Hannah's birth story kinda long but worth it. . . .
Let me start by saying this birth was a miracle for us. We tried for 3 years to
conceive, had multiple tests done, my husband had surgery even but nothing
seemed to work. We had failed all the allowable cycles of Clomid with IUI and
had literally paid our money for IVF only to find out a week later that we were
pregnant (praise be to God). I don't know why we were so fortunate but I am
eternally grateful!! My husband and I took the Hypnobabies course led by our
doula (Jamie Jackson - who was awesome!) - we started kinda late but finished by
37 weeks. Truth be told I wasn't as faithful with my homework as I should have
been but in the end it didn't seem to matter.
All along we were monitored with multiple ultrasounds b/c Hannah was not growing
inside as well as they would have liked. And I had gestational diabetes so we
knew there was a very large chance that we would be induced but didn't know
when. Well at the 39 week ultrasound Hannah fell below 10th percentile of growth
and we were told to expect induction within a day or so. We received the call
from our OB saying they wanted to induce and that we would get a call from the
hospital the next morning telling us when to come in. I realize that b/c the
other testing we were having outside of the ultrasound showed everything was
fine that we could have pushed not to be induced but truth be told I didn't want
to make that decision and then something happen to her b/c I don't think I could
live with the guilt.
We received the call at 6:30am asking us to be at the hospital as soon as we
could get there so we hurriedly showered, dressed and ate breakfast b/c I knew I
would be clear liquids once I got to the hospital. We brought the brownies which
were greatly appreciated - although the one suggestion I would make is to make 2
batches to have on hand for another shift if your birth crosses into the next
shift. We started the pitocin between 8-9 and I hadn't gotten in the groove of
the Hypnobabies scripts. At 12:30 I remember the birth waves were pretty
consistent and I was a little frustrated b/c I had tried to listen to a script
and get some rest and felt very uncomfortable. I was beginning to think about an
epidural but Jamie (our Doula) suggested instead that I try another script and
get into the groove of the Hypnobabies things. It was amazing - once I really
allowed myself to relax and focus on the scripts my entire outlook changed. In
fact at one point they inserted a catheter that they then blew up to force my
cervix open and I remember the OB repeatedly telling me to let them know when I
needed a break and in the end when I didn't need a break and was still relaxed
that I done better than others she had done this on. It was uncomfortable but
the Hypnobabies things really helped me to relax. I was also able to sleep for a
few hours of birth waves. My doula told me I never furrowed my brow no matter
how strong the birthwaves appeared on the monitor. I really felt like
Hypnobabies helped.
The unfortunate thing is that the induction was going very slowly - in fact
after about 12 hours of it I was checked and found to only be 4 cm even after my
water had been broken. Hannah was doing well tolerating everything but they
wanted to place an internal monitor to see how strong the birth waves really
were. Little did I know I had been on the max dose of pitocin for quite some
time (thanks to Hypnobabies for the help during that). At this point b/c the
internal monitor would limit my mobility and my position changes had also helped
with the discomfort of the waves I decided to have an epidural. Also having just
dilated to 4 cm in 12 hours I didn't know how long the rest would be and really
wanted the energy to do what needed to be done b/c I really didn't want a
C-section. It wasn't an easy decision b/c I didn't want to feel I was letting my
doula or husband down or even myself but in retrospect it was a good decision
for me. After placing the epidural and the internal monitor we found that my
birth waves had actually been very strong so no need to exceed the recommended
limit of pitocin. I am fortunate also to have an OB on who was willing to give
us time to see what would happen instead of pushing a C-section (as long as
Hannah was tolerating everything so well - which she did). I was able to get
some sleep and in just 4 hours I had dilated another 4.5 cm to 8.5 cm. At this
point I wanted to also say about the time I chose the epidural the shift changed
and we got another really great nurse. In fact she said she picked us - they
were giving report and said they had a pt that wasn't progressing that was doing
a hypnobirth and Amanda, RN had helped in hypnobirths before and wanted to work
with us. She was great - she actually works at the local birth center on the
side and had been a doula before when she was thinking of becoming a midwife.
Anyway - once I had progressed so far we tried some pushing. The unfortunate
thing about the pushing time (all told 1.5 hrs) was that the epidural wasn't
working as well for me and I started to have p*** in my lower back and abdomen
(different than the pressure of Hannah coming down b/c that was tolerable). That
1.5 hours was the hardest thing I have done in my whole life! I did have the
help of my great doula, nurse and husband to help coach me through this though.
Then she was here and it was glorious! Hannah arrived at 3:21am on March 19th
weighing 6 lbs 2 ounces measuring 19 inches.
Later the same day I told my husband that I would do it again if we were blessed
with another opportunity. I really feel that my doing the hypnosis in the
beginning helped to set the tone and allowed my body to prepare for the birth as
best as it could so that when I got the epidural my body was able to progress. I
also think it helped me focus throughout the entire experience and proved quite
effective. I would do it all over again without changing anything. If I get
another opportunity to have another child at some point I would love to not be
induced and to see what using Hypnobabies in that scenario would be as I feel
the induction made the birth waves much stronger for much longer than they would
have been. I have been told that being induced is like transformation for most
of the time.
Anyway - just wanted to share - Hannah is doing well now - growing really well -
in fact she lost 7% of her birth weight and was able to infact pass her birth
weight within a week!! She is a great baby and we are blessed!