Hypnobirthing Story (long!)

I've seen a few people asking about HB lately, so I thought I'd post this story again. ?It was on the old board but was wiped out in the move to this site. ?Sorry if you've already read it!?

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I woke up at about 3:30 am and noticed I lost abit of my mucus plug.? My firstthought was that this was a good sign DS would be born within a couple ofweeks 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 ofhours, and I couldn?t sleep any more.?

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At about 5:30 am, I woke DH up and told him I thought Imight be in labor but that I wasn?t sure.?At that point, I was still experiencing what seemed like abdominalcramps, and I wasn?t sure that they were actually contractions.

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DH started timing the ?cramps? at about 6:30 am.? They weren?t very regular in frequencyor duration, so we still weren?t sure whether I was in labor.? For example, they were coming at 5minutes, then 4, then 6, then 5 again, even 7 minutes apart, and they werelasting 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 incase this was the real thing.

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We called the OB nurse at about 8 am and asked whether shethought I was in labor based on what I was experiencing.? She said that at 37 weeks, probablynot, that it was just false labor.?She said real contractions would be much more regular than what I wasfeeling.? She suggested drinking?cold water and taking a warm bath.

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I got in the bath tub and stayed there for some time.? I was feeling pretty nauseous and wasnot even able to keep water down.?I also alternated between being very hot and very cold.? The ?cramps? continued in a prettyirregular fashion, and Bryan put on one of the Hypnobirthing relaxationexercises and then an ocean waves/instrumental CD we had bought for labor.??DH?encouraged me to breathe throughthe cramps, which I was able to do, although it was getting somewhat difficult.

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From about 10 am to noon, I moved from the tub to a chairand back, while DH timed the cramps.?At this point, we were both starting to be convinced that I was actuallyin labor, and I was focusing on breathing and really going inward.??DH?packed the hospital bag.? (We had planned to do that the nextweekend!)? The contractions werestill not very regular in frequency or duration.? But, they were more frequent and longer than they had beenearlier that morning.? Now, theywere coming between 2 and 4 minutes apart and lasting between 45 seconds and aminute and a half.

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DH called the midwife just after noon and asked whetherwe should head to the hospital.?The contractions felt stronger and more intense, but we weremanaging.? She wasn?t convincedthat we were that close.? We werepretty sure I was in labor, but also not so sure that I was very faralong.? After DH talked withher, she asked to speak with me, and asked whether I thought I should comein.? I told her I was afraid ofcoming in too early, but that since the hospital was 45 minutes away, I thoughtwe probably should.? She agreed to meet us there.

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We took off for the hospital.? During the drive, I kept my eyes closed, and we listened toour ocean CD.? The contractionswere pretty intense, and I had to hum out loud to get through them.? They seemed to being coming prettyclose, although neither DH nor I was in any position to time them.

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We got to the hospital at about 1:30 pm.? I was very quiet and very focused andworking through the contractions. It was pretty clear that the nurses did notthink that I was in an advanced stage of labor.? A nurse asked me to change into a hospital gown, and I washaving intense enough contractions that I had a bit of a hard time doing that.? Then, she checked me, and DH, thenurse and I were all very surprised when she found that I was already about 9cm dilated.? She had another nursecheck just to confirm.? We were about to meet our baby!

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We were off to the delivery room.? The midwife arrived, and she was also surprised I was thatfar along, because I was ?so calm? on the phone an hour and a half before.

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The nurses bustled around getting blood and askingquestions, but I just tried to stay focused.? I was past the point of talking anyway.? At about 1:45 pm, my water broke.

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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 whatworked.? For me, that wastraditional pushing whenever I felt a contraction.? I have to say, I had not planned to be as loud and vocal asI was, but I was grunting and yelling to beat the band.? It seemed to me at that point the waythrough it.

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I pushed on my back, which I also hadn?t expected to do, butthat was what was comfortable for me.?I asked the midwife twice if I should switch positions, but she saidno.? She said she had no problemwith it taking a while and she preferred for my body to be ready instead ofrushing it.

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The delivery wasn?t painful ? just intense.? It seemed like it took a long time, butfinally, his head was out and then his little shoulders and body.? He was born at 3:36 pm.? It was the most amazing moment of my entire life.

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Post-delivery was a breeze? no tears, no stitches, noproblems, and we were home with our baby in 24 hours.?