Yakira's Birth Story
My first birth was a natural birth with no Hypnobabies, and I had a very prolonged birthing time. I was up several nights in a row with crampy pressure waves that disappeared during the day so I was able to rest. Nevertheless it was exhausting, and after the 3rd night of this my water broke in the morning, baby was born about 16 hours later and I was beyond exhausted.
My second baby I studied Hypnobabies all through my last trimester and I really loved it. It helped me stay comfortable and sleep really well in the pregnancy, which in and of itself is completely worth the effort! I truly believed that my labor could be short and fast second time around, although when I imagined my birthing time and when/how I wanted it to start, I kept getting caught up on 2 different images: 1. I saw myself laboring at night; 2. I saw my labor starting suddenly in the early morning.
Well, I ended up having a very similar labor pattern as my first baby! Maybe partly because I didn’t throw myself fully into the image of labor starting suddenly in the morning and moving quickly, and also I’m sure because of fears I harbored that the fear release was not enough for me to release. I had had 2 very difficult 2nd trimester pregnancy losses in between my babies, and both times I had to be induced to birth these babies (very traumatic). So even with all the testing and ultrasounds that had been done, I was afraid the baby would come out and we would find a new problem. When I finally talked and cried about this fear while simultaneously on the phone with my mom and in the room with my husband, after my 2nd night of waves 10 min. apart all night long, suddenly after speaking my fears out loud and getting their reassurance, my pressure waves really picked up in intensity and frequency (while I was on the phone with my mom and she had to kkep holding on for wave after wave, she said she thought it might be my birthing time and she was right!).
We arrived at the hospital at 9:30am at 5cm, and my darling Hypnobaby was born at 1:05pm! So, once things started my birthing time did go quite a bit faster than my non-hypno birth, but even when I had those nights of similar drawn out early birthing, my hypnosis cd’s really helped me get through it and stay much more rested and energetic. I drank a lot all through early birthing time and wasn’t dehydrated after all that time. In the hospital, I received no meds whatsoever, not even IV fluids. Also, even my strongest pressure waves felt like intense pressure, but never something that I would classify as p***. My husband and doula saw me moaning loudly through each one, and they used the open and release and relax cues (which were amazing), and they were surprised between waves when I would tell them, “there is no p***, by the way, the pressure is just so intense that I have to have a vocal release!” I pushed her out in a squatting position, just as I had wanted, so I could see a healthy live baby coming out of me this time! It was a wonderfully healing experience.
Overall, Hypnobabies helped me so much, and in the future I will want to definitely use it again, and also make sure to take evening primrose oil to soften the cervix, as it seems my delays at the beginning could maybe be helped by starting with a softer cervix, also working on optimal fetal positioning and really soul-searching and owning up to any unspoken fears. While Hypnobabies certainly helped me attain a wonderful, virtually p***-free birth, it wasn’t a magical pill that changed every single problem I had experienced from the past.
BTW, I also want to say that our baby has always been SOOOO amazingly calm and easy-going, like a dream angel baby! So we named her Yakira, which means precious in Hebrew, because that’s what she was and is for us. And, so many Hypno-moms comment about how calm and sweet their Hypno-babies are that I wonder if their tiny neurological systems are wired differently from the experience of hypnosis in utero, or the mother’s calm at birth, or both. Everyone comments on how sweet and easy-going Yakira is, so this is another reason in and of itself to do the program. Maybe someday there will be some research in this area.
All the Best,
Orlee