Aliyah's Birth Story
Here is my drawn out birth story. Warning…it does mention p**n so if
you're sensitive to that then use your BOP!! I had a lot of prodromal
labor and Hypnobabies definitely helped me cope with it and helped me
be assertive with me needs at the hospital come birthing day.
Feb 4th I woke up around 6am to go to work and noticed I was a little
more "wet" than usual. I thought there might be a slight possibility
that my water might have broken up high and was leaking. But I wasn't
having any consistent pressure waves so I dismissed it. I was also
feeling pretty icky like the beginning of the flu but I knew that I
wasn't sick. I had already been dilating over the last 2 weeks so I
thought I'd call L&D and see what they thought. Dh and I agreed that
I'd go and get checked to make sure my waters were still in tact.
I went in around 8am and was checked and told that my water didn't
break but that I was already dilated to 5! I'd been having pressure
waves but kept dismissing them since the last two times I timed them,
it resulted in 2 trips to L&D for false alarms. The nurse told me she
was admitting me and that I was NOT going home! I was there by myself
in my room watching TV. I told Dh to hold off on coming since the
last 2 L&D trips were so uneventful. The nurse came back and checked
me a few hours later and told me I was now at a 6. After she left I
did a few walking laps around the hospital and Dh showed up shortly
after. I can say I was having pretty intense pressure waves but
I "peaced" and breathed through them and Dh used the peace and relax
cues to help me along. My CNM came in and checked me again and told
me she'd like to break my water and I told her no since I was only
6.5 cm dilated. I wanted to wait until I got to 7. The CNM was NOT
happy about my choice to not have my water broken. I told them I was
going to wait and to come back in an hour (I knew that CNM would be
gone by then and a new one would be there to get a second opinion).
By this time it was already getting into the evening. I had been
drinking Gatorade and eating bagels all day so I was not tired by any
means. My pressure waves were getting a bit more intense but no more
consistent. Around 8:30 my new CNM came in and checked me and Dh and
I decided to go ahead and let her break my water. She told me at that
point that the previous CNM was wrong and I was only dilated to 5 and
was not complete like we had thought. She also told me that there was
a 50/50 chance that when she broke my water that it would do nothing
to jump start my birthing time and I might end up getting pitocin. I
was not happy about that since she knew I was aiming for a natural
birth. She broke my water (WOW did that feel weird). Within three
minutes I was having the most intense p***ful pressure waves I had
yet to experience. It took me totally by surprise and I could not get
back into my "hypno-rhythm" to relax. Dh was awesome encouraging me
and telling me how proud he was but I was in another zone attempting
to handle these new pressure waves. Thinking back this must have been
when I was in transition because I kept telling him and my nurse that
I couldn't do this all night and was crying and sweating horribly.
This went on for almost an hour and finally I decided I couldn't
handle it and got the epidural.
After I got the epi, I noticed my left leg went all the way numb but
nothing else was numbed! I didn't mind though since I was getting
used to the sensations I was feeling. Then all of a sudden my body
started pushing and I had NO control of it. My nurse kept telling me
to stop and I asked her why would I be feeling pushy so soon. She
checked me and scrambled to get my nurse and said I was 9 with just a
little lip left. It was 2am when they told me I could start pushing
but it was odd and I felt like I was doing it incorrectly. At 4am my
CNM and nurse went to take a break since it was apparent that the
baby was not coming out anytime soon. 30 minutes later they were back
and again my CNM was bearing more bad news…my pushes
were "ineffective" and she went on to tell me that one of three
things was going to have to happen 1) I was going to have to turn off
the epi to get me to feel the pressure waves (it was already a spotty
epi so I could still feel everything 2) they would have to vacuum the
baby out (that was NOT an option in my mind) or 3)she would give me
pitocin…I stared at her with the most blank expression ever and told
her that I was not doing any of those three things and that I was
going to push this baby out. She even went further to tell me that I
was going to be too tired to push anymore. Boy did me and baby Aliyah
prove her wrong! I kept pushing anyways and could feel my baby girl
pushing her way down. She was using my ribs as a push off and man did
that hurt! But she kept moving lower and lower. Finally the top of
her head crowned and I was able to reach down and touch her hair,
talk about surreal! Soon her head came and then her little wiggly
body and then she was lifted onto my chest. Aliyah Keilani Love was
born Feb. 5th weighing 7lbs 4oz and was 19 inches long. She stared at
me with the biggest eyes I have ever seen on a baby and was nice and
quiet. That didn't work too well with the nursing staff so they
rubbed her and had her cry to clear out her little lungs. I have to
admit that I did not feel the "ring of fire" when my baby crowned and
I did end up with a 2nd degree tear since Aliyah decided she wanted
to come with her head sideways and her hands up near her face. Even
then I didn't feel any p**n during the pushing or even when she came
out. I was so relaxed and focused on getting her out so I could meet
her and see her little face. She is a healthy happy baby girl who
loves to smile at me and loves her bath time at night. She is an
amazing little girl. Dh and I have fallen completely in love with
her.
All in all it was a truly amazing experience. I was not able to have
my natural birth like I wanted but my baby was nice and healthy so I
made peace with it. I was able to use my Hypnobabies until having my
water broken. I will definitely make sure that the next time around
that I have a doula. It was hard not having that extra measure of
support and experience available. I love Hypnobabies and am amazed at
how much it helped me both during my pregnancy, during my birthing
time, and post partum as well. I can honestly say I can't wait to
experience this again...thank you Hypnobabies!!