Helen Isabel Rose
Born Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Weighing 8 lbs 6.5 ounces, 20.5 inches long

The Birth Story

The short version:
Hypnobabies saves the day! Vaginal birth, no pain meds. Premature
rupture of membranes, induced with pitocin, posterior baby (back
labor) turned (finally!) just before pushing, baby born with hand up
by face 14 hours after pitocin induced contractions started.

The whole story:
Where to start? I suspected early Friday morning that my water had
broken, but I wasn't sure. When my water broke with Henry it was
really obvious and this was fairly subtle, so I tried to ignore it.
But I continued to feel little leaks all day long and around 4:00 I
decided to call the midwife. She suggested I come in to test and see
if it was amniotic fluid I was feeling so I called Ryan and he came
home and we left for the hospital. I wasn't convinced I'd be checking
in, but I brought the bag I'd packed just in case.

Well, it turns out that my water had broken. Being that I was GBS+,
it was important that labor begin. We tried walking, nipple
stimulation, squatting, listening to my "Birthing Guide" hypnosis CD –
everything we could think of. Finally, I decided that if we were
going to go the induction route, I'd rather do it sooner than later
and around midnight we started a pitocin drip.

Now, I wanted a natural birth more than I've ever wanted anything.
I'd heard over and over that no one does pitocin without an epidural.
But I'd also read a couple of stories on the Hypnobabies board about
women who had had induced labors without pain medication. And a doula
friend of mine had told me a story of a woman on pitocin who didn't
feel labor until her water broke and she was ready to push. So I knew
that it was possible to do and I wanted to try.

They started the drip and I laid down to rest with my hypnosis CDs.
Ryan decided to get some sleep. They had to turn the drip up 3 time
before I started to feel anything stronger than the mild birthing
waves I'd been feeling before. Around 2 am I was feeling nice,
manageable waves. It felt good to feel something happening.

At 5am I woke up and called my mom and my sister to come and help
coach me through. I think they did my first cervix check around 6am.
I had instructed them not to inform me of any progress – I didn't
want to become discouraged or overly hopeful. They did tell my Ryan
though. The first time they checked I was at 5 cm. Helen was
posterior. No one told me that either, though I was beginning to
figure it out.

At that point the midwife said that I could come off of the pitocin
and see if my body would labor on it's own. I was really wanting to
get in the water and they said that was fine. I labored in the water
for a couple of hours. I was listening to my hypnosis tracks while my
mom and Ryan held my hands. When I'd have a pressure wave, Ryan would
use hypnosis cues to help me relax through them. After a couple of
hours, the midwife (a new midwife and nurse now since shift change)
suggested that I get out and try some more active positions for a
while to help baby get into a better position. They checked me again
and I was at 7. Helen was still posterior.

I started doing things you're supposed to do to turn an OP baby.
Squats. Walking with wide hip swings, "hula-ing" while leaning on
Ryan, rocking on the birth ball, pelvic rocks on hands and knees, one
leg up on the bed then the other. I tried every imaginable position
to get that girl to turn around. I started to get really tired. It
was afternoon by now and I'd been up all night and actively laboring
since about 2am. I was convinced that she was never going to be born
vaginally because I just didn't feel her moving down.

I was getting tired and discouraged and the pressure waves were
getting harder and harder to relax through. Somewhere around 3pm the
midwife checked me again. This time I had to know. I as at 9 with a
bulging bag of waters. Even though I had technically ruptured, it was
(presumably) a high, slow leak and so there was still a good cushion
around my little girl. The midwife said "the docs are starting to ask
about you." Not a good thing. I asked what she suggested. She
recommended going back on the pitocin to put some more "oomph" behind
contractions to force baby to turn.

So I mustered up every ounce of strength and courage I could find. I
wanted to quit. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted to ask for an
epidural. But no one suggested it (as per my birth plan!) and so
after some swearing and promising Helen a spanking once she was born
(I was totally kidding!, sort of . . . ) I put on my headphones,
cranked up the Hypnobabies "deepening" track on my MP3 player and got
settled in on my side.

They started the pitocin again. My husband held my hand, my mom held
hot compresses on my lower back and provided strong counterpressure
with each pressure wave. My nurse told me to go to sleep between
contractions. She said a person can go into a deep sleep in 1 to 2
minutes and get good rest that way. She told me she'd had an OP baby.
I asked her how she got through it. She said "one contraction at a
time and lots of support." I nodded, and went deep into hypnosis.

The next hour was intense. Thanks to all of the hypnosis practice I'd
done, I was able to go completely loose and limp between each
pressure wave. When a wave would hit, I would use my "Peace" cues,
breathe deeply and remind myself it was only one or two more breaths
before it would be over. Then I'd relax and feel completely
comfortable. I was singing through the waves so I could check myself.
I kept my tones low to help keep me relaxed.

After about an hour I felt different. I thought it would be a good
idea to get up on my hands and knees. Everyone said okay. I had a
good strong wave after getting on my hands and knees – the strongest
yet. I began the next wave with a good low moan but suddenly my body
took over and I heard my voice go high. My water broke with a splash
and I felt my little girl wiggle inside me. I believe it was at that
point that she finally turned around. I called out "She's coming!"
The midwife asked if I wanted her to check me and I said "I don't
think there's any point."

The next 10 minutes were the most amazingly intense minutes of my
entire life. There was no "urge to push", there was just pushing. My
body took over completely. I was roaring like a lion and screaming as
the waves came one on top of the other. I was kneeling and basically
sitting on her head and I knew I needed to get off of her. Forcing
myself back up was hard, but I did it. I gave into my body and let it
do it's thing. The midwife said "she's crowning." I pushed
again. "Her head is halfway out." I roared and screamed and pushed
some more. More instructions form the midwife "Don't let it out your
mouth, put it in your bottom." I pushed again. "Jessica, I need you
to push. Her head is halfway out." At this point I'm thinking "What
the &*$# do you mean push? What do you mean her head is halfway out?
This is supposed to be the easy part!" I closed my mouth and pushed.
Then I hear the midwife say "We've got a compound presentation." I'm
thinking, "What? What does that mean? That doesn't sound good!" I'm
trying my best to push, to follow the midwife's directions so as not
to tear, and to just get the baby out. "Her head is out. Push again."
I'm thinking, "good, one more push she'll be there." No such
luck. "Okay good, push again." AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!! I
finally felt the rest of her slip out of me and heard her start
crying.

My little girl decided to come into this world with her hand up next
to her face, making her circumference significantly larger than just
her head. Silly girl. Ryan started cleaning her up and then they
passed her to me between my legs. When I saw her, I forgave her and
decided not to spank her after all.

I flipped over to deliver the placenta and Helen took a little nap.
After a very brief snooze she woke up and while they stitched me up
she nursed. She latched on all by herself and nursed 20 minutes on
each side! I had some minor tearing along my old episiotomy scar, and
a labial tear that took once stitch – for cosmetic purposes.

So that's how Helen Isabel Rose came into this world. I am so
thankful for the support of my birth team, particularly my husband
and my mom. And I give a huge shout out to Hypnobabies because I
never could have done this without it. And I can almost guarantee
that had I had an epidural, her birth would have ended as a c-section
because I would not have been able to effectively push her out if I'd
been numb. The midwife told me that the doctors had said I would
never have this baby vaginally. I showed them!

For the Hypnobabies crowd:
I would not call this a pain free birth. I would not call it an easy
or a comfortable birth. But it was a natural birth that would not
have been possible without my Hypnobabies. I believe the keys to my
success were lots of practice and consciously choosing to use my
hypnosis when things got tough. And for those of you worry about
sleeping through your practice that turned out to be the key to my
birth! Also, reading lots and lots of birth stories. I drew on many
of your birth stories and many I'd read in Ina May
Gaskin's "Spiritual Midwifery" to get through this birth. Know that
you can do it. And it will be worth it!