Jack was born on 9/14 at 6 lbs 14 oz and 20"

I began the Hypnobabies home course at 30 wks, at 32 wks I took a 2
wk break from it while on vacation and restarted up at 34 wks until
the end. I'm a FTM and did take one 3-hr birthing class with my
husband at around 28 weeks. I have to admit I was not a good
student, I tried to listen to my discs daily (didn't always work
out) but rarely practiced my finger drop and can probably count on
two hands the times I practiced the eyes wide open finger drop and
never quite figured out the bubble of peace... I wasn't overly
nervous about the birth (more nervous about what I would do when I
brought the baby home!) though unsure if the Hypnobabies would
work. My husband tried to be supportive and would read his script
when I asked, but was also skeptical and asked a few times if we
shouldn't try to prepare in other ways which I would tell him (non-
too confidently) that he needed to be supportive...

Well my edd was 9/18, on 9/14 (I should note that on 9/10 I was
dilated to a 1) I finished making the crib skirt and roman shades
for the babies room (over-ambitious, procrastinator!) at 9:30 pm and
indulged in 1/2 pint of Ben & Jerry's... and went to bed about
10:30. At midnight when my dh came to bed, I got up to pee (of
course!) and while I was peeing it almost felt like my vagina
sneezed and I remember peeing for a long time but not thinking
anything odd. Well from then on I started getting bad diarreah
(sp?) type cramps and kept getting up to use the bathroom. I told
my dh that the ice cream wasn't agreeing with me, not sure that this
was actually labor. I tried to sleep when not using the br, but
finally about 2:30 they were bad enough that it hurt to roll over
and I couldn't get comfortable (still I wasn't sure if this was
actual or false labor, so I kept trying to move during contractions
to figure out if the lessened -- which they didn't!) and decided to
take a bath. I laid in the bath tub and listed to my easy birthing
cd for about an hour. After that I tried to do the dishes, but
found that I needed to go and sit on the birthing ball every 3-4
minutes or so, so I decided to wake up my dh to start timing the
contractions. Well, they were about 3 minutes apart, so I called my
ob/gyn (about 4:30 now) who said that I still sounded pretty good on
the phone, so I should wait until I couldn't talk through a
contraction... so I tried to get comfortable and wait it out. My dh
still timed the contractions and they were 1 min. long, 3 mins
apart. Just after 5:00 I decided to take a shower and wash my hair
(I didn't want dirty hair at the hospital!) and kept having to
crouch down in the shower and was bleeding, so when I got out I told
my dh we had to go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital about 6:00 and as soon as we walked up to the
desk I asked the nurses to use the restroom, and I could see them
roll their eyes at me like "oh no, here's another first timer" I was
so nervous about being only dilated a little and having to god-
forbid get sent home and you could just sense that that was what
they were thinking as well... Well they got me in the bed and hooked
me up and were checking to see how far along I was when the nurse
said the dreaded words "your only at about a 3 - but I have never
felt such a strange cervix... " though she said she'd have to admit
me probably anyways because the baby was showing some stress. Well
she checked me again and then called in another nurse to check me,
because she couldn't figure out what she was feeling ... well the
other nurse came in and said - "she's fully dilated to a 10 and
that's the head your feeling!!" . All of a sudden everyone got a
whole lot nicer to me...

They then called my Ob and I asked for an epidural... feeling
slightly bad about it, but the nurses and my dh assured me that I
got through the roughest patch naturally and shouldn't feel bad...
they sent it the aesthetician (sp?) who said he would give me the
epidural though 95% of other drs. wouldn't give it to me at my
stage, but he felt confident it would be fine... The epidural
kicked in about 8 and we waited till my dr. showed up at about 9 to
start pushing. I pushed for 45 min. (which they turned the epi off
completely after about 20 min.) and then due to the babies heart
showing stress they vacuumed him out - he had the cord wrapped 2x
around his neck. But thankfully was healthy and kicking!

I have to admit that I don't feel bad at all about the epi, even
though I got to 10 on my own (imagine, i was probably washing my hair
or trying to do the dishes during transition!!) the pain seemed
worse in the hospital (maybe because everyone is watching you?). By
the time I was sent to the recovery
room, my story had made it to the nurses there who kept coming in to
see the first-timer who thought she was at a 3 and came in at 10!
they were all very impressed and said the Hypnobabies obviously
worked... which I have to agree that even though I was a horrible
student, the cd's worked their way into my unconcious-ness and
worked for me. As I type I'm realizing that I stopped listening as
soon as we got to the hospital, so maybe that too had something to
do with the pain level. But all the nurses were amazed at how calm
I was through the whole thing...

So that's little Jacks story - and hopefully it will give someone
else who might be a "Hypnobabies slacker" some hope that it too will
work for them!!!...

The only thing I will add that I wish I would have understood, is
that in the beginning of each track, when she tells you to breathe
in for 4 and out for a count of 8... that's what your supposed to
do in labor. I didn't quite get that and I was trying to do yoga
breath, but I think if i had been doing the counting at home during
the early stage of labor, it would of helped me when I got to the
hospital - but by then it was really hard to do, though my dh and
nurses definitely helped and talked me through it.

So that's my story!!! Sorry so long and included drugs, but
hopefully it will give someone some peace of mind!

Peaceful labors to you all and it's true what they say, now when I
look at my little guy I can't remember the pain at all - it was all
worth it and then some!

Jessica and Jack 9/14/06