Hypnobabies is offered two ways, through in person instruction and self-taught instruction. Living in rural Southern Colorado, there are no hypnobirthing instructors that I could find in our area, so I chose to purchase the six-week self-study course. Each week brings you closer to the easiest and most comfortable birthing day you could possibly experience. Each week teaches something new from entering self-hypnosis to creating your own anesthesia. It also consists of two different forms of affirmations to make the experience as positive as possible. Hypnobirthing is said to help decrease birthing time (labor) and decrease the need for c-section and episiotomy/tearing.
Having gone through natural childbirth with my oldest daughter, with no childbirth classes, I can honestly say that Hypnobabies definitely helped make my birthing time with this pregnancy a great deal easier. I have been fortunate to have quick birthing and delivery times. With my oldest, I was only labor for 6 hours. However, being a first time mom who had not educated herself on natural childbirth or childbirth at all (other than what is in the book they give you at your doctor's office), I spent my entire birthing time in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines. At one point during my birthing time with my oldest, I decided I wanted an epidural; however, I ended up being too far into labor to have it. I also ended up pushing so hard that I busted blood vessels in my eyes and had to have an episiotomy because I began to tear.
While researching hypnobirthing, I found out so much that I didn't know during my first pregnancy. My husband and I chose to use a mid-wife at our hospital rather than a OBGYN because she supported natural and holistic childbirth. We also chose to hire a doula, something I had never heard about before researching hypnobirthing. A doula is a person who assists the mother during her birthing time. I also created a birthing plan, requesting specific things that I would like or not like during my birthing time (i.e.: room I would be in, who would be allowed in, the ability to walk around/shower/use of labor ball during labor, ability to eat light food & have liquids, delivery of the placenta naturally w/out pitocin, etc.), as well as a baby plan (i.e.: how long to leave umbilical cord attached, skin to skin immediately, not to take the baby for the first two hours, allow nursing immediately, request for nurses to not offer baby any formula/water/etc w/out approval, etc.), requesting the specific things I wanted or didn't want to happen with our baby after her birth. I learned during this pregnancy the rights of the expecting mother, something I was unaware of during my first pregnancy.
I also learned that while it is okay to have a vision of how your birthing time should go or how you would like it to go; however, I also learned that you have to be open to the idea that not everything is going to go perfectly and that complications can arise. I had requested that I not be hooked up to an IV or have a saline lock; however, because I tested positive for Group B Strep (GBS) during my 36th week of pregnancy, I had to have the IV. Because of the positive GBS, I needed to have two doses of antibiotics prior to delivery in order to reduce the risk of the baby being affected by the GBS as she went through the birth canal. I had also requested that the umbilical cord not be cut until after the baby was born and the umbilical cord stopped pulsating on its own. I had read of the importance of allowing the baby to receive those last bits of oxygen and nutrients that are passed to the baby through the umbilical cord. However, because the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck of the baby, it had to be cut before she was actually delivered. It is important to know what you want as a mother and for your baby; however, it is also important to be open minded when it comes to complications and necessary changes that could affect you as the mother or your baby.
My Labor
Nearly every mother I know starts having anxiety around week 36 or 37, just waiting for that day that their baby will arrive. I don't know about everyone else, but for me, by week 37 I am ready for my baby to arrive and to not be pregnant anymore. At 37 weeks, I began trying everything I could think of to get the baby to come, especially after experiencing strong Braxton Hicks contractions for three days. I was walking, riding rough roads, taking Evening Primrose Oil, drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea, acupuncture and acupressure and almost anything else you could think of....nothing. Everyone kept telling me, "She'll come when she gets ready." For me, I was thinking, "I'm ready! She just needs to quit taking her time and hurry up!" I went in to see my mid-wife, Jayne, on Tuesday, November 6th hoping that I would have progressed from the previous week. What I got was bad news....I was still only dialated to a 1-1.5 and barely effaced. Jayne rescheduled my appointment for the following Tuesday to the following Monday, with the possibility of me being induced if I had progressed enough. Jayne was leaving for vacation on November 15th, my due date and I really wanted her to be the one to deliver my baby.
On Friday, November 9th, I purchased the hypnobabies "Baby Come Out" track and listened to it that night and Saturday morning. Saturday evening, we had plans to attend a function for the South Fork Music Association and then dinner with some friends visiting from Texas. I had noticed throughout the day that my stomach was tightening some, but I couldn't figure out if I was having Braxton Hicks again or if it was my baby stretching out inside my stomach. There was nothing consistent about the tightening and no patterns, so I was completely confused. I ended up being awake all night long Saturday night trying to keep up with how frequent I was having this tightening with a contraction app I had downloaded on my phone. Again, nothing was consistent.
One thing people will tell you to do when you are almost due or overdue is to have sex. When it comes close to your birthing time, semen helps to soften the cervix. We had tried this a week or so before to no avail; but decided to try again Sunday morning. I didn't have that burst of energy that they say a woman has just prior to delivering, but I did spend the majority of Sunday afternoon cleaning the house. I had just cleaned it a few days before, but we had a pretty good snow storm; which resulted in my clean floors being covered in mud, water and dirt. I cleaned all the floors, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping; finished folding clothes that had been waiting to be put away in the laundry room for the past week and we started dinner. We decided we were going to have ribs, baked potatoes, salad and deviled eggs for dinner. I had felt what I thought was Braxton Hicks contractions off and on all day. I started keeping track of them Sunday afternoon around 3:00 and they were sporadic. My husband took our daughter to Awanas at 4:00 and went to do some work at his office, while I finished cleaning and dinner. I talked to him about 5:30 and told him that if there was anything he needed to bring home from his office, he might want to because we may be heading to the hospital that night. I wasn't hurting and my "Braxton Hicks" were still really sporadic, but something inside just told me that we were heading to the hospital that night. Around 6:00, my husband and daughter were back home. By this point, my back and upper legs were feeling a little achy, but my "Braxton Hicks" were still really sporadic. My contraction app was showing a birthing wave (contraction) lasting 30 seconds to a minute, then another four minutes later, then another 20 minutes later, another 12 minutes later. Shortly after 6 p.m., I went to the bathroom and noticed I had begun spotting (early labor sign). I told my husband, who was on a conference call with his business partner and a client that I was calling our mid-wife and that we may need to head to the hospital. Jayne told me to go ahead and come in and that regardless of how far along I was when I got to the hospital, they were going to go ahead and keep me. She would call the hospital and let them know we were on our way and be at the hospital in about an hour and a half. Since I had just finished dinner, we decided to eat, while we waited for my dad to come get our oldest daughter. I sat down to eat and took a few bites before I started feeling the birthing waves in my stomach. By this time, it was about 6:15 or 6:20. My husband and daughter finished their dinner, I got Sky's school stuff and clothes together for my dad and we loaded the last minute things we needed to take with us in the car. By the time we left South Fork for our hour drive to the hospital, it was after 7:00. While eating, I also texted our doula, Nemonie and my friend, Wendi, who video taped my labor to let them know we were heading to the hospital and that I would notify them again upon arriving at the hospital and seeing Jayne.
While on the way to the hospital, my husband called important friends and family members to let them know what was going on, while I listened to my hypnobabies "Creating Anesthesia" track on my mp3 player. After listening to the track and noticing that my birthing waves were coming closer together and becoming stronger, I texted Nemonie and Wendi and told them they should go ahead and leave for the hospital. We arrived at the hospital shortly after 8:00 p.m. and was officially admitted at 8:38. The tech who checked us into our room told me that there were two nurses on duty, one of which I knew from my mid-wife's office, Shannon. Shannon is a RN in training to be a mid-wife. She graduates in December and had seen me on a couple of different occasions in Jayne's office during my pregnancy. I requested that Shannon be my nurse and a few minutes later she was in my room hooking up the monitors and IV (they always hook up the monitors upon arriving to determine how far apart the contractions are and to read the baby's heartbeat). They started me on the antibiotics almost immediately and Shannon checked to see how far along I was. While all of this was taking place, my husband was putting on a relaxation cd I had brought with us for labor. Upon checking my progress, Shannon notified us that I was at a 6 and she could feel a full water sack. She said, "once your water breaks, this is going to go quick. It will have to break on it's own though, in order for us to try to get both doses of antibiotics in you before the baby is born". My husband then asked, "so it's a matter of whether she's going to be born on the 11th or 12th?" Shannon said, "No. The baby will be here before midnight." She continued to monitor me and said my that the birthing waves the monitors were able to monitor were showing 3 minutes apart. She also said she was noticing that during my birthing waves, that the baby's heartbeat was going down. She thought maybe the birthing waves were pressing her head down on the umbilical cord and had me change positions. I spent the remainder of my labor on my right side. It was probably around 8:45 or 9:00 that Nemonie and Wendi arrived. Wendi immediately picked up the camera and started recording me having some birthing waves. During my birthing waves, I would close my eyes and just breath deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth. I had already entered eyes open hypnosis in the car on the way to the hospital after listening to my "Creating Anesthesia" track and while listening to my "Birthing Day Affirmations" track. Nemonie dimmed the lighting in the room to give it a more relaxing feel and began massaging my lower back as I breathed through these birthing waves that were becoming more powerful. Shortly after Wendi started video taping I was having a really intense contraction and all of a sudden felt a gush. My water never broke with my oldest, so I had no idea what it felt like. Wendi said I made a low moan and then said, "I think my water just broke". At that point, my mom had just walked into the room and that's when everything went crazy. My birthing waves became incredibly intense and my mom sat by my side holding my hand. During these intense birthing waves, I squeezed my moms hand and focused on breathing through them, making some low moans with the most intense portion of those waves. Hypnobirthing also focuses on pushing when the mom feels the need to, rather than when the doctor is ready for you to; however, it does not recommend pushing before you are dialated to a 10. I began feeling pressure and breathed through a few birthing waves that made me feel that I needed to push. Finally I told Jayne, "I feel like I need to push". She asked if I wanted her to check me and I said yes. When she checked me, she said I was still between an 8-9 and to just breath through a couple more, which I did. After a couple of more very intense birthing waves that I literally had to fight the urge to push, I told her I NEEDED to push. She checked me again and I was a 10. She told me to start pushing as I needed to when I was having a birthing wave. I pushed through a couple of birthing waves, still lying on my right side. I'm not sure why at this point, but something wasn't happening like it needed to and Jayne told me to roll over and try to push sitting up. I'm not one of those people who can do to opposing motions at the same time, so when she told me to pull my legs back and push, I couldn't do it. I ended up with Nemonie and my husband pulling my legs back and me squeezing my moms hand while pushing. I only pushed for about 10 minutes, but during this stage of labor, 10 minutes can feel like forever. The pain was not intolerable, but the pressure was so strong that I just wanted this to hurry and be over. Jayne, Shannon and Nemonie were great about reminding me to focus on my breathing while I pushed and to use low moans to push the baby out slowly. Finally, I heard Jayne say, "it's too tight. I have to cut it." She then told me she had to cut the umbilical cord and that it was important that I pushed as hard as I could during the next birthing wave in order to get the baby out immediately. She cut the cord and I pushed as hard as I could and a couple of seconds later, Jayne was putting my baby on my chest and pulling the oxygen mask onto her face. It was 9:50 p.m. and we had been in the hospital for less than two hours and I had only been in labor for about 3 hours.
After a few seconds of oxygen, our baby began to cry and I was handed the oxygen mask. I held the mask on her face for a couple of minutes while Shannon and Nemonie began covering the baby with blankets and wiping her down. Jayne checked me to make sure I hadn't torn and let me know that I hadn't and wouldn't need any stitches. She also told me to let her know when I felt cramping, as that would signal the delivery of the placenta; which took about 10 minutes after the baby was born. The whole time, I was holding my baby girl on me rather than her being whisked away by the baby nurses. After everything calmed down, the baby nurse asked if we would like her to weigh and measure the baby and take her footprints there in the room. My husband took her over and she weighed 6 lbs and was 19 inches long.
It turns out that our baby's heart rate was decreasing with my birthing waves because of the umbilical cord being wrapped around her neck. It was too tight for Jayne to loop over her head, so it had to be cut before she came out; which was why it was so important for me to push her out on that last birthing wave. Once the umbilical cord is cut, oxygen is lost. Because labor went so fast, I only got one of the two needed doses of antibiotics; which required us to stay an extra 24 hours in the hospital for our baby to be observed. However, if labor had not happened as fast as it had, there is the unknown possibility that I may have had to have an emergency c-section. Also, things could have gone differently had we not had Jayne and Shannon there for the delivery. Another doctor may have delivered differently. All in all, I could not have asked for a better birthing experience.
By 11:00 p.m. our baby was already experimenting with sucking, since I chose to breast feed and wanted to start immediately. It was about 10:45 when everyone except my husband, mom and Wendi had left the room. I had only taken a few bites of my dinner before we left for the hospital and I was starving. Wendi went on a McDonalds run for us and I was eating dinner by 11:15. By midnight, I was ready for a shower, so I allowed the baby nurse to take our baby to the nursery for a bath, while I showered.
That first night was rough. Our baby had just got here and nurses were in and out all night and baby was trying to eat every 20-30 minutes. I was going on very little sleep, since I hadn't slept great Saturday night. Monday morning around 7:00, the baby nurse came to get our little one to take her to have all her testing done. Her white blood count was high, so they wanted to rule out GBS and performed a culture, which required us to be in the hospital until Wednesday when it came back negative. We aren't sure what caused her white blood count to be high, but it turned out that I had a slight fever when I was in labor and my white blood count was high during labor. It was even higher the next morning, but then went back to normal. There is the possibility that her white blood count was high as a result of mine being high. Other than those few unexpected things, my whole birthing experience using hypnobirthing was very positive.
I maintained after my first pregnancy that exercise and staying active during pregnancy helps during labor and delivery. After this experience, I still maintain that it is important to exercise and stay active during pregnancy. However, I think adding some of the the things that I did, such as hypnobirthing, taking evening primrose oil and drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea helped assist in decreasing the amount of time I spent in labor, manage the pain of birthing waves and helped keep me from tearing and/or needing an episiotomy. I also believe it is important to have around you and as part of your birthing team, doctors, nurses and supporters, who are supportive and encouraging of your birthing experience as you see it and respect your wants and needs. I believe my birthing team played a huge part in my experience being a positive one.
We were released from the hospital on Wednesday, but still spent an extra hour to an hour and half in our room after being released. Why? Because my husband and I can both be very hard headed and the birth certificate needed to be filled out. Our baby has had a first name for a few months now, but we couldn't agree on a middle name. My husband wanted Tyler and I wanted RaeLynn. We sat in our hospital room with neither one of us willing to budge. Finally, I posted a comment on Facebook about us not being able to agree and two friends thought why not both. That was the solution. Upon leaving the hospital our baby girl finally had a full name (one she may hate us for when she gets older), Avery Tyler-RaeLynn Meyer.
We are now home and all doing great. Thanks to God, she is as perfect as she could be and healthy. Our older daughter is a great big sister, helping me give her baths, change diapers and dressing her. She even sings lullabies to her when she is crying or upset. Now, if we can just get her on a regular sleep schedule (isn't that every parents goal????).
Avery Tyler-RaeLynn Meyer
Born: November 11, 2012
9:50 p.m.
6 lbs, 19 inches long
