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Bobby's Birth Story (Hypnobirthing) LONG

14years14years
in Birth Stories
At 37 weeks and 3 days, I woke up at about 3:30 am on July 18 and noticed I lost a bit of my mucus plug. My first thought was that this was a good sign Bobby would be born within a couple of weeks and at least he wouldn?t be late. But, within about 30 minutes, I start having abdominal cramps. These lasted off and on for a couple of hours, and I couldn?t sleep any more. At about 5:30 am, I woke DH up and told him I thought I might be in labor but that I wasn?t sure. At that point, I was still experiencing what seemed like abdominal cramps, and I wasn?t sure that they were actually contractions. DH started timing the ?cramps? at about 6:30 am. They weren?t very regular in frequency or duration, so we still weren?t sure whether I was in labor. For example, they were coming at 5 minutes, then 4, then 6, then 5 again, even 7 minutes apart, and they were lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. It was also hard to say when one began. However, they weren?t going away. I took a shower at about 6:45 just in case this was the real thing. We called the OB nurse at about 8 am and asked whether she thought I was in labor based on what I was experiencing. She said that at 37 weeks, probably not, that it was just false labor. She said contractions would be much more regular than what I was feeling. She suggested drinking cold water and taking a warm bath. DH drew a bath, and I stayed there for some time. I was feeling pretty nauseous and was not even able to keep water down. I also alternated between being very hot and very cold. The ?cramps? continued in a pretty irregular fashion, and DH put on one of the Hypnobirthing relaxation exercises and then an ocean waves/instrumental CD we had bought for labor. DH encouraged me to breathe through them, which I was able to do, although it was getting somewhat difficult. From about 10 am to noon, I moved from the tub to a chair and back, while DH timed the cramps. At this point, we were both starting to be convinced that I was actually in labor, and I was focusing on breathing and really going inward. DH packed the hospital bag. (We had planned to do that the next weekend!) The contractions were still not very regular in frequency or duration. But, they were more frequent and longer than they had been earlier that morning. Now, they were coming between 2 and 4 minutes apart and lasting between 45 seconds and a minute and a half. DH called the midwife just after noon and asked whether we should head to the hospital. The contractions felt stronger and more intense, but we were managing. She wasn?t convinced that we were that close. We were pretty sure I was in labor, but also not so sure that I was very far along. After DH talked with her, she asked to speak with me, and asked whether I thought I should come in. I told her I was afraid of coming in too early, but that since the hospital was 45 minutes away, I thought we probably should. She agreed to meet us there. We took off for the hospital. During the long drive, I kept my eyes closed, and we listened to our ocean CD. The contractions were pretty intense, and I had to hum out loud to get through them. They seemed to being coming pretty close, although neither of us was in any position to time them. We got to the hospital at about 1:30 pm. I was very quiet and very focused and working through the contractions. It was pretty clear that the nurses did not think that I was in an advanced stage of labor. A nurse asked me to change into a hospital gown, and I was having intense enough contractions that I had a bit of a hard time doing that. Then, she checked me, and DH, the nurse and I were all very surprised when she found that I was already about 9 cm dilated. She had another nurse check just to confirm. We were about to meet our baby! We were off to the delivery room. The midwife arrived, and she was also surprised I was that far along, because I was ?so calm? on the phone an hour and a half before. The nurses bustled around getting blood and asking questions, but I just tried to stay focused. I was past the point of talking anyway. At about 1:45 pm, my water broke. Within 15 minutes, the pushing started. My body completely took over. I had intended to use the Hynobirthing ?breathing down? technique, but once things got started, I just went with what worked. For me, that was traditional pushing whenever I felt a contraction. I have to say, I had not planned to be as loud and vocal as I was, but I was grunting and yelling to beat the band. It seemed to me at that point the way through it. I labored on my back, which I also hadn?t expected to do, but that was what was comfortable for me. I asked the midwife twice if I should switch positions, but she said no. She said she had no problem with it taking a while and she preferred to for my body to be ready instead of rushing it. At what turned out to be close to the end of pushing, I had my moment where I started to lose confidence in myself. DH saw that and gave me water and encouraged me ? at one point he told me to relax through my eyeballs, which strangely seemed to work. He was my rock and the best birth companion I could have asked for. The delivery wasn?t painful ? just intense. It seemed like it took a long time, but finally, Bobby's head was out and then his little shoulders and body. He was born at 3:36 pm. The midwife caught him, and the nurse placed him on my chest. I laughed and cried at the same time, and DH just cried. It was the most beautiful moment of my entire life. Post-delivery was a breeze? no tears, no stitches, no problems, and we were home with our baby in 24 hours.
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