Hypnobabies Birth Stories
Everyone loves to read birth stories, and you’ll really love these stories of hypnomoms who rocked their births. Enjoy learning how our hypnomoms chose, learned, practiced, and used Hypnobabies to create their own joyful births.
Martine’s Accidental Hypnobabies Home Birth
At 9:30 pm the night before my guess date, I told my baby, “I am ready for you now, so you can come out when you are ready to be born!” Shortly afterward, at 9:56pm, my water broke. We consulted with our doula, and decided to try to get some sleep rather than hurry in to the hospital prematurely.
Within 15 minutes, my pressure waves began. They were consistently 7 minutes apart, lasting 35-45 seconds. I told my husband what was happening, and told him to go ahead and sleep, and I would wake him up when I needed his support. I was able to breathe “PEACE” (a Hypnobabies hypnosis cue) through each wave, and loosely time my waves by glancing at my phone when each one subsided. I envisioned my hypno-anesthesia as orange ribbons wrapping around my body in the area where I directed it. This went on for about three hours.
At 12:56 am I sensed that my pressure waves were becoming more frequent and intense, so I asked my husband to time them. Sure enough, they were now 6 minutes apart, and lasting 60 seconds. As they became more intense, I switched from breathing “PEACE” to moaning “PEACE” and kept directing my hypno-anesthesia ribbons where I needed them. Then the pressure waves became even more intense, and were rolling one after the other. I cried out, “I just need a break!” through about three of these intense and incessant pressure waves… and then I felt super pushy. I reached down and felt her head, clear as day! I yelled, “She’s crowning!” I instinctively provided counter-pressure and gently pushed her into the world. Her head came out in the first push, and her body slipped out with the second push. She was born at 1:16am.
Similar to my previous unplanned homebirth, I had been waiting for my pressure waves to get unbearable — and because of my hypno-anesthesia, my pressure waves were only “challenging” for a few moments of transformation (transition).
Within 15 minutes, my pressure waves began. They were consistently 7 minutes apart, lasting 35-45 seconds. I told my husband what was happening, and told him to go ahead and sleep, and I would wake him up when I needed his support. I was able to breathe “PEACE” (a Hypnobabies hypnosis cue) through each wave, and loosely time my waves by glancing at my phone when each one subsided. I envisioned my hypno-anesthesia as orange ribbons wrapping around my body in the area where I directed it. This went on for about three hours.
At 12:56 am I sensed that my pressure waves were becoming more frequent and intense, so I asked my husband to time them. Sure enough, they were now 6 minutes apart, and lasting 60 seconds. As they became more intense, I switched from breathing “PEACE” to moaning “PEACE” and kept directing my hypno-anesthesia ribbons where I needed them. Then the pressure waves became even more intense, and were rolling one after the other. I cried out, “I just need a break!” through about three of these intense and incessant pressure waves… and then I felt super pushy. I reached down and felt her head, clear as day! I yelled, “She’s crowning!” I instinctively provided counter-pressure and gently pushed her into the world. Her head came out in the first push, and her body slipped out with the second push. She was born at 1:16am.
Similar to my previous unplanned homebirth, I had been waiting for my pressure waves to get unbearable — and because of my hypno-anesthesia, my pressure waves were only “challenging” for a few moments of transformation (transition).
Roxanne’s Calm Hypnobabies VBAC Waterbirth
On my drive to work I would listen to “Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations.” Any time I received less than pleasant news from the hospital, or I felt like anything had slipped past my BOP I would listen to “Fear Clearing.” I used “Your Special Safe Place” and “VBAC Birth Visualization” very often during the maintenance weeks.
For the maintenance week I actually placed all the tracks for maintenance week on a playlist, and would start my list with the weekly one listed, but then let them all play in a loop. If I woke up in the middle of the night I would just restart whatever track it was on, and drift back to sleep.
When the birth stalled I listened to “Come Out Baby” while I took my nap. During the birthing I listened to “Deepening Your Hypnosis”. Then at the end I turned on the “Pushing Baby Out” track. I gotta say that one was very empowering.
I used the Relax and Peace cues a lot. I had a hard time remembering to flip my switch, but really I think I did it subconsciously because during the peaks of waves I felt so much different than I did between them.
My first child was a planned homebirth with a midwife. We were planning on doing the Hypnobabies home course later into the pregnancy. We were both first time parents, but we knew birthing in a hospital with doctors wasn’t for us. Unfortunately, our daughter had other plans, and was born premature via emergency c-section at 27 weeks to what doctors suspect was incompetent cervix, although they could never confirm it. I was hesitant to try for another baby after having a 73 day NICU experience with my first. When I finally felt mentally ready to have another child we went through extensive testing to insure that my body could not only conceive again, but carry to term. We never did find definitive proof of incompetent cervix.
Because of having my first child early, this pregnancy, I was considered high risk. I was able to work with the midwife group at the hospital because I wanted to have a VBAC, and also needed to work with a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor to follow the pregnancy. They started me on Makena progesterone injections, and biweekly ultrasounds/cervical length checks. Everything looked good, and as we neared 24 weeks I was panicking. The doctors were adamant that weekly injections were enough, they would not continue cervical length checks, and had no plans of doing any further interventions. At one point the MFM doctor said, “I’m really only concerned with getting you to 35 weeks.” That’s not really something you want to hear after experiencing the NICU the first time around. I still was able to see the midwives so I felt slightly ok.
Fast forward to 32 weeks and talks of birhing plans started. I was told my water would be broken, and because of my weight an internal fetal monitor would be placed. I was staunchly against both of these things. That day I found a midwife outside of the hospital and explained my situation. She told me to continue following with the hospital midwives, and that later into the pregnancy she would take over my care, and I could birth at home.
35 weeks came and went, and baby stayed in! By now I was on week 5 of the Hypnobabies course, and I had switched care to the out of hospital midwife. At 37 weeks she came to my home to do my prenatal visit and noted that there was some protein in my urine. This was bothersome as up to this point this had been a “perfect” pregnancy with low weight gain, no GD, and no preeclampsia. That night I skipped the normal maintenance track. I went into my special safe place and had a heart to heart talk with the baby. I explained to him that if the protein got too high I would have to be transferred back to the hospital for birth. I explained that I wanted him birthed at home surrounded by loving people in our inviting environment. I told him we had put the Christmas tree up, and that if he was ready I was ready for him. I told him that Sunday (two days from then) was my birthday, and I’d love for him to be here for it.
The next morning at 5 am I awoke to pressure waves that were 5-6 minutes apart lasting for 1-2 minutes. I was so excited that he was ready to make his entrance. I sent a text to my doula, midwife, and photographer letting them know I might be asking them to come over soon. I put on my birthing time tracks and settled into the chair to progress in peace. Around 7 am our daughter woke up, so I asked my husband to have his parents come get her. They arrived around 8 am, and I had my husband set the pool up. By now the pressure waves hadn’t increased, but with the frequency I was certain things were getting ready.
My doula came over around 11 am, and that’s when everything stalled. I was so discouraged, but my doula was very determined and positive. She used the rebozo to try and maintain baby’s positioning, walked around the block with me several times, and encouraged me to dance and do squats in the living room. Nothing worked! I finally told her I was going to put on my Hypnobabies tracks and take a nap just in case. I slept for about 2 hours, and nothing happened! Around 6:30 pm I asked if she wanted to go to Walgreens to grab some snacks since she had been there all day I felt she deserved a treat. We walked around Walgreens for about 20 minutes. I told her I was going to the restroom and would be back. While washing my hands out of nowhere my water broke! I wasn’t quite sure, but my doula (who has 7 kids of her own) informed me it was definitely my water, and now the countdown to baby would begin. On the drive back home I started getting some intense pressure waves.
At home my doula encouraged me to listen to my tracks, but for some reason I really didn’t want to! I could hear the track’s scripts playing in my head as I walked around the house, got in the shower, squatted through pressure waves, and tried to nap on the bed. My husband kept encouraging me to listen to the tracks as well, and I was being so stubborn! I wanted silence! I got in the birth tub around midnight after my doula and husband wished me a happy birthday. While in there the pressure waves, were getting intense, but still tolerable. My doula began timing them, and they stayed consistent. I started to feel like baby was head down but trying to turn. I asked my doula to call the midwife, and then asked my husband to call the photographer. This was around 2 am.
They both arrived around the same time. At this time my pressure waves were coming about every 2-3 minutes. I asked my midwife to check me because I needed reassurance the baby was still head down. I knew I could do this if he just remained head down! She informed me that yes, my water had broken as she could feel his hair, I was 3-4 cm dilated, and 80% effaced. She said, “Don’t let that discourage you. Let’s go sit on the toilet for a few.” By this time, I couldn’t really talk through the waves, but I wanted to tell her thank-you for the reassurance. While sitting upright my doula again suggested the tracks. This time I said yes. I knew I needed that additional push. My husband went and got my iPad and earbuds and handed them to me. He knows I’m a hands-off person in moments of stress, so he stood by me, and just got in complete sync with my needs. The most amazing thing happened when the tracks started to play. As soon as the opening notes of the music started I felt a wave of relaxation pass over me. I immediately felt like I had fallen asleep. I could hear the words, but they weren’t registering. I talked to the baby. I told him I was ready for him. I thanked him for staying in position and helping me make his transition earth side a bearable one. I told him I had milk out here for him when he was ready.
They brought me a pillow to rest my head between waves. As a wave hit my husband would grab the pillow, and I would rock through them. Once the wave had passed he would put the pillow back. It felt like surfing a wave at the beach. You could almost see the peak of the wave, and then just ride it back down. I don’t know how long I sat like that (later I learned it was about an hour). Suddenly something said, “You need to get in the water.” I asked my husband to help me to the tub. A wave hit on the way, and I was able to stand and ride it until it passed. My husband put the Hypnobabies tracks on the tv and let them play out loud. Other than the soft sounds of the Birthing Day tracks in the background it was silent, calm, and peaceful. While in the tub I had a few more waves. I kept my eyes closed, and just focused on relaxing. I was softly pushing and visualizing him coming down past my pelvic bone. Again something said, “It’s time to go. Put on your Pushing Baby Out track.” I asked my husband to change to the track. It’s funny when you’re listening to something, but not really hearing the words. I don’t remember anything else about that track except, “Sometimes when women push they make sounds in their throats that sound animalistic and help the baby come down. This is ok.” I realized that I was closing my throat, and by doing so I was keeping him from coming down. I opened my mouth and forced sound to come out, any sound, I didn’t care what. What felt like 2 mins passed and I calmly said, “His head is out.” I remember wondering if I needed to do anything else, and then thought, “I’ll just give a small push and see what happens.” He popped out all the way, and I pulled him out of the water. He was so little, hairy, and covered in vernix, but he was perfect, whole, and mine. I pushed him out in 15 minutes, and no tears just like I had visualized. He was born at 4:04 am, 38 weeks to the day, 5lbs 3oz, and 18.5 inches. We did it! All of us worked in sync like clockwork. This was an amazing experience. Getting to not only birth on my terms, but in the comfort of my own home surrounded by loving people was amazing. I wouldn’t change anything!
If you ever doubt these tracks work, don’t. I only listened to my tracks before bedtime. I would put the daily track on repeat and listen to it all night while asleep. It’s hard to get 30-40 minutes of quiet time with a busy 3-year-old at home. Could I have shortened this process by listening to the tracks the entire time? Possibly, but they were perfection when I needed them most. I still use my hypnosis cues during the uterine waves from breastfeeding. I told my therapist about the program, and she has since recommended it to her other pregnant clients.
For the maintenance week I actually placed all the tracks for maintenance week on a playlist, and would start my list with the weekly one listed, but then let them all play in a loop. If I woke up in the middle of the night I would just restart whatever track it was on, and drift back to sleep.
When the birth stalled I listened to “Come Out Baby” while I took my nap. During the birthing I listened to “Deepening Your Hypnosis”. Then at the end I turned on the “Pushing Baby Out” track. I gotta say that one was very empowering.
I used the Relax and Peace cues a lot. I had a hard time remembering to flip my switch, but really I think I did it subconsciously because during the peaks of waves I felt so much different than I did between them.
My first child was a planned homebirth with a midwife. We were planning on doing the Hypnobabies home course later into the pregnancy. We were both first time parents, but we knew birthing in a hospital with doctors wasn’t for us. Unfortunately, our daughter had other plans, and was born premature via emergency c-section at 27 weeks to what doctors suspect was incompetent cervix, although they could never confirm it. I was hesitant to try for another baby after having a 73 day NICU experience with my first. When I finally felt mentally ready to have another child we went through extensive testing to insure that my body could not only conceive again, but carry to term. We never did find definitive proof of incompetent cervix.
Because of having my first child early, this pregnancy, I was considered high risk. I was able to work with the midwife group at the hospital because I wanted to have a VBAC, and also needed to work with a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor to follow the pregnancy. They started me on Makena progesterone injections, and biweekly ultrasounds/cervical length checks. Everything looked good, and as we neared 24 weeks I was panicking. The doctors were adamant that weekly injections were enough, they would not continue cervical length checks, and had no plans of doing any further interventions. At one point the MFM doctor said, “I’m really only concerned with getting you to 35 weeks.” That’s not really something you want to hear after experiencing the NICU the first time around. I still was able to see the midwives so I felt slightly ok.
Fast forward to 32 weeks and talks of birhing plans started. I was told my water would be broken, and because of my weight an internal fetal monitor would be placed. I was staunchly against both of these things. That day I found a midwife outside of the hospital and explained my situation. She told me to continue following with the hospital midwives, and that later into the pregnancy she would take over my care, and I could birth at home.
35 weeks came and went, and baby stayed in! By now I was on week 5 of the Hypnobabies course, and I had switched care to the out of hospital midwife. At 37 weeks she came to my home to do my prenatal visit and noted that there was some protein in my urine. This was bothersome as up to this point this had been a “perfect” pregnancy with low weight gain, no GD, and no preeclampsia. That night I skipped the normal maintenance track. I went into my special safe place and had a heart to heart talk with the baby. I explained to him that if the protein got too high I would have to be transferred back to the hospital for birth. I explained that I wanted him birthed at home surrounded by loving people in our inviting environment. I told him we had put the Christmas tree up, and that if he was ready I was ready for him. I told him that Sunday (two days from then) was my birthday, and I’d love for him to be here for it.
The next morning at 5 am I awoke to pressure waves that were 5-6 minutes apart lasting for 1-2 minutes. I was so excited that he was ready to make his entrance. I sent a text to my doula, midwife, and photographer letting them know I might be asking them to come over soon. I put on my birthing time tracks and settled into the chair to progress in peace. Around 7 am our daughter woke up, so I asked my husband to have his parents come get her. They arrived around 8 am, and I had my husband set the pool up. By now the pressure waves hadn’t increased, but with the frequency I was certain things were getting ready.
My doula came over around 11 am, and that’s when everything stalled. I was so discouraged, but my doula was very determined and positive. She used the rebozo to try and maintain baby’s positioning, walked around the block with me several times, and encouraged me to dance and do squats in the living room. Nothing worked! I finally told her I was going to put on my Hypnobabies tracks and take a nap just in case. I slept for about 2 hours, and nothing happened! Around 6:30 pm I asked if she wanted to go to Walgreens to grab some snacks since she had been there all day I felt she deserved a treat. We walked around Walgreens for about 20 minutes. I told her I was going to the restroom and would be back. While washing my hands out of nowhere my water broke! I wasn’t quite sure, but my doula (who has 7 kids of her own) informed me it was definitely my water, and now the countdown to baby would begin. On the drive back home I started getting some intense pressure waves.
At home my doula encouraged me to listen to my tracks, but for some reason I really didn’t want to! I could hear the track’s scripts playing in my head as I walked around the house, got in the shower, squatted through pressure waves, and tried to nap on the bed. My husband kept encouraging me to listen to the tracks as well, and I was being so stubborn! I wanted silence! I got in the birth tub around midnight after my doula and husband wished me a happy birthday. While in there the pressure waves, were getting intense, but still tolerable. My doula began timing them, and they stayed consistent. I started to feel like baby was head down but trying to turn. I asked my doula to call the midwife, and then asked my husband to call the photographer. This was around 2 am.
They both arrived around the same time. At this time my pressure waves were coming about every 2-3 minutes. I asked my midwife to check me because I needed reassurance the baby was still head down. I knew I could do this if he just remained head down! She informed me that yes, my water had broken as she could feel his hair, I was 3-4 cm dilated, and 80% effaced. She said, “Don’t let that discourage you. Let’s go sit on the toilet for a few.” By this time, I couldn’t really talk through the waves, but I wanted to tell her thank-you for the reassurance. While sitting upright my doula again suggested the tracks. This time I said yes. I knew I needed that additional push. My husband went and got my iPad and earbuds and handed them to me. He knows I’m a hands-off person in moments of stress, so he stood by me, and just got in complete sync with my needs. The most amazing thing happened when the tracks started to play. As soon as the opening notes of the music started I felt a wave of relaxation pass over me. I immediately felt like I had fallen asleep. I could hear the words, but they weren’t registering. I talked to the baby. I told him I was ready for him. I thanked him for staying in position and helping me make his transition earth side a bearable one. I told him I had milk out here for him when he was ready.
They brought me a pillow to rest my head between waves. As a wave hit my husband would grab the pillow, and I would rock through them. Once the wave had passed he would put the pillow back. It felt like surfing a wave at the beach. You could almost see the peak of the wave, and then just ride it back down. I don’t know how long I sat like that (later I learned it was about an hour). Suddenly something said, “You need to get in the water.” I asked my husband to help me to the tub. A wave hit on the way, and I was able to stand and ride it until it passed. My husband put the Hypnobabies tracks on the tv and let them play out loud. Other than the soft sounds of the Birthing Day tracks in the background it was silent, calm, and peaceful. While in the tub I had a few more waves. I kept my eyes closed, and just focused on relaxing. I was softly pushing and visualizing him coming down past my pelvic bone. Again something said, “It’s time to go. Put on your Pushing Baby Out track.” I asked my husband to change to the track. It’s funny when you’re listening to something, but not really hearing the words. I don’t remember anything else about that track except, “Sometimes when women push they make sounds in their throats that sound animalistic and help the baby come down. This is ok.” I realized that I was closing my throat, and by doing so I was keeping him from coming down. I opened my mouth and forced sound to come out, any sound, I didn’t care what. What felt like 2 mins passed and I calmly said, “His head is out.” I remember wondering if I needed to do anything else, and then thought, “I’ll just give a small push and see what happens.” He popped out all the way, and I pulled him out of the water. He was so little, hairy, and covered in vernix, but he was perfect, whole, and mine. I pushed him out in 15 minutes, and no tears just like I had visualized. He was born at 4:04 am, 38 weeks to the day, 5lbs 3oz, and 18.5 inches. We did it! All of us worked in sync like clockwork. This was an amazing experience. Getting to not only birth on my terms, but in the comfort of my own home surrounded by loving people was amazing. I wouldn’t change anything!
If you ever doubt these tracks work, don’t. I only listened to my tracks before bedtime. I would put the daily track on repeat and listen to it all night while asleep. It’s hard to get 30-40 minutes of quiet time with a busy 3-year-old at home. Could I have shortened this process by listening to the tracks the entire time? Possibly, but they were perfection when I needed them most. I still use my hypnosis cues during the uterine waves from breastfeeding. I told my therapist about the program, and she has since recommended it to her other pregnant clients.
Elizabeth’s Change-of-Plans Birth
I started seeing my new OB when we arrived in our new town a couple months away from my guess date. She was very cheerful, upbeat, and open to conversation about any aspect of pregnancy. I didn’t feel the need to bring up my use of hypnosis during our appointments at first, because I have found that in my last pregnancies it was rarely my assigned OB who attended the birth.
When I turned 37 weeks, I started getting high blood pressure readings at my appointments. My OB briefly mentioned the risk of needing to be induced if I continued to have high BP or if my lab work started to show warning signs, and I told her that was not something I was interested in doing if it was not necessary. Thankfully all lab work was fine. However, over the weekend, I started getting headaches and experiencing more swelling than I had previously. With the high blood pressure readings looming in the back of my head, my anxiety started getting pretty high. I desperately wanted to avoid being induced. I knew if I kept worrying about it, my blood pressure would only get higher, so I focused on doing more fear clearing sessions with Hypnobabies and reaffirming that pregnancy was natural, normal, healthy and safe. I did not want to ignore any warning signs my body was sending if indeed I was at risk, but I also wanted to remain calm and make logical choices that fit with my beliefs about child birth. I ended up calling to get an appointment that Monday so I could have peace of mind that everything was really okay.
At that appointment, my blood pressure was still reading high so they did more labs and sent me up to triage to monitor the baby’s movement. From that point forward they asked me to come in twice a week for monitoring. Thankfully the labs came back normal and in fact had better readings than the week before. My blood pressure was fine on the monitor and the baby was moving well. By this time, I had heard the mention of being induced several times. My OB had gone over the risks and tell me standard procedure for elevated BP after 37 weeks is to induce. The OB in Triage would ask me each time why I hadn’t been scheduled for an induction and then “Do you want to be induced today?” The first time I was asked this question, I was caught off guard. After planning for natural child births for all my babies the last 8 years, I had no intention of choosing that route nor had I ever been straight up asked that question- it seemed so taboo to me! I told her that we had been monitoring everything and if my labs were fine, baby was fine, and I had no further symptoms I wanted to wait. One of my favorite parts of each of my children’s birth is seeing how God created the perfect timing for their births. Despite all the unknown details, I believe that babies are born at the perfect time and they truly do know just how and when to be born. I mention all of this because I believe this repeated questioning of my decision eventually contributed to the way my birthing time came to be. It was hard to remain strong in my choices when doctors continually mentioned the idea of being induced. I felt anxiety about if I was really making the right choices. It planted the seed of “lots of moms get induced and have beautiful healthy babies, why shouldn’t I?”
I went in for my 39 week appointment and was feeling calm, but very ready for it to be my birthing time. My husband and I had talked a lot over the last two weeks about what it would be like if I had to be induced, since at several points while waiting for lab results, it seemed like I may need to be. Also, I was having many pressure waves the last few weeks and excitedly wondering if these waves were going to begin my birthing time. I was getting emotionally drained with all the uncertainty, and just wanted this feeling to be over. I again had a high blood pressure reading, and confessed to my doctor that I was feeling so tired and emotional the past few weeks. After talking a bit and finally explaining to her about Hypnobabies and my desire to have an unmedicated birth, of which she was supportive, I asked her to sweep my membranes. She said I was 2-3cm dilated but not yet effaced. I left with the plan to go in for an induction the next morning if my birthing time did not begin on its own after the sweep. I was just so tired.
That night, I began having consistent birthing waves. Beginning around 10pm, they came every 5-10 minutes and lasted about a minute. This continued for several hours. At midnight, I woke up my husband and told him what was going on in case we needed to arrange child care for our other boys. I have a history of 4-6 hour births so didn’t want to wait too long. The waves continued, but never grew stronger and by 3:30am, we decided to just sleep… sure enough they never returned.
I called the hospital around 7am to check to make sure they had availability for the induction. They were too full and told me to call back later that morning. The same thing happened 2 more times that day, and finally they told us we could come at 2pm. By the time we got back to a room, it was about 3:30pm. I was still planning on sticking with my plan of an unmedicated birth and even gave a short brief to the nurses about my preferences. My OB came in and we decided that she would check me and break my water. I was still dilated 2-3cm and was now 50% effaced. Baby was still very high and she had a hard time breaking my water. She decided to wait a little bit and see if my water would break on its own after her attempt. I was feeling pretty good and put on my Birthing Day Affirmations.
A part of me, however, was growing nervous about how things would progress, worried if one intervention would lead to another and leave me feeling unprepared. I was tired from being up all night and knew the kind of mental effort it took to be relaxed and use my Hypnobabies tools during my birthing time. A part of me was feeling guilty that I was even at the hospital being induced. Obviously, my baby wasn’t ready to be born. I confessed to my OB that I was nervous, and she said kindly that everything was fine, and I didn’t have to continue if I was uncomfortable with anything. God bless that woman. At this point I could still go back home and wait. I really considered that. I talked with my husband about why we came in to begin with, what it might look like either way, and decided to continue with things at the hospital.
About 6:30pm my doctor came back in the room. I told her we were committed to having this baby today. I had very little emotional strength left. I was so afraid of the amount of effort that the next few hours would bring. As easy as hypnosis makes child birth, I knew with the way my emotions were at the time that it would be an intense time of concentration, and I wanted to cry thinking about it. I could not believe the words coming out of my mouth, but I heard myself asking about what it would look like to get an epidural and use Pitocin. I had been so dedicated to natural childbirth, that I had not ever researched what epidurals require as far as the actual procedure of placing it, etcetera. She was very understanding of my feelings and put no pressure on me, yet answered my questions and explained the benefits and risks of the procedure.
I told my husband I thought I wanted to do the epidural, but asked him if he thought I would regret it knowing how passionate I am about natural birth. He and my OB were both affirming about my past natural births, assuring me that no matter what choice I made, we would still be moving towards meeting our baby. After speaking with the anesthesiologist, I decided to get an epidural and start the Pitocin. I knew I wanted the epidural first because I remembered what Pitocin felt like just during the afterbirth of my previous births and did not want to be getting an epidural between those intense waves. Giving myself permission to make that choice was very freeing; I was happy to have a birth plan, even though it was different than I planned, and felt cheerful again. By the time the epidural was in place, it was after 8pm that they began Pitocin.
After the decision to get an epidural and begin Pitocin, I felt like a Hypnobabies failure. I was enjoying the progression of my pressure waves with the Pitocin, and I’m not going to lie, I was enjoying the ease of the epidural. Yet, I felt like choosing these interventions disqualified me from using my Hypnobabies tools. In fact my husband and I completely stopped using Hypnobabies language such as pressure waves and birthing time, and even used the *p* word in describing the intensity I was feeling. It’s funny that it felt so against the rules.
However, with the interventions I experienced side effects such as uncontrollable shivering and dips in my blood pressure. I was also feeling much more sensation in the left side of my body than I was in my right. With these side effects, I could only get relief when my husband or nurse was applying pressure to my shoulder or forehead, which is a Hypnobabies tool my subconscious mind had been training with. I asked my husband to start using the Relax cue and the Peace cue to help me settle. It then clicked that even though things were not as planned I could indeed still use my hypnosis tools. We decided to try to rest waiting for my birthing time to progress, and I listened to my hypnosis tracks, both the Birthing Day Affirmations and Easy First Stage. The words about my birthing time being just perfect for me really stood out. I was able to feel peace about my choices as things went on.
About 10:40, I called my nurse because I was starting to feel a different kind of pressure than before. Then, my water broke. She checked me and I was 6cm dilated. A pressure wave went by and I started feeling even more intense pressure. It is here that I must apologize to any prejudice I have ever shown to a woman who had an epidural. There is still an intense amount of pressure with an epidural! It was very similar to the pressure I felt with my Hypnobabies births, which made me happy.
At this point in my birthing time, I had to start moaning to get through the waves. My husband knew from my past births that both being 6 cm and hearing me moan to get through the waves were huge signs that I was beginning transformation. My nurses simply did not believe us, no matter my husband insisting things were about to get going and they needed to call the midwife who was to catch the baby to come now.
I actually saw the nurse roll her eyes which made me so frustrated. But then another pressure wave came and I told her I was feeling pushy. She checked and I was 8cm, just 2 minutes after she checked me last at 6cm. She rushed to get the midwife and by the time she arrived and checked a minute later I was 9cm. She asked if I wanted to push and see how it felt. I’m glad she did because it was a totally different feeling pushing with an epidural. It was more difficult to direct my effort, and they tried to make me hold my breath and push that way. I did not like that advice, so just ignored them and did what I remembered from my unmedicated births. Within 2 pushes, our baby’s head was born. I enjoyed the break in intensity, then took a breath before the next wave and the baby’s body was born.
I want to never forget the feeling of euphoria when I held my baby for the first time, though now, writing this 3 weeks later, it is already fading. This was such an emotional pregnancy and birth for me. It was such a relief to have that baby on my chest. To know that this baby is a boy and to be able to finally call him by name after waiting to know his gender until birth. I was just so grateful, happy, and savoring every feeling of having a squishy, warm, newly born baby on my skin. Will I ever have this feeling again? Only God knows. Waiting for his cord to stop pulsing, my husband and I enjoyed looking at him together. I wanted to know everything about this baby and discover every detail. He was so alert, eyes wide open looking around at whatever he could raise his head to look at. Then he began using his legs to crawl his way to my chest, latched on unassisted, and began nursing. He was so content and nursed for an hour at least before we checked his weight and length.
In comparing unmedicated and medicated births, I will say this. The positive to the medicated birth is that I was able to feel more tolerant of the internal exams during my birthing time and not as overwhelmed during transformation. In my opinion, transformation was just as intense of a feeling each way. The drawbacks to the medicated birth were the uncontrollable shivers, the inability to move to different positions (not a huge deal this time), and blood pressure drops. I almost passed out three times due to the epidural. In fact, they had to give me the epidural twice because the first time, blood got into the valve and they could not push the medication through.
Also, the baby’s heart rate dropped a few times during my birthing time and I had to use an oxygen mask which was quite annoying during the pushing stage. In terms of recovery, my back was very sore after the epidural for three days. My belly was very sore for 2 weeks which I had not experienced in my previous births, and I wonder if it was due to the intensity caused by Pitocin. I also experienced uncomfortable swelling after birth due to the IV fluids they gave me with the epidural. The afterpains were worse this time during recovery, but I think that is due multiple pregnancies- they have gotten more intense with each birth.
My biggest take away from this pregnancy and birth is to have grace and focus on truth. When my ideas of how my birthing time would go were threatened, it set off a pattern of anxiety that was hard to draw back in. I felt threatened and therefore I sought control. There were many moments of peace during it all, and for that I thank God. It was a battle to draw my strength from the Lord during this struggle with anxiety, yet he did not abandon me. Those moments of peace were a gift from him. When I struggled with the decisions regarding my birthing time, I kept feeling like if I could just surrender the control, the Lord would have a blessing bigger than my own understanding. He always does in situations of surrender! However in his mercy, he did not withhold all blessings. He still showed us grace and blessed us with a beautiful, healthy child.
When I turned 37 weeks, I started getting high blood pressure readings at my appointments. My OB briefly mentioned the risk of needing to be induced if I continued to have high BP or if my lab work started to show warning signs, and I told her that was not something I was interested in doing if it was not necessary. Thankfully all lab work was fine. However, over the weekend, I started getting headaches and experiencing more swelling than I had previously. With the high blood pressure readings looming in the back of my head, my anxiety started getting pretty high. I desperately wanted to avoid being induced. I knew if I kept worrying about it, my blood pressure would only get higher, so I focused on doing more fear clearing sessions with Hypnobabies and reaffirming that pregnancy was natural, normal, healthy and safe. I did not want to ignore any warning signs my body was sending if indeed I was at risk, but I also wanted to remain calm and make logical choices that fit with my beliefs about child birth. I ended up calling to get an appointment that Monday so I could have peace of mind that everything was really okay.
At that appointment, my blood pressure was still reading high so they did more labs and sent me up to triage to monitor the baby’s movement. From that point forward they asked me to come in twice a week for monitoring. Thankfully the labs came back normal and in fact had better readings than the week before. My blood pressure was fine on the monitor and the baby was moving well. By this time, I had heard the mention of being induced several times. My OB had gone over the risks and tell me standard procedure for elevated BP after 37 weeks is to induce. The OB in Triage would ask me each time why I hadn’t been scheduled for an induction and then “Do you want to be induced today?” The first time I was asked this question, I was caught off guard. After planning for natural child births for all my babies the last 8 years, I had no intention of choosing that route nor had I ever been straight up asked that question- it seemed so taboo to me! I told her that we had been monitoring everything and if my labs were fine, baby was fine, and I had no further symptoms I wanted to wait. One of my favorite parts of each of my children’s birth is seeing how God created the perfect timing for their births. Despite all the unknown details, I believe that babies are born at the perfect time and they truly do know just how and when to be born. I mention all of this because I believe this repeated questioning of my decision eventually contributed to the way my birthing time came to be. It was hard to remain strong in my choices when doctors continually mentioned the idea of being induced. I felt anxiety about if I was really making the right choices. It planted the seed of “lots of moms get induced and have beautiful healthy babies, why shouldn’t I?”
I went in for my 39 week appointment and was feeling calm, but very ready for it to be my birthing time. My husband and I had talked a lot over the last two weeks about what it would be like if I had to be induced, since at several points while waiting for lab results, it seemed like I may need to be. Also, I was having many pressure waves the last few weeks and excitedly wondering if these waves were going to begin my birthing time. I was getting emotionally drained with all the uncertainty, and just wanted this feeling to be over. I again had a high blood pressure reading, and confessed to my doctor that I was feeling so tired and emotional the past few weeks. After talking a bit and finally explaining to her about Hypnobabies and my desire to have an unmedicated birth, of which she was supportive, I asked her to sweep my membranes. She said I was 2-3cm dilated but not yet effaced. I left with the plan to go in for an induction the next morning if my birthing time did not begin on its own after the sweep. I was just so tired.
That night, I began having consistent birthing waves. Beginning around 10pm, they came every 5-10 minutes and lasted about a minute. This continued for several hours. At midnight, I woke up my husband and told him what was going on in case we needed to arrange child care for our other boys. I have a history of 4-6 hour births so didn’t want to wait too long. The waves continued, but never grew stronger and by 3:30am, we decided to just sleep… sure enough they never returned.
I called the hospital around 7am to check to make sure they had availability for the induction. They were too full and told me to call back later that morning. The same thing happened 2 more times that day, and finally they told us we could come at 2pm. By the time we got back to a room, it was about 3:30pm. I was still planning on sticking with my plan of an unmedicated birth and even gave a short brief to the nurses about my preferences. My OB came in and we decided that she would check me and break my water. I was still dilated 2-3cm and was now 50% effaced. Baby was still very high and she had a hard time breaking my water. She decided to wait a little bit and see if my water would break on its own after her attempt. I was feeling pretty good and put on my Birthing Day Affirmations.
A part of me, however, was growing nervous about how things would progress, worried if one intervention would lead to another and leave me feeling unprepared. I was tired from being up all night and knew the kind of mental effort it took to be relaxed and use my Hypnobabies tools during my birthing time. A part of me was feeling guilty that I was even at the hospital being induced. Obviously, my baby wasn’t ready to be born. I confessed to my OB that I was nervous, and she said kindly that everything was fine, and I didn’t have to continue if I was uncomfortable with anything. God bless that woman. At this point I could still go back home and wait. I really considered that. I talked with my husband about why we came in to begin with, what it might look like either way, and decided to continue with things at the hospital.
About 6:30pm my doctor came back in the room. I told her we were committed to having this baby today. I had very little emotional strength left. I was so afraid of the amount of effort that the next few hours would bring. As easy as hypnosis makes child birth, I knew with the way my emotions were at the time that it would be an intense time of concentration, and I wanted to cry thinking about it. I could not believe the words coming out of my mouth, but I heard myself asking about what it would look like to get an epidural and use Pitocin. I had been so dedicated to natural childbirth, that I had not ever researched what epidurals require as far as the actual procedure of placing it, etcetera. She was very understanding of my feelings and put no pressure on me, yet answered my questions and explained the benefits and risks of the procedure.
I told my husband I thought I wanted to do the epidural, but asked him if he thought I would regret it knowing how passionate I am about natural birth. He and my OB were both affirming about my past natural births, assuring me that no matter what choice I made, we would still be moving towards meeting our baby. After speaking with the anesthesiologist, I decided to get an epidural and start the Pitocin. I knew I wanted the epidural first because I remembered what Pitocin felt like just during the afterbirth of my previous births and did not want to be getting an epidural between those intense waves. Giving myself permission to make that choice was very freeing; I was happy to have a birth plan, even though it was different than I planned, and felt cheerful again. By the time the epidural was in place, it was after 8pm that they began Pitocin.
After the decision to get an epidural and begin Pitocin, I felt like a Hypnobabies failure. I was enjoying the progression of my pressure waves with the Pitocin, and I’m not going to lie, I was enjoying the ease of the epidural. Yet, I felt like choosing these interventions disqualified me from using my Hypnobabies tools. In fact my husband and I completely stopped using Hypnobabies language such as pressure waves and birthing time, and even used the *p* word in describing the intensity I was feeling. It’s funny that it felt so against the rules.
However, with the interventions I experienced side effects such as uncontrollable shivering and dips in my blood pressure. I was also feeling much more sensation in the left side of my body than I was in my right. With these side effects, I could only get relief when my husband or nurse was applying pressure to my shoulder or forehead, which is a Hypnobabies tool my subconscious mind had been training with. I asked my husband to start using the Relax cue and the Peace cue to help me settle. It then clicked that even though things were not as planned I could indeed still use my hypnosis tools. We decided to try to rest waiting for my birthing time to progress, and I listened to my hypnosis tracks, both the Birthing Day Affirmations and Easy First Stage. The words about my birthing time being just perfect for me really stood out. I was able to feel peace about my choices as things went on.
About 10:40, I called my nurse because I was starting to feel a different kind of pressure than before. Then, my water broke. She checked me and I was 6cm dilated. A pressure wave went by and I started feeling even more intense pressure. It is here that I must apologize to any prejudice I have ever shown to a woman who had an epidural. There is still an intense amount of pressure with an epidural! It was very similar to the pressure I felt with my Hypnobabies births, which made me happy.
At this point in my birthing time, I had to start moaning to get through the waves. My husband knew from my past births that both being 6 cm and hearing me moan to get through the waves were huge signs that I was beginning transformation. My nurses simply did not believe us, no matter my husband insisting things were about to get going and they needed to call the midwife who was to catch the baby to come now.
I actually saw the nurse roll her eyes which made me so frustrated. But then another pressure wave came and I told her I was feeling pushy. She checked and I was 8cm, just 2 minutes after she checked me last at 6cm. She rushed to get the midwife and by the time she arrived and checked a minute later I was 9cm. She asked if I wanted to push and see how it felt. I’m glad she did because it was a totally different feeling pushing with an epidural. It was more difficult to direct my effort, and they tried to make me hold my breath and push that way. I did not like that advice, so just ignored them and did what I remembered from my unmedicated births. Within 2 pushes, our baby’s head was born. I enjoyed the break in intensity, then took a breath before the next wave and the baby’s body was born.
I want to never forget the feeling of euphoria when I held my baby for the first time, though now, writing this 3 weeks later, it is already fading. This was such an emotional pregnancy and birth for me. It was such a relief to have that baby on my chest. To know that this baby is a boy and to be able to finally call him by name after waiting to know his gender until birth. I was just so grateful, happy, and savoring every feeling of having a squishy, warm, newly born baby on my skin. Will I ever have this feeling again? Only God knows. Waiting for his cord to stop pulsing, my husband and I enjoyed looking at him together. I wanted to know everything about this baby and discover every detail. He was so alert, eyes wide open looking around at whatever he could raise his head to look at. Then he began using his legs to crawl his way to my chest, latched on unassisted, and began nursing. He was so content and nursed for an hour at least before we checked his weight and length.
In comparing unmedicated and medicated births, I will say this. The positive to the medicated birth is that I was able to feel more tolerant of the internal exams during my birthing time and not as overwhelmed during transformation. In my opinion, transformation was just as intense of a feeling each way. The drawbacks to the medicated birth were the uncontrollable shivers, the inability to move to different positions (not a huge deal this time), and blood pressure drops. I almost passed out three times due to the epidural. In fact, they had to give me the epidural twice because the first time, blood got into the valve and they could not push the medication through.
Also, the baby’s heart rate dropped a few times during my birthing time and I had to use an oxygen mask which was quite annoying during the pushing stage. In terms of recovery, my back was very sore after the epidural for three days. My belly was very sore for 2 weeks which I had not experienced in my previous births, and I wonder if it was due to the intensity caused by Pitocin. I also experienced uncomfortable swelling after birth due to the IV fluids they gave me with the epidural. The afterpains were worse this time during recovery, but I think that is due multiple pregnancies- they have gotten more intense with each birth.
My biggest take away from this pregnancy and birth is to have grace and focus on truth. When my ideas of how my birthing time would go were threatened, it set off a pattern of anxiety that was hard to draw back in. I felt threatened and therefore I sought control. There were many moments of peace during it all, and for that I thank God. It was a battle to draw my strength from the Lord during this struggle with anxiety, yet he did not abandon me. Those moments of peace were a gift from him. When I struggled with the decisions regarding my birthing time, I kept feeling like if I could just surrender the control, the Lord would have a blessing bigger than my own understanding. He always does in situations of surrender! However in his mercy, he did not withhold all blessings. He still showed us grace and blessed us with a beautiful, healthy child.
Megan’s Hypnobabies Hospital Birth
My guess date was January 22nd, however I always had this gut feeling that I would go beyond my guess date. When listening to the Visualize Your Birth Track, I would envision my birthing time starting on Tuesday, the 23rd.
Low and behold, the night of the 23rd, at 11:30 pm, I started experiencing pressure waves. I had regular Braxton Hicks waves for the last several months of my pregnancy, and I knew instantly that these felt completely different. They actually started coming at pretty frequent intervals right off the bat, which was surprising to me. I would have them about every 10 minutes or so from the get-go. I also started having some bloody show shortly after the waves started. After several hours of that, the waves actually died off quite a bit, and I would only have maybe two per hour for a few hours through the night.
When I woke up in the morning, the waves started coming at more frequent and regular intervals once again. I was pretty sure that was going to be the day. I already had an appointment scheduled with my midwife that day at 11 am, so I decided to just head into that appointment and let her check me to see how dilated I was. That was actually my first cervical check throughout my entire pregnancy. That is one thing I really liked about the clinic I went to, they didn’t ever force checks on me, but at this point I wanted one to see how far dilated I was.
By 11 am. when I got to my doctor/midwife’s office, the waves were a little more intense, but still completely manageable. I had been listening to my Birthing Day Affirmations track off and on throughout the morning, and also on the way to my appointment as my husband drove us.
Once at the appointment, my midwife checked me and said I was already dilated to a 4. This was encouraging to me, given I was completely comfortable with the waves I had been having so far. She said I would definitely be giving birth that day, and told me she would even call the hospital in a few hours to see if I was there (she wasn’t on call that day). She did encourage me to stay home as long as I could before coming into the hospital, to allow my birthing time to be as comfortable as possible while a home.
Once we got back home, I tried to lay down and nap while continuing to listen to my tracks, but waves suddenly starting to pick up in intensity and frequency. I decided since we were a 45-minute drive from the hospital, and traffic that time of day in our area tends to be pretty bad, I wanted us to go ahead and leave for the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, I was checked and told I was dilated to a 6. About an hour later I was checked into my room and they started to fill the tub before me so I could try to sit in there for a while. Waves felt so good in the tub, and my husband read scripts to me while I was in there, however even being in the tub for only 40 minutes, my waves slowed tremendously so I decided to go ahead and get back out.
For the next few hours I started getting a little frustrated, feeling that things weren’t progressing very quickly, then suddenly, around 9 pm, waves started getting much more intense, happening very frequently, and I started feeling nauseous. At this point I was moaning through the waves, not out of pain, but just because it felt good to vocalize through them. It also felt good to have my husband and my doula apply counter pressure to my lower back since by this time I was feeling quite a bit of pressure in my lower back with waves.
I had to really focus and zone out with every wave now, they were that intense. The Midwife came in to check me and said I was dilated to a 9.5. This was incredibly encouraging to me. However while she was checking me she “accidentally” broke my water. Things immediately got 100x more intense after that, and I had reached the point where I didn’t think I could do it anymore.
I’m not sure how much time had passed in between my water breaking and me getting to the point where I could start pushing, because everything was just a blur for me at that point. I had always hoped that when it was time for me to start pushing, I would be able to let my body do it on its own. At first, that is what happened. I was on all fours on the bed, and my body just started pushing on its own. It was the most intense feeling.
I liked the feeling of being on all fours while letting my body push, however the baby’s heart rate was dropping so they made me keep switching positions to try to get his heart rate back up, this is when things got really tough for me, because I was having the most intense waves, the feeling of needing to push, but at the same time was having to move positions on the bed. I had a really hard time with that. They also had an oxygen mask on me to try to help get his heart rate back up.
Finally, they had me stay on my right side, which was not the most comfortable pushing position for me by any means, but at that point I was just ready to try and push him out. I waited until my waves came and I felt the urge to push, then I would push with the wave. 3 big pushes and he was out!
This was the most intense, but amazing experience ever. We did it!
While the end was very intense (the point after my water broke up until the time he was born), I am happy to say that everything up until the point of transformation was manageable for me. 24 hours of birthing time, and only the last 1-2 hours were difficult.
Thank you, Hypnobabies, for helping me to have the natural birth I had always hoped for!
Low and behold, the night of the 23rd, at 11:30 pm, I started experiencing pressure waves. I had regular Braxton Hicks waves for the last several months of my pregnancy, and I knew instantly that these felt completely different. They actually started coming at pretty frequent intervals right off the bat, which was surprising to me. I would have them about every 10 minutes or so from the get-go. I also started having some bloody show shortly after the waves started. After several hours of that, the waves actually died off quite a bit, and I would only have maybe two per hour for a few hours through the night.
When I woke up in the morning, the waves started coming at more frequent and regular intervals once again. I was pretty sure that was going to be the day. I already had an appointment scheduled with my midwife that day at 11 am, so I decided to just head into that appointment and let her check me to see how dilated I was. That was actually my first cervical check throughout my entire pregnancy. That is one thing I really liked about the clinic I went to, they didn’t ever force checks on me, but at this point I wanted one to see how far dilated I was.
By 11 am. when I got to my doctor/midwife’s office, the waves were a little more intense, but still completely manageable. I had been listening to my Birthing Day Affirmations track off and on throughout the morning, and also on the way to my appointment as my husband drove us.
Once at the appointment, my midwife checked me and said I was already dilated to a 4. This was encouraging to me, given I was completely comfortable with the waves I had been having so far. She said I would definitely be giving birth that day, and told me she would even call the hospital in a few hours to see if I was there (she wasn’t on call that day). She did encourage me to stay home as long as I could before coming into the hospital, to allow my birthing time to be as comfortable as possible while a home.
Once we got back home, I tried to lay down and nap while continuing to listen to my tracks, but waves suddenly starting to pick up in intensity and frequency. I decided since we were a 45-minute drive from the hospital, and traffic that time of day in our area tends to be pretty bad, I wanted us to go ahead and leave for the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, I was checked and told I was dilated to a 6. About an hour later I was checked into my room and they started to fill the tub before me so I could try to sit in there for a while. Waves felt so good in the tub, and my husband read scripts to me while I was in there, however even being in the tub for only 40 minutes, my waves slowed tremendously so I decided to go ahead and get back out.
For the next few hours I started getting a little frustrated, feeling that things weren’t progressing very quickly, then suddenly, around 9 pm, waves started getting much more intense, happening very frequently, and I started feeling nauseous. At this point I was moaning through the waves, not out of pain, but just because it felt good to vocalize through them. It also felt good to have my husband and my doula apply counter pressure to my lower back since by this time I was feeling quite a bit of pressure in my lower back with waves.
I had to really focus and zone out with every wave now, they were that intense. The Midwife came in to check me and said I was dilated to a 9.5. This was incredibly encouraging to me. However while she was checking me she “accidentally” broke my water. Things immediately got 100x more intense after that, and I had reached the point where I didn’t think I could do it anymore.
I’m not sure how much time had passed in between my water breaking and me getting to the point where I could start pushing, because everything was just a blur for me at that point. I had always hoped that when it was time for me to start pushing, I would be able to let my body do it on its own. At first, that is what happened. I was on all fours on the bed, and my body just started pushing on its own. It was the most intense feeling.
I liked the feeling of being on all fours while letting my body push, however the baby’s heart rate was dropping so they made me keep switching positions to try to get his heart rate back up, this is when things got really tough for me, because I was having the most intense waves, the feeling of needing to push, but at the same time was having to move positions on the bed. I had a really hard time with that. They also had an oxygen mask on me to try to help get his heart rate back up.
Finally, they had me stay on my right side, which was not the most comfortable pushing position for me by any means, but at that point I was just ready to try and push him out. I waited until my waves came and I felt the urge to push, then I would push with the wave. 3 big pushes and he was out!
This was the most intense, but amazing experience ever. We did it!
While the end was very intense (the point after my water broke up until the time he was born), I am happy to say that everything up until the point of transformation was manageable for me. 24 hours of birthing time, and only the last 1-2 hours were difficult.
Thank you, Hypnobabies, for helping me to have the natural birth I had always hoped for!
Kara’s Beautiful, Empowering Hypnobabies Hospital Birth
My pressure waves started around 7:30 PM on October 2nd. I was 39 weeks and 4 days and had been listening to Come OUT Baby track the past three days as my doctor was concerned that baby was getting too big (more on that later).
I was watching Boy Meets World and snacking on some dates when I realized I was having consistent pressure waves that were much more intense than I had experienced yet. I was unsure if they were real, so I messaged two close friends with what I was feeling and they agreed that it sounded liked my time had started!I decided to start timing them and sure enough, they were lasting a minute and coming every 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. I let my husband know this might be it, and to get ready, just in case. He had been trying to fix up the crib and was busy making adjustments. I wanted to bake cookies for the nurses, but I didn’t know if there was time, so we skipped that. It’s my only regret of my birthing day!
I wanted to dry my hair from the shower I had taken an hour before, so I started on that process and worked through my waves. I started to notice they were picking up in intensity, so I decided to lie down on the couch and put on my Easy First Stage.
My pressure waves got very intense very fast, and were coming closer together, so after about an hour at home, we decided to head to the hospital. I played my track in the car and turned off my light switch for the 20 minute car ride. I was able to walk to check in and then nurses thought I was there for a scheduled induction because I was so calm.
After we checked in, they estimated I was 4 cm dilated by 9:30 PM. I wasn’t discouraged because I felt that went quickly for only starting my birthing time 2 hours prior. I felt good and I was thinking positive.
The nurses were fabulous and respected my plan to a T! They commented on multiple occasions that they couldn’t believe I was attempting a natural birth as a first time mom. My husband started my tracks for me again as soon as we were settled in our room.
My waves became so intense, I didn’t want to move. I spent most of my birthing time sitting up and hunched over. I couldn’t make it to the tub or the yoga ball, as my waves were long and I had little respite in between to center myself. I tried to focus on my tracks and stay calm. There were moments I felt like giving up, but I kept thinking, “I was made for this. I am strong and my body CAN do this.” Those affirmations were solid in my mind and were a godsend. It was what helped me through the moments I thought I wanted to give up. My husband was a great coach, and kept periodically placing his hand on my head and on my shoulder giving me cue words like Relax and Peace. I kept my eyes closed the entire time, and tried to focus on staying in my state of hypnosis.
Around 11:30, they checked me again and estimated I was 8 cm dilated and called the doctor. I was so happy! But when the doctor arrived at 12:30, she realized the nurse had guessed wrong and I was really at a 6. I wanted to give up at this point, but it was the nurses that were encouraging me to keep at it. My husband was amazing as well. I didn’t have a doula, and I didn’t need one. He was amazing. He did everything right, and tended to my every need. I could not have done it without him.
Just an hour later and I was at 8cm. By 2:45 AM, I was ready to start pushing and by 3:29, our baby girl had arrived. The nurses and doctors were encouraging me to “purple push” but I ignored them and listened to my body. I rode the waves and let my body take charge. I only had a small first degree tear and needed two small stitches. Margaret Louise arrived after 8 hours of pressure waves. As it turned out, my estimated 9 pound baby was actually only 6 lbs. 3 oz.! Just like I had predicted, the doctors had measured me incorrectly. I am so glad that I decided not to do an induction, and ignored the doctor’s recommendations. I’m very thankful for
Hypnobabies encouraging me to trust myself and my body as well as my baby to know what was best.
My birthing day was hard, I won’t lie. But it was beautiful and empowering. I had nurses coming in to meet me because they couldn’t believe what I had done, and I was the talk of the ward! Even after we checked in to our room, they were commenting on how well I was bouncing back. Two days later and I was almost at normal. That has been such a blessing, and I’m so thankful for Hypnobabies. I could not have done it without this course.
I was watching Boy Meets World and snacking on some dates when I realized I was having consistent pressure waves that were much more intense than I had experienced yet. I was unsure if they were real, so I messaged two close friends with what I was feeling and they agreed that it sounded liked my time had started!I decided to start timing them and sure enough, they were lasting a minute and coming every 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. I let my husband know this might be it, and to get ready, just in case. He had been trying to fix up the crib and was busy making adjustments. I wanted to bake cookies for the nurses, but I didn’t know if there was time, so we skipped that. It’s my only regret of my birthing day!
I wanted to dry my hair from the shower I had taken an hour before, so I started on that process and worked through my waves. I started to notice they were picking up in intensity, so I decided to lie down on the couch and put on my Easy First Stage.
My pressure waves got very intense very fast, and were coming closer together, so after about an hour at home, we decided to head to the hospital. I played my track in the car and turned off my light switch for the 20 minute car ride. I was able to walk to check in and then nurses thought I was there for a scheduled induction because I was so calm.
After we checked in, they estimated I was 4 cm dilated by 9:30 PM. I wasn’t discouraged because I felt that went quickly for only starting my birthing time 2 hours prior. I felt good and I was thinking positive.
The nurses were fabulous and respected my plan to a T! They commented on multiple occasions that they couldn’t believe I was attempting a natural birth as a first time mom. My husband started my tracks for me again as soon as we were settled in our room.
My waves became so intense, I didn’t want to move. I spent most of my birthing time sitting up and hunched over. I couldn’t make it to the tub or the yoga ball, as my waves were long and I had little respite in between to center myself. I tried to focus on my tracks and stay calm. There were moments I felt like giving up, but I kept thinking, “I was made for this. I am strong and my body CAN do this.” Those affirmations were solid in my mind and were a godsend. It was what helped me through the moments I thought I wanted to give up. My husband was a great coach, and kept periodically placing his hand on my head and on my shoulder giving me cue words like Relax and Peace. I kept my eyes closed the entire time, and tried to focus on staying in my state of hypnosis.
Around 11:30, they checked me again and estimated I was 8 cm dilated and called the doctor. I was so happy! But when the doctor arrived at 12:30, she realized the nurse had guessed wrong and I was really at a 6. I wanted to give up at this point, but it was the nurses that were encouraging me to keep at it. My husband was amazing as well. I didn’t have a doula, and I didn’t need one. He was amazing. He did everything right, and tended to my every need. I could not have done it without him.
Just an hour later and I was at 8cm. By 2:45 AM, I was ready to start pushing and by 3:29, our baby girl had arrived. The nurses and doctors were encouraging me to “purple push” but I ignored them and listened to my body. I rode the waves and let my body take charge. I only had a small first degree tear and needed two small stitches. Margaret Louise arrived after 8 hours of pressure waves. As it turned out, my estimated 9 pound baby was actually only 6 lbs. 3 oz.! Just like I had predicted, the doctors had measured me incorrectly. I am so glad that I decided not to do an induction, and ignored the doctor’s recommendations. I’m very thankful for
Hypnobabies encouraging me to trust myself and my body as well as my baby to know what was best.
My birthing day was hard, I won’t lie. But it was beautiful and empowering. I had nurses coming in to meet me because they couldn’t believe what I had done, and I was the talk of the ward! Even after we checked in to our room, they were commenting on how well I was bouncing back. Two days later and I was almost at normal. That has been such a blessing, and I’m so thankful for Hypnobabies. I could not have done it without this course.
