I began my Hypnobabies journey at 24 weeks pregnant, using the 6 week in person study with Madison, Hypnobabies instructor and my doula; I followed the course faithfully and transitioned to the maintenance schedule every day for the rest of my pregnancy (I was consistent with joyful pregnancy affirmations daily and on average missed one night a week of evening audio during my maintenance time but still made sure I didn’t miss any of the tracks).
I experienced daily consistent practice waves beginning at 36 weeks. My practice waves became a little stronger and more consistent two days before I gave birth. On Sunday, January 26th (40 w 2 d) I had a feeling I was going to give birth on Monday as I was feeling changes in the waves and like baby was continuing to drop. I spent the day with my mom and husband, light house cleaning, resting and working a puzzle that I had bought specifically for my birthing time, it was very relaxing. We listened to birthing day affirmations while working the puzzle. Before bed I did the Miles Circuit and played Yahtzee with my husband and mom. I woke up at 2:30 am with practice waves 5-8 min apart, they were different that what I had felt before so I knew my birthing day was beginning. I got up and used the bathroom and walked around the house for about 10 min. I laid back down and listened to your birthing time begins, I text my doula to keep her in the loop at 3:45 and listened to deepening your hypnosis which helped me fall back asleep for a bit. I told my husband around 5 am that it was going to be our birthing day and we cuddled for a bit. At 6 we got up and he made me eggs and toast. We slowly started to get ready the day and I stayed distracted picking up around the house and did a little laundry. Between 6:30 and 7 I started to lose more of my mucous plug/some bloody show and strength of the waves were building. By 7:30 my waves were become more consistent at 4 to 5 min apart, I was still moving around comfortably listening to birthing day affirmations and leaning on the counter and going into deeper hypnosis with my off switch for each wave and moving back into center. By 8 am I was consistent with waves at 4 min apart and at least one minute in length and had my doula head to the house. My waves were building quickly over the next 30 min and I was getting deeper and into my own space, less conversation between waves. By 8:30 I was feeling ready to go to the hospital, my doula arrived by 8:40 and agreed that it was not too early go. I listened to easy first stages in my headphones on the way to the hospital and my mom kept her hands on my shoulders to help me keep more relaxed during waves. I barely remember the drive to the hospital as I was deep into my own space at that point. We checked in and got back to triage at 9:30. I immediately went to the bathroom and started to vomit without warning, I continued to have Hypnobabies on in my ear buds. I remember My doula told me this was good vomiting was a sign transition was near. After getting cleaned up a nurse checked my progress, I had my headphones in and did not hear the conversation but I was 5 cm dilated. I was moved to L&D after the doctor came in. Bloody show was increasing and I started to get the shakes. I spent most of my time laying on my left side over the next two hours, my mom and my husband were rubbing on me and giving my counter pressures. My doula would hold my hand and coach me through waves. Deepening your hypnosis was playing in the background. I got up to use the bathroom and started to feel the urge to push, they checked and I still had a little lip. I chose to move into hands and knees position after this and found comfort on my knees with the head of the bed elevated and arms resting on the top of the bed. Pushing baby out track was amazing, I felt very in sync with the messages on this track. I was feeling aware enough to want to try to catch my baby, I reached down and felt him crowning which was amazing. As I continued to push I felt the sensation that I was going to tear, I expressed this fear to my doula and she coached me through allowing my body to stretch and helped me to keep my pushing tones low. I was able to relax well on the head of the bed between pushes and stay comfortable. The doctor ended up catching my baby as the sensation got very strong and she had to unwrap the cord. The relief of the baby and the fluids exiting my body was like nothing I had ever felt before. Turning around to meet my baby and have him on my chest was the most joy and comfort and I had ever experienced. Between Hypnobabies, my Hypnobabies doula and the loving support of my husband and my mom I had a beautiful, amazing and comfortable birthing experience!! My birthing day was so positive and full of joy! P.S my guess date based on US was 1/24, my guess date was 1/27, during my visualization track I often felt that it would snow on my babies birthday. He was born on 1/27 at 12:30 pm and it snowed later that evening :)
2 Comments
So! Team green Turned...
Ok, let’s get to the story. I was having Braxton Hicks which developed into prodromal birth waves early Sunday morning. They were like 2-4 mins apart and lasted like 30 sec. I’d been on pelvic/bed rest due to an irritable uterus for about 15 weeks and since 36 weeks it has been lifted. Since I was no longer on rest, I decided that I would walk when I had the chance. My husband and I were going to stores, doing last minute pick ups and throughout the entire morning, I was having those waves. I was literally stopping traffic in aisles lol the discomfort wasn’t too bad but I did have to do some focusing. Around mid afternoon they just stopped 🤷🏾♀️ We had some sex that night. I woke up to pee so many times I couldn’t count. Then at around 5 am Monday morning, I’d gotten back into bed after a peepee run and I don’t know if grunted or what, but fluid kind of spewed out of me. I got up to go pee again. Then I was thinking “maybe it was just left overs from last night... I did clean things up enough...🤷🏾♀️” got back into bed it was almost time to get up. My husband got up a few mins later and so did I. I started telling him what happened and more started to leak out. I was in denial though. He asked me was I ready and I cried a little bit and said “I don’t know! ” with a rag between my legs. Called my doctor and she wanted to confirm so she told me to come on in at 9 when the clinic opened since I had an appointment already later on that day. This is around 6 am. We started to pack things up, put stuff in the car and my husband stopped by his job until the clinic had opened. I didn’t have any pads to catch the fluid so... I used one of my baby’s cloth diaper prefolds worked like a charm. When we got to the clinic around 10, they did my last ultrasound to make sure things were ok and took my vitals. My doctor checked my cervix. She needed a baseline to make sure I was progressing. We’d already discussed it prior to. Let’s do a flash back really quick. I have a bunch of fibroids inside and outside of my uterus. Some had amazing blood flow, some could have potentially been in the way where baby couldn’t descend and all of them could have prevented my uterus from waving like it should in order to push baby down. My doctor did not want to do a C-section on me because of where the fibroids were. We needed a vaginal birth. So when I came into the office and my waters were no longer intact, she knew that that check would be one of few that would be done because they did not want to put me at anymore risk of infection. I was about a half cm. She sent me to the hospital and told me to use nipple stimulation/pump to induce birth waves. The next options would be Cytotec or Pitocin. Cytotec would not be an option for me. 🏾♀️ She also called the hospital and told them I was coming and to have a pro natural birth nurse waiting on me. On the way to the hospital, we made a pit stop. See, I was supposed to have a home birth, but due to the fibroid situation, plans changed. I’d fallen in love With my midwife team so I made sure to keep them updated and usually called them first lol she made sure to tell me to eat a high protein meal before I went in. We bought a whole rotisserie chicken, hummus and pretzels and I had some crackers. I ate a leg quarter then we still took the rest of the chicken up to our room. I was determined not to starve. That was the second best decision of my birth. The first was choosing Hypnobabies. I’ll get to that later. We got checked in, they wanted to hook me up to the saline lock. My doc and I had already discussed that as well. Since I had so many fibroid issues, it was important that I be ready in case I hemorrhaged and needed medicine to stop any bleeding. My Hypnobabies came in handy. Anyone who knows me knows that hospitals, injections, blood draws and needles can have me acting a plum fool. So I turned on my fear clearing track and allow someone to stick me not just once (and I didn’t even look! I always look), but twice. They had to place the catheter in for the lock and then draw more blood for the lab for if I needed blood. I was quite fascinated with myself. I even told my husband he could leave me to go pick up our breast pump. The hospital would not provide us with one to use for the purpose of induction. Third best decision I made was having that breast pump. Anyone who’s having a hospital birth, take your pump with you just in case you need it for the purpose I needed mine for. I hadn’t even opened it yet. I was given a birth ball that really didn’t work out because it was a bit too small. But I still used it until someone was able to come change it out. I got to work pumping on and off. One at a time, 15 mins on each. I switched it up when my nurse suggested I do 15 on each then break for 30. I continued to eat when I was hungry. I drank LOTS of water. Hypnobabies was amazing during the first stages of my birth time. I was able to sleep through birth waves multiple times listening to the tracks and would wake up rejuvenated on my own ready to pump, use the birth ball and walk the halls to help baby move down. I sat in the tub a few times and it really helped. Fell asleep there every time. My nurse made sure to remind me to relax my pelvic floor. That was one of the most difficult things to do because it involved being intentional throughout the birth waves. By the next day, I’d have it down. I allowed the nurse to check my cervix at 8 pm Monday evening to see if I’d progressed. I was at about a 2-3 and she could feel baby’s hair. She offered to stretch the membrane but I wasn’t ready for that. I kept doing my routine. At I think midnight she checked again and I was at about 5-6. I allowed her to stretch my membrane to 6 (or what her fingers measured at 6). Might I also add that she allowed me to wipe with a wipe that helped minimize the transfer of any bacteria every time. My temp was also checked periodically (to monitor for infection) and baby was monitored 20 mins break 40. At one point sitting on a birth chair made baby’s heart rate drop. When my nurse changed shifts, she left me with another amazing nurse whom I’d met before. I slept from about 6 am Tuesday, until probably 7:30-8 am. I did use a sleep mask and listened to my Hypnobabies track. Apparently my doctor and new nurse had come to check on me and was astounded that I was asleep and let me get some rest. I woke up on my own ready to go again. Didn’t really have an appetite but I tried to eat a banana. I took another bath hoping it would help baby move down. Pumped some more and we noticed the baby’s heart rate drop with each back to back wave. I was having them but they weren’t strong enough. I took one last hot bath then my nurse checked me around 11am and I was just at 6 fully from her finger measurements. We discussed Pitocin. The plan was to start at the lowest dosage and see what happens. I was given the sugar water in my arm and then at 11:30 am the P Drip started. Those waves were really becoming intense. The toilet was my friend and it was hard because I had to be unplugged from monitors in order to go to the bathroom. Two times I peed in the bed on the absorbency mat. It got harder to do that because my brain was saying no. I wasn’t comfortable on the birth ball anymore. I hated the bed and had to lower the bottom half and stay on my knees. Pitocin was bumped to the next dosage a hour later. By this time, I was very very very very vocal. I made sure to be intentional about my facial expressions and tried my hardest to keep my tone low. Couldn’t do high pitches. I stopped listening to my Hypnobabies tracks. I instead listened to a relaxing track I’d fallen in love with on a loop. There were a few instances where my words wouldn’t form. I was still alert and aware though. I started to shake uncontrollably and felt extremely uncomfortable and my husband pulled the emergency tab in the bathroom. Nurses rushed in. By this time I was naked naked. Clothes had become uncomfortable. They had to bring warm blankets for me. At around 3, my nurse asked it I wanted to be checked again. I said yes. I was still at a 6, BUT this time, I was like 98% effaced. She said paper thin. I wasn’t disappointed but more so determined. I couldn’t be in that bed anymore. I wanted to walk and move. The waves were coming back to back with about a minute in Between. One of my Hypnobabies tracks has affirmations that 20 mins will feel like 5. I think that’s what was happening by this time. My husband was a trooper. He kissed me, made me feel beautiful and sexy (even smacked me on the booty a few times- how appropriate ), tried your help me stick to Hypnobabies, pushed my hips in during pressure waves. He did an amazing job. The hip thing really helped!!! So it’s around 3, my nurse got the birth chair ready for me to sit on because I didn’t want the bed. It’s a stool with a hole inside. After a few waves of sitting there I felt something shift. Like to the point where I couldn’t keep quiet during a wave and my legs would work right. I couldn’t sit anymore. Kept telling myself that “it’s only temporary. It’s only Temporary.” I told my husband he needed to make me a pallet on the floor. I wanted to be on the floor extremely bad. He and the nurse made me a space close to the monitors. Within a few minutes, I was hyperventilating which caused the baby’s heart rate to drop so she told me I had to get up off of the floor and into the bed because I needed oxygen. “I can’t.” She said “yes you can.” But I really couldn’t. I had begun to feel pressure but I think I was questioning it because it didn’t feel like the description of having to poop. It felt like the need to push and I wasn’t telling her because I didn’t know exactly what it was. I kept losing the sensation. Then all of a sudden her and my husband picked me up (all 220 lbs) and put me in bed. She gave me the oxygen while I was starting to push. See she’d just called the doctor to tell her that I was 6 cm but I was effaced at 3. This all started happening at around 3:40! All of a sudden, a thousand nurses came into the room. Not students, nurses. I’m in the bed holding back grunts trying to breathe through the next waves and not push baby out like they’re saying because the doctor wasn’t there yet. I told my husband to put on the final Hypnobabies track to push baby out. I couldn’t even hear the words. I just knew that voice. I was so alert and aware and Unafraid. I was asking questions in between waves. They asked if I wanted my head back further and I said no. I told them that it didn’t feel right in a certain position. One nurse pulled my leg up so I was in a somewhat side laying position. My nurse could see baby’s hair and my husband was talking me through it. They called the hospitalist because my doctor wasn’t there yet. I still remained calm. She introduced herself. I already knew who she was. She had doubts. I didn’t want her but I remained calm. Then I looked over at the door and what do ya know, my doctor suited up and ready with her jolly self. They were saying not to push and I was trying not to. I started breathing through it. They said baby’s heart rate was dropping. I looked at the monitor and say that it was in the 80s. They were suggesting I push outside of a wave. My words: “I’m trying to get my mind right. Hold on” I was not about to push through without a wave although my doctor was doing perineal massaging. Baby was still in the 80s and I knew whoever I would meet would be fine. On the next wave, I pushed and embraced ever sensation with wonder because it wasn’t what I expected. It felt amazing! When I did feel the “stretching” it felt like a bandaid being ripped off really quickly and that was it. I felt the head come out, then the shoulders and body and nothing hurt. I was amazed. I could do it over and over again. On October 8 at 3:58 pm, Baby came out in 1 push weighing 6 pounds, 9 oz and measuring at 20 inches long. They put him on my chest and we didn’t know who we were meeting at first and then my husband opened his legs and said “It’s a dingaling!” We got a Baby boy! The cord turner white pretty quickly and he was able to cut the cord. He yelled at us for about 30 secs and then was fine. I cried because I couldn’t believe I had done it. I had a baby despite all odds against me. People doubted but I didn’t. I knew God had me. God shocked the whole floor. I didn’t have anymore pressure waves because the Pitocin was stopped before pushing. My placenta wasn’t budging. I could hear doc saying that the fibroids were probably in the way. So nurse came over to push on my belly and it released. My placenta was very small once it came out. Most likely why the cord turned white so quickly. It was about the size of a medium-large hand. I have a miracle baby. Those fibroids were most likely taking most of the blood supply when the placenta was forming. He pooped on his way out. Had a head full of hair and poop lol They pushed on my belly some more to make sure I wasn’t bleeding excessively. They could feel so many different fibroids inside of me and they all were so impressed. They left me on Pitocin just in case I did hemorrhage. I got checked every 4 hours during my 2 day stay. Made sure my uterus was going back down to size with no problem and checking my vitals. I didn’t get much sleep. My adrenaline was on 1000 after everything and I didn’t really crash until about 12 hours later. I still couldn’t rest well because I don’t like hospitals and kept waking up to check on my baby even though dad was there. My doctor said that she wouldn’t recommend I get the fibroids removed because I’d have to get C-sections after. She also said that in the future, I’d most likely not have to get Pitocin because my uterus knows what to do now. She said I should be able to have a home birth next time! Welcome Samuel K. Turner II to the world! He is a breastfeeding baby too! Working on the latch though. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2020
Categories |