Emily, Michael, & Liberty Marie's FAST HypnoBirthing Story
"I had a doctors appointment on my due date of September 12th. The appointment was at 3:50 and I had a NST while I was there. The baby was moving a ton and I was having some minimal contractions but nothing that I really even noticed. My midwife checking me and I was dialated to a 3. On my way home from the office I had a minor panic attack that there was no way I was ready to have 2 children and I was ruining the life of my older 22 month old daughter. We made dinner and while we were eating I was feeling a little funny but thought it was just cramps or gas since the midwife had checked me twice. Around 7ish I started timing things.
I carried on with my normal evening, reading to Liliana and putting her to bed. Michael and I sat down to watch a show on Netflix. At this point I still didn't think I was really having any contractions and they were so sporadic. They would be 8 mins apart, then 10, then 5, then 6, then 15. Nothing consistant. At around 9:30 we went to bed and by the time I got my pajamas on and into bed they were really noticeable. We laid there listening to our rainbow relaxation. I didn't time anything while we were listening but for about 10 mins after it finished I decided it was time to call my mom to come over and watch Liliana. I was still worried that it was just cramps and they still weren't 4 mins apart, 1 min long for an hour. I didn't want to have my mom come all the way over and go to the hospital for them to tell me to go home. But at 10:30 I couldn't take it anymore. My mom got to our house a few mins before 11 and in the fasted drive in history we got to the hospital by 11:15. All the way there I was doing my breathing and listening to the relaxation track. Some of the contractions were really bad and then others I felt like weren't that bad at all. Again, still didn't think I was really in active labor.
When we got to the birthing center I could barely stand. When a nurse finally took me back to triage I wasn't really able to talk through the contractions but I wasn't hysterical or anything. She asked me if I had to pee and I said I really felt like I had to poop. A doctor happened to be walking by and was like "Oh man, that's not good." They had me take my pants off to check me and the nurse asked if I wanted an epidural. Just as I was saying yes, the doctor was like "Nope, you're complete, you're having this baby now." I was very upset, but kept doing my breathing as much as possible. A half a dozen nurses descended on the room and I kept my eyes closed and did minimal talking. Michael answered as many questions as he could and tried to maintain some kind of calm in the room. They kept telling me I had to take off all my pjs and I just didn't care. I didn't want to move at all. While they were wheeling me down to the room I really felt like I needed to push!
We got into the room as the house doctor got there. I actually didn't even see what he looked like until it was all over with. He also didn't have any of the notes from my midwife since he wasn't a part of our practice. The nurses tried 3 times to put in an IV, but couldn't get it. The doctor said don't even bother, this kid is going to be born before you get it in. I did ask for some water to drink and with Michael's help kept trying to breathe. Within 20 mins the baby was out. She was born at 12:02 on Wednesday September 13th. The nurses kept telling me they couldn't believe how fast it all went and how amazing I had handled it all. They asked us if we wanted to delay cord clamping and since the umbilical cord was so short she could only go to my lower belly. The doctor asked Michael to tell me what the gender was. He sort of giggled and said it's a girl. I thought he was kidding! Then the doctor asked us her name, I said I had no idea, I thought it was a boy! After Michael cut the cord they put her on my chest for a bit. They took her to get her stats and then gave her back to me to nurse. She latched on right away and nursed for a little more than 20 mins. With Liliana I had a really hard time nursing, I couldn't believe how easy she took to it. After they took the baby back the doctor delivered my placenta and stiched me up for a minor tear. It still hurt a lot so they finally gave me some pain meds. By the time we got all cleaned up and stuff it was close to 2 in the morning. We stayed up another hour to brainstorm girls name and around 3:30 finally went to bed. Although neither one of us slept at all. It wasn't until 11:30 that day we came up with a name. Liberty Marie Bliss. Since she was officially born on Wednesday we got to stay in the hospital until Friday.
Looking back over all of it now there are definitely things I would do differently. We didn't get to use the playlist I had put together. We didn't have a chance to pull out any of the relaxation meditations you gave us. I wish I hadn't been completely naked! BUT I'm so glad we decided to take your class! Next kid we have I will be camping out in the hospital parking lot ahead of time! The breathing strategies you taught us really helped focus. The positive affirmations probably helped out a lot too. I really think your class helped a big part with my recovery. When Liliana was born I was really stressed emotionally and physically, it took me a long time to recover. This time I really felt much better so much quicker. Maybe it's that it was my second time and I knew what to do more, but I felt much more educated from what you taught."