Kathryn & Danielle's Births
Caution... LONG...
Kathryn-
My mother had seven children, four natural, three with epidurals. She claims that anyone who has had epidurals every time has not experienced childbirth (though she enjoyed her epidurals). So, I decided to have at least one un-medicated birth, if for no other reason than to prove to my mother that I was not a wimp. When I told my OB I wanted to have an un-medicated birth, she recommended HypnoBirthing as an option I should look into. My husband and I discussed our options (Bradley, Lamaze, nothing…) and finally decided to give HypnoBirthing a try.
So, my guess date was May 23, but we all hoped I would go early and she would be born on the 21st and share a birthday with my father. I was born on my grandfather’s birthday so we though that could be a nice tradition to carry on. My mother flew in to help with everything on the 20th and I took castor oil that night to try to induce labor. Saturday the 21st I woke up with some contractions that were fairly regular, so we went to the hospital. They monitored me for an hour and determined that I was having contractions but I wasn’t progressing at all. The baby was still floating and she wasn’t putting enough pressure on my cervix to cause it to dilate. So we went home. That afternoon my mom and I walked about 2 miles to campus and back (my husband is still a student) hoping that would help start things. That didn’t work. Apparently this baby had her own plans.
My mother and I had a nice few days together. Then we found out that my sister needed help moving that weekend. So on Wednesday the 25th, my mother flew to Colorado and spent a few days there helping my sister move. Still no sign of the baby. My mother flew back Sunday morning to wait until the baby came. I felt bad that she had already been gone so long, so that night I took castor oil again, since I was now six days late.
Monday morning around 3:30 am, my water broke. We’ve pretty much decided now that it had nothing to do with the castor oil. We found out later that there was a thunder storm during the night. I’m pretty sure it was the pressure change from the storm that caused my water to break. Anyway, I was asleep in bed when my water broke. I sort of felt a pop, just one split-second, intense pressure. As soon as I felt it, I knew exactly what had happened. I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. I didn’t quite make it to the toilet before the fluid gushed out. That was my confirmation. I cleaned up and went back to our bedroom. I turned on the light so I could find some clean clothes. That woke Dave up and he asked if everything was all right. I told him everything was fine and that my water had broken. He asked if I was serious. I said I was and that this was really “it.” When I told him what time it was he asked why the baby couldn’t have waited another two or three hours. It’s kind of funny how we’d been waiting nine months, plus an extra week, and when the birthing finally started, Dave wanted to sleep. Anyway, we got up, got ready, and told my mother we were leaving.
As soon as my water broke, contractions began. They weren’t painful, just intense like someone was squeezing me. It’s really hard to describe. I kind of felt like I was being flattened like a pancake. When we arrived at the hospital they monitored me for an hour. When they first checked me I was almost 2 cm and almost 90% effaced. At 5:30am when they checked me again I was a full 3 cm and definitely 90%. However, they saw no indication that my water had broken. Apparently it had broken fairly high up. Then the baby had dropped, plugging up the cervix with more of the amniotic sac in front of her head. By 9:30am I was 5 cm and 100% effaced. They went ahead and broke the rest of my water. They told me that if my water hadn’t already broken then my contractions would get worse and I would dilate faster. If my water had broken, I would still dilate faster because the baby’s head could put the necessary pressure on my cervix, but my contractions wouldn’t get any worse. So I told them to go ahead. My contractions didn’t get any worse, at least, I didn’t notice a significant change. I was able to focus through most of the contractions and allow my body to do what it needed to. The worst contractions were when I had to go to the bathroom or while I was standing. I had Dave go into the bathroom with me when I went because I needed his hand to hold for any contractions. I was also having diarrhea problems so I’m sure that was not a pleasant experience for him.
At 11:15 I was 7 cm and at a -1 station, and by noon I was 9 cm. I started feeling like I needed to push around 1:00pm but my doctor wouldn’t let me because there was an anterior lip that would not dilate because the baby’s head was turned the wrong way. She was facing up and to my left leg instead of straight down like she was supposed to. I tried a few different positions to try to get her to turn but nothing was working. By 2:00 pm I was sick of waiting, so I allowed Dr. Savage to physically move the lip up and over the baby’s head to get it out of the way. Once that lip was out of the way the contractions became much harder to focus through. I tried to use the breathing technique I had learned in our HypnoBirthing class. However, as I tried to “breathe the baby down” I had a really hard time staying focused and the contractions were starting to hurt.
After about 45 minutes of breathing I still hadn’t made any progress. The nurse asked me if I wanted to try “real pushing.” At that point I was willing to do anything to get rid of the pressure and to finally be able to see my baby girl. The nurse explained how I was supposed to take a deep breath then hold it to the count of ten while I pushed, and I tried it a few times. It actually made the contraction much easier to get through. As long as I was holding my breath and focusing on pushing my baby out, I didn’t feel the contraction at all. When I would stop pushing for a breath, I would almost instantly feel pain and pressure from the contraction. However, I still wasn’t making much progress. She would move down the birth canal during each push, and then slip right back. I tried a couple different positions for pushing and finally found the most success while semi-reclining and holding my legs up against my sides. They had an internal monitor on the baby’s head to keep track of her heart rate. The external monitor that was supposed to be strapped to me wasn’t doing a good job of monitoring because I was moving around so much. The internal monitor has a cord attached to it that was taped to my leg to keep it from getting caught on anything. Dave said that when I had a really good push he could see the cord moving out. Then when I stopped pushing he could see it move back in. At one point the nurse moved a mirror to where I could see what was happening. That helped me a lot. I was able to see the baby’s head during some pushed and I also saw her head disappear again when I wasn’t pushing. That made me mad because I felt like I was doing all this work for nothing. So I started pushing even harder and more frequently. I didn’t care at that point if I was having a contraction or not. I just wanted to push her out and be done with it.
While I was watching in the mirror, I noticed some blood start to gush out. I asked Dr. Savage if that was me or the baby. She said it was me, that I was tearing. I was really surprised that I hadn’t felt any pain from the tear. I guess I was just focused on the pressure everywhere else, and on getting her out. Finally the baby’s head had moved down enough that it wasn’t going back up as far. The doctors got their apron things on and moved the mirror so they had room to work. I couldn’t see anymore but I didn’t need to at that point. Dr. Savage picked up a syringe from a table and told me she was going to give me a local. I told her not yet, mostly because I was in the middle of a contraction and didn’t want to think about that right then. But I also didn’t want any drugs at all. I had been hooked up to an IV because I was Group B Strep positive and had to have antibiotics during the labor. Other than that, I had not been given any other drugs, and I had had no pain relieving drugs of any kind. I really didn’t want to start then. So Dr. Savage didn’t give me the local.
A few contractions later as I was pushing, the doctors suddenly told me to slow down. I asked why because I was afraid I had torn really badly or that something was wrong with the baby. Dave told me it was because the head was out!! I was surprised that I hadn’t felt anything different, but I stopped pushing. The resident doctor (a younger pregnant girl, who also had Dr. Savage as her doctor) and Dr. Savage took of the internal monitor and suctioned the baby’s mouth and nose. I couldn’t see anything so I just lay back and rested. Then they told me to push one more time for the shoulders. I did, and at that point I was able to sit up enough to see the baby. I finished pushing for the shoulders and the resident doctor pulled out her hips and legs. At that point I felt an immense relief of pressure and promptly forgot about everything but the baby. The doctors clamped the umbilical cord and Dr. Savage handed Dave a pair of scissors. He cut the cord, which he had told me before he hadn’t wanted to do, and the doctors put the baby on my stomach.
She was squirming, but not really crying. She was covered in blood and the creamy, waxy vernix. And she was beautiful. I just looked at her and said, “This is my baby.” She wasn’t there very long. The nurse came and took her off my stomach so she could go clean her up. Dave went with her to the other side of the room where our daughter was given a little sponge bath and a vitamin K shot.
I passed the placenta with no problems (and no pain at all) and the resident doctor gave me the local they had tried to giver earlier so they could stitch me up. I had torn in three places. Two tears were fairly high up and small enough that they didn’t need stitches at all. The third was deeper and required a few stitches, mostly because it was a jagged tear and had to be sewn together carefully. Dr. Savage said it was an average tear for first time moms, but it was probably shorter than what she would have cut if she had given me the episiotomy. Getting the stitches was more painful because I was so swollen and sensitive. I’m sure it was also more painful because I wasn’t focused on getting a baby out.
The nurse finished with our daughter and Dave held her for about a half hour while the doctors finished with me. After I was patched up, Dave gave me the baby and I tried to nurse a little bit. It was awkward but the nurse helped me a little. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything other than learning how to hold her to nurse, so I told Dave to let my mom in. She had been sitting in the waiting room since around noon and was anxious to find out what was going on. My grandparents had also come and were in the waiting room with her. The resident doctor went out and told them I was ready for them. Dave went just outside the room and told my Mom she could come in. When she walked in she was on the phone with my father. As soon as she saw our daughter she started crying. I got a little emotional then too. I gave my baby to my mother and let her hold her for a while. Then I let my grandparents come in and see the baby too.
So, Kathryn Frogley was born at 4:32pm on Monday, May 30, 2005 (Memorial Day). She was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 ½ inches. I made it through thirteen hours of labor and had a completely un-medicated labor and delivery. The nurses and doctors kept commenting on how calm I was for not having any drugs. They said it was extremely rare to see someone enduring labor so quietly. I had actually been so relaxed during labor that several times I started to doze and nod off. Dave was also sleeping between contractions. Because Ryn’s head was facing the wrong direction, I had a lot of pain in my lower back. To help with that, Dave gave me back rubs during most of the labor. My back started to hurt so we got some lotion from the nurse. Even using that my back was rubbed raw. The back labor hurt so bad that I kept telling Dave to rub harder and harder. He would and it felt much better while he was rubbing so I didn’t worry about it too much. My mom said that when she saw my back it looked like someone had taken sandpaper and scraped that on my back.
Overall, my experience with HypnoBirthing was a very positive one. I believe the hypnosis helped me stay relaxed during the first stage of labor and helped me store the energy I needed to push my daughter out. There were a few “kinks” that I’ll want to work on for another baby in the future, but I enjoyed being able to get through this un-medicated and I plan on doing it again!
Danielle -
Well, I figured I'd better get to writing Elli's birth story, or I'll forget most of the details. So, here's the story of Danielle's birth. I apologize in advance for the length... I'm a very detailoriented person and didn't want to leave anything out. :)
Monday, May 22, 2006 I went to see Dr. Savage for my 36 week appointment. She said everything looked great, I was dilated a little more than 1 cm, and I was 50% effaced. However, the baby wasn’t head down yet. She wasn’t too concerned and said we’d just wait to see how the baby was positioned at the next appointment before we worried about what actions to take.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 I went to my 37 week appointment. This time I was 3 cm and 80%, and the baby was in a perfect anterior vertex position. Dr. Savage noted that my cervix felt very soft and speculated that once my surges started, this would be a fast birthing. She also said she wouldn’t be surprised to see me in the hospital before my next appointment. I was hoping to hold off a few more days, though. My sister, Lindsay, was getting married on Thursday and I just wanted to make sure I made it to the wedding and the reception.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Dave woke up a little… um, playful, and I indulged him, figuring it would probably be the last time for a while. Later in the morning I lost a good portion of my mucus plug and noticed some light pink spotting. I didn’t really pay much attention to that because the same thing happened with Kathryn three full weeks before she was born. I went to a different appointment at 3pm. For the hour I was in that appointment I thought I recognized 5-6 surges. I didn’t think too much about them because they weren’t really that strong and they were covering a very small area. I only felt tightening very low, in the front. I had to leave my meeting early to pick up Dave from work by 4:30. During the half hour drive to his work, I felt another 2-3 surges, and another one started as he got to the car. I told Dave what I’d been feeling and made him drive, in case they started getting stronger. We decided not to worry about them for the time being because if I had calculated correctly, the surges were about 12 minutes apart and not intense enough to keep us from going to my sister’s rehearsal dinner.
We left Dave’s work and drove 40 minutes to my sister’s apartment where we were planning on meeting everyone before the dinner. When we arrived, I lay down on the couch for a while to see if the surges would stop. They weren’t getting any stronger or any closer together, so I figured they were probably just brought on by stress and if I relaxed they’d go away. I also went to the bathroom while we were there and lost the rest of my mucus plug, along with more blood. By the time we left Lindsay’s apartment around 6:30pm I was pretty sure the surges were increasing in frequency but not intensity. I didn’t really want to time the surges but I was pretty sure they were about 8-9 minutes apart.
We got to the rehearsal dinner just before it started at 7pm. I quickly found the bathroom (right outside our banquet room!) and lay down on a couch in there for a few minutes. I really wanted to enjoy dinner and be there with my family, so I got my light switch to center and went to join the party. During dinner, I had to make several trips to the bathroom. My digestive system had started to flush itself in preparation for the birth. By now, I knew this was really IT, but I still wanted to stay for the dinner, and I was sure I still had time.
Dinner ended by 8:30 and people started to mingle. I told my parents we were leaving and heading to the hospital. They offered to take Kathryn and bring her down later that night or the next day. We gratefully accepted their offer and headed for the car. During the drive back down to Provo, I listened to one of the birthing day guides on my MP3 player, and Dave timed my surges. I would touch his arm whenever one would start and whenever one would end. He then called out how long each one was and how long between the beginnings of surges. By now they were 2-4 minutes apart and 40-60 seconds long. Dave said I seemed really calm. He said he thought I’d fallen asleep and that when he looked down at me, even during the surges, he thought I looked really peaceful.
We got to the hospital about 9:30 (good thing I’d thought to bring our hospital bags!!). Dave grabbed the hospital bag and then helped me out of the car. I had two surges between the car and the elevator. I just stopped Dave and leaned my head on his shoulder while I focused on staying in center and on directing my anesthesia. The nurses checked me in and had me change into the hospital gown. The nurse did a pelvic exam about 9:45 and said I was 5 cm and 90%. I was so relieved that the surges I had been feeling were actually doing something. The nurse finished asking a bunch of questions, most of which I let Dave answer for me, and left the room for a minute. By now it was 10:00 pm. Dave said he had to go to the bathroom and that he’d be right back. I felt another surge start and told him to wait, but I said it so quietly that he didn’t hear me. During that surge I felt a pop followed by a gush of fluid. I don’t remember the rest of that surge at all. I’m pretty sure that the HypnoBabies affirmations I had listened to had really programmed my brain to feel a rush of anesthesia when my membranes released. I wasn’t consciously thinking about that at the time, but as soon as I felt the pop, I didn’t feel any more of that surge.
The nurse came back in the room a minute later and I told her that my membranes had released. She said she wasn’t surprised and checked the color of the fluid. Dave called my parents and his parents to update them and let them know we’d be having a baby in a few hours. I told the nurse I wanted to sit on a birthing ball as soon as possible. She said she’d have someone bring one in and I could get on it as soon as she got my IV started (I was GBS + and had to have the antibiotics). In the meantime, she asked another nurse to come in and help her get the room ready for delivery. Dave was really surprised at this and commented that with our first baby we’d been in the hospital for 12 hours before they prepped the room. The second nurse explained that because this was my second un-medicated birth and my membranes had already released, they were all expecting a baby very soon. That comment really encouraged me. The surges had started to get more intense and it was becoming harder to focus. Knowing that they were really accomplishing things helped me relax a bit more.
The first nurse finished with the IV and I moved to sit on the ball and put my head on the bed. Unfortunately, the bed wasn’t locked in place and it rolled away from me when I first leaned against it. Dave locked it for me and made sure I was in a comfortable position. I complained that I was cold (the nurse apologized for the antibiotics being cold) and Dave put a blanket around my shoulders. He also began to massage my neck and shoulders with our massage oil. I kept telling him things to say and do to help me relax. I told him to use the “relax” cue and to “take me to my special place.” As the nurse left she told Dave to get them if I felt anything was changing. During the next surge, I thought I felt kind of “pushy.” I wasn’t sure though so I didn’t say anything. Two or three surges later I felt the same thing only stronger. I told Dave to get the nurses because I thought I needed to push. I also told him that my head was really hot and I needed a cold compress. He got the nurse and dampened a paper towel for my head. The nurse came in and had me climb on the bed so she could check me. I was only 8 cm, but she told me to stay on the bed because she didn’t want gravity to help at this point. She said the doctor was on her way but we needed to give her time to get there. (10:30pm at this point) I did my best to avoid pushing because I really didn’t want my cervix to swell. However, within two surges my body started bearing down on its own. Whoever compared this feeling to food poisoning was dead on. I honestly couldn’t stop my body from pushing my baby out. These two surges were the worst to deal with. I didn’t want to be on the bed, but I couldn’t move by myself. I asked Dave to hold me and he leaned down and put his arms around me. I actually sobbed into his shoulder while I tried to focus on getting through each surge. I vaguely remember Dave talking to me the whole time, I was aware that he was describing my special place for me and in-between surges I was briefly able to visualize what he was saying.
Right about this time (around 10:40pm) the resident doctor came in and began to introduce himself, explaining that he would deliver my baby if my doctor didn’t make it in time. All I could say was that I needed to push. The nurse quickly checked me and said I was complete and at a +2 station. One nurse began to help the doctor get his smock and gloves on while the other nurse watched me bear down during the next surge and then called out that the head was crowning.
The doctor finished getting ready and got in position to catch the baby. Just then I felt what must have been the “ring of fire.” I thought the doctor was trying to pull the baby out or something because everything felt SO tight. I said “ouch” and tried to slap the doctor’s hand away. Dave told me later that the doctor hadn’t even touched me. I also told the doctor not to cut me, he promised he wouldn’t. I was so concerned about tearing that I decided to just let my body do all the work and not force it. It took an incredible amount of self-control to wait for the next surge, which seemed to take forever (probably only a minute or two). When the next surge came, I allowed my body to bear down on its own and the head was born. The cord was around the baby’s neck so the doctor quickly pulled it off and suctioned everything out. The rest of the body slid out easily with the next surge and the doctor put our beautiful daughter on my stomach. I noticed that the doctor was preparing to cut the cord on his own and I managed to say something like “Dave… cord… Dad cut.” The doctor looked at Dave and told him it was kind of slimy. Dave said he didn’t care and took the scissors from the doctor.
I got to hold my baby for a few minutes before the nurses insisted on taking her. They were concerned about her breathing because the cord had been around her neck. My doctor walked in while the nurses checked the baby. She said she’d come as quick as she could but hadn’t expected that I would be THAT fast. She apologized for not making it in time. I didn’t mind… we hadn’t exactly given her much notice.
I had torn slightly, but it only required a stitch or two, much better than my tear from my first. After the placenta had been delivered and the doctor stitched me up, everyone left the room and left Dave and I alone with our new precious daughter. I was able to nurse for a minute or two on each side and we got to enjoy our new baby for an hour or so before family started showing up and before they moved me to recovery.
So, Danielle was born at 10:53pm on Wednesday, May 31, 2006, exactly one year and one day after her older sister. She was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 18 inches long. I didn’t actually get to finish the HypnoBabies course. I got a little behind and was supposed to finish the first week in June. However, HypnoBabies definitely helped get through my birthing. I know I didn’t practice nearly enough, but I could tell that the practice I had done really had trained my subconscious. The pregnancy affirmations were especially helpful. I wish I’d been able to listen to the birthing day affirmations, but I didn’t want to start that until my sister’s wedding was over, for fear it would start my birthing time. As it turns out, I wasn’t able to attend my sister’s wedding anyway. Little Danielle came on her birthday, and not when anyone else wanted her to come. Oh well, Dave was able to attend the wedding and he took a video camera to the reception and filmed a lot of it for me. I was able to see the first dance, the cake cutting, all the speeches, the bouquet toss, and the drive off into the sunset.
Anyway, HypnoBabies definitely helped me relax during the first 7 hours of surges. The last hour was infinitely more intense than the first 7 and much more intense than anything I’d experienced with my first baby. However, because I was able to relax so well during the first seven hours, I was well rested and though at times the last hour was agonizing, I never thought to ask for drugs and I never doubted that I would be able to handle the pressure. I also feel that HypnoBabies gave me the “okay” to walk, talk and keep my eyes open during the birthing. This made it so much easier to ask for what I needed (cold compress, blanket, birthing ball, etc…). I actually felt a little demanding. Dave said that he didn’t mind being ordered around because he felt like he was doing something to help, and he definitely wasn’t bored. I had my headphones around my neck the entire time we were at the hospital, but I never actually put them on. I just wanted to hear Dave’s voice at that point. Overall, I wish I’d practiced more diligently. Now that I have the HypnoBabies home study, I’ll be able to start much earlier next time, and I’m sure I’ll be more prepared.
Kathryn-
My mother had seven children, four natural, three with epidurals. She claims that anyone who has had epidurals every time has not experienced childbirth (though she enjoyed her epidurals). So, I decided to have at least one un-medicated birth, if for no other reason than to prove to my mother that I was not a wimp. When I told my OB I wanted to have an un-medicated birth, she recommended HypnoBirthing as an option I should look into. My husband and I discussed our options (Bradley, Lamaze, nothing…) and finally decided to give HypnoBirthing a try.
So, my guess date was May 23, but we all hoped I would go early and she would be born on the 21st and share a birthday with my father. I was born on my grandfather’s birthday so we though that could be a nice tradition to carry on. My mother flew in to help with everything on the 20th and I took castor oil that night to try to induce labor. Saturday the 21st I woke up with some contractions that were fairly regular, so we went to the hospital. They monitored me for an hour and determined that I was having contractions but I wasn’t progressing at all. The baby was still floating and she wasn’t putting enough pressure on my cervix to cause it to dilate. So we went home. That afternoon my mom and I walked about 2 miles to campus and back (my husband is still a student) hoping that would help start things. That didn’t work. Apparently this baby had her own plans.
My mother and I had a nice few days together. Then we found out that my sister needed help moving that weekend. So on Wednesday the 25th, my mother flew to Colorado and spent a few days there helping my sister move. Still no sign of the baby. My mother flew back Sunday morning to wait until the baby came. I felt bad that she had already been gone so long, so that night I took castor oil again, since I was now six days late.
Monday morning around 3:30 am, my water broke. We’ve pretty much decided now that it had nothing to do with the castor oil. We found out later that there was a thunder storm during the night. I’m pretty sure it was the pressure change from the storm that caused my water to break. Anyway, I was asleep in bed when my water broke. I sort of felt a pop, just one split-second, intense pressure. As soon as I felt it, I knew exactly what had happened. I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. I didn’t quite make it to the toilet before the fluid gushed out. That was my confirmation. I cleaned up and went back to our bedroom. I turned on the light so I could find some clean clothes. That woke Dave up and he asked if everything was all right. I told him everything was fine and that my water had broken. He asked if I was serious. I said I was and that this was really “it.” When I told him what time it was he asked why the baby couldn’t have waited another two or three hours. It’s kind of funny how we’d been waiting nine months, plus an extra week, and when the birthing finally started, Dave wanted to sleep. Anyway, we got up, got ready, and told my mother we were leaving.
As soon as my water broke, contractions began. They weren’t painful, just intense like someone was squeezing me. It’s really hard to describe. I kind of felt like I was being flattened like a pancake. When we arrived at the hospital they monitored me for an hour. When they first checked me I was almost 2 cm and almost 90% effaced. At 5:30am when they checked me again I was a full 3 cm and definitely 90%. However, they saw no indication that my water had broken. Apparently it had broken fairly high up. Then the baby had dropped, plugging up the cervix with more of the amniotic sac in front of her head. By 9:30am I was 5 cm and 100% effaced. They went ahead and broke the rest of my water. They told me that if my water hadn’t already broken then my contractions would get worse and I would dilate faster. If my water had broken, I would still dilate faster because the baby’s head could put the necessary pressure on my cervix, but my contractions wouldn’t get any worse. So I told them to go ahead. My contractions didn’t get any worse, at least, I didn’t notice a significant change. I was able to focus through most of the contractions and allow my body to do what it needed to. The worst contractions were when I had to go to the bathroom or while I was standing. I had Dave go into the bathroom with me when I went because I needed his hand to hold for any contractions. I was also having diarrhea problems so I’m sure that was not a pleasant experience for him.
At 11:15 I was 7 cm and at a -1 station, and by noon I was 9 cm. I started feeling like I needed to push around 1:00pm but my doctor wouldn’t let me because there was an anterior lip that would not dilate because the baby’s head was turned the wrong way. She was facing up and to my left leg instead of straight down like she was supposed to. I tried a few different positions to try to get her to turn but nothing was working. By 2:00 pm I was sick of waiting, so I allowed Dr. Savage to physically move the lip up and over the baby’s head to get it out of the way. Once that lip was out of the way the contractions became much harder to focus through. I tried to use the breathing technique I had learned in our HypnoBirthing class. However, as I tried to “breathe the baby down” I had a really hard time staying focused and the contractions were starting to hurt.
After about 45 minutes of breathing I still hadn’t made any progress. The nurse asked me if I wanted to try “real pushing.” At that point I was willing to do anything to get rid of the pressure and to finally be able to see my baby girl. The nurse explained how I was supposed to take a deep breath then hold it to the count of ten while I pushed, and I tried it a few times. It actually made the contraction much easier to get through. As long as I was holding my breath and focusing on pushing my baby out, I didn’t feel the contraction at all. When I would stop pushing for a breath, I would almost instantly feel pain and pressure from the contraction. However, I still wasn’t making much progress. She would move down the birth canal during each push, and then slip right back. I tried a couple different positions for pushing and finally found the most success while semi-reclining and holding my legs up against my sides. They had an internal monitor on the baby’s head to keep track of her heart rate. The external monitor that was supposed to be strapped to me wasn’t doing a good job of monitoring because I was moving around so much. The internal monitor has a cord attached to it that was taped to my leg to keep it from getting caught on anything. Dave said that when I had a really good push he could see the cord moving out. Then when I stopped pushing he could see it move back in. At one point the nurse moved a mirror to where I could see what was happening. That helped me a lot. I was able to see the baby’s head during some pushed and I also saw her head disappear again when I wasn’t pushing. That made me mad because I felt like I was doing all this work for nothing. So I started pushing even harder and more frequently. I didn’t care at that point if I was having a contraction or not. I just wanted to push her out and be done with it.
While I was watching in the mirror, I noticed some blood start to gush out. I asked Dr. Savage if that was me or the baby. She said it was me, that I was tearing. I was really surprised that I hadn’t felt any pain from the tear. I guess I was just focused on the pressure everywhere else, and on getting her out. Finally the baby’s head had moved down enough that it wasn’t going back up as far. The doctors got their apron things on and moved the mirror so they had room to work. I couldn’t see anymore but I didn’t need to at that point. Dr. Savage picked up a syringe from a table and told me she was going to give me a local. I told her not yet, mostly because I was in the middle of a contraction and didn’t want to think about that right then. But I also didn’t want any drugs at all. I had been hooked up to an IV because I was Group B Strep positive and had to have antibiotics during the labor. Other than that, I had not been given any other drugs, and I had had no pain relieving drugs of any kind. I really didn’t want to start then. So Dr. Savage didn’t give me the local.
A few contractions later as I was pushing, the doctors suddenly told me to slow down. I asked why because I was afraid I had torn really badly or that something was wrong with the baby. Dave told me it was because the head was out!! I was surprised that I hadn’t felt anything different, but I stopped pushing. The resident doctor (a younger pregnant girl, who also had Dr. Savage as her doctor) and Dr. Savage took of the internal monitor and suctioned the baby’s mouth and nose. I couldn’t see anything so I just lay back and rested. Then they told me to push one more time for the shoulders. I did, and at that point I was able to sit up enough to see the baby. I finished pushing for the shoulders and the resident doctor pulled out her hips and legs. At that point I felt an immense relief of pressure and promptly forgot about everything but the baby. The doctors clamped the umbilical cord and Dr. Savage handed Dave a pair of scissors. He cut the cord, which he had told me before he hadn’t wanted to do, and the doctors put the baby on my stomach.
She was squirming, but not really crying. She was covered in blood and the creamy, waxy vernix. And she was beautiful. I just looked at her and said, “This is my baby.” She wasn’t there very long. The nurse came and took her off my stomach so she could go clean her up. Dave went with her to the other side of the room where our daughter was given a little sponge bath and a vitamin K shot.
I passed the placenta with no problems (and no pain at all) and the resident doctor gave me the local they had tried to giver earlier so they could stitch me up. I had torn in three places. Two tears were fairly high up and small enough that they didn’t need stitches at all. The third was deeper and required a few stitches, mostly because it was a jagged tear and had to be sewn together carefully. Dr. Savage said it was an average tear for first time moms, but it was probably shorter than what she would have cut if she had given me the episiotomy. Getting the stitches was more painful because I was so swollen and sensitive. I’m sure it was also more painful because I wasn’t focused on getting a baby out.
The nurse finished with our daughter and Dave held her for about a half hour while the doctors finished with me. After I was patched up, Dave gave me the baby and I tried to nurse a little bit. It was awkward but the nurse helped me a little. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything other than learning how to hold her to nurse, so I told Dave to let my mom in. She had been sitting in the waiting room since around noon and was anxious to find out what was going on. My grandparents had also come and were in the waiting room with her. The resident doctor went out and told them I was ready for them. Dave went just outside the room and told my Mom she could come in. When she walked in she was on the phone with my father. As soon as she saw our daughter she started crying. I got a little emotional then too. I gave my baby to my mother and let her hold her for a while. Then I let my grandparents come in and see the baby too.
So, Kathryn Frogley was born at 4:32pm on Monday, May 30, 2005 (Memorial Day). She was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 ½ inches. I made it through thirteen hours of labor and had a completely un-medicated labor and delivery. The nurses and doctors kept commenting on how calm I was for not having any drugs. They said it was extremely rare to see someone enduring labor so quietly. I had actually been so relaxed during labor that several times I started to doze and nod off. Dave was also sleeping between contractions. Because Ryn’s head was facing the wrong direction, I had a lot of pain in my lower back. To help with that, Dave gave me back rubs during most of the labor. My back started to hurt so we got some lotion from the nurse. Even using that my back was rubbed raw. The back labor hurt so bad that I kept telling Dave to rub harder and harder. He would and it felt much better while he was rubbing so I didn’t worry about it too much. My mom said that when she saw my back it looked like someone had taken sandpaper and scraped that on my back.
Overall, my experience with HypnoBirthing was a very positive one. I believe the hypnosis helped me stay relaxed during the first stage of labor and helped me store the energy I needed to push my daughter out. There were a few “kinks” that I’ll want to work on for another baby in the future, but I enjoyed being able to get through this un-medicated and I plan on doing it again!
Danielle -
Well, I figured I'd better get to writing Elli's birth story, or I'll forget most of the details. So, here's the story of Danielle's birth. I apologize in advance for the length... I'm a very detailoriented person and didn't want to leave anything out. :)
Monday, May 22, 2006 I went to see Dr. Savage for my 36 week appointment. She said everything looked great, I was dilated a little more than 1 cm, and I was 50% effaced. However, the baby wasn’t head down yet. She wasn’t too concerned and said we’d just wait to see how the baby was positioned at the next appointment before we worried about what actions to take.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 I went to my 37 week appointment. This time I was 3 cm and 80%, and the baby was in a perfect anterior vertex position. Dr. Savage noted that my cervix felt very soft and speculated that once my surges started, this would be a fast birthing. She also said she wouldn’t be surprised to see me in the hospital before my next appointment. I was hoping to hold off a few more days, though. My sister, Lindsay, was getting married on Thursday and I just wanted to make sure I made it to the wedding and the reception.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Dave woke up a little… um, playful, and I indulged him, figuring it would probably be the last time for a while. Later in the morning I lost a good portion of my mucus plug and noticed some light pink spotting. I didn’t really pay much attention to that because the same thing happened with Kathryn three full weeks before she was born. I went to a different appointment at 3pm. For the hour I was in that appointment I thought I recognized 5-6 surges. I didn’t think too much about them because they weren’t really that strong and they were covering a very small area. I only felt tightening very low, in the front. I had to leave my meeting early to pick up Dave from work by 4:30. During the half hour drive to his work, I felt another 2-3 surges, and another one started as he got to the car. I told Dave what I’d been feeling and made him drive, in case they started getting stronger. We decided not to worry about them for the time being because if I had calculated correctly, the surges were about 12 minutes apart and not intense enough to keep us from going to my sister’s rehearsal dinner.
We left Dave’s work and drove 40 minutes to my sister’s apartment where we were planning on meeting everyone before the dinner. When we arrived, I lay down on the couch for a while to see if the surges would stop. They weren’t getting any stronger or any closer together, so I figured they were probably just brought on by stress and if I relaxed they’d go away. I also went to the bathroom while we were there and lost the rest of my mucus plug, along with more blood. By the time we left Lindsay’s apartment around 6:30pm I was pretty sure the surges were increasing in frequency but not intensity. I didn’t really want to time the surges but I was pretty sure they were about 8-9 minutes apart.
We got to the rehearsal dinner just before it started at 7pm. I quickly found the bathroom (right outside our banquet room!) and lay down on a couch in there for a few minutes. I really wanted to enjoy dinner and be there with my family, so I got my light switch to center and went to join the party. During dinner, I had to make several trips to the bathroom. My digestive system had started to flush itself in preparation for the birth. By now, I knew this was really IT, but I still wanted to stay for the dinner, and I was sure I still had time.
Dinner ended by 8:30 and people started to mingle. I told my parents we were leaving and heading to the hospital. They offered to take Kathryn and bring her down later that night or the next day. We gratefully accepted their offer and headed for the car. During the drive back down to Provo, I listened to one of the birthing day guides on my MP3 player, and Dave timed my surges. I would touch his arm whenever one would start and whenever one would end. He then called out how long each one was and how long between the beginnings of surges. By now they were 2-4 minutes apart and 40-60 seconds long. Dave said I seemed really calm. He said he thought I’d fallen asleep and that when he looked down at me, even during the surges, he thought I looked really peaceful.
We got to the hospital about 9:30 (good thing I’d thought to bring our hospital bags!!). Dave grabbed the hospital bag and then helped me out of the car. I had two surges between the car and the elevator. I just stopped Dave and leaned my head on his shoulder while I focused on staying in center and on directing my anesthesia. The nurses checked me in and had me change into the hospital gown. The nurse did a pelvic exam about 9:45 and said I was 5 cm and 90%. I was so relieved that the surges I had been feeling were actually doing something. The nurse finished asking a bunch of questions, most of which I let Dave answer for me, and left the room for a minute. By now it was 10:00 pm. Dave said he had to go to the bathroom and that he’d be right back. I felt another surge start and told him to wait, but I said it so quietly that he didn’t hear me. During that surge I felt a pop followed by a gush of fluid. I don’t remember the rest of that surge at all. I’m pretty sure that the HypnoBabies affirmations I had listened to had really programmed my brain to feel a rush of anesthesia when my membranes released. I wasn’t consciously thinking about that at the time, but as soon as I felt the pop, I didn’t feel any more of that surge.
The nurse came back in the room a minute later and I told her that my membranes had released. She said she wasn’t surprised and checked the color of the fluid. Dave called my parents and his parents to update them and let them know we’d be having a baby in a few hours. I told the nurse I wanted to sit on a birthing ball as soon as possible. She said she’d have someone bring one in and I could get on it as soon as she got my IV started (I was GBS + and had to have the antibiotics). In the meantime, she asked another nurse to come in and help her get the room ready for delivery. Dave was really surprised at this and commented that with our first baby we’d been in the hospital for 12 hours before they prepped the room. The second nurse explained that because this was my second un-medicated birth and my membranes had already released, they were all expecting a baby very soon. That comment really encouraged me. The surges had started to get more intense and it was becoming harder to focus. Knowing that they were really accomplishing things helped me relax a bit more.
The first nurse finished with the IV and I moved to sit on the ball and put my head on the bed. Unfortunately, the bed wasn’t locked in place and it rolled away from me when I first leaned against it. Dave locked it for me and made sure I was in a comfortable position. I complained that I was cold (the nurse apologized for the antibiotics being cold) and Dave put a blanket around my shoulders. He also began to massage my neck and shoulders with our massage oil. I kept telling him things to say and do to help me relax. I told him to use the “relax” cue and to “take me to my special place.” As the nurse left she told Dave to get them if I felt anything was changing. During the next surge, I thought I felt kind of “pushy.” I wasn’t sure though so I didn’t say anything. Two or three surges later I felt the same thing only stronger. I told Dave to get the nurses because I thought I needed to push. I also told him that my head was really hot and I needed a cold compress. He got the nurse and dampened a paper towel for my head. The nurse came in and had me climb on the bed so she could check me. I was only 8 cm, but she told me to stay on the bed because she didn’t want gravity to help at this point. She said the doctor was on her way but we needed to give her time to get there. (10:30pm at this point) I did my best to avoid pushing because I really didn’t want my cervix to swell. However, within two surges my body started bearing down on its own. Whoever compared this feeling to food poisoning was dead on. I honestly couldn’t stop my body from pushing my baby out. These two surges were the worst to deal with. I didn’t want to be on the bed, but I couldn’t move by myself. I asked Dave to hold me and he leaned down and put his arms around me. I actually sobbed into his shoulder while I tried to focus on getting through each surge. I vaguely remember Dave talking to me the whole time, I was aware that he was describing my special place for me and in-between surges I was briefly able to visualize what he was saying.
Right about this time (around 10:40pm) the resident doctor came in and began to introduce himself, explaining that he would deliver my baby if my doctor didn’t make it in time. All I could say was that I needed to push. The nurse quickly checked me and said I was complete and at a +2 station. One nurse began to help the doctor get his smock and gloves on while the other nurse watched me bear down during the next surge and then called out that the head was crowning.
The doctor finished getting ready and got in position to catch the baby. Just then I felt what must have been the “ring of fire.” I thought the doctor was trying to pull the baby out or something because everything felt SO tight. I said “ouch” and tried to slap the doctor’s hand away. Dave told me later that the doctor hadn’t even touched me. I also told the doctor not to cut me, he promised he wouldn’t. I was so concerned about tearing that I decided to just let my body do all the work and not force it. It took an incredible amount of self-control to wait for the next surge, which seemed to take forever (probably only a minute or two). When the next surge came, I allowed my body to bear down on its own and the head was born. The cord was around the baby’s neck so the doctor quickly pulled it off and suctioned everything out. The rest of the body slid out easily with the next surge and the doctor put our beautiful daughter on my stomach. I noticed that the doctor was preparing to cut the cord on his own and I managed to say something like “Dave… cord… Dad cut.” The doctor looked at Dave and told him it was kind of slimy. Dave said he didn’t care and took the scissors from the doctor.
I got to hold my baby for a few minutes before the nurses insisted on taking her. They were concerned about her breathing because the cord had been around her neck. My doctor walked in while the nurses checked the baby. She said she’d come as quick as she could but hadn’t expected that I would be THAT fast. She apologized for not making it in time. I didn’t mind… we hadn’t exactly given her much notice.
I had torn slightly, but it only required a stitch or two, much better than my tear from my first. After the placenta had been delivered and the doctor stitched me up, everyone left the room and left Dave and I alone with our new precious daughter. I was able to nurse for a minute or two on each side and we got to enjoy our new baby for an hour or so before family started showing up and before they moved me to recovery.
So, Danielle was born at 10:53pm on Wednesday, May 31, 2006, exactly one year and one day after her older sister. She was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 18 inches long. I didn’t actually get to finish the HypnoBabies course. I got a little behind and was supposed to finish the first week in June. However, HypnoBabies definitely helped get through my birthing. I know I didn’t practice nearly enough, but I could tell that the practice I had done really had trained my subconscious. The pregnancy affirmations were especially helpful. I wish I’d been able to listen to the birthing day affirmations, but I didn’t want to start that until my sister’s wedding was over, for fear it would start my birthing time. As it turns out, I wasn’t able to attend my sister’s wedding anyway. Little Danielle came on her birthday, and not when anyone else wanted her to come. Oh well, Dave was able to attend the wedding and he took a video camera to the reception and filmed a lot of it for me. I was able to see the first dance, the cake cutting, all the speeches, the bouquet toss, and the drive off into the sunset.
Anyway, HypnoBabies definitely helped me relax during the first 7 hours of surges. The last hour was infinitely more intense than the first 7 and much more intense than anything I’d experienced with my first baby. However, because I was able to relax so well during the first seven hours, I was well rested and though at times the last hour was agonizing, I never thought to ask for drugs and I never doubted that I would be able to handle the pressure. I also feel that HypnoBabies gave me the “okay” to walk, talk and keep my eyes open during the birthing. This made it so much easier to ask for what I needed (cold compress, blanket, birthing ball, etc…). I actually felt a little demanding. Dave said that he didn’t mind being ordered around because he felt like he was doing something to help, and he definitely wasn’t bored. I had my headphones around my neck the entire time we were at the hospital, but I never actually put them on. I just wanted to hear Dave’s voice at that point. Overall, I wish I’d practiced more diligently. Now that I have the HypnoBabies home study, I’ll be able to start much earlier next time, and I’m sure I’ll be more prepared.
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