was born covered in both her poop and my poop and I was asking my husband “what is it, what is it??” but because she was being wiped off he couldn’t see. Finally, the OB flipped her around and said: “It’s a girl.” I was in total and utter shock! We have two amazing boys but my parents have 5 grandsons, this is the first girl in the family and I couldn’t believe it.
Unfortunately, after the birth I consented to a shot of Pitocin and then my cervix started to close up and the OB had to manually extract my placenta. That was easily the worst part of my whole birthing experience but overall I’m SO happy with how my sweet girl’s birth day went. Two hours of active birthing time! And I went from 5 cm to complete in about a minute, just goes to show that the numbers truly mean nothing!
Phew, that was long! Thanks for reading my birth story! I’m so grateful to Kerry and Hypnobabies and this support group. I have loved reading everyone else’s birth stories, they really helped inspire me and keep me on track to have the birth I always wanted!
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.
