Michaels Birth

Erin's First Birth in 2002

read her 2nd birth here

read her 3rd birth here

It's not the "ideal" birth story, but hypnobirthing definitely made the first
26 hours of labor a piece of cake!

On Tuesday (6/11) at 6pm, I had my weekly appointment.  The doctor did an
internal exam, and got "his game face on" (as dh put it).  He told us that
I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced and to go to the hospital if surges got 
to be 5 minutes apart.  This was a shock to me as I was not "due" for 
another 11 days.  Sure enough, an hour later, I started to notice that 
"Braxton-Hicksy" feeling was coming regularly, every 20 minutes.  Denial 
set in, and I kept telling DH it wasn't really labor.

Surges continued throughout the night, never really getting regular, although
the intervals went down to about 6 minutes apart.  I managed to get some sleep
in, but only about 4-5 hours worth.  Didn't think much of it because lately
the physical state of pregnancy had been keeping me from getting lots of
continuous sleep anyway.  I had scheduled another appointment with my doctor 
the following morning because he wanted to check up on me.  Sure enough, at 
my 9am appointment I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced.  Off to the hospital!

We checked into our labor-delivery room at around 10:30am.  Surges were
extremely manageable and I rested up for what was to come.  I listened
to my hypnosis tapes and put in some Hawaiian guitar music CDs to relax.
Every once in a while I would get up, go to the bathroom, or have something 
off the "menu of clear fluids" (Italian ice, juice, water).  I did a little
bit of walking around the hallways too, just to get a change of scenery.
When I was in the bed, DH says that I looked so peaceful that it was only 
through watching the fetoscope that he could tell when a surge was coming on.

Fast forward to about 7pm (according to DH...I was so into hypnosis that I 
lost all track of time).  The nurse came in and did an internal, which may
have caused some bleeding.  Then the doc came in and did the rupture of 
membranes (broke my water), because he was concerned about the bleeding and
wanted the baby's head to put pressure on my cervix where the bleeding was
occurring.  WHOA!  That really made surges EXTREMELY intense.  This was the
time that I really had to focus on relaxing, and in between surges, relaxation
came pretty easily.  But then I started to get that "MUST-PUSH-NOW" feeling
soon after.  DH called the nurse in, and she did an internal exam and stated
that I had about 3 more cm to dilate before I could push.

This was the *most* difficult part of the whole process for me-- to deny my
body's overwhelming urges to push and bear down.  I admit, that I lost focus
during the surges and was groaning very loudly in that low register (I look
back and can't believe how I must have sounded!), but in between surges, DH 
claims that I went back into some sort of relaxed state (I can't remember 
specifics-- only that it felt like surges were coming one after the other).

We went through about half an hour of this before I was given the go-ahead to
push.  Initially I was doing the "breathing down," but eventually ended up
doing the "pushing."  No counting to 10 though-- we'd push with each surge and
I remember telling myself to take deep breaths to give myself (and the little
guy) enough oxygen.  Pushing felt good at this point and I felt more proactive.

After about 45 minutes, little Michael came out.  He weighed in at 8lb, 5 oz,
and was 21 1/2 inches long.  Amazingly, no episiotomy was necessary (let's 
hear it for perineal massage!), but I had some internal vaginal and labial 
tearing, so I still needed to get stitches (didn't escape the stitching 
experience after all).

It was at this point that I completely lost hypnosis control and for the first
time in the whole birthing process, the word "pain" entered my mind.  It was
definitely because of the fear factor (the doctor immediately became very
concerned and was ordering another nurse into the room-- I could sense that
something was going on and I wasn't expecting any of it).  In addition, the
local anasthetic injection that he used didn't quite affect all of the areas
he was stitching (ouch!).  I look back and realize that I could have handled
it better if I relaxed and remembered my hypnosis techniques.

But the stitching process was over relatively quickly and I got to breastfeed
soon after.  The three of us were left alone for a little while to bond.

The hypnobirthing was an incredible tool for Michael's birth.  There were 
times during the birthing that were extremely intense and overwhelming 
physically, but I managed to cope with 26 hours with NO problem at all.  Not
having any preconceived notions about the birthing process, I came out of
it thinking, what's the big deal that people make about giving birth?  Sure
it was uncomfortable towards the end, but I *was* pushing out a baby!!!  Even
though the experience after the birth was unpleasant, overall I'm very happy
with how everything went.  I didn't have any drugs because I never felt the
need for any!

So far, little Michael's been a very good baby, and he sleeps extremely well
(a little *too* well sometimes!!!  You know how hard it is to breastfeed a
baby who refuses to wake up?)  But the hypnosis techniques I've learned have
also helped me to get "micro-rest" in between some of those feedings.

I think my birth experience was very positive and although I'm not ready to
rush into giving birth again anytime soon, I know that natural childbirth is
extremely do-able.  All it takes is the right frame of mind (and relaxation)!