Nolan Robert's Birth

After 5 hours of labor, Nolan Robert was born at 4:04pm on August 30, 2006.  It was truly the happiest day of my life.  And I owe so much to hypnobabies.  Although my birth wasn't a NCB, it was exactly what I had wanted from my birthing experience and I'd like to share my story.

 

I went in on August 30th at 7 am for a scheduled induction, since Nolan was way past due at this point.  I had an amazing nurse who loved the idea of hypnobabies!  I got hooked up and after some minor coaxing, contractions started at around 11am.  I walked the halls, listened to my birth guide and sat on my birthing ball until around 1.  Let me tell you, the birth guide was purely amazing.  Although I can't say my labor was by any stretch pain free at this point, I felt completely relaxed and in control of the situation.  At 1pm I was checked and was 5cm dialated.  They were amazed at how relaxed and calm I was as well as how fast I was progressing.  My mom kept saying wow, that hypnosis stuff is pretty cool! 

 

At this point, my doctor came in and broke my water, and I feel this was a great benefit because my contractions actually went from being more crampy to being truly effective.  They started coming a little less often, but with more intensity, and it gave me greater focus.  At this point I decided I wanted an epidural, and a great anesthesiologist came and gave me one where it made the pain I felt go away, however, I could still feel my legs and some of the pressure sensations.  (I know hypnobabies doesn't advocate epidurals.  However, I made this consious desicion not out of fear, but out of knowing exactly what was the right thing for my labor.  Hypnobabies gave me that clarity to make the right decision for me at that point.) 

 

After my epidural, I was able to relax further, and spent the next two hours with my husband talking about our son and all we hoped for him for his future.  It was truly a beautiful moment, I have to say.  At around 3:30, I could feel the intensity of my surges and started to feel pressure down low.  I asked the nurse to check me and sure enough I was complete with the baby in a +1 position.  The nurse called my doctor and slowly in the next 30 minutes I was able to breathe my son down more.  A couple of gentle pushes later I eased him into the world and he was placed directly on my chest.  It was truly the most amazing feelings of my life.  I felt him slip out completely and only had a minor tear. 

 

I know my story isn't the traditional NCB story so many of you would probably like to see in a Hypnobabies birth posting, but I have to say, Hypnobabies worked for me.  It gave me just what I needed to make my labor beautiful and powerful and keep me totally under control.  Nolan scored 9/9 on his apgars and has been so alert and awake.  He's taken to breast feeding amazingly, especially since neither one of us had ever done it before!!!  Thank you Kerry for your amazing program, and thank you to all the woman on this board who inspired and encouraged me throughout my entire pregnancy.  You are all wonderful!!

 

Heather 

Hypno-mom to Nolan 8-30-06