Trisha and Hugh's HypnoBirthing Story

 

Trisha and Hugh came to see Carol for a private HypnoBirthing refresher class to prepare for baby #2. They had taken a HypnoBirthing class for baby #1 but Trisha had some issues with her first birth that she wanted to let go of and she wanted to review the techniques to be better prepared. When things got closer to their guess date, they decided to come for a full class series and came to Carol’s Thursday night classes at Seaside Women’s Health in Encinitas, North County San Diego, in April 2011.  They also changed care providers in the later part of their pregnancy. They had thought about a birth center but ultimately chose to go with Dr. Biter and Dr. Cobb at Pomerado Hospital. Here is their story:


Baby Hugh Patrick was born June 1st 2011 at 23.50,8 Ibs 14oz ( one week overdue.)  I was getting concerned  not to go far past my guess date as I had been told my baby was going to be 9Ibs by May 25th.  I decided to try acupuncture May 30th to induce labour.(They say it takes approx 2-3 days to work) On Wednesday 1st June at 9 am I still had no real indications of anything happening so I decided to go back to Indigo Dragon for a labour inducing massage.  After this I went to Moonlight beach to relax and I did the balloon trip script.  I also listened to the HyponoBirthing cd.  I had an appointment with Dr Biter at 1.30.  I asked if he could sweep my membranes.  On examination he informed me that I was 7cm dilated!!  He said "Wow, you truly are HyponoBirthing!"  My abdomen was moving in the shape of a surge, we could literally see it when Dr Biter pointed it out!  My adorable baby Paddy had always been a big mover inside so I really thought this was all it was.  I couldn't believe I didn't know I was so dilated. However on reflection the day previously I had some cramping/constipation episode in the bathroom.  I remember taking Rescue Remedy in an attempt to relax and lying on the floor!??

On the way to the hospital I tried to time the surges but there was no pattern and I still did not feel any discomfort at all.  When I got to Pomerado,(3pm) I think the staff were skeptical that I was in labour because I walked in casually and asked if I could eat as we had skipped food to get to there ASAP!  I got into the tub straight away, continued with my CDs and chatted with my husband.  I was examined by one of the nurses on arrival and was still 7cm.  Some regularity to my surges came, especially when I laid on the bed but nothing really consistent was happening.  I sat on the birth ball listening to the Relaxation CD again, walked the corridors, my husband did the light touch massage etc.. still nothing by 6pm.  At 8pm Dr Cobb examined me and I was 8cm.  My baby was not aligning correctly over the cervix which was preventing progress.  I believe mine was called an anterior lip, so when the head is not symmetrically applied, there is unequal pressure of the dilating forces.  The nursing staff were very helpful and accepting of my desire for natural birth and explained everything about this unexpected position. I trusted them as they seemed to know all about it and didn't recommend any special position that would help.   I wore a corset to try and align baby over my cervix but to no avail.  Dr Cobb came back in at 10.30 and suggested to have my waters broken as this is known to correct the problem.  I was a little nervous of this as I know this tends to make surges more uncomfortable but I was ready to have my baby and readily agreed!

The surges indeed became more intense and I tried my best to do the HypnoBirthing breathing with each one- which was helpful.  I was on my back on the bed for the rest of the birth.  When I felt the urge to push, Dr Cobb guided me when to push and for how long which I also found
helpful.  I was hoping to attempt to breath my baby down in true HyponoBirthing form but the urge to push was  too strong. My beautiful blue eyed boy was delivered and placed onto my bare chest.  I was so happy I could not stop shaking.  My husband wrapped himself around me and our son to warm us up and that sacred memory warms me still as I write this.

Thank you so much Carol for all your help, insight and extensive knowledge that helped myself and my husband have the great birth.  The classes we took with you back in April/May seem so long ago now but it was a treasured time that we got to spend together and made date night out of it! (Our 5 year old daughter is totally crazy about her little brother).

Thank you for all the referrals, especially Dr Cobb and Dr Biter. They added to the beautiful memories of that most precious time. Thank you for referring to Ashley and all the staff at Indigo Dragon. Everything I went to them for they solved!!  I had a breech position into the 34th week which corrected with acupuncture, I had a labour inducing massage the day I gave birth and I got increased milk supply from  there for post birth recovery treatment!

My biggest concern when I first went to you was tearing, which had happened on the birth of my daughter, you helped me overcome this and I used vision boards, positive affirmations etc to achieve this as you suggested.
Dr Cobb did a great job too during the birth of massaging the perineum with what seemed like buckets of oil.!!  My other goal was to try and breath my baby down, but under the circumstances of the misalignment, I don't think it was realistic at that point for me.  

My intact perineum, beautiful cute boy and drug free birth.. I couldn’t have asked for more!

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Trisha, thank you so much for sharing your story and congratulations on your son’s beautiful birth! What a wonderful experience- It was great to hear that many of the HypnoBirthing techniques were so useful! We hope you are enjoying your time with your sweet little boy!

If you are interested in Trisha’s care providers:

 Dr. Damon Cobb, D.O. is now located at Poway Women’s Care: (858) 618-3314

And Dr. Robert Biter, MD is located at Seaside Women’s Health: (760) 642-0800

Or in the services provided by Indigo Dragon: http://indigodragoncenter.com/

If you are interested in taking HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, please visit our website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net to learn more and to see the schedule for upcoming classes and private session information. Carol & Kelly teach classes in North County San Diego. If their schedule doesn't fit your schedule, please contact them and they will refer you to other local practitioners. If you are outside San Diego, CA, please visit www.hypnobirthing.com & go to Find a Practitioner to find a class near you.

www.AWellLivedLife.Net

www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

Kristina & Petro's HypnoBirthing story

Kristina & Petro took my HypnoBirthing classes at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas, CA on Thursday nights in April-May 2011. Here is their birth story:

I wanted to let you know that baby Isabella came early! She was born on May 21 at 2:39am, 6 pounds 8 oz and 17in long!!! The whole labor was amazing and I really wanted to thank you so much for the hypnobirth classes. My water broke at 4:20am on Friday and since I was strep b positive we went to the hospital. The whole time I was calm and relaxed and was listening to the relaxation cd in one ear like you suggested. Dr. Capetanakis met us there and I was only 2cm. So Petro and I were walking around the hospital and outside to get things going. When Dr. Capetanakis came back to check on me a couple hours later I was only 3cm. So we knew this was going to be a slow process. We still kept walking and thinking positive vibes and I kept listening to the affirmations and relaxation cd. When Dr. Capetanakis came back around 6pm I was only 4cm so at this point he wanted me to do pitocin because I was strep b positive and things were not moving as quickly as we hoped. I was fine with it because I wanted to make sure that the baby was ok and if this was the best thing for her then bring on the pitocin. I started feeling more of the contractions and really worked through them. They were intense at times but nothing that I couldn't breathe through. By time 10:30 pm came around I was exhausted. I told Petro I can't do this anymore. Physically my body was super tired and shutting down since I have been up for 17 hours at this point. Around 10:30 pm I decided to get the epidural and instantly felt better. I didn't sleep but my body relaxed and got the energy it needed. By 12:40 am I called the nurse because I started to feel the contractions so she helped me turn to the left side and she told me to press the button for more epidural to come out so I did and then I also mentioned to her that I felt like I had to pee but I had a catheter in. She checked me and said that's why, it's time to push! I was like what?!!? I went from 4 cm-10 cm in two hours! I guess my body just needed a little help. Overall, my birthing experience was amazing and I really owe it all to hypnobirth. I stayed calm throughout the whole process and even now Isabella is such a calm baby. Everyone is amazed that she sleeps, doesn't fuss or cry and I swear it's from hypnobirth!!

Thank you Carol for such an amazing experience!!!! :)

Kristina, Petro, and Isabella
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Congratulations Kristina & Petro! Thank you so much for sharing your HypnoBirthing story! I'm so glad that you were able to have such an amazing birth experience! That's the goal of my teaching...is to give women & their partners the information & confidence so that they can have the most comfortable, calm, empowering birth experience possible! Enjoy your babymoon!

All my best--Carol
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

A HypnoBirthing story--Tracy & Adam

Tracy and Adam took an accelerated HypnoBirthing class in February/March 2011 at Seaside Women's Health Center in Encinitas. Here is their story:

Hi Carol! So first of all.... I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mommy. It's so cool :-)

Little Avery Rose Walton is amazing. And her birth was really quite amazing as well, especially the more I think back to it. It wasn't exactly the experience I was expecting. I was soooo certain and confident in my relaxation abilities, I was convinced that I would feel NO pain. Seriously, I still don't know why it needed to be so painful. I am pretty sure that the reason for most of it was because she came out face up. Most of the sensation was in my hips and back, definitely not what I was expecting.... but that it’s really a minor detail anyway, let me tell you the whole story :-) At about midnight my surges were about 10 minutes apart. I took a shower and tried my best to relax/sleep in between each surge.
During the surge I would concentrate on staying limp and relaxed as possible, but by about 3:00 am I was telling myself and Adam that I needed some drugs. But first before "giving in" so quickly, I went into the jacuzzi, thinking that it might help a little.... but what I found out was that it helped A LOT. I dunked myself in that water and in an instant I knew I wasn't going to get out, no way. It felt soooo nice. Bless my mother too, because she stayed in the jacuzzi with me. Adam went back to bed, ha! So there I was, under the starlight resting in-between surges on a pool floaty, thinking of all the positive affirmations Marie whispered in my ear over the past three months. I kept reciting in my head things like "Your body is meant to give birth. I hand my birthing over to my baby". By 4:00 am my surges were two minutes apart and my mom called the midwives. They showed up, woke up Adam and got everything ready. Baby and I in the meantime, labored. I imagined in my mind my baby sliding down the birth path, coming out happy and healthy. Really, all I did was my best to breathe through surges and visualize a calm, relaxed birth. I was definitely in a zone, as in zoned everything out and just stayed "in my body" during surges. Each surge was 45 seconds or so of deep concentration and loud breathing. "Oooooooooooooooooh" was the long breathe out during each surge, deep voice and with my chin down.

Every once and a while I would lift my head up and take a look around. Adam, midwife Andrea and her assistant/apprentice Debra were bundled up sitting on the edge of the jacuzzi, just watching me. At one point I remember looking up and seeing the sunrise. The birds were chirping and singing. My mother in law, Susie, had come over around 4:00 am as well and got into the tub with me, bless her. She put on some music for me too. It was really nice, very similar to the music we had listened to in yoga class. I sipped apple juice and water from a straw from time to time, I think I even ate a strawberry or two. From time to time the midwife would hand the Doppler to one of my moms and have a listen to the baby's heartbeat. I am not sure what time it was, but the sun was out and my water still hadn't broken. I had visions of the baby coming out with an intact membrane. Andrea checked me and there was one little part of the cervix still in the way. She broke my water and I freaked out. I mean, I was in panic mode. Very NOT hypnobirthing method. I was tense, I was screaming and I didn't want anyone to touch me. I remember thinking too, this is probably not helping myself any, but I went with my emotions. My midwife firmly got my attention and calmed me down. I am so glad that I trusted her and never had any doubt in her ability to help me deliver my baby because otherwise, I may not have been able to calm down again from such a panic. Now, my water had broken and I was happy to feel like progress was being made.

Then, it was time to start pushing. I was more awake and alert and the surges were not coming quite as often. I felt like it would be so easy, a couple of pushes and she would be out. Not so much. :-) At one point I said "ok, that's it, I'm done, I can't do this" and Andrea would remind me,” you are doing it” and that part of being a parent was having patience. She said it was important for the baby to adjust herself to my body so that she could come out and I remember you talking about this in the class. So I changed the visuals in my mind to baby making her way, in her time. I started talking to her, nicely asking her to come on out, we love you so much. Patience, thank goodness, is definitely a virtue that I have. I had difficulty finding the position I wanted to be in to push. I tried all kinds, on my hands and knees, squatting on my own, holding Adam's hands out of the water and standing. Nothing really did the trick. Then finally, I found it and the end was near. My mom was on one side of me and Susie on the other, the midwife behind me laying on her stomach reaching into the jacuzzi. I was squatting, holding my knees and man it felt so good to push. By this time I wanted to push all the time, regardless of the surge or not, but Andrea guided me. I pushed with the surges and could feel the baby moving down. Sometimes though, I couldn't feel when the surges ended. Andrea thought it might be because I was in the warm water. Well, we pushed, and at times it was purple pushing, but I was determined. I remember feeling her move down and then back up when the surges and I stopped. Then we saw her head (and so much hair she had). By the next surge she had crowned and two surges later at 9:13 am she came flying out (well, really it was swimming out and now my mom calls her the little mermaid, ha!).

It was pretty amazing to have felt her moving down the birth path. I had imagined the same little picture in my mind when you were talking about it in class of her wiggling her little feet to push her way down and her head slowing nudging itself out. Anyway... what an amazing feeling of RELIEF when she was out. My moms floated her, under water over to me and as soon as she was in reach of the midwife, she brought her out of the water; she took her first breather and then was placed in my arms on my chest. I was soooo happy to see her after all this time. She was vigorous, yet calm. I heard your voice in my head "calm babies come from calm births". She pinked up real quick (the midwives gave her a "10 at one minute", still not too clear on what that means exactly, except that Avery came out quite the healthy baby).


What a happy moment, meeting our baby for the first time. Adam had been taking pictures and he came over to the edge of the jacuzzi to meet her too. I was so proud of him for not fainting during the birth. We hugged and loved on her there in the jacuzzi. Andrea helped Avery to get out a good cry, but other than that she was wide eyed, alert, happy and calm. Then, another surge! And I thought “WHAT!?!” Oh yeah, the placenta. I delivered it, yeah, kinda proud of that one (Andrea gave me some guidance of course, but after a couple surges, that was that.) Now it was time to go back into the house. Baby and placenta (in bowl) went with grandma Susie and Adam, Debra and my mom helped me walk into the house. Baby was placed on my chest and the midwives took care of everything. I had some tearing and Andrea stitched me up while I held baby on my chest. Adam couldn't handle that kind of scene, so while that was going on, he drained the jacuzzi (it is his FAVORITE place after all. Actually it is a Walton favorite place. His whole family are jacuzzi fiends, so it is very appropriate that our little Walton was born in one).

Of course baby was naked and pooped EVERYWHERE about 2 or 3 times. Blessing angels they are, my moms cleaned us up after each unloading. Andrea helped us with our first breastfeeding. That was new and cool. Then after the house had been cleaned up a little more and things had calmed down, Adam came back and held the baby, bare-chested for that oh so good skin to skin contact. Avery loves his voice. She hung out with him until we were ready to weigh and measure her. So although she weighed in at 8lbs 14oz and 22 inches long, we decided to call her a 9lb baby at birth because of all that poop she had unleashed. We put on her first outfit and grandmas held her; we took pictures and reveled in the morning events. I cried from time to time just thinking about what had just happened and how GRATEFUL I was for life, my family and my new little love, Miss Avery Rose. Like I said, the more I think back to it, the more appreciative I am of the entire experience. It was really quite amazing and I wouldn't have done it any other way. What a blessing!

I am so thankful that I listened to my heart and birthed at home with midwives. Although I have never stepped foot in a maternity center of a hospital, I imagine that in comparison, my birth experience was able to be more aligned with the natural connection of life and family, in a BEAUTIFUL, comfortable setting, un-rushed, unscheduled and free of unnecessary stress or "convenient" medical intervention.

Thanks so much again to you and all the people who share the passion for helping moms and dads bring their babies into the world. Those little bundles of joy are such blessings and deserve the very best.

Sincerely,

Tracy Walton aka: Mommy
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Congratulations to you & Adam! Thank you so much for sharing your birth story! I'm thrilled that you had such an amazing experience! Continue to enjoy your babymoon!

To learn more about HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, please visit Carol Yeh-Garner's website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. If you are outside the San Diego area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com.

If you are considering a homebirth and live in San Diego learn more about hiring Andrea Meyer to be your midwife by visiting www.andreasmidwiferysandiego.com.

A HypnoBirthing story--Lisa & Silver

Lisa & Silver took an accelerated HypnoBirthing class in February on Monday nights at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas. Here is their birth story:

Hi Carol,
Thank you for everything. Silver and I are so happy we took your classes. The knowledge and confidence we gained was priceless.

Our daughter True Madera was born on Sunday March 20, 2011, the first day of Spring! She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long.

I went into labor after midnight on Sunday, surges were almost immediately within a few minutes of each other, we arrived at Sharp Mary Birch around 5:30am, and True came into the world at 8:30 am. Dr. Cobb and the nurses in labor and delivery were awesome. Silver did an amazing job supporting us through the whole wonderful experience. We achieved our goal of a natural, unmedicated birth. The labor and delivery was fun and exciting. In retrospect, I did not really get into a relaxed, pain free state of mind- but we did use visualization techniques, and other techniques we learned from you.

True was not breathing when she was born. I was able to pull her up onto my chest and hold her for a few seconds, then Silver had to cut the cord sooner than we planned because they had to take her and help her out with breathing. Silver and and True went to the NICU. I didn't get to join them for a few hours. But Silver did a perfect job doing skin to skin bonding with her once they took out the breathing tubes. When I did get there, I was able to nurse her right away. I was happy to find out they didn't give her any supplemental feeding, baths, or pacifiers. We don't know why she didn't start breathing right away, her heart rate and vitals were all fine when she was born. She was perfectly healthy, just took some extra time to start breathing. Silver and I felt informed and involved in the whole emergency process as well. Although we encountered a challenge, we stayed positive and cherished every part of the experience.

Thank you for all that you shared with us. We are very grateful we were introduced to HypnoBirthing. I hope to use HypnoBirthing again in the future. I enjoy receiving all the great information from your Yahoo group. I feel fortunate to be part of the community.

All our Best,
Lisa, Silver and True
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Congratulations Lisa & Silver! I'm so glad that HypnoBirthing helped you feel in control of the entire situation even with the emergency situation with True's breathing! I'm so glad she is alright & am thrilled that you were able to have the natural birth you hoped for! Thanks for the feedback about my Yahoo group (only for my class members). I'm glad that you find my posts & links informative. Take care & continue to enjoy your babymoon!
All my best--Carol

To learn more about Dr. Damon Cobb, please contact him at Seaside Women's Health Center at 760-642-0800.

To learn more about HypnoBirthing in San Diego, please contact Carol Yeh-Garner at 858-837-1259 or visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. If you live outside of the San Diego area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com to find a practitioner near you.