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Stories
of Birth Christopher
(as
written by his mommy, Dana)
Zoe
(as written by her
mommy, Marnie M.) I went into labor on Saturday morning. Well, I woke up having these sensations that made me think, "Hmmm... that feels like a surge." I had an appointment scheduled for a massage, so I went to that (and didn't tell the massuese that I thought I was starting labor). I called Aaron at work at about 2 pm saying I was pretty sure she was working on coming. We labored at home until 2 am. Then we went to the hospital where they said I was at 2 cm, so we came back home. We labored hard until about 7:30 or 8, then went back to the hospital. When we got there I was fully dilated and she was on her way out. It only took about an hour in the hospital. Three cheers for hypnobirthing! By all accounts it was a stellar birth! I felt prepared and like I knew how to handle it. I hollered like crazy and I'd never say it was easy, but it felt good and natural and I feel proud of all three of us for listening to our hearts, our bodies, and each other and creating such a peaceful and joyous entry to the post-womb world for lil' Zoe. Dawn Martin was our doula, so she can fill you in on the details. Thanks to you and Heather and the whole class for all the help! Peace, I can't believe it has been seven months since Ethan's birth, and I am just now getting around to writing you guys! Words cannot express how grateful we are to you both! We miss seeing you! :) We had an absolutely amazing birth experience, and we would like to share it with you. Although Ethan is our fourth son, his birth was unlike any other I have known. Before Ethan's birth, we had had three hospital deliveries, three inductions, artificial rupturing of the membranes, pitocin, epidurals, tearing, stiches, and "you name it!" Although I had never really considered any of our sons' births to be dissatisfying, after delivering Ethan, words cannot explain the joy of giving birth! I had little idea of what to expect, being that I had never really gone into labor on my own. On December 8th, around 7:00 p.m., I told my sister that I was feeling a bit "crampy." Although she probably could have told me I was in the early stages of labor, I was absolutely not ready to admit that to anyone...not even my husband, Brad. I was sure that I would wake up the next morning just one more day pregnant! Around 9:00 p.m. that night, Brad and I were making nachos after getting the kiddos to bed. I casually mentioned that this "might" be "THE night." Brad's eyes popped like I was telling him for the first time that we were going to have another baby! :) Disbelief turned into, "Should I call my mom? What should we do?..." As we sat down to eat, the first clue that I might actually be beginning to believe that this "might" be the day was when I hesitated on eating all those jalapenos! About 10:15 p.m., as we were watching the news, I secretly decided to time a couple of the "might be surges..." ten minutes apart, six minutes, seven minutes, twelve minutes, ten minutes. Hmmm. Maybe this was not "it" after all. Good thing I hadn't told anyone. About that time I talked to my sister again. I told her what was going on, and she urged me to call Laurie, our midwife. I really did not want to at that point, but she convinced me by telling me I should just let her know what was going on. I rang Laurie and woke her up. I felt terrible! I explained that this may or may not be "it," and I may wake up in the morning with no surges at all. She said she understood and to call her when the surges were stronger or closer together. I then decided to practice my Rainbow Relaxation while Brad worked on his school work. About midnight, I asked Brad if maybe we should time a couple to get an idea of what was going on. My dear husband brings his laptop over and starts attempting to set up a spreadsheet to time the surges. I am totally confused because some of the surges are large enough to fill a hot air balloon while others are only small birthday party balloons! Should I count the birthday balloons or only the hot air balloons? Brad is still trying to figure out the spreadsheet. I decide to tell Brad to try and get some sleep. He is snoring in what seems like two seconds. I put Rainbow Relaxation on again. I never went to sleep but there was some time distortion. The next thing I know it is 2:20 a.m. on December 9th. O.k., this is "IT!" I decide to walk around for a few and make "sure." I am really Ok. I am totally relaxed. When I start to feel a surge, I close my eyes, pick out the color of my balloon and start to inflate it until the surge starts to diminish. As I start to exhale, I imagine tying the balloon, popping the knot, and sending it off into the sky. I walk back into our room and decide it is time to wake Brad. He seems disoriented at first until I shout, "Brad! Wake up! Call Laurie!" Brad rings Laurie. I know she is asking if I can talk to her. I am walking down the hallway thinking, "Well, of course I can talk to her, but I would rather keep walking. I think to myself, "If I can still talk to Laurie, I must have hours left to go!" Brad gets off the phone, and I suddenly want him to clean and fill the tub. "Please hurry!" It was just all of a sudden that I wanted in...now! He seems to be lightening fast. I walk into the bathroom, and, for the first time, I just stand there, not able to move. I don't know if I will be able to get into the tub. Then, I just seemed to will myself to climb in. Ahhh...the water was warm! The next thing I know, I started making a low moaning noise. I remember talking about this noise during one of our HypnoBirthing® classes, and I am, in my mind, totally laughing at myself! I cannot believe that I am making that noise! This is hillarious! When I stop, I realize that Brad has been scooping the warm water over my belly. That is great! I then ask him, "Is the camera charged?" I still don't believe that we are having a baby today. I start moaning again, and I start laughing to myself again, and Brad starts scooping again. After I am finished making noise, I feel the urgency to ask Brad, "How far is Laurie? Is the door unlocked?" (I still thought we had hours to go.) Brad goes to unlock the door, and I start groaning again. I cannot believe how goofy I sound; I cannot believe that I cannot prevent this noise. "BRAD! The baby is coming!!!!!!! Call Laurie!" I reach down, and, in my make believe world, I hope that I am feeling my bag of waters. Umm....no. That is the baby's head. I had scanned over the emergency birth article just that evening. It started to burn just a little; I blew. Ok. Fine. I placed my palm on the head and applied counter pressure. The head was out. I felt for a cord around the neck. I didn't feel anything and good thing because our baby was then out, floating in the water. I heard Brad say, "The baby is out!" Brad told me to pick him up. I held him close. I ran my finger down the outside of his nasal passages. He finally cried. Brad was still on the phone with Laurie. Luckily, the water was warm. We wrapped towels around Ethan and decided to wait for Laurie. It was a good ten minutes before Brad even suggested we should check and make sure he really was a "he." Laurie arrived soon thereafter. She took great care of us. I cannot believe how easy, empowering, wonderful, and amazing Ethan's birth was! My only regret is that we did not have time to video tape our experience. I want to shout out from the rooftops what a great experience we had! Going from a totally medically induced and stressful birth to a relaxed, natural, and empowering birth is an experience I am so grateful to have been allowed to have. This is the way God meant for us to birth our children. Thank you, God! Thank you, Heather and Jan! Love, Joy
and Brad R***** First I would like to say that this birth is a testament to several things; a wonderful Doula- Jan, a natural process- HypnoBirthing®, and a hard working and loving husband- Adam. I am a second time HypnoBirthing® Mom, having taken the course for my first daughter who is now five. However, with my first pregnancy I began to have “elevated” blood pressure readings around 36 weeks. During the delivery of my first daughter my blood pressure spiked and I was on the verge of seizing. I had to have IV Magnesium (which made me very groggy) and an epidural to drop my blood pressure. Then, I had to be given pitocin because labor slowed and I didn’t get the natural birth I wanted. I was in labor for 20 hours and was completely wiped out after the birth. So, for this birth my goal was to maintain lower blood pressure so I wouldn’t be confined to the bed, learn effective laboring positions to shorten labor time (another reason we hired Jan), and have a natural birth. During my weekly checks I began dilating quite a bit. At 37 weeks I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. At 38 weeks I was 4 cm and 80% and maintained that way until we decided to induce just after 40 weeks. The only reason we considered induction was because my blood pressure began to creep up again and I didn’t want a continued strain on my body. Also, my doctor agreed to break my water only and wait for natural surges to begin. We went to the hospital at 6 PM on 3/10/05. After being checked in the nurse took my blood pressure and it was very high, Jan and Adam gave me no numbers though. Jan decided to do some hypnosis and went through a script to help me relax. After that my blood pressure came down to normal, thanks Jan! This meant when the doctor came in to break my water at 8:18 PM, she gave me the okay to walk around and labor on my feet. Surges began on their own around 8:30 PM and Adam and I began an hour long walk. During my labor I could distinctly tell the stages and differentiate when the surges changed form. When the walk was over we checked in for 15 minutes of monitoring and then set out again to walk. This time the surges were closer together and distinctly stronger. We came back within 15 minutes to get in the shower. The shower was all right, but I discovered that I was more comfortable laboring standing up than sitting, or even worse, lying down. When I left the shower the surges were very strong and had just changed form again. the nurse checked and tried to state quietly that I was 5 cm. I wasn’t surprised because the surges had just strengthened, but I knew I was going to progress faster now that the surges were stronger. My concentration and HypnoBirthing® techniques were going very well so far, but I allowed something to derail my good attitude and had a hard time regaining the same level of concentration. At this point I felt the urge to have a bowel movement. I tried to sit on the toilet, but those muscles don’t work while surging. Within 20 minutes I was moaning and Jan knew I was beginning the transition stage. The nurse checked and I was 7 cm and she could feel that I did need to have a BM. So I tried to sit on the toilet, but sitting was uncomfortable and the BM feeling really bothered me. I was tiring and asked my husband for an epidural. Even though I read many other birth stories and knew I was probably too far along and it would now go fast, I insisted Jan and Adam talk to the nurse. They both played a cunning game of buying time. They told me the doctor had to be in house and then I needed a bag of saline before they would give it to me, so I was subdued with that answer. I was in hard transition now and walked around the whole time, Adam was in front of me so I could hold or hug him and Jan was behind me applying counter pressure on my lower back. I worked them both SO hard considering I was having surges every minute. Soon the doctor was in house and they checked me again. I was 8 cm on one side and 9 cm on the other, 100% effaced. I felt the need to pass a BM again, so back to the bathroom I went. I sat on the toilet backwards and Jan and the nurse were concerned because I was pushing. They pulled me back to the bed and checked again, you could see the baby’s head. I was 10 cm, 100% and they called the doctor in. The neatest thing about this birth to me was the fact I never “pushed”. Jan talked me through it and I breathed the baby down easily within 10 minutes. This labor was less than five hours. Surges began at 8:30 PM and Liora was here at 1:13 AM. I did work very hard laboring on my feet the entire time, but I know Jan was an invaluable part of us achieving the birth we wanted. Jan was well worth the fee and helped us with a beautiful birth. In return, I can tell a distinct difference in my two daughter’s personalities as infants. Liora is an incredibly calm, laid back baby that sleeps 4 hours at a time and squeaks when she communicates. I’m sure it is because of her gentle introduction to the world. My first daughter was a wonderful baby, just more demanding and needy. I just want to thank Jan for her wonderful guidance, you gave us something we could never repay and will never forget. Thank
you, He was 7lbs 4oz, and 20.25" long. The speed of the experience caught us off-guard, as it was only an hour and seventeen minutes from Lacey's water breaking to birth. Apparently we were starting labor while we were walking at the mall, getting the car washed, picking up pizza and stopping by Walgreens. Lacey did amazingly well, as it was a totally natural, non-medicated birth and she helped catch the baby. Lacey and baby are both doing well and resting as much as possible. And
from Sawyer's Mommy, Lacey..."I *am* sooo happy with the way Sawyer's
and my birth Note
from HBCT: Lacey's first birth was a cesarean and she
entered this birth with a lot of fear from her first experience. Rather
than allow that fear to own her, she took confident ownership of her
own experience. Lacey attended every Expectant Moms Brunch, came to
all of her HypnoBirthing classes, and then came through them again for
good measure. She received regular craniosacral treatments and kept
her body and mind in harmony for her birth. It really paid off! Detail:
Ella Denise H***, born at 5:31p.m. at Seton Medical Center Michael & Rhonda would like to share our birthing experience with you, and it goes like this. For pictures go to: http://home.austin.rr.com/*******/ and scroll to bottom. Keep in mind, momma and baby were on full bed rest for 5 weeks (to address pre-term labor & breech presentation), and released from bed rest on Wednesday, September 22nd. Mom returned to work (at Seton) on Monday, September 27th. All day mom felt some surges, but heck, I'd been feeling them for over 5 weeks now each time I stood up, so no real notice was made. At around 3:00p.m. on the 27th I finished up some work I had wanted to get done for the past 5 weeks, the surges were still there and I said to myself, "hmm...I just wonder..." Went home and cooked dinner with Michael and shared a lovely meal with family (around 6:00p.m.). Started writing down the start and end times of surges just for fun. Could still talk, laugh, eat, joke, cook and clean dishes through them all, and yet they were distict enough to have a beginning and end. No real pattern established for 90 minutes, but they were anywhere from 9 minutes to 11 minutes apart each. Continued drinking lots of water. Coming into the 8:00p.m. hour, decided that a good rest was in store. Went to bed and began timing again...now the surges were 7 minutes apart. Still incredibly comfortable and joking with Michael about maybe he was right all along and that we might be having a baby on my birthday. Dad did some prepping around the house just in case. At 9:30p.m. on one of my MANY trips to empty my bladder, I noticed fluid pouring into the toilet, yet I did not have the sensation of urinating. Returned to the bedroom to report that I thought that "maybe" my membranes had released. Big smile from Michael! This was confirmed within 5 minutes with fluids indeed flowing each and every time I moved from seated position to standing or visa versa. Surges were still 7 minutes apart, and quite consistently starting at my lower back and "rolling" forward creating a band across my lower uterus. Continued drinking lots of water. We had instructions from our OB to call when surges reached 5 minutes apart, or our membranes released...so telephoned the doctor on call 9:50p.m. Informed her of the facts and we agreed that we would labor at home and call again if surges increased to 4 minutes apart. 11:00p.m. Surges are 4 minutes apart! Wow, that went quickly! Held off calling doctor until 12:15a.m. to report surges at 4 minutes for 1 hour and now at 3.5 minutes each. She indicated that we could go into hospital to get checked, or continue to labor at home - but in either case, she'd call ahead and let them know to expect us. Regardless of what happens in the evening, go into hospital at 5:30-6:00a.m. to get checked anyway. Continued to drink lots of water. 11:00p.m. - 3:00a.m. Immediately after making the call, the surges returned to 6 minute intervals. Michael encourages me to get some sleep, yet I couldn't sleep through the surges. So I would have a surge laying down next to Michael, get up, go empty my bladder (I didn't have a choice, I had to pee after EACH surge!) come back to bed, sleep for 3-4 minutes, repeat process. Lots of visualization through this time, the satin blue ribbons of my uterus lifting & pushing my little one to me....opening of my cervix like a beautiful rose bud (okay, I have to admit that I was imaging a pink rose bud...sensing that there was a little girl in me). 4:00a.m. Michael ran me a hot bath, lit candles, played great lullabye music and poured water over me for an hour. Applied light touch massage, coached through various visualizations: blue satin ribbons of uterus, opening rose bud of cervix, creating a relaxing environment for our loved one to come to, kneading bread through the contractions, talking to me and our baby, expressing his love and support... He sits at the side of the tub and slowly pours water over me...ahhhh! This feels GREAT! Nice little nap in tub...I highly recommend that we do THIS more often! 5:00-5:45a.m. I am able to get sleep in 15 minute increments, even with surges every 5 minutes. Felt GREAT! 5:45a.m. as previously instructed by OB on duty, packed up to go to Seton to "get checked." 6:00a.m.Got checked in and learned that to "get checked" means that we are there to stay! What?! That's not what we had planned, we wanted to labor at home until the last mintue, but not much we can do...so we make the best of it. Michael continues to talk me through each surge, now 5 mintues apart. We decline the IV prep, decline the vaginal exam, and agree only to the 20 minute necessary fetal monitoring. Our new nurse arrives at 7:00a.m. to introduce herself and let us know that she has reviewed our birth plan and asks some clarifying questions. Great news that she is supportive! I find that sitting on the birthing ball, rolling it around with my hips, and leaning on a pile of pillows propped up on the bed is the most comfortable position. Michael does light touch massage, counter pressure & full massage of my lower back through each surge while whispering wonderful visualization prompts in my ear. 8:00a.m. We decide to allow one vaginal with my OB under the condition that NO ONE tell us where we are. Our OB (Dr. Weihs) does the exam and simply smiles to inform us that we will be having a baby today - before dinner. Keep doing what we are doing and she'll be back at 10:00a.m. 8:00-10:00a.m. Michael and I continue through surges, he coaching and prompting, me focusing on my body...keeping it calm (really focusing on my hands, arms, and shoulders, keeping them limp). 10:00a.m. Dr. Weihs returns to joke around with Michael & I and see how things are going. Surges are still coming along nicely. She indicates that she'll be back at 12:00a.m. to check on us. We continue with what we are doing, talking on the phone, pausing through surges, and letting folks know where we are and that we may have a baby soon. 11:30a.m. our nurse takes a lunch break and a fill in nurse comes to visit. She is in AWE of how calm & relaxed both Michael and I are. "What a team!" She tells us that we are doing great for being 5 CM! AUGH! I feel a bit let down, thinking ONLY 5 cm after all this time. Not that it has been painful or even that uncomfortable, but geez....I better get busy! 1:00p.m. Dr. Weihs returns and we agree to another vaginal. The past 90 mintues I have worked diligently on my visualization, blue satin ribbons, kneading of bread motions and helping my cervix prepare. We learn that we are 8 cm! Wow...that was FAST! Dr. Weihs informs us that she'll check back very soon. We continue with me on birthing ball, and then I transfer to shower chair for a nice LONG hot shower...oh, that felt ssssooooo good! (Michael naps while I shower - he has been running a fever all along and been a trooper). My birth song wakes him and when he comes to the shower he informs me that I have overflowed the shower into the room! Oops, did I mention how good that shower felt? I obviously didn't notice the water escaping. My brother Tito arrives and does what he does best...loves me...takes stock of what is going on, he's never seen our birth plan, but observes Michael and QUICKLY gets it! He jumped in and provided Michael some support. 2:00p.m. Dr. Weihs returns to share with us great news...we are at 10cm and at -1. She and nurse both indicate that they understand that I want to breath down versus pushing, but if I feel a need to push to call them immediately. So Michael and I change our visualization approach and my breathing to J breathing. I can hear Heather's prompts in my head, "breathe in filling a red balloon...fill your uterus with oxygen...and slowly breathe the baby down and out...like a J." It's that red balloon that is VERY CLEAR in my mind's eye. Michael begins having me use my birth song to help with the focus and it feels great. 4:00p.m. I had been on the birthing ball all day and finally took a turn to sit up in bed, I tried this for about 20 mintues and still preferred the ball, so back to ball I go. After breathing down for right at 3 hours, I was getting tired, it was a struggle to stay focused on filling the red balloon and making my abdomen expand...and when I lost focus, then I was battling the urge to push...I found fighting that urge very uncomfortable. Dr. Weihs keeps checking on our progress with no prompts about "moving things or pushing." 5:00p.m. I decide that I am tired and the battling the urge to push is more and more difficult. We call in Dr. Weihs and inform her that I am ready to have a baby. Back in the bed and she coaches me through a pushing method that will provide maximum oxygen to our little one. First surge, first push, Dad reports a full head of hair. Second surge, second push, we have crowning. Third surge, third push, we have reached the forehead. Fourth surge, fourth push we have Ella Denise Hall! (15 minutes of pushing) Michael announces to me that we have a little girl and after receiving her in his arms, immediately places her on mom's belly for bonding time. Michael and Tito each have their hands on her, while I am staring at her in disbelief! Dr. Weihs again lives by our birthing plan and waits for cord to stop surging before Michael cuts it. We had minimal tearing and my placenta released itself within 10 minutes. Thank yous go first and foremost to my husband, best friend, birth coach and Ella's daddy Michael. He was awesome! I could not have done it without his supportive words, not only through the birth experience, but through the 5 previous weeks of me on bed rest, through my father's short illness and death, through my grief of not being able to be with my father for his last days, through the challenges of turning our breech Ella JUST IN TIME for the DREAM birthing experience. Next I thank my brother Tito..for being with us for this beautiful experience and providing his love and support through the previous weeks as well as through the wonderful birth. Heather & Jan...you both played a HUGE role in our successful birthing experience! Both of you believing in us, that we could win the pre-term labor battle, that we would successful turn our breech presentation, that we would relax our way through the grieving process, and that we WOULD have the birthing experience of our dreams. You were RIGHT! And finally chiropractor Ron Burnett, whose ability to connect and work with Ella in the womb and get her to turn made all the difference. Thank you everyone, this was a great team effort!
We
had a wonderful labor and delivery, which started on Friday between
4 -5am. My Mom started timing my surges around 10:30am and they fluctuated
between 2 - 11 minutes apart all day Friday. They I
was only 3 cm dilated, so we headed back home around 3am - where I was
able to catch some ZZZs in the bathtub. I found I was most comfortable
laboring on my feet, either hanging on to Mom or D*** or My
day nurse was Teresa, who was also very nice. My Doctor was not available,
but his on-call colleague was very respectful of our "hands off"
wishes. Around 7pm, the surges lightened enough for me to catch some
sleep and Stephanie showed up again for the evening shift. At 8pm, D******
and I took a hot shower. At 9pm, I was checked and had opened up to
7 cm and my membranes had released at At 4am, Dr. Cowan came in and checked me -- I was at 7.5 cm and exhausted. At this point he sat down and gently gave us some options. We could continue with natural stimulation, but if things went south, a c-section under a general may end up happening. We could try "just a touch" of Pitocin and see if that would kick start things. I ended up deciding to have a "light" epidural and the Pitocin. Of course, as the IV-nurse comes in to set-up, my surges start coming with beautiful regularity through my tears, and with even more regularity during the epidural prep. D****** said we didn't need nipple stimulation, but needle stimulation - ha ha. My
good humor returns and soon I started feeling the urge to bear down,
so Stephanie called for Dr. Cowan. We saw the baby's head full of curly
hair and I told Stephanie that I felt like she was coming Total labor time = 50 hours. Total delivery time - 12 minutes. Go figure. No
rips, no tears, no cuts - hardly any swelling. I was on a adreneline
high for the rest of the day as the pooped out Papa napped in the hospital
bed beside me. We went home around 11am on Monday feeling great." Pictures are up at http://www.*******.org/baby We
had an absolutely fantastic birth experience which I will try and write
up soon. In the mean time here's a quick summary. The total labor was
~12 hours. The first 9 hours we were at home actually enjoying ourselves.
W***** made me chocolate chip cookies and a big dinner. I talked on
the phone to my mom and girlfriends. Around 11pm my water broke with
a pop and a giant gush. From there things heated up quickly. Heather
rushed over and helped us get to the hospital. I was well into transition
by the time we got to the hospital and Maya was born just over 2 hours
later. I didn't even get officially admitted to the hospital until after
the birth. At different times I found the labor both easier and harder
than I expected. I Best of luck to everyone else. Erica's story was amazing and very encouraging! I can't wait to hear everyone elses experiences. -Chandra"
The rest I really don't have a time frame for. The surges became more and more intense. My birth song was a deep moaning. I did a great job relaxing between surges as well as during. My doula did a great job making sure I was relaxed by stroking my shoulders and arms as I tensed up. She also helped me maintain a deep, guttural song versus a high pitched one by bringing me back down when my moaning became to loud. I
labored on a yoga mat with my body draped over the birthing ball. My
doula then kept suggesting we change positions. We moved to sitting
on the birthing ball which was very intense but I quickly settled into
it and began to enjoy this position. Next she had me 'marching' between
surges and when the surge hit I Dr.
Thompson came in and they asked if I would like to deliver on all 4s.
I said yes, please! I knew the baby was big and with the intensity I
felt the need to push the baby out. Sorry but there was no breathing
this baby out! With each surge I took a deep breath and put all of my
breath into my uterus. Afterwards I 9 pounds 13 ounces of baby, 14.5 inch head, 21 inches long, not one tear, no episiotomy and no drugs. Gavin also had his hand at the side of his face and the cord was wrapped around his neck once. I
am so amazed I did it, and with such a large baby! I attribute this
to: There is my birth story.... I hope everyone's is at least as amazing as mine! .... Erica"
I was pretty happy with how the relaxation practices kept me as much in control and *relatively* pain free as it did. The story: My membranes broke/started leaking on Monday afternoon while shopping. We went into the hospital on Monday night, where the midwife let us wait and see if contractions would start on their own by the next morniamp;ng. They didn't, and after some unhelpful nipple stimulation, we agreed for me to start a pitocin drip at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. The staff was really great about using as little pitocin as possible to achieve the desired effect, but I ended up being on the IV the entire labor & delivery. Laura
was born a very healthy little girl at 11:07 p.m. that evening. Thanks
to the hypnobirthing practice and a great hospital staff who led me
through variety of positions to find what worked best for me, I was
able to do it without narcotics/epidural. And even the next day I was
starting to imagine a little brother or sister for her, so my labor
must have gone well!" Samantha ***** ******* arrived at 3:17pm on Dec. 17th!!! She weighed 8lbs, 7oz and was 20 1/2 in. long. We went to the hospital around 3a.m. and we turned the lights down and put on my relaxing cd's. I
threw up twice after pretty strong SURGES...I asked for something to
take the edge off around 9am...the Dilantin (?) put me to sleep between
the surges...I got in the shower twice...and just kept imagining us
in Around
2:30ishp.m. I was started to do the "j" breathing...the nurse
called Dr. Binford pretty fast after that! J***
was able to cut the cord about 25 minutes later!! He couldn't believe
it happened so fast!
"I did not have time to use tapes and ended up laboring alone in the delivery room (long story-I sent husband out for birth ball, but baby came fast). Heard the words 'I am happy my baby is coming to me, my body knows what to do' and completely remembered and used those phrases from the tapes to stay relaxed and happy through the labor. Worked beautifully! Baby came early (3wks 6days), but we stayed calm throughout and had a joyful birthing experience. Most helpful during my birthing was being left in a dark quiet room on my own to focus on relaxation techniques. Next time I would not have the heplock-it was irritating and ultimately unnecessary." Notes from HBCT: Allison's nurse did not think she was in active labor because she was so relaxed, but wouldn't let her leave the hospital because her membranes had released. She left Allison alone to sleep until morning and in that peace Allison labored beautifully for only four hours. Here is the email I received from a friend of hers about the birth: "I received a call from Allison yesterday evening (23:00). She was in the recovery room at the Round Rock hospital after giving birth to Henry! I was already sleeping when she called me, so I felt like I was dreaming the whole thing, but it happened. She had a wonderful, short, painless birth (no epidural and no episiotomy). Jim unfortunately missed the birth by ten minutes; since Allison sent him home to get some pillows (he will hear that story forever). They were so happy and excited yesterday that we can only be as happy and as excited for them too! Congratulations!"
I just wanted to let you know the latest happenings in the S***** baby affair. I had my week 39 doctor’s appointment yesterday and I was 6 cm / 90% effaced and 0 station. Week
36 – 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, -1 station Yesterday morning the doctor on call wanted to monitor my surges and the heartbeat of the baby for an hour in the OBGYN office to see if I had to go to the hospital. She decided I needed to go to the hospital, since I was contracting every 3 to 5 minutes (with no pain tough). There we went… with all our bags (ALL of them!). We (Yvan, my parents and Yvan’s brother) spent a nice afternoon in the hospital playing board games. Again, they monitored my surges and baby’s heartbeat with the same results then in the morning at the OBGYN office. Since I was playing board games instead of being in pain with every surge they let me go home after approximately 4 hours in the delivery room. We laughed pretty hard when all five of us left the hospital again with all our bags, cameras, boppy pillows, gatorades and so on. At least we know now where to put all that stuff in the room for next time, and I filled out all the paper work and answered all the registration questions. Since I am going to reach week 40 next week I would like to try acupuncture next week to try to get things going here. Do you have a name and contact information of an acupuncturist in town who could try to get things going for me? I
appreciate your help and talk to you soon, Notes
from HBCT: Nicole gave birth to Quentin during the first
week of January which I believe put her right at 41 weeks. She arrived
at the hospital at 7cms and had 4 hours of labor, ending in a natural
birth. This birth is such a testament to saying "no" to induction
and waiting for baby to arrive in his own time. Nicole's mom came to
town from Switzerland and went home without seeing her grandson becasue
mommy waited for baby. What a wonderful story! I
wanted to go slowly breathing her down. The nurse was giving me Lamaze
breathing tips and I told her, "I'm not going to listen to you,
I am going to listen to her," talking about Heather. Well then
Zionna's heart rate dropped down to 40. You have to push the doctor
explained. I looked at Heather to get a confirmation and started pushing
like crazy. I pushed once and it didn't work, pushed a second time while
letting out a scream at the top of my lungs. It wasn't working. Someone
said "take the energy from your scream and push." So, for
a third time I concentrated on pushing her out with all my might and
this time Zionna entered the world. Notes from Heather: Actually, the baby had already turned when the nurse checked Heathir and found her to be at 10cm. I estimate that baby turning was the reason she progressed so quickly. Heathir was amazing during her birth, speaking to her baby and asking her to turn. It was a beautiful birth that I was honored to be a part of. This is a great example of how pain is an indication of a problem and not a necessity of labor. In this case it was baby being in a posterior position.
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