It was nothing like what I expected but I found that I had every tool I needed throughout the process

My baby boy was born on April 28th and it was nothing like what I expected but I found that I had every tool I needed throughout the process. I also found so much love and support on the Facebook page.

This was my second baby and I thought I knew what to expect. I did not have a hypno birth with my first son, but I had done a little reading on hypnobirthing and found that labour was actually pretty easy. Then there were complications that I was not prepared for and the whole experience ended up leaving me feeling like I had lost control and scared to repeat the process. So this time around I decided to double down and I found hypnobubs. My husband and I did the course and practices together, it was lovely and I felt so prepared and cared for.

My surges started the Friday before my guess date and I was so happy and excited. I felt this was really it so I called my husband and he called his parents to come down and watch our older son. By the time dinner came around they had stopped! I knew this could happen but was surprised that it did. The next day they came and went with no consistency but my in-laws decided to stick around since it’s a 2-hour drive from their house and it felt like things could get serious at anytime.

This went on through the weekend and into my guess date. It was during this time that I found support on the Facebook group. I was getting tired and started doubting myself and my body, I don’t know if I would have had the birth I did without that support. I had an appointment the following day and being “post date” I was required to have a cervical exam and monitor the baby in order to maintain my “low risk” status and keep access to the low risk delivery room at my hospital, where I could labor in a tub if it felt right and every nurse is trained to know that the women in that room are primarily hypno-birthing so to act accordingly.

 

At this appointment baby was doing great and I was dilated to a 3 with a very soft and stretchy cervix and my waters were bulging! I was so happy that the surges had been doing something. The midwife felt strongly I would be back to have my baby by the end of the weekend. Well, that didn’t happen. So back I went on Tuesday for another check and to monitor baby. I was a five, and still very stretchy. The midwife couldn’t believe I was still walking around and not in active labor. When we monitored baby he was doing great but they were picking up several surges so they sent me home to labor as long as I was comfortable.

The surges kept coming through the evening but remained 10-12 minutes apart. So, at 10pm I decided to rest because I knew I would need my strength soon. I used the Surges of the sea track to help me fall asleep. At 1 AM I was woken by a very strong surge. I got up and sat on my ball and listened to the affirmations for the birthing script while I timed the surges. They were 4 minutes apart and lasting over a minute long. They were also very intense and I knew that having been 5 centimetres earlier that day we were probably going to be moving quickly.

 

I woke up my husband and told him to make himself some coffee (I am a good and caring wife haha) and to get the bags in the car because it was time. I switched to my birth playlist for a moment and he helped me get my shoes and socks on. Thankfully my in-laws were still at our house because there would have not been time to wait. In between surges I snuck in and kissed my older son then we were off.
The car ride is only 15 long and it was very intense. I listened to the facial relaxation on repeat. The affirmation that kept coming to me was “relaxing my face relaxes my body” it was working so well!

When we got to the hospital and I had to stand up out of the car I felt a difference in the surges and thought maybe I need to push. We got into the hospital near the emergency room and I was offered a wheelchair to take me to labour and delivery. This time period is clear to me that my state of hypnosis meant that the care providers did not know how far along I was because I was so calm and still from the outside. We moved so slowly and it was very frustrating for me. We were checked into the room at 2:30 AM.

I went to the restroom and felt the need to rip off all of my clothes, the toilet felt safe and I wanted to stay there but the nurse told me I needed to be checked and wanted to help me get on the bed. I got up and started walking to the bed and had another very strong surge in which I stopped and hung onto my husband. This was one moment where he really stepped up as my birth partner, by advocating that we were beyond a check to the nurse and helping me into the bed on my hands and knees. I remember saying I couldn’t do it during this time. The nurse who had switched gears raised the back of the bed and invited me to put my hands up above the bed with my stomach towards the bed. This position was much better than anything else I had tried so far. There was very little break in between surges and I felt a need to bare down with the surges which changed the sensation of the surges to something I felt much more control over. The midwife came in around this time, and she simply got behind me and invited me to push with my surges to which I replied that I already was.

My waters released in a huge gush that left me feeling relieved and I could start to feel where my son was in my birth canal. There was meconium in the waters so an additional nurse was called in for my son when he arrived. (It also meant that my skin to skin was cut short and I didn’t get the delayed cord clamping I wanted because he had swallowed some of the meconium and needed some oxygen assistance).

 

My boy has a large head that struggled a bit to get past my pelvis and he was retreating a bit in between surges. I started losing my breath in between surges. This was the second time that my husband really showed his preparation by telling me that “Cooper is almost here, you got this” and by counting out a breath pattern between surges for me. At that time, I can no longer say I was breathing my baby down. I was pushing with my breath and making a deep yell that felt like it was coming from my gut. My husband described it as a war cry. Time no longer meant anything. He crowned and I didn’t experience any pain or discomfort, then out came his body very easily. When the midwife said the time of birth was 3:01 AM and I was in shock! I couldn’t believe all of that had happened in two hours. My husband waited with me until I asked him to go be with our son and my placenta delivered easily.

Honestly, it was the most intense 2 hours of my life and it would have been too much if we hadn’t prepared and done the work. My sweet boy is so calm and we are all doing very well at home now.
Seriously, thank you for all of the tools in this program!