Roshni & Naveen took my HypnoBirthing classes at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas to prepare for their second birth. Their first birth was a c-section and they very much wanted to have a vaginal birth after c-section. They decided to have a homebirth with Dr. Biter & San Diego Midwife, LaShel Montgomery and Jamin Sylvada.
Baby Ira’s Birth Story
Wednesday, 2 November started out as a pretty regular day for us, with Naveen working from home like he does most Wednesdays and me getting Rian, our 3-year old ready for school. I had my prenatal appointment with Dr. Biter at noon and Naveen wanted to come along since we thought we would get to see our little one in an ultrasound. I had been getting practice surges for a few weeks now and also some cramping but nothing else and so was convinced that I would be going over my “due date” of 4 November. Although we were anxious, we tried not to think about it. We wanted to give ourselves the best option for an unmedicated natural VBAC and so had opted for a homebirth with Dr. Biter and the dream team.
We were very excited and anxious at the same time and the last few days were hard to focus on anything but the birth and how it would be. We had prepared the supplies and everything was ready to go! So to distract my mind, I activated my new iPhone that morning with the intention of immersing myself with learning to use it and also went around doing errands before my appointment! Then we went for our appointment with Dr. Biter at noon and were pleasantly surprised to see LaShel there. We ended up chatting with her for a while and she reassured us that everything would be fine. She also noticed my tummy tightening. Then Dr. Biter came in and also said the same thing. We did an ultrasound hoping to get a good 4D picture of our little angel in her now cramped home but she had turned face down and we could not get a clear picture, nevertheless I still took the very first photo on my new iPhone of our little angel inside her home within me! Dr. Biter then said he would see me early next week and then chuckled “or maybe tonight”!
We had lunch and returned home at 2 pm. I was very tired and went to take a short nap at 2:30pm. At 2:36 pm I felt this strong kick and quite painful cramping for about a minute. Then for the next half hour I felt strong cramping every 8- 10 minutes as I lay there on the bed. So I called Naveen and then got out of bed. It felt like my water had broken but I was not sure. So I called Dr. Biter and he said that if nothing changes then he would see me the next morning to determine if my water had really released. I called our doula Dawn and was talking to her when I got up and suddenly there was a strong gush and there was no doubt that my waters had released. The surges now were still of the same intensity and about 8-10 minutes apart. They were just uncomfortable but bearable.
So now that we were officially in early labor we started preparing our bedroom and Naveen got busy spreading plastic all over the carpet, setting up the water tub etc. I helped where I could in between the surges and alternated between the birth ball and helping Naveen. Dawn and I decided that she would come over at 7 pm to be with me while Naveen went to drop Rian off at my sister’s home in Orange County. Later my sister called to say that she would instead come to our home and bring Rian with her so that Naveen did not have to leave me.
I am not sure how the time went and before I knew Dawn arrived home and I felt an immediate sense of comfort. She observed me for a bit and said that my belly was low or “pendulous” and the baby was not quite in the pelvis. My surges were now 4-5 minutes apart but very short in duration. So she suggested that we go for a curb walk (one foot on the curb, one on the asphalt) to help the baby engage into the pelvis. Dr. Biter called me to check how I was doing. He said that he would come very soon to “catch the baby” and that I should try and rest as much as possible. Rian was being quiet and staying away from me as he must have guessed something is going on. So we asked him if he wanted to join us but he said he “no thank you, I want to relax with my dad”. For a moment I felt guilty that I was the cause of this discomfort in my little one and that our exclusive and precious Rian-Mama times together was coming to an end, but I canceled that thought quickly thinking that this was temporary and that he would have a sibling to play with soon.
So it was just Dawn and me and we went outside at 8:30 pm and walked for perhaps 10 minutes. By then my sister and her family arrived and we came back inside the house. My surges started getting longer, a bit more intense but further apart. Dawn, my sister and I headed upstairs and spent some time together chatting before Rian and my sister’s family left. Rian was a changed boy once he saw his cousin and playmate and was happy again!
When Naveen joined us upstairs my labor actively progressed as Dawn had predicted and the surges got more and more uncomfortable, and I also started feeling cold and started trembling. Don’t quite know how things changed after that but I went into active labor and Naveen and Dawn helped me through each of the surges as they became more and more intense. Initially I made low moaning noises but then I got tired and breathless and eventually I just tried to breathe downwards through each one with Dawn’s help. She kept reminding me to embrace the pain and not fight it; to imagine the energy moving down and out. She also applied counter pressure on my lower back which helped a lot and Naveen simultaneously squeezed my hand.
I alternated between lying on the bed and sitting on the toilet. The surges on the toilet felt like they would lift me out of my body at times and so I asked Naveen to stand on my feet so I would feel grounded when the surges came and would not fly off! All that pressure somewhat relieved the sensations from the surges. I also got into the shower and the water tub at times but I kept getting cold and did not feel good in the water tub at all. Sometime, probably around 11 pm I opened my eyes and saw that Dr. Biter had arrived and his calm presence gave me an instant relief and also the reassuring feeling that things were progressing well. He examined me gently and also massaged away some cervical scar tissue while I went through another surge. Although this was very uncomfortable, Dr. Biter was ever so gentle and encouraging through it. He then said that I was getting close and that I was between 6 and 7 cms.
After that it was just trying to get through each surge and for the next two hours I was in transition and at times felt like this would go on forever. Suddenly when I was in the tub Dawn whispered that I was 9.5 cm! Wow, I thought, soon I could push and our baby would be out. Dr. Biter asked if I had the urge to push but I did not though the surges just kept getting stronger and I just wanted to be on the bed. Shortly after, I did get the feeling to void myself and apparently I made low grunting noises which was when Dr. Biter suggested that I try pushing.
I think pushing was the hardest part for me because no matter how hard I tried I felt the baby was not coming through and I felt I was not engaging the right muscles. Dr Biter made me change positions several times and move from side to side. I also sat on the toilet again to see if that would help the baby descend further down. I was then asked to squat. Although it was painful, Dawn whispered in my ear that the pelvis gets 33% wider in a squatting position and she recommended that I squat for a couple of surges. After that I was back on the bed and it was time to push again! I don’t know how many times I pushed, just remember being extremely exhausted with the pressure and having a tremendous urge to just close my eyes and sleep, but each time my surges went down, my uterus was massaged to start it up again.
Dr. Biter then softly talked to me about going beyond the exhaustion, giving me the example of walking over hot rocks on the beach to get to the beautiful ocean, about how close I was to having the VBAC that I had dreamt of. He also asked me to reach down and feel the baby’s head just waiting to emerge. He was so soft and so encouraging and my sweet husband Naveen fed me grapes and coconut water so I get more energy to push further.
Then out of the blue during one of those pushes Dawn asked me to open my eyes and look down, and there she was-magically out of me at 3:06 am after two hours of pushing-7lbs and 8 oz, and 20 inches long! Naveen and I lifted her gently while Dr. Biter supported her and our little angel Ira was on my chest. It was the most amazing and beautiful moment of my life so far that I still cannot believe happened. Just for this one moment I would go through all of that pain and more! Ira was our champion and stayed strong through the whole labor. Never once did it even occur to me that I should take any medication for the pain or that I was having a VBAC! Everything was so natural and almost sacred in so many ways and the support I had from my husband, Dawn and the dream team was just awesome.
I had a very minor tear that Dr. Biter sutured up gently, did not feel a thing! He then revealed to us that Ira had an arm on her head (nuchal hand) and the cord was wrapped loosely around her neck, arm, waist and her leg twice! So Dr. Biter had to slowly ease her out while I pushed! So although Ira showed no distress, she sure was all tangled up! No wonder I felt like I was pushing my heart out and she just would not descend! Dr. Biter was so calm and confident that no one could tell what was happening! Ira latched on immediately and she is such a calm, happy baby, nurses and sleeps as they say just “like a baby”!
I was diligent in listening to the Rainbow Relaxation CD every night for the last two months but somehow I never got to listening to it during labor at all, but Dawn said that I used all the hypnobirthing tools during labor and was very calm, quiet and focused especially during transition. She even said that it was hard at times to tell whether I was having a surge and she was concerned that perhaps things were slowing down. But then she realized that I only reacted at the very peak of the surge! I do remember reminding myself to think of being closer to my baby during each of the surges and that the pain was getting me closer to meeting my baby.
Dawn was simply amazing in reminding and coaching me to embrace the pain and go towards and not fight it. Anyone looking for a doula, look no further!! Thanks Carol for the tools you provided us during hypnobirthing class! Many thanks for the wonderful and loving support from my husband and many thanks to Dr. Biter and the dream team to help us achieve our dream birth. San Diego is truly fortunate to have them and I hope that many more will be able to have the transformative experience that we did! An unmedicated totally natural birth is the most empowering and beautiful experience a woman can ever have! After my previous C-section, this has been a sacred and healing process for us! Homebirths are the way to go!!
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Thanks for sharing your story, Roshni & Naveen! It is such an inspiring story! I'm thrilled that you were able to have such a healing, empowering VBAC!
If you are interested in taking HypnoBirthing classes to prepare for your birth, please visit Carol's website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net to learn more.
If you are interested in hiring Dr. Biter & San Diego Midwife, LaShel & Jamin, please visit their website www.sandiegomidwife.com. You can also contact Dr. Biter at 760-642-0800.
If you are interested in hiring Dawn to be your doula, you can contact her via her website at www.douladawn.com.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label home birth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home birth. Show all posts
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Erica & James' 2nd HypnoBirthing story
Erica & James took my HypnoBirthing classes for their first baby and had a great experience. When she got pregnant for the 2nd time, they took the class again to refresh themselves on the material. They took my Thursday night classes in July 2011 at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas, CA (North County San Diego). Here is their birth story:
When I found out I was pregnant with our second child I knew that I wanted to do things differently this time around. Our first baby, Blake, was born in a hospital and although it was a fairly good experience, I wanted something better. Even though we had a natural birth in a hospital setting, the environment was a stressful one. I was hooked up to uncomfortable and constricting monitors and an IV, while the nurses anxiously ran around. They coached me to push harder instead of listening to my body, and gave me an injection of Pitocin after Blake's birth without first consulting with me. After much research and finding the perfect team of midwives, we decided to have a homebirth for our second baby.
The experience with our midwives, LaShel and Jamin at San Diego Midwife, was incredible; they truly cared about our entire family. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for them! We also enrolled in Carol’s Hypnobirthing classes like we did during my first pregnancy. Carol gave me the greatest gift –confidence. Hypnobirthing gave me confidence in the birthing process, and in my ability to have a safe, natural birth.
Anya’s birth story:
At 38 weeks I woke up at 11:40 PM with some steady contractions that were about five minutes apart. I told my husband, James, that we should start getting things ready just in case this was it. We thought we might do a water birth so we got the birthing pool ready in our bedroom and placed several towels around it. Once we were done getting the room ready for the birth, I began to mentally prepare myself by listening to the hypnobirthing affirmations and Native American flute music while relaxing on a birthing ball.
The contractions continued to be consistent and were now every three minutes apart. They were mild enough that I could talk and even laugh through them. We called LaShel to let her know that I might be in labor. Since the labor seemed to be in the early stages, we determined that we would call her again when things started progressing. Shortly after ending our conversation, my contractions went from three minutes apart to four and then five minutes. I started to doubt myself—was I really in labor? Just as quickly as I asked myself that question, my body affirmed that this was indeed it through an extremely intense contraction. James called LaShel back to let her know we would need her and Jamin soon. I had another contraction and then had an overwhelming urge to use the bathroom. While in the bathroom, I reached down and, to my surprise, felt our baby’s head; she was crowning. Although LaShel only lived six minutes away, I knew we were going to have this baby on our own and was at peace with the idea, as I knew from Carol and our midwives that if things go fast they often go without complication.
I managed to walk back to the bedroom next to the birthing pool when the next contraction came. I squatted and with that contraction, my water broke and our baby’s head was out. Having read the week before on how to deliver a baby, James stayed incredibly calm and was ready to catch her. Just seven minutes after my first intense contraction, Anya was born into the arms of my husband who caught her in a beautiful purple and pink beach towel. What a proud moment this was for James! Blake must have intuitively known what was happening because he woke up and was calling for us. So after our baby girl started to cry and we knew she was okay, James ran and got Blake. The next several minutes were such a blessing… just the three of us together welcoming Anya. It was perfect! About three minutes after her birth, LaShel came running up our stairs and said, “Hi guys!” while laughing. We all laughed; I don’t think any of us could believe what just happened. Jamin arrived shortly after and performed Anya’s newborn exam. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. She was born at 1:59 AM, which makes the entire labor only a little over two hours!
Anya’s birth was more amazing than I could have ever dreamed. As with Blake’s birth, her birth was so empowering and a day I will cherish forever. I am in awe of my body and its innate wisdom. I am incredibly grateful to have found such an incredible team of supportive women. Thank you Carol, LaShel, and Jamin for giving me the confidence and the opportunity to have a beautiful homebirth!
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Congratulations Erica & James! What an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing! I hope life with two kids is going well!
If you are interested in HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, please visit Carol Yeh-Garner's website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net to see Carol and her teaching partner, Kelly's class schedule. There are also several other HypnoBirthing instructors in San Diego as well as throughout the world, so check www.hypnobirthing.com in the Find a Practitioner section to find one near you.
If you are interested in having a homebirth with San Diego Midwives--LaShel & Jamin--you can contact them via their website at www.sandiegomidwife.com.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
When I found out I was pregnant with our second child I knew that I wanted to do things differently this time around. Our first baby, Blake, was born in a hospital and although it was a fairly good experience, I wanted something better. Even though we had a natural birth in a hospital setting, the environment was a stressful one. I was hooked up to uncomfortable and constricting monitors and an IV, while the nurses anxiously ran around. They coached me to push harder instead of listening to my body, and gave me an injection of Pitocin after Blake's birth without first consulting with me. After much research and finding the perfect team of midwives, we decided to have a homebirth for our second baby.
The experience with our midwives, LaShel and Jamin at San Diego Midwife, was incredible; they truly cared about our entire family. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for them! We also enrolled in Carol’s Hypnobirthing classes like we did during my first pregnancy. Carol gave me the greatest gift –confidence. Hypnobirthing gave me confidence in the birthing process, and in my ability to have a safe, natural birth.
Anya’s birth story:
At 38 weeks I woke up at 11:40 PM with some steady contractions that were about five minutes apart. I told my husband, James, that we should start getting things ready just in case this was it. We thought we might do a water birth so we got the birthing pool ready in our bedroom and placed several towels around it. Once we were done getting the room ready for the birth, I began to mentally prepare myself by listening to the hypnobirthing affirmations and Native American flute music while relaxing on a birthing ball.
The contractions continued to be consistent and were now every three minutes apart. They were mild enough that I could talk and even laugh through them. We called LaShel to let her know that I might be in labor. Since the labor seemed to be in the early stages, we determined that we would call her again when things started progressing. Shortly after ending our conversation, my contractions went from three minutes apart to four and then five minutes. I started to doubt myself—was I really in labor? Just as quickly as I asked myself that question, my body affirmed that this was indeed it through an extremely intense contraction. James called LaShel back to let her know we would need her and Jamin soon. I had another contraction and then had an overwhelming urge to use the bathroom. While in the bathroom, I reached down and, to my surprise, felt our baby’s head; she was crowning. Although LaShel only lived six minutes away, I knew we were going to have this baby on our own and was at peace with the idea, as I knew from Carol and our midwives that if things go fast they often go without complication.
I managed to walk back to the bedroom next to the birthing pool when the next contraction came. I squatted and with that contraction, my water broke and our baby’s head was out. Having read the week before on how to deliver a baby, James stayed incredibly calm and was ready to catch her. Just seven minutes after my first intense contraction, Anya was born into the arms of my husband who caught her in a beautiful purple and pink beach towel. What a proud moment this was for James! Blake must have intuitively known what was happening because he woke up and was calling for us. So after our baby girl started to cry and we knew she was okay, James ran and got Blake. The next several minutes were such a blessing… just the three of us together welcoming Anya. It was perfect! About three minutes after her birth, LaShel came running up our stairs and said, “Hi guys!” while laughing. We all laughed; I don’t think any of us could believe what just happened. Jamin arrived shortly after and performed Anya’s newborn exam. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. She was born at 1:59 AM, which makes the entire labor only a little over two hours!
Anya’s birth was more amazing than I could have ever dreamed. As with Blake’s birth, her birth was so empowering and a day I will cherish forever. I am in awe of my body and its innate wisdom. I am incredibly grateful to have found such an incredible team of supportive women. Thank you Carol, LaShel, and Jamin for giving me the confidence and the opportunity to have a beautiful homebirth!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations Erica & James! What an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing! I hope life with two kids is going well!
If you are interested in HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, please visit Carol Yeh-Garner's website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net to see Carol and her teaching partner, Kelly's class schedule. There are also several other HypnoBirthing instructors in San Diego as well as throughout the world, so check www.hypnobirthing.com in the Find a Practitioner section to find one near you.
If you are interested in having a homebirth with San Diego Midwives--LaShel & Jamin--you can contact them via their website at www.sandiegomidwife.com.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Brina & Gus' VBAC HypnoBirthing story
Brina & Gus took my HypnoBirthing class in August 2011 on Thursday nights at Seaside Women's Health. They were expecting baby #2 and had a c-section for baby #1. They wanted to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) & researched their options. They chose an OB that was extremely supportive of VBACs, but late in their pregnancy, they decided to have a homebirth with the midwives of San Diego Midwife because Brina really didn't want to go into a hospital at all.
Here's their birth story...it's a wonderful story of how even when birth goes completely off-track, knowing your options & being in control of your choices is so important to help you have the kind of birth experience you want.
October 2, 2011
Day 2
Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That’s all I can say about the last few days, my darling Willow Bee. As I write this, you are cuddling on your daddy’s lap (and crying a little bit) and I just can’t believe I am at the end of this journey and the beginning of a new one. Writing your birth story might have be done in chapters because it went on so long and honestly, I am already starting to forget the details – as is Mother Nature’s little trick on moms.
So, here’s what I can remember, with the help of your dad, Omi, Mimi, Papa and Grandpa who helped fill in some of my memory gaps as we all reminisced about it today – so we would never forget!
Real labor officially began at 2:00am on Friday morning, September 30, 3011. As I wrote before, surges had been growing in regularity since Tuesday but it wasn’t until 2:00am on Friday that things seemed to be getting more serious. I ate for pretty much the last time – not much, just a banana and some lemon cake – and went upstairs to wake up my birth companion and tell him to get the heck out of bed! He started timing the contractions and they were around 2-4 minutes apart for an hour. We called the midwives around 4am and your grandparents.
Everyone arrived before dawn. They stayed downstairs and waited for Ryder to wake up. When Jamin, our midwife arrived, I was 6 cm dilated and officially in active labor. What a relief! This wasn’t so bad! I still had a sense of humor and now that I knew that I was really in labor and making progress, I felt great. This was manageable.
I’m not sure when that all changed but everything you have heard about natural childbirth is true. Transition, the period of time that your
cervix completely dilates to 10 cm is like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. All of my hypnobirthing tools were futile. There was nowhere to go. I had to keep doing this and the only thing that was keeping me going was my midwives, LaShel had joined up at around 8am, telling me that I could do it and this was normal and we were going to have a baby soon.
I made it to 9 cm in the birthing tub and while time was standing still for me, I apparently spent an hour in there, looking for relief from the unrelentless surges. No position was comfortable. Your head was lodged deep in my pelvis and it was causing me amazing back pain during surges – one hip was on fire.
We were almost ready to push at 11:30am or so. LaShel checked my cervix again and I was 9 cm but there was a bit of lip left to go. Disappointed, I went back to work, using the contractions to breath you down and stomping my legs to jiggle your head lower to get rid of the last lip. I alternated using panting breaths to the count of 37 – surges peaked at 22 and subsided at 37 consistently – and screaming my head off to the point that the neighbors on our street will see the large “It’s a Girl!” stork placed on our lawn tomorrow and go, “OH! That’s what that was!” Luckily, our house is such that you couldn’t hear the rebel yells from downstairs, just the stomping apparently, which everyone downstairs started doing in solidarity.
After a half hour of that, LaShel checks me again and now the entire cervix has swelled and I am back to 5 cm dilation during surges. Not good news. My body is feeling the urge to push and apparently, the pressure of not being complete and involuntary pushes have swollen the cervix.
So, at 12pm, I am given a choice – try to relax for an hour and see if the swelling went down or head to the hospital, have an epidural and try to sleep to allow my swollen cervix to fully dilate.
Willow, my biggest fear and anxiety about your birth, besides it ending in a dreaded second c-section, was the car ride to the hospital and here I was, facing this probability at 9 cm dilated with an insatiable urge to push, and having to fight that with everything I had to avoid more swelling. My hip was killing me, the surges were 1 minute apart and 37 counts worth of the most unexplainable torture one could never hope to describe. Your head was stuck and swelling behind my pelvic bone. There was no single body position that provided any relief.
I knew that it was 11.2 miles to the nearest hospital and at least a 15-20 minute drive. I also knew that I would have to be registered, admitted and then wait for the anesthesiologist. It was not an emergency situation – your heart beat was strong. I decided to go to the hospital. I wanted to be put out of my misery. Every moment that passed was another minute I would have to wait.
We took Papa and Mimi’s motorhome. The trip to the hospital was an exercise in self control. Every other minute, a painful contraction would begin along with the uncontrollable urge to push. I closed my eyes and counted while steadily breathing slowly. I concentrated on relaxing my entire body. I went to another world. When the contractions would subside, I returned to my body. The motorhome was quite and no one said a word. Just reassuring smiles from Daddy and Mimi. We arrived in record time and they were waiting for us.
I was admitted in and the labor and delivery room by 12:55pm. I told the nurse I needed help. I pleaded with everyone there to please help me quickly. I put on the gown, I got an IV, I got an oxygen mask. I had blood taken. I signed forms. All between contractions. I had no idea when the anesthesiologist would arrive – he was in surgery. We needed the lab results back first. I was in for a long ride.
The first epidural came at 3:15. It was partially successful. I still felt the surges (I’ll call them surges from now on because that is how they
felt at this point) and I still felt hot pain in my hips and lower back. I hadn’t had any food at all and my sides were cramping with hunger. Food wasn’t an option and I cursed myself for not eating before we left but I just wasn’t thinking straight. There would be no food until you were delivered. Another reason to have you vaginally – I could eat straight away.
The second epidural came at around 6 and it was successful. I finally felt the warm, numbness in my hips, uterus and back. I could finally relax. My legs were totally dead to me – like they belonged to another body. I was happy. I was ready.
Lots of other stuff happened at the same time, of course. But when you are under that much pain and pressure, you don’t really notice. For instance, I had a new doctor to contend with. He was extremely anti-natural birth movement, as they all are it seems, and admitted that he was appalled at the fact that we were attempting a home VBAC. Of course, on the other hand, our new night nurse Tracy had gone and jacked up my pitocin to 8mg and was going to go up to 20mg if needed and the doctor had to chew her out and put me back to 4mg tops. So, with all the talk of how dangerous having you at home was, they were meanwhile increasing the odds of rupture with the pitocin. Pretty ironic I think.
The doctor that delivered you, and despite having an amazing ability to remember all names, was called Dr. Brum-something. He was huge – like 6’6” and when he checked for dilation, which is done so with the checker’s index and middle fingers, he said for him I was at 7cm but
for most, we’ll consider me complete. He would allow me to finally push at around 8pm. It was surreal. I finally got the change to push you out! Of course, I can’t feel anything at all at this point so I am worried that I won’t be able to move any muscles. I am reassured that I will be able to and I am ready. Omi on one side and Mimi on the other side to lift my 500lb legs and Daddy behind me to help hold my head with my chin to my chest, we worked first in cycles of 3 with the surges, pushing and holding my breath for 10 counts and then, we added a 4th as my pitocin induced surges were long and strong. At one point, when sensation began to return, I got up to 6 cycles.
All the while, the Hypnobirthing method of “birth breathing” was in the back of my mind. We aren’t supposed to push you out our bodies, we are supposed to let our bodies do the work and birth breathe you safely down the birth path. When nurse Tracy turned her back, I birth breathed you down. You were coming in at a funny angle. Tracy thought you were sunny side up – that is, instead of facing my spine, facing up to my belly button. But I knew you weren’t. I could feel your spine against the front of my tummy and your body was perfectly straight down. Your swollen little head was somehow stuck under my pelvic bone. There was a heck of a lot of pressure on my hips and back and I was able to get a little more epidural every 10 minutes by pushing a button.
After 2 hours of this, Tracy gave up on me. She told me you would need to be delivered by C-section because your head was developing pressure and it was creating a blister. It was now or never. She walked away from my bed. I turned to one side and visualized you coming down while breathing with my contractions. When Dr. Huge and Imposing returned, he barked, “You can’t sleep through labor, Girl!” Or something equally condescending. To which I replied, “trust me, I am not sleeping; I am working.” And guess what, Willow? In 15 minutes, your mommy had willed you down far enough into the world that even mean-y Doctor had decided that you were ready to come out with just a little help from a vacuum. He gave me 2 choices – I cut him off by the 3rd – c-section if I was too tired to go on (I wasn’t. I would have fought for you forever), deliver you right now with the use of a vacuum – “Stop! We’ll take it!”
So, in comes the Calvary. The nursery nurse, the supporting nurse staff, the tools, the baby bed gets prepared. I can hardly believe that anyone else thinks there is going to be a baby there in a minute or two. He tells me I have to push like I have never pushed before and I am ready. Get your face mask on, Doc, she’s getting shot out of here!
3 big pushes for your head. I feel it coming down. It feels like the biggest relief in history. POP! It’s out!!! One more little push for one shoulder, and another one for the other shoulder. One small push for the rest of you and WAH!!!!!!! You were here, laying all buttery smooth on my chest looking at me questioningly. I introduced myself to you formally and kissed you, calmed you. You knew me and I knew you in a
familiar way that I can’t describe.
Everyone is cheering and before I can stop them, the normal hospital dance begins with the cord cut, you being whisked away to be weighed and tested. Your scores are great. You weigh 8lb 8.3oz and are 21 inches long. You are bigger that your big brother was at birth – and he was born 13 days gestationally longer than you were. You were in the baby warmer with your grandparents protecting you on every side from the assault. I laid on the table watching and being stitched up from a gnarly tear.
Eventually, everything calms down and everyone leaves. I don’t know where they went but it was just you and me in the room. I nursed you. I kissed you. I sang to you. I thanked the universe for you. My own little baby daughter to love, teach, and instill within a strength to stand up for what she believes in and fight the system. No regrets, baby Willow.
The story, of course, just begins there. And there is already so much to tell. Like how you recognized your Daddy when he picked you up for the first time and gently introduced himself. And how your brother sat still on my lap for 20 minutes after a nap and told me he missed me a couple of days after we got home with you. He is going to be such a good big brother to you! He says, “Ryder likes baby Willow!” I came downstairs once without you and he asked if I had put Baby Willow back in my belly button. I explained that there was no going back, you
were here for good. He’s ok with that.
I love you my little darling,
Mama
Carol,
3 Cheers for Hypnobirthing and Class 4 (Birth Preferences Plan) especially. We were able to hit the hospital and know what to ask and what to refuse. I can't thank you enough!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to you & Gus! You did an amazing job using your HypnoBirthing techniques to the best of your ability! The knowledge you acquired from class and the support of the amazing midwives gave you the courage to stand up for what you wanted & do what you needed to do in order to have the VBAC you wanted. Even though it wasn't as comfortable & calm as you had hoped, my goal of having you informed & educated was successful. You were able to make the right choices for you & your baby in order to have a safe, successful VBAC birth. You trusted your body, the birthing process & you willed your body to do what it needed to do! I hope you continue enjoying your babymoon! I'm sure you're feeling over the moon!
For more information about San Diego Midwife, please call 760-809-9396 or visit their
website at www.sandiegomidwife.com.
For more information about Carol Yeh-Garner's HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, CA, please visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. For other practitioners in your area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com to locate a class near you.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Here's their birth story...it's a wonderful story of how even when birth goes completely off-track, knowing your options & being in control of your choices is so important to help you have the kind of birth experience you want.
October 2, 2011
Day 2
Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That’s all I can say about the last few days, my darling Willow Bee. As I write this, you are cuddling on your daddy’s lap (and crying a little bit) and I just can’t believe I am at the end of this journey and the beginning of a new one. Writing your birth story might have be done in chapters because it went on so long and honestly, I am already starting to forget the details – as is Mother Nature’s little trick on moms.
So, here’s what I can remember, with the help of your dad, Omi, Mimi, Papa and Grandpa who helped fill in some of my memory gaps as we all reminisced about it today – so we would never forget!
Real labor officially began at 2:00am on Friday morning, September 30, 3011. As I wrote before, surges had been growing in regularity since Tuesday but it wasn’t until 2:00am on Friday that things seemed to be getting more serious. I ate for pretty much the last time – not much, just a banana and some lemon cake – and went upstairs to wake up my birth companion and tell him to get the heck out of bed! He started timing the contractions and they were around 2-4 minutes apart for an hour. We called the midwives around 4am and your grandparents.
Everyone arrived before dawn. They stayed downstairs and waited for Ryder to wake up. When Jamin, our midwife arrived, I was 6 cm dilated and officially in active labor. What a relief! This wasn’t so bad! I still had a sense of humor and now that I knew that I was really in labor and making progress, I felt great. This was manageable.
I’m not sure when that all changed but everything you have heard about natural childbirth is true. Transition, the period of time that your
cervix completely dilates to 10 cm is like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. All of my hypnobirthing tools were futile. There was nowhere to go. I had to keep doing this and the only thing that was keeping me going was my midwives, LaShel had joined up at around 8am, telling me that I could do it and this was normal and we were going to have a baby soon.
I made it to 9 cm in the birthing tub and while time was standing still for me, I apparently spent an hour in there, looking for relief from the unrelentless surges. No position was comfortable. Your head was lodged deep in my pelvis and it was causing me amazing back pain during surges – one hip was on fire.
We were almost ready to push at 11:30am or so. LaShel checked my cervix again and I was 9 cm but there was a bit of lip left to go. Disappointed, I went back to work, using the contractions to breath you down and stomping my legs to jiggle your head lower to get rid of the last lip. I alternated using panting breaths to the count of 37 – surges peaked at 22 and subsided at 37 consistently – and screaming my head off to the point that the neighbors on our street will see the large “It’s a Girl!” stork placed on our lawn tomorrow and go, “OH! That’s what that was!” Luckily, our house is such that you couldn’t hear the rebel yells from downstairs, just the stomping apparently, which everyone downstairs started doing in solidarity.
After a half hour of that, LaShel checks me again and now the entire cervix has swelled and I am back to 5 cm dilation during surges. Not good news. My body is feeling the urge to push and apparently, the pressure of not being complete and involuntary pushes have swollen the cervix.
So, at 12pm, I am given a choice – try to relax for an hour and see if the swelling went down or head to the hospital, have an epidural and try to sleep to allow my swollen cervix to fully dilate.
Willow, my biggest fear and anxiety about your birth, besides it ending in a dreaded second c-section, was the car ride to the hospital and here I was, facing this probability at 9 cm dilated with an insatiable urge to push, and having to fight that with everything I had to avoid more swelling. My hip was killing me, the surges were 1 minute apart and 37 counts worth of the most unexplainable torture one could never hope to describe. Your head was stuck and swelling behind my pelvic bone. There was no single body position that provided any relief.
I knew that it was 11.2 miles to the nearest hospital and at least a 15-20 minute drive. I also knew that I would have to be registered, admitted and then wait for the anesthesiologist. It was not an emergency situation – your heart beat was strong. I decided to go to the hospital. I wanted to be put out of my misery. Every moment that passed was another minute I would have to wait.
We took Papa and Mimi’s motorhome. The trip to the hospital was an exercise in self control. Every other minute, a painful contraction would begin along with the uncontrollable urge to push. I closed my eyes and counted while steadily breathing slowly. I concentrated on relaxing my entire body. I went to another world. When the contractions would subside, I returned to my body. The motorhome was quite and no one said a word. Just reassuring smiles from Daddy and Mimi. We arrived in record time and they were waiting for us.
I was admitted in and the labor and delivery room by 12:55pm. I told the nurse I needed help. I pleaded with everyone there to please help me quickly. I put on the gown, I got an IV, I got an oxygen mask. I had blood taken. I signed forms. All between contractions. I had no idea when the anesthesiologist would arrive – he was in surgery. We needed the lab results back first. I was in for a long ride.
The first epidural came at 3:15. It was partially successful. I still felt the surges (I’ll call them surges from now on because that is how they
felt at this point) and I still felt hot pain in my hips and lower back. I hadn’t had any food at all and my sides were cramping with hunger. Food wasn’t an option and I cursed myself for not eating before we left but I just wasn’t thinking straight. There would be no food until you were delivered. Another reason to have you vaginally – I could eat straight away.
The second epidural came at around 6 and it was successful. I finally felt the warm, numbness in my hips, uterus and back. I could finally relax. My legs were totally dead to me – like they belonged to another body. I was happy. I was ready.
Lots of other stuff happened at the same time, of course. But when you are under that much pain and pressure, you don’t really notice. For instance, I had a new doctor to contend with. He was extremely anti-natural birth movement, as they all are it seems, and admitted that he was appalled at the fact that we were attempting a home VBAC. Of course, on the other hand, our new night nurse Tracy had gone and jacked up my pitocin to 8mg and was going to go up to 20mg if needed and the doctor had to chew her out and put me back to 4mg tops. So, with all the talk of how dangerous having you at home was, they were meanwhile increasing the odds of rupture with the pitocin. Pretty ironic I think.
The doctor that delivered you, and despite having an amazing ability to remember all names, was called Dr. Brum-something. He was huge – like 6’6” and when he checked for dilation, which is done so with the checker’s index and middle fingers, he said for him I was at 7cm but
for most, we’ll consider me complete. He would allow me to finally push at around 8pm. It was surreal. I finally got the change to push you out! Of course, I can’t feel anything at all at this point so I am worried that I won’t be able to move any muscles. I am reassured that I will be able to and I am ready. Omi on one side and Mimi on the other side to lift my 500lb legs and Daddy behind me to help hold my head with my chin to my chest, we worked first in cycles of 3 with the surges, pushing and holding my breath for 10 counts and then, we added a 4th as my pitocin induced surges were long and strong. At one point, when sensation began to return, I got up to 6 cycles.
All the while, the Hypnobirthing method of “birth breathing” was in the back of my mind. We aren’t supposed to push you out our bodies, we are supposed to let our bodies do the work and birth breathe you safely down the birth path. When nurse Tracy turned her back, I birth breathed you down. You were coming in at a funny angle. Tracy thought you were sunny side up – that is, instead of facing my spine, facing up to my belly button. But I knew you weren’t. I could feel your spine against the front of my tummy and your body was perfectly straight down. Your swollen little head was somehow stuck under my pelvic bone. There was a heck of a lot of pressure on my hips and back and I was able to get a little more epidural every 10 minutes by pushing a button.
After 2 hours of this, Tracy gave up on me. She told me you would need to be delivered by C-section because your head was developing pressure and it was creating a blister. It was now or never. She walked away from my bed. I turned to one side and visualized you coming down while breathing with my contractions. When Dr. Huge and Imposing returned, he barked, “You can’t sleep through labor, Girl!” Or something equally condescending. To which I replied, “trust me, I am not sleeping; I am working.” And guess what, Willow? In 15 minutes, your mommy had willed you down far enough into the world that even mean-y Doctor had decided that you were ready to come out with just a little help from a vacuum. He gave me 2 choices – I cut him off by the 3rd – c-section if I was too tired to go on (I wasn’t. I would have fought for you forever), deliver you right now with the use of a vacuum – “Stop! We’ll take it!”
So, in comes the Calvary. The nursery nurse, the supporting nurse staff, the tools, the baby bed gets prepared. I can hardly believe that anyone else thinks there is going to be a baby there in a minute or two. He tells me I have to push like I have never pushed before and I am ready. Get your face mask on, Doc, she’s getting shot out of here!
3 big pushes for your head. I feel it coming down. It feels like the biggest relief in history. POP! It’s out!!! One more little push for one shoulder, and another one for the other shoulder. One small push for the rest of you and WAH!!!!!!! You were here, laying all buttery smooth on my chest looking at me questioningly. I introduced myself to you formally and kissed you, calmed you. You knew me and I knew you in a
familiar way that I can’t describe.
Everyone is cheering and before I can stop them, the normal hospital dance begins with the cord cut, you being whisked away to be weighed and tested. Your scores are great. You weigh 8lb 8.3oz and are 21 inches long. You are bigger that your big brother was at birth – and he was born 13 days gestationally longer than you were. You were in the baby warmer with your grandparents protecting you on every side from the assault. I laid on the table watching and being stitched up from a gnarly tear.
Eventually, everything calms down and everyone leaves. I don’t know where they went but it was just you and me in the room. I nursed you. I kissed you. I sang to you. I thanked the universe for you. My own little baby daughter to love, teach, and instill within a strength to stand up for what she believes in and fight the system. No regrets, baby Willow.
The story, of course, just begins there. And there is already so much to tell. Like how you recognized your Daddy when he picked you up for the first time and gently introduced himself. And how your brother sat still on my lap for 20 minutes after a nap and told me he missed me a couple of days after we got home with you. He is going to be such a good big brother to you! He says, “Ryder likes baby Willow!” I came downstairs once without you and he asked if I had put Baby Willow back in my belly button. I explained that there was no going back, you
were here for good. He’s ok with that.
I love you my little darling,
Mama
Carol,
3 Cheers for Hypnobirthing and Class 4 (Birth Preferences Plan) especially. We were able to hit the hospital and know what to ask and what to refuse. I can't thank you enough!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to you & Gus! You did an amazing job using your HypnoBirthing techniques to the best of your ability! The knowledge you acquired from class and the support of the amazing midwives gave you the courage to stand up for what you wanted & do what you needed to do in order to have the VBAC you wanted. Even though it wasn't as comfortable & calm as you had hoped, my goal of having you informed & educated was successful. You were able to make the right choices for you & your baby in order to have a safe, successful VBAC birth. You trusted your body, the birthing process & you willed your body to do what it needed to do! I hope you continue enjoying your babymoon! I'm sure you're feeling over the moon!
For more information about San Diego Midwife, please call 760-809-9396 or visit their
website at www.sandiegomidwife.com.
For more information about Carol Yeh-Garner's HypnoBirthing classes in San Diego, CA, please visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. For other practitioners in your area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com to locate a class near you.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A HypnoBirthing announcement--Danielle & Evan
Danielle & Evan took my classes early in their pregnancy in March/April of 2010 at Babies by the Sea Boutique. Their care provider was Dr. Biter, but since he didn't have OB privileges, they decided to have a homebirth.
Here is their birth announcement:
Carol,
Evan & I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Violet. She entered peacefully into the world via beautifully successful home water birth on July 14th at 2:20pm {after only 10 hours of labor!} It's hard to believe our little angel is already four weeks old- where does the time go?
Thank you for giving us the confidence to have our dream birth experience. We are eternally grateful.
Warmly,
Danielle & Evan S
Tuesday class @ Babies by the Sea, March 2010
Here are some pictures from their birth:
Danielle having surges in the birth pool with Evan supporting her:
Danielle receiving her baby:
Danielle relaxed after the birth:
Evan cutting the umbilical cord:
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Congratulations to you! Enjoy your babymoon & thank you for sharing your birth announcement & pictures of your birth experience! I look forward to being able to share your birth story soon!
All my best--Carol
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To learn more about HypnoBirthing in San Diego, please visit Carol Yeh-Garner's website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net or go to www.hypnobirthing.com.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 2, 2010
An inspiring HypnoBirth at home
This is a HypnoBirthing birth story from the Heather Hilton, a HypnoBirthing practitioner & homebirth midwife in Austin, TX.
Hi Friends,
I stood witness at the most amazing birth this morning (12/11/09). Mom took HypnoBirthing from me (and Liz) and I was her midwife. She was totally committed to a natural, peaceful, home birth. Her due date came and went...and went....and went. According to her last period she was 43 weeks on Tuesday (although when it was all said and done, baby looked more like 41 weeks).
Labor started slowly on Wednesday morning. By Wed. evening she was in active labor. She labored all Wednesday night, all day Thursday, making tiny signs of progress along the way. Labor continued into Thursday night, and mom was totally relaxed and calm. She had to be upright during her surges, and spent most of them either standing or sitting on the edge of her bed. She would drop her head and just breathe and you could see her entire body melting down into the sensation of her surges (contractions).
A visualization that came when I was talking her through one of her surges was a golden light flowing flowing into the top of mom's head, through her body, down through her baby, out the top of his head and out through her birth path. We focused on her allowing her breath to follow the path of that golden flow of energy and it seemed to really work for her. In fact, I was shocked when I checked her and found her to be almost 9 cm because by the looks of it I thought we were not progressing at all. When I asked mom about it later she said that she was also shocked because she said she felt the most relaxed and like it had not gotten more intense at all leading to that point.
Her membranes released naturally in the early morning and shortly after that she climbed into the birth tub. Again, I thought things had stopped. She was draped over the tub and her back was to me and she was totally silent. Then after about an hour, she turned around and said "this is really intense now." After that, she was pretty much silent the whole time. She was so totally inside herself.
She allowed her body to push all by itself and kept me updated about how low her baby was. Dad sat in the tub behind her, applying pressure to her back and patiently waiting. At one point, she asked if the burning feeling was ok, and I explained that it was just the stretch of healthy tissue and to allow it to stretch and open. She did.
Baby was born into daddy's hands in the water. It was so incredible. As soon as the baby heard his parents voices, his eyes popped open!! He was totally calm and alert, just looking around and taking it all in. NINE pounds three ounces!! 22 inches. No tearing! First baby. So so so so amazing. I had to share!
Blessings, Heather Hilton
www.hypnobirthingtexas.com
Congratulations to this family! Thanks, Heather, for sharing this inspiring story!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Hi Friends,
I stood witness at the most amazing birth this morning (12/11/09). Mom took HypnoBirthing from me (and Liz) and I was her midwife. She was totally committed to a natural, peaceful, home birth. Her due date came and went...and went....and went. According to her last period she was 43 weeks on Tuesday (although when it was all said and done, baby looked more like 41 weeks).
Labor started slowly on Wednesday morning. By Wed. evening she was in active labor. She labored all Wednesday night, all day Thursday, making tiny signs of progress along the way. Labor continued into Thursday night, and mom was totally relaxed and calm. She had to be upright during her surges, and spent most of them either standing or sitting on the edge of her bed. She would drop her head and just breathe and you could see her entire body melting down into the sensation of her surges (contractions).
A visualization that came when I was talking her through one of her surges was a golden light flowing flowing into the top of mom's head, through her body, down through her baby, out the top of his head and out through her birth path. We focused on her allowing her breath to follow the path of that golden flow of energy and it seemed to really work for her. In fact, I was shocked when I checked her and found her to be almost 9 cm because by the looks of it I thought we were not progressing at all. When I asked mom about it later she said that she was also shocked because she said she felt the most relaxed and like it had not gotten more intense at all leading to that point.
Her membranes released naturally in the early morning and shortly after that she climbed into the birth tub. Again, I thought things had stopped. She was draped over the tub and her back was to me and she was totally silent. Then after about an hour, she turned around and said "this is really intense now." After that, she was pretty much silent the whole time. She was so totally inside herself.
She allowed her body to push all by itself and kept me updated about how low her baby was. Dad sat in the tub behind her, applying pressure to her back and patiently waiting. At one point, she asked if the burning feeling was ok, and I explained that it was just the stretch of healthy tissue and to allow it to stretch and open. She did.
Baby was born into daddy's hands in the water. It was so incredible. As soon as the baby heard his parents voices, his eyes popped open!! He was totally calm and alert, just looking around and taking it all in. NINE pounds three ounces!! 22 inches. No tearing! First baby. So so so so amazing. I had to share!
Blessings, Heather Hilton
www.hypnobirthingtexas.com
Congratulations to this family! Thanks, Heather, for sharing this inspiring story!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
A HypnoBirthing story from the UK
A HypnoBirth story from the UK
This is the birth story of a UK couple's first birth - the Mom was terrified of birthing at first session. The couple was planning on a home water birth with midwives. The practitioner received the birth story from the Dad. Here is it:
My experience as a HypnoBirthing partner.
(My partner to be known as A throughout.)
A's waters broke at Midnight on the Sunday and surges were erratic and light so we phoned the midwives to inform them. They agreed that the waters had broke and we went back to sleep.
The following morning the surges were getting stronger but were still some time apart so we decided to go on one of our favourite walks. A was a bit tired and needed to stop walking as the surges grew in strength and were twenty minutes apart. We returned home, had lunch as normal and A went to bed for a nap, for a couple of hours. When she awoke the surges were nearer to 10 minutes apart so we rang the midwives again as planned and they came out to see how things were progressing.
When she arrived we told her about our birth plan and discussed where we up to in the labour. The midwife was happy to either stay or come back in a few hours once the surges were nearer to approximately five minutes apart. We decided to have tea and watch a film to relax so asked the midwife to return later. This did the trick because not much later the surges were down to about three minutes apart. So yet again we called the midwife out. This was approximately 19.00. I busied myself getting the pool ready and making sure everything was tidy and in place for the birth.
The midwife arrived and asked to do an internal examination. A agreed but said she only wanted the initial examination, and did not want any subsequent examinations. At this point A was not needing to relax through the surges so it would not break her concentration. I kept going through my prompt card and adding a few of my own to relax A down. Time seemed to be flying by at this stage, so I filled the pool to the maximum mark and A got in. She enjoyed the water as it made her feel light but the midwife kept on talking to A between the surges asking what she was experiencing. I tried to answer all the questions but she kept on asking A more. This broke A's concentration and she started to get agitated and hot. I was trying to calm A down and keep her cool by putting wet towels on her forehead and fanning her constantly. The surges continued to get stronger and closer but we were running out of time before we would have no option but to go to hospital. Neither of us wanted this at all....
A second midwife arrived and they went into the other room to discuss the case. When they returned I could tell it was not good news. A was getting tired and shaking through lack of food. With hindsight I felt I should have given A more food, but time seemed to go so fast and all I had given A from 7:00 pm til midnight was a banana. Unfortunately by this time it was 24 hours since A's waters had broken so we were told we had no option but to go to hospital due to the risk of infection to both A and the baby. Also the midwives said that A had to get out of the pool because she had been in for over 5 hours. I managed to persuade A to get out of the pool and then we had the awful conversation of going to hospital. I listened to all the reasons and eventually agreed there was a risk to mother and baby so we called an ambulance and off we went. All the time I was trying to keep A relaxed, and even though inside I was screaming I could not show any of this to A.
When we arrived at hospital we were ushered into a room and given over to a very "matter of fact" midwife. She insisted that A lie on her back on a bed whilst she attached her to a heart monitor for the baby and put an IV drip in her arm. This caused A to swear at her as she was not the gentlest, but the midwife said she wanted at least twenty minutes on the monitor. Lying back on a bed was the last thing we wanted, so as soon as twenty minutes was up I removed the baby monitor and took A in to the bathroom so she could sit on the toilet. Shortly after this another, younger midwife entered and addressed me directly explaining she would take over our care. When we went back into the room she had rearranged it to make it look less clinical, found us some peaceful music and offered me aromatherapy oils to use on A. This allowed me to truly relax A and concentrate on the training we had received. The only examinations she insisted on was a baby heart monitor pressed against A's stomach for a minute or two every ten minutes. As this was unobtrusive we did not mind.
Everything was going well with the new surroundings and midwife. A started to relax again and I kept on telling her everything was fine and the baby was fine. I was listening and talking to the midwife all the time without disturbing A and only telling her things that she really needed to know. The midwife even brought me a cup of tea. A was relaxing well. The surges were very strong and a lot more regular and the sucrose/IV drip was helping A to wake up and have a bit more energy to breathe the baby down. Unfortunately a couple of things got in the way and almost brought the labour to a complete standstill. The midwife asked A when was the last time she had urinated, which was about 7 hours previously. Therefore A tried to go to the toilet naturally but could not. The midwife explained that she needed to help A clear her bladder using a catheter and showed us on a chart why this was necessary, therefore I agreed. This was only the second time A had been in any real discomfort. Once her bladder was empty the baby moved further down due to the obstruction being taken away. The second problem was that A had become so relaxed she could not feel the surges building in strength, so she did not know when to breathe the baby down.
Again the midwife came to our help and placed a hand on A's stomach and told her when the surges were beginning to build. A started to push but she was getting very tired now, because the labour had been going for some 19 hours and we had been awake for nearly 36 hours with only a 2 hour nap inbetween. I was supporting A who was sat between my legs and leaning back against me, so I could not see the baby birthing. Therefore I asked the midwife for a mirror to watch the birth. Approximately 30 minutes later I watched a beautiful healthy baby boy being born into our world at a staggering 10lbs 10 and a half ounces, 56 cm long and 37 cm head circumference. Considering A is only 5ft 7 and a size 10-12, this was a big baby! She had no need of any stitches thanks to the perineal massage that we had carried out during the last 5 weeks of the pregnancy. The bit that staggered the midwife the most was the fact that the baby's heart beat never changed over the entire labour, which showed that the baby was relaxed throughout.
Baby was placed straight onto A and I cut the cord after I was certain it had stopped pulsating.
I think that had the baby not been so big and if the first midwife had not constantly talked to A at the beginning then it is possible we could have birthed him at home in our pool. Also if we had our last midwife first, things would have remained much more relaxed. We have told everyone who will listen about HypnoBirthing and believe it has helped us a lot to have a safe natural birth.
With hindsight we do not regret going to hospital as it was the best thing for mother and baby at the time. A has thanked me lots of times for my support during the labour and said she could not have done it without me. When I talked to other Fathers they said that during their babies' births they just stood and watched whilst holding their partners hand. I feel like I was part of the birthing experience, not just a bystander.
Norma Gillett MA
Clinical Hypnotherapist
Member National Council for Hypnotherapy (Reg)
Member Hypnotherapy Register
Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma
HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator
Emotional Freedom and Theta Healing Practitioner
LifeStyle Hypnotherapy 01257 266815
www.lifestylehypnotherapy.com
www.hypnobirthinglancashire.co.uk
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, Norma. It shows how even with a special circumstance (transfer to a hospital), HypnoBirthing helped this couple stay in the right frame of mind AND helped this Dad be an interactive partner during the birth of their child.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
This is the birth story of a UK couple's first birth - the Mom was terrified of birthing at first session. The couple was planning on a home water birth with midwives. The practitioner received the birth story from the Dad. Here is it:
My experience as a HypnoBirthing partner.
(My partner to be known as A throughout.)
A's waters broke at Midnight on the Sunday and surges were erratic and light so we phoned the midwives to inform them. They agreed that the waters had broke and we went back to sleep.
The following morning the surges were getting stronger but were still some time apart so we decided to go on one of our favourite walks. A was a bit tired and needed to stop walking as the surges grew in strength and were twenty minutes apart. We returned home, had lunch as normal and A went to bed for a nap, for a couple of hours. When she awoke the surges were nearer to 10 minutes apart so we rang the midwives again as planned and they came out to see how things were progressing.
When she arrived we told her about our birth plan and discussed where we up to in the labour. The midwife was happy to either stay or come back in a few hours once the surges were nearer to approximately five minutes apart. We decided to have tea and watch a film to relax so asked the midwife to return later. This did the trick because not much later the surges were down to about three minutes apart. So yet again we called the midwife out. This was approximately 19.00. I busied myself getting the pool ready and making sure everything was tidy and in place for the birth.
The midwife arrived and asked to do an internal examination. A agreed but said she only wanted the initial examination, and did not want any subsequent examinations. At this point A was not needing to relax through the surges so it would not break her concentration. I kept going through my prompt card and adding a few of my own to relax A down. Time seemed to be flying by at this stage, so I filled the pool to the maximum mark and A got in. She enjoyed the water as it made her feel light but the midwife kept on talking to A between the surges asking what she was experiencing. I tried to answer all the questions but she kept on asking A more. This broke A's concentration and she started to get agitated and hot. I was trying to calm A down and keep her cool by putting wet towels on her forehead and fanning her constantly. The surges continued to get stronger and closer but we were running out of time before we would have no option but to go to hospital. Neither of us wanted this at all....
A second midwife arrived and they went into the other room to discuss the case. When they returned I could tell it was not good news. A was getting tired and shaking through lack of food. With hindsight I felt I should have given A more food, but time seemed to go so fast and all I had given A from 7:00 pm til midnight was a banana. Unfortunately by this time it was 24 hours since A's waters had broken so we were told we had no option but to go to hospital due to the risk of infection to both A and the baby. Also the midwives said that A had to get out of the pool because she had been in for over 5 hours. I managed to persuade A to get out of the pool and then we had the awful conversation of going to hospital. I listened to all the reasons and eventually agreed there was a risk to mother and baby so we called an ambulance and off we went. All the time I was trying to keep A relaxed, and even though inside I was screaming I could not show any of this to A.
When we arrived at hospital we were ushered into a room and given over to a very "matter of fact" midwife. She insisted that A lie on her back on a bed whilst she attached her to a heart monitor for the baby and put an IV drip in her arm. This caused A to swear at her as she was not the gentlest, but the midwife said she wanted at least twenty minutes on the monitor. Lying back on a bed was the last thing we wanted, so as soon as twenty minutes was up I removed the baby monitor and took A in to the bathroom so she could sit on the toilet. Shortly after this another, younger midwife entered and addressed me directly explaining she would take over our care. When we went back into the room she had rearranged it to make it look less clinical, found us some peaceful music and offered me aromatherapy oils to use on A. This allowed me to truly relax A and concentrate on the training we had received. The only examinations she insisted on was a baby heart monitor pressed against A's stomach for a minute or two every ten minutes. As this was unobtrusive we did not mind.
Everything was going well with the new surroundings and midwife. A started to relax again and I kept on telling her everything was fine and the baby was fine. I was listening and talking to the midwife all the time without disturbing A and only telling her things that she really needed to know. The midwife even brought me a cup of tea. A was relaxing well. The surges were very strong and a lot more regular and the sucrose/IV drip was helping A to wake up and have a bit more energy to breathe the baby down. Unfortunately a couple of things got in the way and almost brought the labour to a complete standstill. The midwife asked A when was the last time she had urinated, which was about 7 hours previously. Therefore A tried to go to the toilet naturally but could not. The midwife explained that she needed to help A clear her bladder using a catheter and showed us on a chart why this was necessary, therefore I agreed. This was only the second time A had been in any real discomfort. Once her bladder was empty the baby moved further down due to the obstruction being taken away. The second problem was that A had become so relaxed she could not feel the surges building in strength, so she did not know when to breathe the baby down.
Again the midwife came to our help and placed a hand on A's stomach and told her when the surges were beginning to build. A started to push but she was getting very tired now, because the labour had been going for some 19 hours and we had been awake for nearly 36 hours with only a 2 hour nap inbetween. I was supporting A who was sat between my legs and leaning back against me, so I could not see the baby birthing. Therefore I asked the midwife for a mirror to watch the birth. Approximately 30 minutes later I watched a beautiful healthy baby boy being born into our world at a staggering 10lbs 10 and a half ounces, 56 cm long and 37 cm head circumference. Considering A is only 5ft 7 and a size 10-12, this was a big baby! She had no need of any stitches thanks to the perineal massage that we had carried out during the last 5 weeks of the pregnancy. The bit that staggered the midwife the most was the fact that the baby's heart beat never changed over the entire labour, which showed that the baby was relaxed throughout.
Baby was placed straight onto A and I cut the cord after I was certain it had stopped pulsating.
I think that had the baby not been so big and if the first midwife had not constantly talked to A at the beginning then it is possible we could have birthed him at home in our pool. Also if we had our last midwife first, things would have remained much more relaxed. We have told everyone who will listen about HypnoBirthing and believe it has helped us a lot to have a safe natural birth.
With hindsight we do not regret going to hospital as it was the best thing for mother and baby at the time. A has thanked me lots of times for my support during the labour and said she could not have done it without me. When I talked to other Fathers they said that during their babies' births they just stood and watched whilst holding their partners hand. I feel like I was part of the birthing experience, not just a bystander.
Norma Gillett MA
Clinical Hypnotherapist
Member National Council for Hypnotherapy (Reg)
Member Hypnotherapy Register
Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma
HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator
Emotional Freedom and Theta Healing Practitioner
LifeStyle Hypnotherapy 01257 266815
www.lifestylehypnotherapy.com
www.hypnobirthinglancashire.co.uk
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, Norma. It shows how even with a special circumstance (transfer to a hospital), HypnoBirthing helped this couple stay in the right frame of mind AND helped this Dad be an interactive partner during the birth of their child.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A homebirth HypnoBirthing story
Here is a homebirth HypnoBirthing story from another practitioner:
Dear Rose,
I love you so much! You were born 6 weeks ago on a Friday. My water broke right into the toilet at around 1 am Friday morning when I got up to pee. I knew immediately what had happened and was filled with joy, excitement and a little bit of nervousness- although not much. We let the midwife, Ellen, know and then I got back into bed while Daddy cleaned the house and started the long slow process of filling the tub in the yoga studio. I was having very mild and well spaced surges that, in addition to my excitement, kept me from sleeping. It was a lovely time- I listened to the playlist we had made a few weeks prior- all my favorite feel-good hippie music.
At 4ish Daddy got back into bed and read and stroked me and timed my surges. It was so romantic- quiet and dark and wondrous with the thought of your imminent arrival. At 7 or so, we got up and I had a bowl of cereal since I knew it might be my last chance to eat. I spent the next two and a half hours sweeping the floors and doing the last bit of tidying up. Kevin laughed at me and called me a good peasant woman when I would pause and lean on the broom for support when a surge rolled through my body. It didn't hurt.
At around 9:30 Daddy and I got back into bed and I did some relaxation techniques. At noon, the surges became stronger and closer together and then at 12:30 they really became powerful. It was very intense and I became completely focused and knew you wouldn't be long in coming.
Ellen, our midwife, came at 2 in the afternoon and felt my cervix. I was eight and a half centimeters dilated and she said I could get in the tub and start pushing if I liked. Twenty minutes, later I did just that. At first I knelt facing the edge of the tub, and after a little while Ellen had me turn around and tuck my chin and tailbone to help you slide under my pubic bone more easily. Kevin held me from behind in his loving supportive arms. I also needed my legs held so I wouldn't sink in between surges, so mom and dad, your Gramma and Grandpa, each held a foot! Grandpa was a little overwhelmed at first - he was getting more of an experience than he had bargained for! He soon let his fears subside however, and sank into the moment.
I started pushing in the tub while everyone smiled and encouraged me. When you were easing your way down the birth canal, you got the hiccoughs! Ellen said- "Really? You're going to get the hiccoughs NOW???" We all laughed. And then your head popped out! I reached down and pulled you out myself, out through the warm water and up, up into my arms! I drew you in close and gazed in awe down at your beautiful tiny little being and everyone had tears of happiness and wonder streaming down their cheeks. It was a moment forever crystallized in my mind.
Right after you were born, the electricity went out. We filled the bedroom with candles while you were getting weighed. It was so romantic. You nursed while everyone ate cheese with fig jam and sipped Spanish wine by twinkling candlelight.
Love, Mommy
Great story, and how nice of the power company to choose just the right time to have a blackout :)
Diane Sternbach, CT, HBCE
HypnoBirthing (r)
HypnoBirthng (r) Fertility Program
Interactive Imagery Guide (sm)
EFT
Thanks for sharing that beautiful birth story, Diane!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Dear Rose,
I love you so much! You were born 6 weeks ago on a Friday. My water broke right into the toilet at around 1 am Friday morning when I got up to pee. I knew immediately what had happened and was filled with joy, excitement and a little bit of nervousness- although not much. We let the midwife, Ellen, know and then I got back into bed while Daddy cleaned the house and started the long slow process of filling the tub in the yoga studio. I was having very mild and well spaced surges that, in addition to my excitement, kept me from sleeping. It was a lovely time- I listened to the playlist we had made a few weeks prior- all my favorite feel-good hippie music.
At 4ish Daddy got back into bed and read and stroked me and timed my surges. It was so romantic- quiet and dark and wondrous with the thought of your imminent arrival. At 7 or so, we got up and I had a bowl of cereal since I knew it might be my last chance to eat. I spent the next two and a half hours sweeping the floors and doing the last bit of tidying up. Kevin laughed at me and called me a good peasant woman when I would pause and lean on the broom for support when a surge rolled through my body. It didn't hurt.
At around 9:30 Daddy and I got back into bed and I did some relaxation techniques. At noon, the surges became stronger and closer together and then at 12:30 they really became powerful. It was very intense and I became completely focused and knew you wouldn't be long in coming.
Ellen, our midwife, came at 2 in the afternoon and felt my cervix. I was eight and a half centimeters dilated and she said I could get in the tub and start pushing if I liked. Twenty minutes, later I did just that. At first I knelt facing the edge of the tub, and after a little while Ellen had me turn around and tuck my chin and tailbone to help you slide under my pubic bone more easily. Kevin held me from behind in his loving supportive arms. I also needed my legs held so I wouldn't sink in between surges, so mom and dad, your Gramma and Grandpa, each held a foot! Grandpa was a little overwhelmed at first - he was getting more of an experience than he had bargained for! He soon let his fears subside however, and sank into the moment.
I started pushing in the tub while everyone smiled and encouraged me. When you were easing your way down the birth canal, you got the hiccoughs! Ellen said- "Really? You're going to get the hiccoughs NOW???" We all laughed. And then your head popped out! I reached down and pulled you out myself, out through the warm water and up, up into my arms! I drew you in close and gazed in awe down at your beautiful tiny little being and everyone had tears of happiness and wonder streaming down their cheeks. It was a moment forever crystallized in my mind.
Right after you were born, the electricity went out. We filled the bedroom with candles while you were getting weighed. It was so romantic. You nursed while everyone ate cheese with fig jam and sipped Spanish wine by twinkling candlelight.
Love, Mommy
Great story, and how nice of the power company to choose just the right time to have a blackout :)
Diane Sternbach, CT, HBCE
HypnoBirthing (r)
HypnoBirthng (r) Fertility Program
Interactive Imagery Guide (sm)
EFT
Thanks for sharing that beautiful birth story, Diane!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Monday, March 23, 2009
Preserving the Intimacy of Birth
Preserving the Intimacy of Birth~One Doula's View
(This article came across my desk. It was written a few years ago by a HypnoBirthing Doula, who has become a Licensed Midwife. I think it gives a wonderful overview of what a doula's role can be in a woman's birth experience.)
Birth is the most quintessentially feminine an experience that has ever been. The power of the body meets the power of the mind in a spectacular explosion of the perfection of nature. These are the moments when a woman is only who she is. There is no pretending and there is no running. There is only being. The person that most women choose to share this experience with is her husband or partner. Although he cannot fully feel the internal workings of the harmony of his partner's body, a birthing father moves through his own kind of awakening and rebirth. Woman becomes mother and man becomes father and for just a moment the realization is made that this child is a product of their work together.
As a Labor Companion, or Doula, I have often been privy to this renaissance moment. It has caused me to silently cry for the beauty of it all and to look away to preserve the peace of this sacred time between a mother and father who have just come to be so. As witnesses to such a special occasion, we as Doulas must realize that a birth experience is the complete and total property of the birthing parents. Whether or not we agree with where or with whom our clients are birthing is not an issue. Our job, much like parents ourselves, is to educate, guide,and support the laboring family.
My only birth experiences were bearing my own children. The births I attend are someone else's experience that I am invited to assist in. In the initial interview with a prospective couple, it should be explained first and foremost that as a Doula, we should not be holding the mother's hand or stroking her hair. A Doula is not the person she wants to stare at for hours. Her husband should be that person, and if he chooses not to involve himself in the birth he will do his partner and his child a grave disservice, not to mention his own personal regret for having missed such an incredible opportunity.
It is widely understood that the word "Doula" is a Greek word for "slave." Personally, I reject the notion that a Doula is the slave of the laboring mother. Doulas are not held in bondage and forced to experience the beauty of birth. We choose this work because we are called to it. We simply cannot imagine ever not being a part of birth. Doulas, in my opinion, should act as trained background. Drinks magically appear between every uterine surge. The vomit basin makes it to mom just in time. Cool washcloths are in ample supply and always fresh and nobody has to ask. If she's uncomfortable, position changes are offered and facilitated. When interventions are suggested, the birthing parents can make an informed decision because they have a Doula on their side. My point is that while we, as Labor Companions, are handling the details of a positive birthing experience, a partner can simply be a partner.
Our society took Dads from the waiting room where they had no part of the birth and put them in the labor room with the entire weight of the birth experience on their shoulders. A Doula can remove that weight and simply allow a husband to experience the beauty and intimacy of his birth into fatherhood.
It is amazing to me how much information a laboring father can absorb. This year, I have taken to instructing dads during the birth on how to support his wife, rather than doing it myself. It's so easy to say "rub her right here" and to step away into the shadows to preserve the birth of the family. I can keep the cool washcloths in his hands so that Dad is the person placing them on his wife's forehead. When her husband saves the day by helping mom get into a squatting position after I've whispered in his ear that she might be more comfortable that way, my satisfaction is their gentle embrace. If you watch closely during labor and birth, you will see mother and father, husband and wife, man and woman, fall in love in a way entirely new to them. In this intensely emotional time, a woman sees her partner exhibit a kind of quiet tenderness that she has in all likelihood never before seen. In that same instant, she shows her partner a graceful strength and steely courage that he never knew she possessed.
When we step over the line and assume the role of the birth partner, that moment is missed. It is not merely the moment when a slippery baby emerges from his mother, but it lasts throughout the birthing process. I remember these moments vividly from my most recent birth, which was our third child but our first birth with a Doula. My husband lay next to me in bed for hours, rocking on his hands and knees with me during the surges and collapsing with me in between. My Doula was there but I never saw her. I always had a fresh drink and my back was always rubbed and my needs were met, but I never had the overwhelming presence of anyone but my husband and I am forever thankful for the preservation of our intimate moments.
In conclusion, I feel that as Doulas our jobs are not merely to assist the birthing mother. We must protect the sanctity and intimacy of the experience of the birthing family, while not taking on the event as our own. The new parents should come away from their experience with a sense of confidence and empowerment that they worked perfectly together to bring a peaceful baby into the world. They should never be left feeling that they couldn't have done it without their Doula. We all know they could have, and we're ever so lucky to be allowed to participate. We simply provide the direction and quiet support to breathe courage into the labor room.
By Heather Hilton
HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator & Birth Doula since 2001
Student Midwife (now a Licensed Homebirth Midwife)
Mommy
Austin, Texas USA
Thanks for letting me share this, Heather!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
(This article came across my desk. It was written a few years ago by a HypnoBirthing Doula, who has become a Licensed Midwife. I think it gives a wonderful overview of what a doula's role can be in a woman's birth experience.)
Birth is the most quintessentially feminine an experience that has ever been. The power of the body meets the power of the mind in a spectacular explosion of the perfection of nature. These are the moments when a woman is only who she is. There is no pretending and there is no running. There is only being. The person that most women choose to share this experience with is her husband or partner. Although he cannot fully feel the internal workings of the harmony of his partner's body, a birthing father moves through his own kind of awakening and rebirth. Woman becomes mother and man becomes father and for just a moment the realization is made that this child is a product of their work together.
As a Labor Companion, or Doula, I have often been privy to this renaissance moment. It has caused me to silently cry for the beauty of it all and to look away to preserve the peace of this sacred time between a mother and father who have just come to be so. As witnesses to such a special occasion, we as Doulas must realize that a birth experience is the complete and total property of the birthing parents. Whether or not we agree with where or with whom our clients are birthing is not an issue. Our job, much like parents ourselves, is to educate, guide,and support the laboring family.
My only birth experiences were bearing my own children. The births I attend are someone else's experience that I am invited to assist in. In the initial interview with a prospective couple, it should be explained first and foremost that as a Doula, we should not be holding the mother's hand or stroking her hair. A Doula is not the person she wants to stare at for hours. Her husband should be that person, and if he chooses not to involve himself in the birth he will do his partner and his child a grave disservice, not to mention his own personal regret for having missed such an incredible opportunity.
It is widely understood that the word "Doula" is a Greek word for "slave." Personally, I reject the notion that a Doula is the slave of the laboring mother. Doulas are not held in bondage and forced to experience the beauty of birth. We choose this work because we are called to it. We simply cannot imagine ever not being a part of birth. Doulas, in my opinion, should act as trained background. Drinks magically appear between every uterine surge. The vomit basin makes it to mom just in time. Cool washcloths are in ample supply and always fresh and nobody has to ask. If she's uncomfortable, position changes are offered and facilitated. When interventions are suggested, the birthing parents can make an informed decision because they have a Doula on their side. My point is that while we, as Labor Companions, are handling the details of a positive birthing experience, a partner can simply be a partner.
Our society took Dads from the waiting room where they had no part of the birth and put them in the labor room with the entire weight of the birth experience on their shoulders. A Doula can remove that weight and simply allow a husband to experience the beauty and intimacy of his birth into fatherhood.
It is amazing to me how much information a laboring father can absorb. This year, I have taken to instructing dads during the birth on how to support his wife, rather than doing it myself. It's so easy to say "rub her right here" and to step away into the shadows to preserve the birth of the family. I can keep the cool washcloths in his hands so that Dad is the person placing them on his wife's forehead. When her husband saves the day by helping mom get into a squatting position after I've whispered in his ear that she might be more comfortable that way, my satisfaction is their gentle embrace. If you watch closely during labor and birth, you will see mother and father, husband and wife, man and woman, fall in love in a way entirely new to them. In this intensely emotional time, a woman sees her partner exhibit a kind of quiet tenderness that she has in all likelihood never before seen. In that same instant, she shows her partner a graceful strength and steely courage that he never knew she possessed.
When we step over the line and assume the role of the birth partner, that moment is missed. It is not merely the moment when a slippery baby emerges from his mother, but it lasts throughout the birthing process. I remember these moments vividly from my most recent birth, which was our third child but our first birth with a Doula. My husband lay next to me in bed for hours, rocking on his hands and knees with me during the surges and collapsing with me in between. My Doula was there but I never saw her. I always had a fresh drink and my back was always rubbed and my needs were met, but I never had the overwhelming presence of anyone but my husband and I am forever thankful for the preservation of our intimate moments.
In conclusion, I feel that as Doulas our jobs are not merely to assist the birthing mother. We must protect the sanctity and intimacy of the experience of the birthing family, while not taking on the event as our own. The new parents should come away from their experience with a sense of confidence and empowerment that they worked perfectly together to bring a peaceful baby into the world. They should never be left feeling that they couldn't have done it without their Doula. We all know they could have, and we're ever so lucky to be allowed to participate. We simply provide the direction and quiet support to breathe courage into the labor room.
By Heather Hilton
HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator & Birth Doula since 2001
Student Midwife (now a Licensed Homebirth Midwife)
Mommy
Austin, Texas USA
Thanks for letting me share this, Heather!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Friday, February 13, 2009
Another fast HypnoBirthing story
Here is a story of a couple's birth from another HypnoBirthing practitioner where the mom & the midwife didn't believe she was truly in labor!
BTW...Jamie is a woman, in the couple she carried the baby. Just wanted to clarify since the name Jamie is gender-neutral. If one didn't know that, it could read in a very confusing manner. : )
Hi Kristen-
This is Jamie and Sarah (we took your HypnoBirth class in the summer). I am finally writing to tell you our birth story and announce the arrival of Lucy Magnolia! I know you said you loved hearing people's birth stories and wanted to be updated. I've been thinking about writing this for awhile, but now I finally found the time.
So, I'm sure every birth is a long story, so I'm still trying to figure out how to condense this, so I'll cut to the chase and then give you details: Sarah and I were planning on a home birth - and we had one! my labor was only 4 hours (and yes this was my first baby!), so things progressed so quickly that Sarah actually delivered the baby before the midwives could get here! wow!
So, the morning she was born I woke up feeling different. I had no idea I would go into labor that day, I was thinking maybe the next day or two. She just felt heavier inside me and my low back ached in a dull way it hadn't before. I had been swimming the whole week before she was born, but decided to not go swimming this day. My back started to feel more achy and slightly crampy, but I didn't think anything of it, so I just spent an hour on my hands and knees stretching on the exercise ball.
At noon my mucous plug came out, but I was cautious to not get too excited since I knew it could still be a few days. But then I realized, I shouldn't have cramps if I'm pregnant... I think I'm beginning labor! So I called our midwives and she said to eat some protein and take a nap. So I tried to lay down, but when I had a contraction it hurt so much worse to be laying down, that I hopped up out of bed and spent the next 2.5 hours walking around the house - stopping to breathe through the contractions. My contractions were only a couple minutes apart this whole time. We called the midwife at some point and told her this early on, and she said it was very normal in pre-labor for them to be very close together and then they should space out.
I was still thinking we had 12 or 18 hours to go, so I didn't think that much of it. I was "afraid" (for lack of better words) of the midwives coming over too soon to only find out I was 1 cm dilated - so I overreacted by being too tough and holding out too long. oops!
So at 2:30, I went in our room and got on my hands and knees with the exercise ball. When I had a contraction I would just breathe through it and Sarah would push on my back as hard as she could (I was having back labor the whole time). From 2:30 until 3:50 I did this. Sarah was in and out of the room - she was trying to set up the birth tub in the other room and get the house ready for labor.... then my contractions changed and I had to stand up - it felt as if my abdomen was pushing down and pushing the baby out!
Sarah came back into the room and I was standing, holding onto the window sill - my thighs quivering so hard during each contraction I thought I might collapse. We called the midwife at 3:57 to say come check me and that it felt like my body was trying to expel something. She clarified if I felt the need to push. I said no because I was so focused on not pushing (like you taught us!) and just breathing and allowing my body to do its work!
Midwife said she was on her way. I went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, I reached down and felt something ! Sarah called the midwife back to say the head was coming out, but she told us it was probably the bag of waters.... and it was. It broke into the toilet. (Sarah is still on phone with midwife) after my bag of waters broke, with the next contraction I felt her head! I continued to breathe through the contractions and allow my body to do its work. Once her head was out, I could no longer feel my contractions. I got off the toilet and on my hands and knees on our tiny bathroom floor. Sarah was still on the phone with the midwife who was coaching her to have me push. I pushed as hard as I could, but NOTHING was happening. I still couldn't feel any more contractions. Her head was out for about 4 minutes with nothing happening. I could hear the tone of Sarah's voice change and become a bit more serious. The midwife instructed her that "that baby needed to come out NOW" and Sarah was to pull, however hard it took. Sarah finally got her hands around the base of her head and neck and pulled and she finally slipped out and started crying immediately. We wrapped & dried her off a bit and I held her to my chest covered in towels until the midwives got there about 15 or 20 minutes later.
Sarah and I both were so calm. Everyone says we must have been in shock and perhaps we were. We are both such calm people I feel we were just well prepared for the event.
Reflecting on being in labor, Sarah never once said any of the HypnoBirthing "things" during my labor. It was just quiet. I was in my own little world. We both figured we had a whole day of laboring that we didn't want to start anything to early. Sarah could also tell I was just enjoying the quiet of the room. The only time I made noise was when I pulled myself up on the window, (probably in transition?) I moaned a bit during those contractions. Although we did not actively use HypnoBirthing during labor (prompts, music) we both feel it absolutely prepared us for being so calm during labor and allowed me to just breathe, relax and allow my body to do the birthing. It helped me trust my body to be able to handle each contraction. I am so thankful we took your HypnoBirthing class. I believe it made a profound impact on how I handled my very fast labor and delivering on our own! I believe my body was using the HypnoBirthing I had practiced "subconsciously" while I was just focused on breathing through contractions even though Sarah was not prompting me, speaking to me or playing our birthing music.
Thanks Kristen for your class. Lucy is now 13 weeks old and doing fabulous. I feel almost all the way healed, but WAY better than I was. We are all doing great and loving being a family. Best,Jamie
Kristen Olberz, RN, CH, HBCE, HFT
Portland, OR
www.zenana-spa.com
So, for anyone who isn't familiar with HypnoBirthing, we teach our moms to push by bearing down gently while using her breath to bear down/push vs vasalva pushing where the mom pushes forcefully while holding her breath. So, HypnoBirthing moms don't "push", but they are encouraged to breath & use their breath while nudging the baby down with their muscles & breath similar to the way that one bears down during a bowel movement. This helps the body work with labor vs against it. In other words, they push, but much more gentle than the type of pushing encouraged during most births.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
BTW...Jamie is a woman, in the couple she carried the baby. Just wanted to clarify since the name Jamie is gender-neutral. If one didn't know that, it could read in a very confusing manner. : )
Hi Kristen-
This is Jamie and Sarah (we took your HypnoBirth class in the summer). I am finally writing to tell you our birth story and announce the arrival of Lucy Magnolia! I know you said you loved hearing people's birth stories and wanted to be updated. I've been thinking about writing this for awhile, but now I finally found the time.
So, I'm sure every birth is a long story, so I'm still trying to figure out how to condense this, so I'll cut to the chase and then give you details: Sarah and I were planning on a home birth - and we had one! my labor was only 4 hours (and yes this was my first baby!), so things progressed so quickly that Sarah actually delivered the baby before the midwives could get here! wow!
So, the morning she was born I woke up feeling different. I had no idea I would go into labor that day, I was thinking maybe the next day or two. She just felt heavier inside me and my low back ached in a dull way it hadn't before. I had been swimming the whole week before she was born, but decided to not go swimming this day. My back started to feel more achy and slightly crampy, but I didn't think anything of it, so I just spent an hour on my hands and knees stretching on the exercise ball.
At noon my mucous plug came out, but I was cautious to not get too excited since I knew it could still be a few days. But then I realized, I shouldn't have cramps if I'm pregnant... I think I'm beginning labor! So I called our midwives and she said to eat some protein and take a nap. So I tried to lay down, but when I had a contraction it hurt so much worse to be laying down, that I hopped up out of bed and spent the next 2.5 hours walking around the house - stopping to breathe through the contractions. My contractions were only a couple minutes apart this whole time. We called the midwife at some point and told her this early on, and she said it was very normal in pre-labor for them to be very close together and then they should space out.
I was still thinking we had 12 or 18 hours to go, so I didn't think that much of it. I was "afraid" (for lack of better words) of the midwives coming over too soon to only find out I was 1 cm dilated - so I overreacted by being too tough and holding out too long. oops!
So at 2:30, I went in our room and got on my hands and knees with the exercise ball. When I had a contraction I would just breathe through it and Sarah would push on my back as hard as she could (I was having back labor the whole time). From 2:30 until 3:50 I did this. Sarah was in and out of the room - she was trying to set up the birth tub in the other room and get the house ready for labor.... then my contractions changed and I had to stand up - it felt as if my abdomen was pushing down and pushing the baby out!
Sarah came back into the room and I was standing, holding onto the window sill - my thighs quivering so hard during each contraction I thought I might collapse. We called the midwife at 3:57 to say come check me and that it felt like my body was trying to expel something. She clarified if I felt the need to push. I said no because I was so focused on not pushing (like you taught us!) and just breathing and allowing my body to do its work!
Midwife said she was on her way. I went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, I reached down and felt something ! Sarah called the midwife back to say the head was coming out, but she told us it was probably the bag of waters.... and it was. It broke into the toilet. (Sarah is still on phone with midwife) after my bag of waters broke, with the next contraction I felt her head! I continued to breathe through the contractions and allow my body to do its work. Once her head was out, I could no longer feel my contractions. I got off the toilet and on my hands and knees on our tiny bathroom floor. Sarah was still on the phone with the midwife who was coaching her to have me push. I pushed as hard as I could, but NOTHING was happening. I still couldn't feel any more contractions. Her head was out for about 4 minutes with nothing happening. I could hear the tone of Sarah's voice change and become a bit more serious. The midwife instructed her that "that baby needed to come out NOW" and Sarah was to pull, however hard it took. Sarah finally got her hands around the base of her head and neck and pulled and she finally slipped out and started crying immediately. We wrapped & dried her off a bit and I held her to my chest covered in towels until the midwives got there about 15 or 20 minutes later.
Sarah and I both were so calm. Everyone says we must have been in shock and perhaps we were. We are both such calm people I feel we were just well prepared for the event.
Reflecting on being in labor, Sarah never once said any of the HypnoBirthing "things" during my labor. It was just quiet. I was in my own little world. We both figured we had a whole day of laboring that we didn't want to start anything to early. Sarah could also tell I was just enjoying the quiet of the room. The only time I made noise was when I pulled myself up on the window, (probably in transition?) I moaned a bit during those contractions. Although we did not actively use HypnoBirthing during labor (prompts, music) we both feel it absolutely prepared us for being so calm during labor and allowed me to just breathe, relax and allow my body to do the birthing. It helped me trust my body to be able to handle each contraction. I am so thankful we took your HypnoBirthing class. I believe it made a profound impact on how I handled my very fast labor and delivering on our own! I believe my body was using the HypnoBirthing I had practiced "subconsciously" while I was just focused on breathing through contractions even though Sarah was not prompting me, speaking to me or playing our birthing music.
Thanks Kristen for your class. Lucy is now 13 weeks old and doing fabulous. I feel almost all the way healed, but WAY better than I was. We are all doing great and loving being a family. Best,Jamie
Kristen Olberz, RN, CH, HBCE, HFT
Portland, OR
www.zenana-spa.com
So, for anyone who isn't familiar with HypnoBirthing, we teach our moms to push by bearing down gently while using her breath to bear down/push vs vasalva pushing where the mom pushes forcefully while holding her breath. So, HypnoBirthing moms don't "push", but they are encouraged to breath & use their breath while nudging the baby down with their muscles & breath similar to the way that one bears down during a bowel movement. This helps the body work with labor vs against it. In other words, they push, but much more gentle than the type of pushing encouraged during most births.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 18, 2009
What a calm, peaceful birth can look like
Here's the link to a wonderful video of a woman chanting throughout her labor. The lights are dimmed, candles are lit & the mother chants "Ommmm" & "Wowwwww" throughout her labor. This is an example of calmness by using your breath & voice to keep your body relaxed, loose, limp & open. In HypnoBirthing, we teach moms to use their breath to keep their body relaxed & limp. I always encourage moms to use their voice if they need to but to be sure it's a low voice. This video shows exactly what I'm talking about. This mother shows no signs of fear & truly embraces labor. She moves her hips, squats, & chants. I'll be showing my kids this video (along with the HypnoBirthing videos) someday so they can see what birth can look like.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7yo8v_naitreenchantee_lifestyle
Enjoy!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7yo8v_naitreenchantee_lifestyle
Enjoy!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Time frames for birth
This is from a HypnoBirthing homebirth midwife, Jenny West, in New Mexico who really knows her stuff...regarding a discussion about time frames for birth:
In New Mexico our guidelines say the time frame for 2nd stage labor is 2 hours for multips--experienced birthers & 4 hours for primips--first-time birthers.
Now all this begs the question of how many vaginal exams/VE's are being done, because--technically--no one should know when a woman is exactly 10cm's! I wait until the mother feels grunty before beginning to think about charting second stage. Usually, the mother is 10 cm's when she has that little shot of adrenaline that makes her restless, wants to change position, wants to go home.... if she is not at 10, then she is at 8 or 9 and just support her and assure her she is fine (we talk about this as a hallmark of labor progression as well in HypnoBirthing class).
We need to be offering the idea of refusing to be checked all the time--the nurse or midwife can then chart that the 'patient' refused VE. By watching the body language of the mother, I usually know where 'we' are.
My clients usually fall into to two categories of WANTING to be checked: right when I walk in the door--because they want to know all this focused breathing is worth something......OR having that first downward sensation-it all feels so different from what has been happening up to then I'm constantly amazed at how low the baby's head is when Mom has the shift in surges, and so thrilled that she has breathed the baby under the bone without causing any 'fetal distress'--medical birth term, meaning that the baby's head is so squished that the oxygen supply is less and the baby's heart rate is less, or falters at this part of the labor progression. In fact, nurses count on seeing this on the monitor so they know when to 'magically' appear bedside and start the stress and pressure to push your baby out! I rarely see this anymore, even with mothers built like ten-year-old's and a baby that is over 8 pounds with a nuchal hand!
So, some of this begs the question about charting--so no one is too far outside their protocols....Since I'm being 'refused' a VE, I have to chart that and what body language I'm seeing. Once you look at what the mother's body and breath are doing, you don't have to check. Now, I get to do all this in a relaxed, safe, private, un-observed environment----the mother's home and in the water. It might be more difficult to observe these things in a hospital room, but not impossible. Set up the suggestions to clients that they are safe, private and un-observed no matter where they are. (this is why many women want to be in the shower or bathroom when birthing at a hospital--trying to 'cave', to get away to somewhere more private than the merry-go-round hospital bed!)
Jenny
PS most of my clients have a 2-10 minute "pushing" stage because you wait until the body asks for more help than just breathing. Just had a grandma ask if her daughter was too relaxed and that was why she didn't have the urge to push... the misinformation is soooo ingrained. I told her that there was no such thing as too relaxed and it just wasn't time to bring the pushing idea into the room. Her daughter was having that 'I can't get comfortable, changing position with each surge' part of labor and I know the urge to grunt/bear down was right around the corner for this particular client!
Jennifer West, LM,CPM,HBCE,TBMP,CST,CH
www.tubsntea.com
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Jenny!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
In New Mexico our guidelines say the time frame for 2nd stage labor is 2 hours for multips--experienced birthers & 4 hours for primips--first-time birthers.
Now all this begs the question of how many vaginal exams/VE's are being done, because--technically--no one should know when a woman is exactly 10cm's! I wait until the mother feels grunty before beginning to think about charting second stage. Usually, the mother is 10 cm's when she has that little shot of adrenaline that makes her restless, wants to change position, wants to go home.... if she is not at 10, then she is at 8 or 9 and just support her and assure her she is fine (we talk about this as a hallmark of labor progression as well in HypnoBirthing class).
We need to be offering the idea of refusing to be checked all the time--the nurse or midwife can then chart that the 'patient' refused VE. By watching the body language of the mother, I usually know where 'we' are.
My clients usually fall into to two categories of WANTING to be checked: right when I walk in the door--because they want to know all this focused breathing is worth something......OR having that first downward sensation-it all feels so different from what has been happening up to then I'm constantly amazed at how low the baby's head is when Mom has the shift in surges, and so thrilled that she has breathed the baby under the bone without causing any 'fetal distress'--medical birth term, meaning that the baby's head is so squished that the oxygen supply is less and the baby's heart rate is less, or falters at this part of the labor progression. In fact, nurses count on seeing this on the monitor so they know when to 'magically' appear bedside and start the stress and pressure to push your baby out! I rarely see this anymore, even with mothers built like ten-year-old's and a baby that is over 8 pounds with a nuchal hand!
So, some of this begs the question about charting--so no one is too far outside their protocols....Since I'm being 'refused' a VE, I have to chart that and what body language I'm seeing. Once you look at what the mother's body and breath are doing, you don't have to check. Now, I get to do all this in a relaxed, safe, private, un-observed environment----the mother's home and in the water. It might be more difficult to observe these things in a hospital room, but not impossible. Set up the suggestions to clients that they are safe, private and un-observed no matter where they are. (this is why many women want to be in the shower or bathroom when birthing at a hospital--trying to 'cave', to get away to somewhere more private than the merry-go-round hospital bed!)
Jenny
PS most of my clients have a 2-10 minute "pushing" stage because you wait until the body asks for more help than just breathing. Just had a grandma ask if her daughter was too relaxed and that was why she didn't have the urge to push... the misinformation is soooo ingrained. I told her that there was no such thing as too relaxed and it just wasn't time to bring the pushing idea into the room. Her daughter was having that 'I can't get comfortable, changing position with each surge' part of labor and I know the urge to grunt/bear down was right around the corner for this particular client!
Jennifer West, LM,CPM,HBCE,TBMP,CST,CH
www.tubsntea.com
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Jenny!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Monday, December 15, 2008
Great natural birth articles
Here are some great links to articles about pregnancy issues, how chiropractic can help during pregnancy & why home births are on the rise...
From the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association) Family Wellness Newsletter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pregnancy Matters
Induction is Risky:
From Sydney, AU comes a recent study based on 50,000 births concluding that induction of labor leads to risks for both mother and baby.
Read the entire article here: www.newkerala.com
Pre-term births:
The rise in pre-term births a growing concern--mothers should be more informed of risks.
www.story.japanherald.com
Home Births on the Rise and in the News Again:
A great article showing the benefits of home birth, the support for home birth in UK Obstetrics and the bias of ACOG and the AMA in the US.
www.nytimes.com
Home Births Recommended in Scotland:
www.news.scotsman.com
Chiropractic and Pregnancy:
View a great interview with ICPA member, Dr. Caroline Von Fluegge on Fox TV. www.myfoxatlanta.com
Read more about chiropractic care for safer, easier births here: www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/chiro.htm
Read more about natural birthing here:www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/natural.htm
Pregnant women should avoid statins: www.redorbit.com
Six ways to reduce inflammation without statins: www.articles.mercola.com
Women who do too much: www.chealth.canoe.ca
To find a doctor of chiropractic in your area who supports your right to choose health care for your families, visit: http://www.icpa4kids.org/locator/index.php
To find a holistic practitioner in your area, visit: www.hpakids.org
Sign up for Family Wellness First here: www.icpa4kids.org/e-news.htm
Visit Family Wellness First archives here: www.icpa4kids.org/wellness/archive.htm
Family Wellness First comes to you as a courtesy of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association in collaboration with the Holistic Pediatric Association.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
From the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association) Family Wellness Newsletter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pregnancy Matters
Induction is Risky:
From Sydney, AU comes a recent study based on 50,000 births concluding that induction of labor leads to risks for both mother and baby.
Read the entire article here: www.newkerala.com
Pre-term births:
The rise in pre-term births a growing concern--mothers should be more informed of risks.
www.story.japanherald.com
Home Births on the Rise and in the News Again:
A great article showing the benefits of home birth, the support for home birth in UK Obstetrics and the bias of ACOG and the AMA in the US.
www.nytimes.com
Home Births Recommended in Scotland:
www.news.scotsman.com
Chiropractic and Pregnancy:
View a great interview with ICPA member, Dr. Caroline Von Fluegge on Fox TV. www.myfoxatlanta.com
Read more about chiropractic care for safer, easier births here: www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/chiro.htm
Read more about natural birthing here:www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/natural.htm
Pregnant women should avoid statins: www.redorbit.com
Six ways to reduce inflammation without statins: www.articles.mercola.com
Women who do too much: www.chealth.canoe.ca
To find a doctor of chiropractic in your area who supports your right to choose health care for your families, visit: http://www.icpa4kids.org/locator/index.php
To find a holistic practitioner in your area, visit: www.hpakids.org
Sign up for Family Wellness First here: www.icpa4kids.org/e-news.htm
Visit Family Wellness First archives here: www.icpa4kids.org/wellness/archive.htm
Family Wellness First comes to you as a courtesy of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association in collaboration with the Holistic Pediatric Association.
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
A beautiful birth
Here is a beautiful video of one couple's home waterbirth experience...enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niJ6F2p9Ql8
"Pregnancy and homebirth/water birth experience of our daughter olive. Music by ben harper. Birth should be an empowering experience - this is just one small snippet of what her birth was like for me. I felt powerful, present, connected to all women before me, truly doing what God made my body to do. Special thanks and praise for our midwife Kathy Mitchell who rocks!!"
For more information about the benefits of a homebirth please go to gentlebirth.org or mothering.com
For more information about the benefits of a waterbirth visit waterbirth.org.
http://www.awelllivedlife.net/
http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niJ6F2p9Ql8
"Pregnancy and homebirth/water birth experience of our daughter olive. Music by ben harper. Birth should be an empowering experience - this is just one small snippet of what her birth was like for me. I felt powerful, present, connected to all women before me, truly doing what God made my body to do. Special thanks and praise for our midwife Kathy Mitchell who rocks!!"
For more information about the benefits of a homebirth please go to gentlebirth.org or mothering.com
For more information about the benefits of a waterbirth visit waterbirth.org.
http://www.awelllivedlife.net/
http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Some great links to inspire you for your natural birth
Here's a link to one woman's story of her unassisted home water HypnoBirth:
http://www.indiebirth.com/2008/10/08/unassisted-homebirth-story-an-amazing-normal-day/#more-218
Here's a link to a video of a mom who homebirthed twins. Scroll down & read the birth story & then watch the video...amazing!
http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/07/twins-homebirth.html
http://www.awelllivedlife.net/
http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/
http://www.indiebirth.com/2008/10/08/unassisted-homebirth-story-an-amazing-normal-day/#more-218
Here's a link to a video of a mom who homebirthed twins. Scroll down & read the birth story & then watch the video...amazing!
http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/07/twins-homebirth.html
http://www.awelllivedlife.net/
http://www.awelllivedlife.blogspot.com/
Thursday, May 29, 2008
A Beautiful Video
Here's a link to a beautiful video of one family's journey through the births of their children--from natural hospital births to homebirths to unassisted homebirth:
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=4ac8e7d36cef07fba37a44&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
What a wonderful, inspiring video! Enjoy!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=4ac8e7d36cef07fba37a44&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
What a wonderful, inspiring video! Enjoy!
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Beautiful HypnoBirth story--an unplanned, unassisted homebirth
A fellow HypnoBirthing practitioner just had her 3rd HypnoBirth. She describes her birth beautifully using some of the Birthing Affirmations. Enjoy reading it! And congratulations to the Arthur family.
Our family would like to share the great news that Clark Douglas Arthur arrived last Thursday March 20th at 1:45am at the time of the Spring Vernal Equinox he was received in the hands of his mother and father. Clark was 7.2lbs and 19” long.
Here is our story…
(I know the Affirmations are copyrighted but they are my favorite part of the program & could not possibly write this without them as they inspired me so much)
Fully expecting to carry our baby beyond 40 weeks Todd and I were both very surprised when my membranes released at 11:45pm on the evening of March 19th.
I am prepared to calmly meet whatever turn my birthing may take…
I had found out earlier that day that I had tested positive for Group B Strep but did not have the antibiotics from my Dr. for the midwife to administer. At midnight we decided to call my midwife and let her know that my membranes had released but surges had not yet begun. We planned that once my sister arrived we would call her back and she could come and check things out since surges began while we were talking. If my labour was progressing slowly we would go to the hospital for antibiotics and if things were moving along I preferred to stay home and forgo the antibiotics.
I am relaxed and happy that my baby is finally coming to me…
We were overjoyed to realize that we would be meeting our baby in a few hours(throughout my pregnancy I had focused on a labour of about 4 hours).
Todd went downstairs to begin preparing the birthing pool and I decided to relax in bed listening to the Affirmations while I waited for my sister to arrive.
I breath up slowly with each surge of my body…
As I lay in bed relaxing our 3 year old Julia woke up and climbed into bed with me. It felt so good to have her snuggled up to my body as I relaxed.
What an amazing feeling to know that each surge was bringing her new sibling closer to us.
It hardly seemed an hour had passed when my sister arrived, she found Julia and me in the bathroom.
I determine how my birth energy is experienced…
On the way from the bathroom to the bedroom I had 3 surges yet it didn’t occur to me that things were really moving along as I was talking easily only to pause and go within my birthing body during each surge. It felt so good to sway my hips and rock my baby through the surges as it moved the energy through my entire body.
Renee and Julia went downstairs to help Todd.
I release my birthing to my baby and my body…
It was now about 1:20am and the surges were feeling stronger with more pressure. I was still very relaxed but felt it was time to get in the water. Much to my disappointment when I went downstairs I found the tub only half full. I trudged to the bathroom thinking “Great, now I have to wait to go in the water…what will I do with myself in the meantime?” Luckily my baby and body had other plans. As I sat on the toilet I felt that amazing shift in my surges and an involuntary grunt escaped my lips. I smiled because I knew my baby must have also thought “why wait for the tub now?”
I am confident; I am safe; I am secure…
I returned to the family room to tell Todd that I felt the urge to breathe down was coming and that he should call the midwife. He then helped me upstairs to our bed as I told him “our baby is coming out now!”
I trust my baby and my body to know what to do…
In light of the realization that the midwives would not get there in time, I trusted that this was my baby’s choice and my baby must know what he was doing!
I layed down on the bed in a lateral position and breathed deeply while Todd ran downstairs to get the birth supplies.
I put all fear aside as I prepare for the birth of my baby…
(The final moments of the birth of our second daughter Julia were quite traumatic as the OB panicked and gave me a rather nasty episiotomy; this was very distressing to me as the birth of our first HypnoBirthing® daughter was so calm, gentle and my perineum remained intact.) Throughout this pregnancy I focused on having an intact perineum and knew that in order to do that I had to believe in my body and allow it to gently open. The fear momentarily set in but I recalled Nancy Wainer telling me at the HypnoBirthing® Conclave to give birth in a lateral position and give lots of support to my perineum. (Thank you Nancy!)
My baby gently moves through the birth path in its journey…
I could feel the baby moving down and asked Todd to tell me what he saw during the next surge and he said “the head”. I then asked him to support my perineum and be prepared to support the baby’s head as I thought it would emerge with the next surge. I worked very hard to detach my mind from my birthing body and allow only the reflex of my body to move my baby down and out. I was in absolute awe at the strength of my birthing muscles as with the next surge I felt my baby’s head emerge when Todd applied some pressure to my perineum. Todd asked me what to do next and I asked him to continue to support the head and guide and support the shoulders as they would come out with the next surge. As he did this I took over supporting my perineum and as he supported our baby’s head and shoulders, a sweet little bottom dropped into my hand!
I welcome my baby with happiness and joy…
This affirmation obviously really struck me as I was so overjoyed at seeing our baby, I began to gush warm welcomes to our little boy with so much excitement I woke Olivia up! Olivia ran down the hall and Julia ran up the stairs and both jumped on the bed to meet our baby. For the first 20 minutes of Clarks’ life he was surrounded by his parents and sisters. We all told him how happy we were he was here and how much we loved him. This was the most magical moment I have ever experienced with my family. There was no one there but us to just melt together as a family. It was pure bliss. So much so, that as my sister looked on she noticed that Clark, although only moments old appeared to be grinning as he drank in the outpouring of love being given to him.
My baby emerges; my blood vessels close to the appropriate degree…
When the midwives arrived 20 minutes later they were amazed at how calm we were. Our baby was perfect. They could not get over that his head had no molding and I told them that I allowed him to emerge on his own. They were in a bit of a hurry to get the placenta out and I was apparently being “resistant” but I did not want cord traction. I wondered what the hurry was; it was then that the back up midwife checked to find almost no bleeding. They relaxed a bit and told me I could “try” to birth the placenta on my own. I decided to get up and squat at the side of the bed to do this. The placenta birthed with only 4 drops of blood and they were both amazed…I told them about the affirmation.
So after only an hour and half of surges we had the most incredible birthing experience ever! We had planned on our photographer being there to film it and take pictures for the HypnoBirthing® Institute but everything happened so fast that got missed!
I feel so lucky to have had three awesome HypnoBirths and each so different. One calm gentle hospital birth with a 6.5 hour labour, one induced hospital birth in 3.5hours that really tested my HypnoBirthing® techniques and finally a beautiful homebirth surrounded by only those I love most in the world!
Darcy Arthur
HypnoBirthing® Mom & Practitioner
“There is a secret in our culture. It’s not that birth is painful, it’s that women are strong.” -Laura stavoe harm
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
p.s. Please respect that the Birthing Affirmations are copyrighted by the HypnoBirthing Institute.
Our family would like to share the great news that Clark Douglas Arthur arrived last Thursday March 20th at 1:45am at the time of the Spring Vernal Equinox he was received in the hands of his mother and father. Clark was 7.2lbs and 19” long.
Here is our story…
(I know the Affirmations are copyrighted but they are my favorite part of the program & could not possibly write this without them as they inspired me so much)
Fully expecting to carry our baby beyond 40 weeks Todd and I were both very surprised when my membranes released at 11:45pm on the evening of March 19th.
I am prepared to calmly meet whatever turn my birthing may take…
I had found out earlier that day that I had tested positive for Group B Strep but did not have the antibiotics from my Dr. for the midwife to administer. At midnight we decided to call my midwife and let her know that my membranes had released but surges had not yet begun. We planned that once my sister arrived we would call her back and she could come and check things out since surges began while we were talking. If my labour was progressing slowly we would go to the hospital for antibiotics and if things were moving along I preferred to stay home and forgo the antibiotics.
I am relaxed and happy that my baby is finally coming to me…
We were overjoyed to realize that we would be meeting our baby in a few hours(throughout my pregnancy I had focused on a labour of about 4 hours).
Todd went downstairs to begin preparing the birthing pool and I decided to relax in bed listening to the Affirmations while I waited for my sister to arrive.
I breath up slowly with each surge of my body…
As I lay in bed relaxing our 3 year old Julia woke up and climbed into bed with me. It felt so good to have her snuggled up to my body as I relaxed.
What an amazing feeling to know that each surge was bringing her new sibling closer to us.
It hardly seemed an hour had passed when my sister arrived, she found Julia and me in the bathroom.
I determine how my birth energy is experienced…
On the way from the bathroom to the bedroom I had 3 surges yet it didn’t occur to me that things were really moving along as I was talking easily only to pause and go within my birthing body during each surge. It felt so good to sway my hips and rock my baby through the surges as it moved the energy through my entire body.
Renee and Julia went downstairs to help Todd.
I release my birthing to my baby and my body…
It was now about 1:20am and the surges were feeling stronger with more pressure. I was still very relaxed but felt it was time to get in the water. Much to my disappointment when I went downstairs I found the tub only half full. I trudged to the bathroom thinking “Great, now I have to wait to go in the water…what will I do with myself in the meantime?” Luckily my baby and body had other plans. As I sat on the toilet I felt that amazing shift in my surges and an involuntary grunt escaped my lips. I smiled because I knew my baby must have also thought “why wait for the tub now?”
I am confident; I am safe; I am secure…
I returned to the family room to tell Todd that I felt the urge to breathe down was coming and that he should call the midwife. He then helped me upstairs to our bed as I told him “our baby is coming out now!”
I trust my baby and my body to know what to do…
In light of the realization that the midwives would not get there in time, I trusted that this was my baby’s choice and my baby must know what he was doing!
I layed down on the bed in a lateral position and breathed deeply while Todd ran downstairs to get the birth supplies.
I put all fear aside as I prepare for the birth of my baby…
(The final moments of the birth of our second daughter Julia were quite traumatic as the OB panicked and gave me a rather nasty episiotomy; this was very distressing to me as the birth of our first HypnoBirthing® daughter was so calm, gentle and my perineum remained intact.) Throughout this pregnancy I focused on having an intact perineum and knew that in order to do that I had to believe in my body and allow it to gently open. The fear momentarily set in but I recalled Nancy Wainer telling me at the HypnoBirthing® Conclave to give birth in a lateral position and give lots of support to my perineum. (Thank you Nancy!)
My baby gently moves through the birth path in its journey…
I could feel the baby moving down and asked Todd to tell me what he saw during the next surge and he said “the head”. I then asked him to support my perineum and be prepared to support the baby’s head as I thought it would emerge with the next surge. I worked very hard to detach my mind from my birthing body and allow only the reflex of my body to move my baby down and out. I was in absolute awe at the strength of my birthing muscles as with the next surge I felt my baby’s head emerge when Todd applied some pressure to my perineum. Todd asked me what to do next and I asked him to continue to support the head and guide and support the shoulders as they would come out with the next surge. As he did this I took over supporting my perineum and as he supported our baby’s head and shoulders, a sweet little bottom dropped into my hand!
I welcome my baby with happiness and joy…
This affirmation obviously really struck me as I was so overjoyed at seeing our baby, I began to gush warm welcomes to our little boy with so much excitement I woke Olivia up! Olivia ran down the hall and Julia ran up the stairs and both jumped on the bed to meet our baby. For the first 20 minutes of Clarks’ life he was surrounded by his parents and sisters. We all told him how happy we were he was here and how much we loved him. This was the most magical moment I have ever experienced with my family. There was no one there but us to just melt together as a family. It was pure bliss. So much so, that as my sister looked on she noticed that Clark, although only moments old appeared to be grinning as he drank in the outpouring of love being given to him.
My baby emerges; my blood vessels close to the appropriate degree…
When the midwives arrived 20 minutes later they were amazed at how calm we were. Our baby was perfect. They could not get over that his head had no molding and I told them that I allowed him to emerge on his own. They were in a bit of a hurry to get the placenta out and I was apparently being “resistant” but I did not want cord traction. I wondered what the hurry was; it was then that the back up midwife checked to find almost no bleeding. They relaxed a bit and told me I could “try” to birth the placenta on my own. I decided to get up and squat at the side of the bed to do this. The placenta birthed with only 4 drops of blood and they were both amazed…I told them about the affirmation.
So after only an hour and half of surges we had the most incredible birthing experience ever! We had planned on our photographer being there to film it and take pictures for the HypnoBirthing® Institute but everything happened so fast that got missed!
I feel so lucky to have had three awesome HypnoBirths and each so different. One calm gentle hospital birth with a 6.5 hour labour, one induced hospital birth in 3.5hours that really tested my HypnoBirthing® techniques and finally a beautiful homebirth surrounded by only those I love most in the world!
Darcy Arthur
HypnoBirthing® Mom & Practitioner
“There is a secret in our culture. It’s not that birth is painful, it’s that women are strong.” -Laura stavoe harm
www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com
p.s. Please respect that the Birthing Affirmations are copyrighted by the HypnoBirthing Institute.
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