| Ben's Birth |
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Benjamin Michael Lee – April 15th, 2006 6lbs 5oz, 20 + ½ inches Ben is my first baby, so I have no previous experiences to compare it to, but this is how the birth went… Wednesday April 12th at night I woke up 5 times at irregular periods, feeling little pressure waves that lasted 15 to 30 seconds each. I didn’t think much of it other than the fact it was probably my body preparing itself for Ben’s arrival in a few weeks time (April 14th would mark the end of the 37th week). The same thing happened Thursday night. Friday morning, I had my scheduled OB appointment, and the doctor confirmed my thoughts that they were ‘pre-birthing waves’. I didn’t have an internal exam, because it is common practice at my OB office for internals to begin at week 38. I went back to work after my appointment, and noticed that the waves were randomly occurring throughout the day as well. Friday evening, my husband and I went out to dinner with some friends of ours (nothing spicy!), and I was still experiencing the waves. By now, they had increased in duration and lasted 45 seconds to one minute, and were occurring 15 minutes apart. I was not using my hypnobabies light switch at this time, because the waves were very mild, and I was sitting in the middle of a restaurant. When we got home, my husband and I went to bed, and starting timing the waves. They increased in intensity a little, so I began using my hypnobabies techniques, including switching off, listening to my Special Place CD, and asking my husband to use the ‘Relax’ cue (which we had changed to ‘Serenity’). After a few hours, the waves were lasting well over a minute, and were taking place 5 minutes apart. Once they had been 5 minutes apart for an hour, I called my OB office (I had tested positive for Strep B, and they told me to go to the hospital if my water broke or when my pressure waves were 5 minutes apart, so that they could give me antibiotics). I still wasn’t sure that this was ‘the real thing’, because the sensation of the waves had not changed. The doctor on call was one of only two at my practice I had not seen before. He asked me if I could smile or talk through the waves, and I thought – sure! So, he told me to wait an hour, and if they were still 5 minutes apart, to go to the hospital. He said that the worse that could happen would be that they would examine me, find out it’s not time yet, and send me home. We waited another hour, the waves were now 4 minutes apart, but still just as easy to get through. I called my doctor back, and he told us to go to the hospital to get checked out. We got to the hospital at 2:45am, and were shown to Triage. There were other women in there already, apparently further along than me, and in obvious pain. My husband and I kept repeating “bubble of peace, bubble of peace” and waited for the nurse to come check me out. At 3:30am, I was given an internal, and it was determined that I was 4 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. So, we knew it was the real deal, and they got us a birthing room. They also put in a hep lock and gave me the antibiotics for Strep B. They told me I would need another course of meds in 8 hours, and I laughed and said I didn’t plan on still being there at that time. I was, however, a little upset because I didn’t get the chance to bake cookies for the nurses, and I had only just reached 37 weeks, so I hadn’t listened to the birthing affirmations CD or the Birth Day CD. I had brought the Birth Day CD with me to listen to at the hospital, but I found that I was already so wrapped up in the moment that I didn’t pay much attention to it. The OB on duty had received my birth plan (which was signed by my OB, who was out on vacation). He commented that he disagreed with my request not to have a pitocin shot after the birth, and the nurse explained that they might need to give me it in case of emergency. I told her that I didn’t object to having pitocin administered if there was a medical need and I was in danger, but that I would appreciate the opportunity to let the bleeding slow naturally on its own first. With that out of the way, they had no other objections to anything in my birth plan, and we went back to the matter at hand. I had fully intended to use a birthing ball, and squatting bar, and to be fully mobile and walking around, but once I saw the bed, I just wanted to lie on my side to be comfortable. So, that’s what I did. My husband stood by me the whole time and encouraged me with Hypnobabies prompts. He did an awesome job, and I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have been nearly as easy without him. Our nurse was great, and kept commenting on how relaxed I seemed. I didn’t stay in hypnosis the whole time; I just switched off whenever I felt a birthing wave come on. At 5:00am, the OB examined me again, and I was at 6cm. I joked with him about conforming with his ‘one centimeter an hour’ policy, and he laughed and said that he liked compliant patients J At 6:20am, I had a pressure wave that felt unlike any other, and it was very obvious to me that my water had just broken. The nurse checked me quickly and said that everything looked great – the water was clear, and that I might notice that the waves would now become more intense. I don’t think I was fully prepared for just how much the sensation was about to change, and it caught me off guard. At this point, I experienced problems keeping my focus, and my husband had to remind me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. I also started to feel intense pressure in my lower back; I thought that maybe I was experiencing back labor, but I really didn’t feel like getting out of bed and doing belly lifts. Luckily, my mother-in-law had arrived by this point, and she did an awesome job of rubbing my back during the waves as they gained intensity. The nurse had told me not to bear down yet, because it was only an hour and a half since I was 6cm, and the OB hadn’t had chance to examine me recently. Shortly after that, I was struck by a huge urge to poop. (Sorry there’s no way to sugar-coat that!). I was totally not expecting that feeling and it threw me for a loop. I began insisting that I be allowed to get up and use the toilet. The attending medical staff very politely informed me that would not be possible at that moment in time. They kept telling me it was the baby I was feeling, not the urge to use the toilet. For whatever reason, I wouldn’t listen to them because I was so paranoid about pooping on the bed at the same time that I pushed out the baby. After another few minutes talking about this subject, the OB told me he wanted to examine me again. At the exact same moment, the pressure waves built in intensity again, and began arriving one on top of the other. I really didn’t want and internal at that time, and was lying on my side with my legs closed. The doctor must have thought I was very stubborn! He gave me a few minutes to get through it and find a suitable break during which he could examine me, but I didn’t think there was going to be a break any time in the immediate future, so I let him check me out any way. He confirmed that I was fully dilated and good to go, and informed me that I had already pushed my baby down a ways, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Things stepped up a bit then and I lost my focus again. However, I knew that the end was in sight and that soon I’d be able to hold my baby. I had trouble lifting my legs up and pulling back on them to open a pathway for Ben; I’m not sure why. But, within 10 minutes everything was all over, and I had given birth to my beautiful baby. I will admit that at the very end, I did scream one time. I think it was a combination of the anticipation and intensity and emotion and everything else, but I had achieved my goal of an un-medicated hospital birth, and had a beautiful, healthy, ALERT baby boy. I did tear, but didn’t feel it. They took 10 minutes to stitch me up and I promptly birthed the placenta. The bounce-back factor was huge. I wasn’t physically tired, even though technically I’d been up the whole night without sleep (let alone the fact that I’d had a baby). I was up and about almost immediately, and I didn’t end up needing their standard shot of pitocin, either. Ben was doing equally great. It was the single most amazing experience of my life. One that I got to share intimately with my husband, who was the best Hypnoguardian I could have hoped for J I had decided very early on in my pregnancy that I was going to give birth on a Friday evening, right after work, and that it would take 3 hours so that I could be done in time to watch Stargate (kind of a running joke in our family). As it turns out, it was a Friday evening, albeit 3 weeks early, and the actual birthing time in hospital was a little over 4 hours, so I think that counts as being pretty close. To cut a very long story short, Hypnobabies worked for me for the following reasons: 1) The Pregnancy Affirmations are GREAT. I listened to the CD a little every day on my way to work. I got my Easy, Fast, and (mostly) Comfortable birth. 2) The Serenity (Relax) cue was invaluable. I could really feel the tension melt away whenever my husband put his hand on my shoulder. The effect was a little muted the further into my birthing time I got, but it was definitely still there and it made a huge difference. 3) Positive frame of mind and fear release – I did not have apprehensions about any negative birth experiences going into the hospital, which helped to keep me relaxed and calm. 4) It gave me the strength from within to have an un-medicated birth that would give my son the best start in life for him. I think I might have been better prepared for the transition portion of the birth, if I had the opportunity to listen to the Birth Guide CD and Birthing affirmations. I didn’t realize Ben was in such a hurry to make his big appearance! I fell asleep listening to the Hypnobabies CDs and scripts almost every time, but I don’t think that had any negative effect on my experience. I do feel like I should have practiced my Center Switch more often, however. I did do finger drops, but I didn’t really practice walking around with my switch in center. I guess I can work on that for the next one J And finally, THANK YOU BARBIE! Barbie Paine is an awesome Hypnobabies Coach, and we couldn’t have done this without her.
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