Super-fast 1st time hospital Hypnobabies birth story
It took me a bit of time to get this together, but here it is.
I woke up around 5:00 am on Monday, May 2, feeling like I had some intestinal discomfort. I got up to go to the bathroom and felt like something was a little off. I felt pressure in my lower back, bottom and cervix. I went back to bed and tried to sleep, figuring that if it was my birthing time, I?d like to get some sleep while things were still early. I was unable to get comfortable and sleep, and thought to myself, ?Well, I?ll get up and time pressure waves for a bit, if that?s what these are. Timing should help me figure that out.?
I went into the living room and turned on the laptop. The pressure continued in my back, bottom, and cervix. In between more intense pressure, I had an ache in my lower back. As I sat and timed the pressure, I realized that these didn?t feel like how I had heard ?contractions? described. I didn?t feel anything at the top and middle of my uterus, and the pressure didn?t travel from one area to another. I had to put my hand at the top of my belly to know whether or not it was hardening, because I couldn?t feel it happening. Once I pulled up the Contraction Master website, I found that what I was timing was coming every 2.5 to 1 minutes apart and lasting for about 40 to 60 seconds. I thought, ?That can?t possibly be right. You?re supposed to start at 5 or 10 minutes apart, and then move on to 1 to 2 minutes.? I walked around a little around the house and decided to wake my husband up.
I went into the kitchen to toast a bagel. My husband got out of bed and asked if I had been timing contractions. I said, ?Yeah, it?s pulled up on the computer.? He sat down at the coffee table, saw the timer, and asked, ?Uh. Should we call the midwife?? (We had chosen a Certified Nurse Midwife.) I told him that I didn?t think we needed to yet, I wanted to make sure this was really it and that the pressure waves weren?t going to slow down. He started some coffee and I told him to take a shower. I ate my bagel in between pressure waves. I decided to listen to the Hypnobabies track ?Birthing Day Affirmations.? During waves, I would breathe, use the belly lift technique to ease the pressure, and think to myself, ?Relax.?
Things were getting more intense, and I decided to go ahead and call my midwife. I reached her practice?s answering service and waited for her to call me back, and she soon did. I described how my body felt and the timing of the pressure waves, and as we talked I would ask for her to wait while I breathed through waves. She asked what had been happening the past couple days since my last office visit with her, and I said that I had had some Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing that I would consider real, and she said, ?Well, Braxton-Hicks got you to three centimeters,? which was where I was at my office visit. I agreed and asked if we should plan to go to the hospital. The midwife said that we could wait until her office opened at 8:00 or 8:15 for a labor check, and added that, ?The thing is, if you?re far enough along to go the hospital, you?re not going to be just chatting through contractions like you?re doing right now.? I said, ?Well, yeah, but I?m not sure. Things are starting to get intense.? We eventually agreed to meet at the hospital around 7:30.
After that conversation, I headed into the shower. I had heard that it?s a good idea to take one while you can, so I lathered up and shaved my legs in between bending over the tub during waves. My husband came into the bathroom and talked to me while eating a bowl of cereal. I got out, slowly got dressed and brushed my teeth while he moved our bags to the car. I stuck my headphones in my ears and we headed out for the hospital.
In the car ride over, I started using Ina May?s ?horselips? technique to get through the most intense part of each pressure wave while I listened to ?Easy First Stage? on my iPod. I had my eyes closed during most of the 40-minute ride (it would normally have been 30 minutes, but it was rush hour).
When we got to the hospital, the woman at the reception desk directed us to the nurses? station, and they got us into a room right away. The admissions nurse stood at a table in my room and asked me questions and had me sign forms in between waves. When I felt a one coming on, I walked over to the delivery bed and bent over and swayed and breathed through it. The nurse would tell me what a great job I was doing and we would get back to the admissions process. My husband headed down to the parking lot to get the rest of our bags, and the nurse asked me about the epidural. I was a little confused, and finally said, ?Um, if I want one, I?ll ask for one.? She asked if I wanted to go ahead and sign the consent form now and I declined.
When we were finished with the paperwork, the nurse handed me a gown and I headed into the bathroom to change clothes and pee. When I sat on the toilet, I had my bloody show. I breathed through more pressure waves as I got dressed. When I came out of the bathroom, my labor and delivery nurse asked me to get on the bed so that she could hook up the monitor. ?We just need to get a 20-minute strip, and then you can get up and walk around,? she said. ?Can I hold my belly during contractions?? I asked. Doing as much of a belly lift as possible helped me work through them. She said that it I could do whatever I needed to and we?d work around it.
Shortly after that, my midwife came into the room to check me. My husband had returned sometime before then, but I?m not sure when. I assumed the cervical check position, and my midwife took some time evaluating me before looking at my nurse and saying, ?She?s at nine centimeters.? She looked at me and said, ?Alright, well, I?m going to change into some work clothes, and you?re going to have a baby!?
I continued to be monitored as I worked through pressure waves in the bed, which was really uncomfortable. I looked at my husband and asked him if he had called anyone to tell them we were at the hospital. He hadn?t, but he made quick work then of calling our family. A tech came into the room to do my admissions bloodwork. I?m not sure what she was doing, but what she wasn?t doing was hurrying up and taking my blood. There was some mix up with bracelets or tubes or something. My midwife asked her to hurry up so we could have a baby. It was about 8:35, and as the tech fumbled with her equipment, I realized that I was feeling the urge to push with some of my pressure waves, and I announced, ?I?m starting to feel pushy.? The tech finally got everything ready and prepared to take my blood. As I was trying to relax through a wave, she told me I needed to straighten my arm. I really didn?t want to do it, but I went ahead and unbent my arm anyway just to get it over with.
As soon as we were done with that, I started involuntarily pushing. My midwife checked again and said that my water hadn?t broken yet and was bulging out. She used the amniohook to break my water and remarked that there was meconium in the fluid. She asked me to lie on my side, which I was happy to do. My nurse put up one stirrup for me to rest my right leg on in between pushes. My husband hooked up the iPod dock and put on the ?Pushing? track. He stood at my side and held my hand. I started really pushing, beginning each push with a groan and ending it with an ?Ahhh? sound. After a few pushes, my midwife said, ?I can see the head. The baby has a lot of hair!? My husband tells me I smiled a huge smile when she said this. I had been wondering for a few weeks whether or not our baby would have much hair, since I was practically bald when I was born, and hearing that she could see the head meant that I was close to meeting my baby!
After a few more pushes, my midwife asked if I wanted to feel the baby?s head as it crowned, and I was excited to get to do so. I think my husband took a look at this time (I asked him later if he saw her come out, and he said he only saw her crown, because he felt it was more important to be there for me). The midwife and my nurse told me that the baby?s shoulders were next, so I pushed to get the shoulders out. After the shoulders, I felt the most wonderful sense of relief as the rest of the baby?s body came out.
My baby was placed skin-to-skin on my chest while the cord continued pulsing. My midwife said something about ?he,? and my nurse asked, ?Oh, it?s a boy?? The midwife said, ?Oh, I didn?t check. Nope, it?s a girl!? After the cord was clamped and my husband cut it, they took our little girl to be checked by the pediatrician and special care staff for meconium aspiration. Thankfully, she hadn?t aspirated any of it, and they removed the fluid she had swallowed from her tract. I couldn?t believe my baby was here? perfectly healthy (7 pounds, 15 ounces and 21 inches long) and just four hours after I had realized it was birthing time, a little over an hour after arriving at the hospital, and after only 15-20 minutes of pushing.
Re: Super-fast 1st time hospital Hypnobabies birth story
What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
M
Ditto! My mom's experience with me (her 1st born) was nearly identical in timing and ease, and she didn't even use hypnosis. I'm hoping I get to have a similar experience. I just started Hypnobabies * fingers crossed *
BFP 4-19-11. Ezri Ana born on due date, Dec 30 2011!
My Ovulation Chart