A HypnoBirthing story-Erika and Ben

Erika & Ben took my HypnoBirthing classes on Tuesday nights at Babies by the Sea Boutique in Cardiff by the Sea, CA (North County County San Diego) in April 2011. Here is their birth story:
 
Ayla Maeve's Birth Story
 
Ayla Maeve was born at 9:17pm on Saturday, July 9 2011 at Pomerado Hospital. Her labor was officially a total of 38 hours from water breaking (or more like leaking) to delivery, but to me it felt like a total of only 2 intense hours!
 
The morning of Friday, July 8th I awoke to a possible slow amniotic fluid leak, so we called the OBGYN, Dr. Cobb to see if we should come in earlier to our appointment that we had scheduled for later that day. We arrived at 8:30 to Dr. Cobb’s office, he tested the fluid and believed that it could be amniotic fluid, so he asked us to go home, get our bags, and get tested at Pomerado Hospital with a more accurate test.  We arrived at noon to the Hospital, where they confirmed that the discharge was in fact amniotic fluid, and I was admitted. Dr. Cobb called that afternoon and said that the plans had changed for me and I would need to labor at the Hospital instead of at home. I received a heplock in my left arm and every 4 hours received antibiotics since the water had somewhat broken. Our Doula, Val Peterson, arrived but there was not much going on and contractions were 6-7 minutes apart and not painful. We spent most of the day hanging out, watching a movie, walking around the hospital and outside, and enjoying a full dinner in the cafeteria before calling it a night.
 
On Saturday, July 9th Dr. Cobb arrived around 9am to the hospital to discuss my options since 24 hours had passed since my water had broken. He suggested that I be given a small dose of Pitocin to get the contractions moving, but left us the option of continuing to wait or to proceed with the Pitocin. We asked if we could have an hour to think about it and go for a walk, which included a trip to the cafeteria for a big breakfast. After we enjoyed a big meal, we headed to the parking garage where I tried to speed up the contractions by walking up and down the staircase.  This seemed to work, as contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes while walking around, but when we went back to the room for monitoring, it went back to every 6-7 minutes.  I was then hooked up to an IV for Pitocin, along with a continuous fetal monitor around my stomach, and a blood pressure cuff on the other arm. I was truly confined now to a limited area since the monitoring fell off easily when I tried to sit on the birthing ball we brought with us. I found it most comfortable to sit hooked up to the machines in a rocking chair with my feet on the birthing ball, while we watched another movie. Around 3pm, the contractions started to get a stronger and more regular so I put on the hypnobirthing CD with noise-cancelling headphones and put an eyemask on my face so I could tune everything out.


I fell in and out of the relaxed state and would rock myself in the chair when the contractions were a bit intense. Apparently I would drift off to sleep between some of the contractions.  I did not realize that the nurse was monitoring me during this time and increasing the Pitocin while I was in the rocking chair. In the end, she upped me to an 8 on the Pitocin drip, which I thought may have been high on a scale of 10, but I found out the next day that it goes up to around 42, so it was a low dose of Pitocin.  My husband, Ben, Doula Val, and the nurse were apparently discussing how great I was doing, and how calm and quiet I was at this time, however, I couldn’t hear or see them while I was focused.  
 
When I finally felt like I needed to use the restroom, the nurse said that I would need to be checked first. She offered to check or have Dr. Cobb called. I asked for Dr. Cobb to be called and after he checked, I was informed us that I was dilated to 7cm. This was the first cervical check in about 30 hours to minimize the possibility of infection with the broken waters.  The nurse who had been upping the Pitocin was shocked that I was 7cm as I apparently didn’t show any signs of intense pain.  We were so excited that things had progressed so fast…about 6-7 hours from Pitocin to 7cm with discomfort but minimal pain.
 
The pressure was a bit intense from this point forward, so I moved to a chair where I was able to sit down. Doula Val was crucial at this point in labor and tried to alleviate the tension by putting a washcloth on my head, having me chew on a hard candy, and massaging my temples.  At one point I was chewing on the washcloth to get through a contraction. I felt like the pressure was too much and asked Doula Val if I should get the epidural but she told me I was doing great, was so close, and didn’t need it. I thought that only 20 minutes of time had gone by, but in reality about 1.5 hours had passed by. I asked Dr. Cobb if I could get the epidural but he suggested that I get checked again instead. He checked my cervix, and said “are you ready to push this baby out?”
 
From the Hypnobirthing videos I had seen, I thought that the baby would arrive with 3quick breaths, so after 3 pushes I felt confused. Dr. Cobb and the nurse thought this was a bit amusing, after I asked for the vacuum to be used after my first attempt with pushing! I continued forward and pushed for about 40 minutes until Ayla arrived! Time again went by so quickly that I felt like I had been pushing for about 10 minutes. Doula Val took amazing photos of the arrival of Ayla and us during the hour of chest-to-chest contact afterwards! The umbilical cord was left to pulsate after the birth and then Ben was able to cut the cord. Ayla weighed 8 pounds and 6 ounces and was 22 inches.




 
I feel that without my supportive team, I probably would have given in and asked for the epidural at 8-9cm.  I also feel that with most other doctors, considering my water had broken, I would not have been given 38 hours to allow things to progress, and would have most likely been encouraged to deliver within 24 hours, whether naturally or medically. Friends consistently ask me if I would have another baby again “naturally”. My response is always Yes! It is really about being prepared…with the hypnobirthing classes, ability to eat during labor, supportive doctor, Doula, and my husband, I had an amazing labor and delivery.


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Congratulations Erika & Ben! Thank you so much for sharing your story! It just goes to show that if you have the education necessary to trust your body & the birthing process, that you can have the kind of birth experience everyone should have--empowering & beautiful! Even with pitocin! One thing that is important to know is that you searched for the right OB/GYN & changed OBs during your pregnancy, which was stressful, but it ensured that you were confident that you had the kind of medical care provider that you trusted & you knew trusted the normalcy of birth. Thanks again for sharing your story & continue enjoying your babymoon!

If you are interested in taking HypnoBirthing classes with Carol, please visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net for more information. If you are unable to take her classes, there are several other HypnoBirthing practitioners in town. You can find them via the Find a Practitioner section on www.HypnoBirthing.com. If you are out of San Diego County, you can find a practitioner near you the same way.

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Cobb, you can contact Seaside Women's Health at 760-642-0800.

If you are interested in learning more about Erika & Ben's doula, Val Peterson, please visit her website at www.birthdaywithval.com.

www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

Amanda & Wayne's 2nd HypnoBirth

Amanda & Wayne took my HypnoBirthing classes as a refresher class in preparation for the birth of their 2nd baby. They took my Thursday classes at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas, CA in January of 2011. They had an amazing HypnoBirthing experience with their 1st birth and wanted to make sure they had all of the tools that helped them with their 1st birth.



Here is their story:

This is something that I dreamed of and imagined since the minute I saw the positive pregnancy test, something that I was so excited to do all over again. Not only because I enjoyed Anella's labor and delivery so much but also because after 40 weeks of pregnancy the anticipation of meeting the miracle growing inside of me and finding out if it was a boy or girl is the most life changing experience.

I was approaching my "guess date," and everyday felt fleeting moments of "today could be the day" and then the next moment thinking "I'm never going to have this baby!" Around the 10th of April, I started having daily cramping and contractions, usually in the middle of the night sometimes enough that it would wake me up. Every time I'd wake up with cramping or contractions all I could think of is "Is today the day??!?!?!?!" and the excitement and anticipation would keep me awake for a little while. I'd eventually fall back asleep, wake up in the morning and think, "well today is not the day." For some reason I just knew that for me labor would happen in the middle of the night. Night after night as I climbed in bed I'd wonder if tonight was the night.

The night of April 21, I went to bed thinking that maybe this baby was going to be "late," my due date was April 23, I laughed to myself thinking that I'd make my "40 week" OB appointment after all seeing that it was the afternoon of April 22nd. Little did I know.

After Wayne got home from work I took a bath, as I did almost every night in the last trimester. Got out, put on my pj's and headed downstairs for dinner. As I sat down for dinner I just felt "off," I can't explain it really I just felt like things were happening. I got really hot and just felt different, I mentioned it to Wayne in passing but didn't really put too much thought into it. Wayne made dinner and as we sat down to eat I just didn't feel like eating it, a little nauseated but more than anything just "off." I mentioned to Wayne that maybe we should go to bed earlier than normal. Around 9:30pm we went to bed. I actually slept the best I had in months, I wasn't up every hour on the hour to pee like I had been. Actually I only woke up once, at 1am I rolled over to get up to pee and felt a gush of water. I laid there a second wondering if I had peed myself only to have it happen again. I knew immediately what was going on it was the exact same thing that happened with Anella. I got up and went to the bathroom to pee, checking my pants to make sure that there was no odor and that it was clear. I peed and knew that labor was around the corner. I walked out of the bathroom and woke up Wayne. Now I was quite surprised when he asked "Are you sure?" I actually laughed and said "Yes, I'm sure." I immediately called my parents as they were coming over to watch Anella for us and asked Wayne to call Dr. Biter. After I got off with my parents Wayne still hadn't called, he was still in a sleepy haze. So I called Dr Biter's office.

I decided to take a shower and just enjoy the warm water. We headed downstairs to wait for my parents and I sat on my birthing ball. I was starting to get stronger contractions, nothing regular but I could tell they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. All I could think about was how Thursday April 21st, was my last day of just the three of us, my last day with just Anella and I asked Wayne to go get her so I could give her a kiss before we left. My parents showed up at 1:30am which was perfect timing, they were surprised to see Anella awake and I of course started crying. I just knew that our life would never be the same, her life would never be the same and although I was so excited to meet my miracle at the same time I was just overwhelmed by all that was going on. I told Anella that "mommy was having the baby," and asked for a kiss she gave me a kiss and then gave baby a kiss which she had done a million times during the pregnancy, then she gave Wayne a kiss and we handed her to Grandpa, he took her to bed.

We had a 25 minute drive to Pomerado hospital and knowing how fast my labor with Anella had gone we wanted to get there ASAP. We left at 1:35am. I was so glad that it wasn't rush hour seeing that rush hour could have potentially added an additional 45-60 minutes to our drive. As we got on the freeway I was very surprised to see that it was stopped, the three left hand lanes had been closed down and the freeway was narrowed down to one lane. The traffic was SLOW, I laughed and said to Wayne "who would have thought that we'd get stuck in traffic at 2am!" We decided to take the side streets to avoid getting stuck in the traffic. As we drove, I was able to get myself into a very relaxed state during each contraction and I was noticing by the time we got there I was having them about every 4 minutes.

We checked in, got in our room, I changed into my gown and waited for the nurse. She came in and immediately wanted to hook me up to the monitor, this is something that I remember with disdain from Anella's delivery. This time around, I took it with stride. I laid down and she hooked me up, I was counting down the 20 required minutes. During each contraction, I would go within and be completely relaxed (I would repeat some of the birthing affirmations from Hypnobirthing in my head over and over), after it ended I would be with Wayne and the nurse. We gave her our birth plan which she read and immediately changed some of her wording (not using any reference to pain) and she was really excited to find out that we didn't know the sex of the baby. She said that she only has one or two deliveries a year that they don't know the sex. After the 20 required minutes, the nurse mentioned that she didn't get a "reactive" strip from the baby so she wanted to keep me on the monitor. I agreed to stay on the monitor, she then wanted to do an internal exam. Since I hadn't gotten a cervical check during the last few weeks of pregnancy, I had no idea what I'd been, when she checked me I was 5cm. She then got me some ice water hoping to get the reactive strip that she was looking for, I drank it fast. Still with each contraction I would go to my relaxed state and then chat with the nurse and Wayne after. It took much longer to get the reactive strip than I planned, but I had gotten so comfortable on the bed that when she told me I could get up I realized I didn't want to. I kept telling Wayne how nice it was to have these "breaks" between contractions I never had them with Anella and I was thankful to have them this time.

I spent almost my entire labor in the bed hooked on the monitor, this is NEVER in a million years how I pictured my birth. At one point the nurse came in to check me, I'd had the monitor off and she wanted to check the baby's heart rate before, during and after a contraction. She put the monitor on the heartbeat and waited, after a few minutes she said "Can you tell me when you're having a contraction because I can't tell by looking at you!" This made my day! Wayne had kept telling me how amazing I'd been doing but to have a stranger reiterate it was invigorating. She did another cervical check and I was a 7 cm. She told me she'd go call my Dr and let him know to come in. I had drank a ton of water and gotten up a ton of times to pee and would continue to lay back in the bed and go into my relaxed state during each contraction. I remember thinking to myself, I wish we were taping this for Hypnobirthing class (we do have a short video of me at around 5am, 8cm and just watching it it still amazes me that I was in labor). Dr Cobb showed up a little after 5am, at that point he checked me and I was 8cm, my water was still intact and so Dr Cobb asked if I wanted him to break it. I had always thought if I was in this situation I'd say no but I really wanted to get to the pushing phase so I asked him to go ahead and break my water. I continued going deep within with each contraction. We would talk and with each contraction I would close my eyes and get quiet. Dr Cobb would put his hand on my leg and Wayne would do light touch massage. I got up to pee for what felt like the 100th time, as I was sitting on the toilet I heard Dr Biter walk in. I had two more contractions while sitting on the toilet then came out of the bathroom and gave Dr Biter a hug and said "let's have a baby."

I got back in the bed and went into my relaxed state with each contraction, I started to feel a lot of pressure and asked Dr Cobb to check me again. At this point I was 9cm, I was disappointed because with all the pressure I had really thought that I was fully dilated. I started to lose my focus and it was suggested I get up out of bed to help move things along. As I went to get up things intensified even more. I slow danced with Wayne and all of a sudden got so hot, I couldn't cool myself down. Dr Biter brought me ice cold wash cloths which helped but I was still so hot I had to pull off my gown. The intensity was starting to overwhelm me. Dr Biter took a sheet and wrapped it under my belly with each contraction he'd pull back on it to help lift baby. I got to a point where I could barely stand and I wasn't getting a break between contractions. I mentioned that I had even more pressure so Dr Biter suggested I let Dr Cobb check me again. Just the thought was overwhelming so I had to lay back down on the bed. I got back in bed and lost all control I'd had, with each contraction I was taken over by the sensations and pressure from the baby. When Dr Cobb checked, I was fully dilated but I had a small cervical lip on the right, so they asked me to lay on my right side. I rolled over and tried to gain control again. With each contraction I would moan, I remember hearing myself thinking "is that coming from me?" I got to a point where I had no control and my body started pushing for me. I said "I have to push". Dr Cobb & Dr Biter said to let my body do what it needs. We had a mirror set up so I could see the pushing phase (something I had regretted not having with Anella). I started the pushing phase which with Anella had given me a feeling of relief, I was so looking forward to this phase. Well, as each labor is different, I did not get the relief feeling this time around. I remember looking in the mirror with each push thinking that the baby was never going to come. I finally found the right "push" Dr Cobb & Biter told me when I hit the perfect push and I was able to continue to recreate it knowing that it would bring me my baby. I looked in the mirror and saw the baby's head and that was all the motivation I needed. I pushed with everything I had and the head was out. Dr Cobb had to remove a cord wrap from around the baby's neck and then I was able to push again. The shoulders came out and Dr Biter told me to reach down and grab my baby, I grabbed under the arms (thinking to myself WOW this baby is slippery) and brought my baby to my chest. Dr Biter asked Wayne if it was a boy or girl and I looked in the mirror and saw testicles. It didn't matter though I KNEW the entire pregnancy our baby was a BOY! I laid there in complete awe of the last 40 weeks and the miracle laying on my chest. I immediately started breastfeeding. Orion latched within the first 10 minutes after birth.



Orion was born at 7:13am, born 6 hours after my water broke at home. Almost an identical story to Anella's birth. Both born the day before their due date, both having some of my water break at home which sent me into labor, Anella's water broke at Midnight and was born at 6:01 am, Orion's water broke at 1am, born at 7:13am. The similarities are crazy.

The nurse asked me if she could administer Pitocin for the placenta. Dr Cobb, said "no she doesn't need it." The nurse said "Let me ask the patient." She asked me and I said "No, I'd rather not." The placenta came out shortly thereafter, which we asked to have kept as I planned to encapsulate it. I had a small tear so Dr Cobb sewed me up. We waited for the cord to stop pulsating before Wayne cut it.

I laid there with Orion on my chest skin to skin (he was never even cleaned off or rubbed down) for over an hour. He would nurse and then take a break and I would just relish in him on my chest. We asked the nurse to come in so we could weigh him, I was so excited to see how much he weighed. She put him on the scale, it came up with grams which means nothing to me she changes it to pounds and I see 8lbs 14oz! HOLY MOLY!!!! The nurse told me that when she saw me pushing and she saw his head she didn't think I'd be able to do it. I thought to myself "How else was he going to come out at that point?"

The transition from one to two babies has been so easy, both Wayne and I feel like Orion has always been here.



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Congratulations to Amanda & Wayne! Thanks so much for sharing your birth story! I hope you're enjoying being a family of four!

If you'd like more information about Carol Yeh-Garner's HypnoBirthing classes in North County San Diego, CA, please visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. If you are outside of San Diego, CA, please visit www.hypnobirthing.com to find a practitioner near you.

If you'd like more information about Dr. Biter & Dr. Cobb's OB/GYN practice, Seaside Women's Health, in Encinitas (North County San Diego), CA, please call 760-642-0800.

www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

A HypnoBirthing announcement--Jenni & Bobby

Jenni & Bobby took my HypnoBirthing classes in August of 2010 at Indigo Dragon Health & Wellness Center on Thursday nights. Here is their birth story:

About four weeks prior to my due date, my husband and I had made the decision to have a home birth since Dr. Biter’s hospital rights were still up in the air. After taking Carol’s HypnoBirthing class, this decision came so naturally. We had been equipped with such copious amounts of knowledge and felt that avoiding the extra stresses brought on by hospital staff was the best decision for us and what we were most comfortable with. Dr. Biter provided us with the phone numbers of a team of midwives that he had been working closely with. I met with LaShel and explained our situation and made sure that we were both comfortable with one another. After hearing that she and her partner had room for us in their schedule, we knew we had a lot of getting to know one another and catching up to do. We scheduled the home visit for two weeks prior to my due date. This was the first time for me to meet LaShel’s partner, Jamin, and for my husband to meet both of them. Everything went so smoothly and although it was a lot of information to take in, in such a short amount of time, I had been waiting for that appointment in order to feel 100% ready for my baby to come at any time……and these thoughts were a perfect example of just how much your mind can control.

The very next night, Saturday, November 6th, I had put in my Evening Primrose Oil and gone to bed. Somewhere around 11 or 11:30pm, I rolled over and felt a little gush. Not wanting to get anything on the sheets, I laid still on my side and sat there noticing that my shorts felt completely soaked and it didn’t seem to feel the same as when the EPO leaks. I continued to feel little gushes here and there and my surges started almost immediately. They were nothing more than mild menstrual cramps that would alternate between my belly and my lower back, but they confirmed to me that our precious baby girl was on her way! After about 15 minutes, I decided to get up and change my shorts and check things out. I had definitely soaked through and it was definitely not the EPO. I put a pad on and got some new shorts and went back to bed. It being Daylight Savings, I didn’t pay attention to the time at this point, but I eventually had to get up and change my shorts and pad again. I had decided not to wake my husband, since there was nothing he could really do at this point anyways, and I was able to go back to sleep and get some rest.

At 4:30am, my husband’s alarm went off. He was supposed to meet up with some people and carpool to a golf tournament at 5:30am. When he woke up, I told him that my water had broke, to which he responded, “Wait, what??” I repeated myself, and he then asked if I was sure. Ummmm, yes I’m sure!!! I told him that I had soaked through two pairs of shorts and they were in the bathroom sink if he wanted to confirm it! Knowing that most first time moms take longer to deliver, I then told him to go ahead and play in the tournament, but that he should drive himself just in case I needed him to come home. He instantly said he wasn’t going anywhere and sent a text out letting people know he wasn’t going to make it.

We waited till about 6am to call the midwives. At that time, I called Jamin and let her know what was going on and she told me go back to bed, get some rest, and then eat a big breakfast and she would check back in a bit. Before I went back to bed, I knew I needed to get the baby’s clothes washed and some other things in order that I had planned on doing later that week. Once I got back into bed, Bobby turned on my HypnoBirthing CD and went off to the grocery store to stock the fridge and to buy a stool since our bed sits pretty high. While he was out, Jamin called to check in on me and let me know that LaShel would be checking on me next and that I should try to get out of bed and keep moving. By the time Bobby got home, which I think was around 8:30am, my surges had gotten more intense and all I wanted to do was lie in bed on my side and breathe and moan through them. At this point the surges were all in my lower back. Having suffered a herniated disc, the tightening that I was feeling instantly reminded me of the spasms that I experienced when I first got hurt and I now had to try and block out the thought of my baby’s birth doing more damage to my back.

Bobby made me some peanut butter toast and so adorably brought it up to me on a breakfast tray with a little glass of milk, a little glass of orange juice and a piece of my favorite white chocolate. Sadly, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of it! I forced down a couple bites of the toast and spent the next couple of hours in bed focusing and doing what I needed to do to get through each surge while Bobby was running around the house getting things ready. At some point, he returned to the room and I told him to grab a trash can for me. I had started to feel sick and instantly threw up the second he handed it to me. I knew that this was a sign of being in transition, but I kept thinking that it was too early and I had better be prepared for more of that to happen later on.

Knowing that he needed to get the bed ready and that getting me up and moving would only benefit my progress, Bobby urged me to get out of bed and get in the shower. He got the shower going for me and the warm water felt even more amazing than I could have imagined! I ended up in a squatting position in the shower and started to feel like I needed to go to the bathroom…another sign of nearing the end, but for some reason, I still could not believe that it was possible yet. The longer I stayed in the shower, the stronger the sensation got, so I decided to move to the toilet. Sitting there was not easy. Every contraction killed my back in this position. I had been and kept visualizing the crowning rose and its blossoming petals and reminding myself of the amazing gift that was on its way.

By about 12pm, I asked Bobby to call LaShel and update her. Things had gotten very intense and I was starting to feel like I needed some sort of progress report. Time distortion was definitely on my side and the hours had passed so fast, but the intensity of it all had grown just as fast and I could only help but think I had SO much more to go. Bobby talked to LaShel and she told him she was going to shower up and then come over. I was still sitting on the toilet when Bobby came back in to tell me what she had said. After he let me know that she would be over soon, he wanted to make sure that I was still staying strong mentally and said to me, “No matter what she tells you when she gets here, you’re not going to get upset, right?” Knowing exactly what he was getting at, I agreed while thinking to myself, “Hell no!! If I’m not nearing the end, I’m going to break down!”

I don’t know how long I sat on the toilet, but once I got up, I could feel my body relax again and I started pacing up and down the hallway and through the bathroom, leaning on the banister, the counter, or our dresser during each surge. Bobby had brought up my birthing ball and encouraged me to give it a try. I sat on it for a bit while he provided counter pressure that helped IMMENSELY and he just kept telling me to breathe and go to my happy place! HAHA! At the time, it helped SO much, but I can’t help but laugh every time I think about it now.

I think it was about 1:30pm when LaShel got to the house and when she walked into the room, I was standing between the bed and the dresser in the middle of a surge. I remember having some sort of a conversation with her, but I don’t have the foggiest clue what she had asked aside from her telling me that she wanted to check me and I needed to get back on the bed. I think I must have waited through 4 or 5 surges before I had the guts to make the move on to the bed because it seemed like every time I changed positions, the surges were double the strength. During one of those surges I remember LaShel telling me to relax every muscle and then she specifically told me to relax my buns. Once I was able to relax them, it was like instant relief. Imagine that! Even though I had been concentrating and doing my best to keep my body relaxed, I wasn’t 100% successful. This made me realize that I needed go deeper into myself and allow my body and my baby to do what they were meant to do. When I finally got up on the bed, she checked me and I remember thinking that there was no way I was more than 3 or 4 cm……boy was I wrong! LaShel grabbed my hand and looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Jen, you’re a rockstar! You’re already 8 cm! The baby’s head is RIGHT there!” She then told me she needed to go call Jamin, Dr. Biter and update Bobby. I don’t think I have ever been given better news. I was so relieved, but just wanted to return to my side lying position. I did so as LaShel left the room and I laid there amazed that this was it. My little baby girl was about to make her appearance!

LaShel and Bobby both returned to the room and Bobby had to fill in as her assistant for a bit until Jamin arrived. Once she did arrive, she let us know that she had given Dr. Biter a call, but had not been able to reach him. We didn’t have time to wait, so they got me into position to push. It was all so surreal and although I couldn’t really put birth breathing into effect, I pushed for 44 minutes and beautiful Jordan was born at 2:29pm, only an hour after LaShel had arrived! She came out with a nuchal hand (go figure, after all of the ultrasound pics with her hands covering her face!), one big cry and then looked me in the eyes, looked around the room and was completely calm. She was placed on my belly and I was told to leave her there because the umbilical cord was really thick, but short. I know I heard the words, but I kept forgetting and trying to lift her closer to me. Once the umbilical cord was cut, I brought her closer to me and stared at her in amazement! I had just experienced the birth of my daughter, my first child, and it was a better experience than I could have ever dreamed of. My husband was truly amazing throughout my entire pregnancy, labor and birth. He may not think he did much, but the little efforts that he did make could have moved mountains in my mind. Just knowing that I had him there supporting and encouraging me was pure motivation to see this through.

I also cannot express how appreciative we are for the amazing team we had behind us. Not an appointment went by that we did not laugh with Dr. Biter or break out in some sort of sing-song in the ultrasound room! Because of him we were introduced to this “alien” birthing technique of HypnoBirthing. Then to commit to it and meet Carol made us both realize that we were headed down the right path and I could not imagine having gone through this blind and uninformed, like so many other women do. I am so passionate about everything that Carol taught us and have since tried, and will continue, to enlighten others. We were then put in the hands of LaShel and Jamin when we decided to do a homebirth. It was an instant connection with them and we were so blessed to share this day with them both. Dr. Biter, Carol, LaShel and Jamin were all so loving, comforting and easy to work with. Bobby and I are forever grateful for them all and hope to build our relationships with them throughout my future pregnancies and children’s births.
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Congratulations Jenni & Bobby! Thanks so much for sharing your story! Continue to enjoy your babymoon!

For anyone interested in having Dr. Biter & his new partner, Dr. Cobb for their OB/GYN care, please contact them at 760-642-0800.

For more information about hiring LaShel & Jamin for your OB/GYN care or for a homebirth, please visit their website at www.sandiegomidwife.com.

For more information about Carol's HypnoBirthing classes, please visit www.AWellLivedLife.Net. If you are outside the San Diego area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com to find a practitioner near you.

www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com