What to Expect Movie

Wow, this could be a scary film.  What message is it going to impart to women?  If it is like the book, it will not be empowering to women at all.

I think almost every pregnant woman in America owns or at least knows about this book.

I wish moms would throw this book in the Garbage!  What should they read instead? Here is my review of a perfect pair of books to replace this one.

Here are some other bloggers thoughts on WTE.

Bellies to Babies

and

The Unneccesarean

Maybe the movie will show how being an informed consumer and making choices about what is best for you is the way to go.  Maybe it will highlight moms having wonderful natural birth experiences.  Maybe one will use Hypnobabies!

Hey, a doula can dream.

The 4th of Lamaze’s Healthy Birth Practices is

Avoid interventions that are not medically necessary.

This is wonderful advice, but how can you do this?

Choose Your Care Provider Carefully!

How can you know if your Care Provider uses unnecessary interventions?  Ask Questions!

If you don’t like their answers, then change.  It is never too late and is well worth the work.

Here is a story of Angela and how she changed care providers and hospitals 48 hours before her due date because they were pressuring her into an induction, even though she and the baby were fine!

1. Hospital Tour
2. Change Care Providers 48 hours before due date.
3. Phone Call from Head OB
4. Birth Story (was making the change worth it?)

I think that the best way to avoid unnecessary interventions is to have a care provider (and birth location) that doesn’t routinely use them!  Almost every intervention has a good time to use it in some births, but to use them routinely for all moms, can actually cause problems instead of fix them.

(This is the fourth in a series of e-mails Angela, posted on the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group in December.  I will be posting them here approximately on the dates she sent them in December so you can see the steps she took to try to create the ideal birth for her.  It required a lot of her work on her part.  Check back to see the challenges she faced and the choices she made and what the outcome was.)

Cadence was born on the 20th at 2:12am, was 20 inches long and weighed 7lbs 3oz.

The Birth Story of Cadence.  When we found out we were expecting our first child I began to think about what type of experience I wanted for the birth of our little one.  I found Hypnobabies through a relative and began the Hypnobabies Home Study course at 28 weeks.  I was excited to find a program that I thought would give me the type of birthing experience I desired.

A little note on my pre-birth experiences: During this pregnancy I changed Doctor’s three times and was concerned about the Hospital I would be birthing in. (Posted earlier “confident to change Dr’s and Hospitals 48 hours prior to due date“, as well as  ”Hospital Tour” Posted on December 1st.)Thanks to the positive affirmations and thought programing of Hypnobabies and my supportive family I had the courage to continue the pursuit of the birth experience I desired for me and our baby.

I found a midwife who took me on as a patient 2 days prior to my due date.  She encouraged my desire to go all natural but said that it would be a hard labor since it was my first.  I just told her I deserved an easy and comfortable birth and told her I’d been practicing and preparing for months with the Hypnobabies home study.

On Friday the 18th (5 days post due date and the 2nd appointment with her) she stripped my  membranes and we discovered the baby had turned posterior.  Nothing to worry about but she said it would be a more difficult labor.  I told her that the baby would be turned by arrival time.  I kept positive, spent a lot of time on all 4′s and visualized the baby turning not only anterior but left anterior.  She turned and was in perfect position for the birth.

On Saturday the 19th, while Christmas Shopping at Cabelas and Sam Ash Music I began to have consistent waves of pressure.  I did not feel them as many people had described but they came as just a tightening in my tummy. At the music store I went to the bathroom 5 times and found myself relaxing over shelves of music every few minutes.  I went and told my husband that we needed to go home now.

We arrived at home around 6:00pm.  My Mom and Husband helped me into our jacuzzi bath at home and I relaxed and ate a piece of pizza between birthing waves.  I turned on the “Easy First Stage” and then proceeded through other favorite Hypnobabies CD’s trying to remain relaxed and calm as the pressure waves proceeded to get more intense and closer together.  My husband and mom were very helpful and kept in touch with our midwife on the status of the birthing waves.  I stayed consistent with each birthing wave lasting about 1:15-1:30 and coming between 2-3 minutes apart from about 6:30-9:00pm.  I was able to take a 2 hour nap between 7-9pm while listening to the “Deepening” Cd over and over again.  It was so relaxing and when I awoke at 9pm I couldn’t believe that I had been asleep for 2 hours! The birthing waves had progressed in intensity and were now about 1:45-2:00 minutes apart. My Husband and Mom packed the car and we were on our way. My Mom kept her hand on  my shoulder or forehead saying the words “Peace and Relax” through each birthing wave.  We live a good 30 minutes from the hospital and while the ride had some bumps, Hypnobabies helped me to relax and we were there before I knew it.

It was now 10:30pm.  We had to enter through the ER at the hospital and the staff didn’t seem to move very fast as they saw how calm I was with my ear buds in my ears and almost sleeping in the wheelchair while I waited to be taken to triage.  My birthing team (husband and mom) were growing a bit impatient with the slowness of the staff and knowing that I am probably further along than everyone thought. I was finally moved to Triage at 11:00pm. I asked to remain in my own clothes for comfort and relaxed in the room with my Mother while my husband and stepdaughters waited in the waiting room. The nurse told  me Ellen (our midwife) was just a few minutes away and that they would wait until she arrived to have her check me.  Ellen worked at this hospital for many years as a nurse prior to becoming a midwife so all of the nurses knew her and left her patients alone.  They monitored me and baby’s heart rates. The baby’s heart rate was a bit fast but was still within the safe zone.

Ellen arrived around 11:10pm.  When she arrived I asked her to give me a minute to relax  (turned off my light switch) and then she proceeded to check me.  I was relaxed with my ear buds in but my mom said that Ellen’s eyes lit up with a smile on her face and she said “She’s doing really good! She’s at 5cm!” I of course was oblivious to this but mom gave me a 5 on her hand and everyone was smiling so I figured that was good.

We then walked from the triage room to the L&D room where my husband, stepdaughters and nurse joined us. I had to stop and rest on the wall several times but nothing was unbearable.  Ellen told me that we could break my water (which would increase the intensity of pressure waves and make them come quicker) or we could wait and see what happens.  For the first time I asked “just for reference how far along into birthing time could I get an Epidural if I decide it is to much” . She said I could get it anytime I wanted all the way through 10 cm dilated but if I made it this far I could make it all the way. Once we got to the room they checked my vitals and Ellen went right to running a bath for me in the jacuzzi tub. Vitals were normal but I was a little dehydrated so she told me if I wanted to avoid an IV I needed to drink more fluids.  So I said bring me the water and juices..and I drank and drank and drank.  No IV Needed!

I stayed in the tub for about an hour relaxing with each birthing wave.  I was listening to the “Easy First Stage” and it said something about the “bag of membranes releasing easily” and right then..I felt a pop and my bag of membranes broke!  Hooray! No need to break the membrane bag! I began to feel intense pressure in my thighs-hips.  My husband put counter pressure on my hips and legs and my mom kept her hand on my shoulder or forehead.  It was a full time job for  both of them and they were both pretty sore in the following few days!

My nurse Elizabeth was wonderful as well and was so helpful in replenishing my fluids and bottles of juice and water.  I then moved back to the bed to check our vitals and all was still good! I began to think…I can do this..this is totally manageable.  At times I would repeat the Hypnobaby phrases out loud..and used the cues of “Peace, Ahh and Relax” to cue everyone in that another birthing wave was beginning and I needed counter pressure now!

At about 1:00am I needed to go to the bathroom so on we went to the toilet.  I went to the restroom and after sitting there for about 15 minutes I felt my uterus push.  I said “It’s pushing!” I’m not sure how loud I was as I had my ear buds in at full blast and was oblivious to everyone else.  The nurse said “don’t push” and I responded “I’m not..It’s pushing itself!”  She then said well don’t encourage it or bear down until we check you.  Elizabeth rushed in and checked me while I was sitting on the toilet and I was 8 ½ -9 cm! Ellen said I could stay there on the toilet if I wanted or change positions.  I sat there imagining birthing my baby on the toilet ..and thought yes..I need to change positions. They had set up a rocking chair to help with the decent of the baby so the plan was to move me there between waves.

At the next break we moved me to the rocking chair but as I tried to sit I knew that wasn’t going to work.  The baby was coming quick.  I turned around and leaned over the front of the rocking chair with my arms resting on the arms of the chair and began to rock back and forth while standing.  They quickly put a bunch of pillows on the chair for me to rest my head and my husband and mom rubbed my back while Ellen and Elizabeth were preparing for the birth. Ellen commented that “it was a position she had never seen before but whatever worked!”

It was 1:40am. From this point on, everything got very intense. My uterus was pushing with every birthing wave and they were coming very close together.  My body responded with an animal-tiger like growl in a very low gutteral tone.  It was amazing to feel the power of my body and the uterus moving the baby down and out. There was never a point where I thought “I could not do this” . It was very intense and I could feel a lot of pressure but nothing I would call pain.  After about 20 minutes I could feel a cramp coming up the back of my leg..and said “I’ve got to move..I’m going to get a leg cramp!” It’s funny to think about leg cramps when I am getting ready give birth to a baby!  We moved to the bed and got situated on the bed.

I didn’t realize how far along I was but next then I knew..Ellen said “Ok you can push whenever you want!”  I remember thinking..this is it.. “Relax”..and I kept saying ” We can do this baby, work with me” out loud.  I had my husband on my right and my mom on my left each holding a hand.  I had my husband turn on the “Pushing Baby Out Track” and I literally repeated everything she said out loud since no one else could hear what I was hearing (we left the CD player in the car). I felt Ellen pour warm liquid (mineral oil) all over my perineum area and start to massage and stretch me out.  My uterus continued to push baby out and I began to breathe baby down with nice deep controlled breaths.  I remember opening my eyes and looking up at my husband between pressure waves.

I felt a little stinging and thought…oh this must be the “Ring of Fire” that I’ve heard about.  It’s not that bad! I continued to relax and let my body do what it needed to do.  I heard someone say she has a full head of black hair.  Ellen grabbed my hand and helped me to feel her head crowning!  My husband told me after the birth he almost passed out at this point.  He couldn’t believe how relaxed I was with the baby half way out!  I heard someone say her head was out and then next thing I knew with a deep breath and another uterus push out she came! Total pushing time in the bed was only 12 minutes! I only had a first degree tear and am healing up nicely.

Ellen put her directly on my chest and mom let them know that we wanted to wait to cut the cord. She was beautiful and so peaceful.  She had a full head of black hair and her eyes were wide open.  My husband cut the cord after it stopped pulsing.  It was an amazing experience and Hypnobabies gave me so many tools to use during the birthing process.   I had a very positive outlook on pregnancy and birth and it could not have gone any better.  My husband, mom,  midwife and nurse were all amazed at how well I did.  My husband said he respected me prior to the birth but after the birth it has been raised to a whole new level! I told everyone “thank you” and I just feel very blessed to be able to have an amazing birthing experience for me and my daughter.

Thank you Hypnobabies!

Angela and Cadence
Phoenix AZ

I found an interesting study looking at how Hypnosis can help moms with Preterm Labor.

To be honest, I am not the best Stats person, so I asked my friend Kathy if she would read and interpret it for me.  She was wonderful and did.  Here is how she translated all the stats into completely understandable language!

The study showed that from initiation of hypnosis until birth the average time was 3/4 of the way to 40 weeks — if she started hypnosis at 30 weeks and gave birth at 40 weeks, it was 100%, but if she gave birth at 35 weeks, it would have been 50% (halfway between 30 and 40); if she started hypnosis at 34 weeks and made it to 35 weeks, it was 1/6 of the way to 40 weeks, so it would have been 16.7%, but if she made it to 37 weeks, that would be 50%. The average time of the control group (who got only “standard premature birth” treatment) was 50% of the time from initiation of treatment to 40 weeks. Both groups had the same average starting gestational age, which is good, because if the “hypnosis” group started at 30 weeks and made it to 34 weeks, while the “control” group started at 33 weeks and made it to 34 weeks, then that wouldn’t seem to be an improvement, although the hypnosis group lasted 4 weeks, compared to 1 week in the control group — because the pregnancies would have still ended at the same time. However, I don’t know that “40 weeks” necessarily ought to have been the goal (although if that *weren’t* it, I don’t know what *should* have been), because many babies are actually read to be born at 37, 38, or 39 weeks, and preventing their timely birth should not be a goal.

The birthweights also showed a better result from the hypnosis group (which is not surprising, since their pregnancies lasted longer, giving them more time for the babies to gain weight). So, that seems to me to be saying the same thing — birthweights tend to increase the longer a woman is pregnant; but it would have been odd had the hypnosis group had lower birthweights than the control group, while having longer average pregnancies.

One thing that might possibly be troubling is the higher incidence of birthweights under 1500 grams, but I’m not sure if it was statistically significant; and it certainly seems to be more than offset by the over-50% incidence of birthweights of 3000 grams or more.

The researchers tried to control for the known variables influencing preterm birth (table 2); and most of the variables were similar, or favored the control group — the one that did not, was in previous induced abortion.

As the researchers pointed out, it may be that hypnosis/relaxation alone helped to keep the women pregnant; but they also point out that social interaction alone (which was necessarily involved with the hypnosis itself, and the tapes the women listened to afterwards) may have been the key. This is interesting to me, in that midwives tend to have better results than doctors do, in regards to preterm birth [see this story and this CDC news release], and their hour-long prenatal visits may be a big portion of it, especially compared to the 5-15 minute OB visits.

What would need to be done, is a study undertaken of women who have hypnosis and continuing relaxation exercises, as described in this study, vs. women who had social interaction at the same levels described in the study, to see if there could be a difference attributable solely to hypnosis. At this point, (unless the study was later refuted, or a larger study was undertaken that found no difference) you can say that hypnosis and relaxation appear to have benefits in reducing preterm birth with a concurrent increase in birthweight. From what I know of Hypnobabies, the women practice the hypnosis/relaxation techniques daily (or at least, frequently), and/or fall asleep listening to the relaxation CDs. This seems to be very similar to what the study described, if not more “social interaction” than the study used, which would indicate to me that if the results of the study are accurate, then they would certainly apply to Hypnobabies.
Kathy
WomanToWomanCBE.wordpress.com
katsyfga.wordpress.com

Thanks Kathy!

I have mentioned Joy’s challenge in previous posts.

http://enjoybirth.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/horray-national-coverage/

and

http://enjoybirth.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/successful-vbac-for-arizona-mom/

Now you can read an

Interview with Joy Szabo

and see how the challenge of her fighting for a VBAC has inspired her to now help other mothers!  Thanks Joy, for being a wonderful example for us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aEk--fIZAo]

This OB talks about a study looking at waiting 2 hours can help prevent cesareans!  If Mom and Baby are ok, wait 2 more hours and see what happens.

Ask your care provider NOW if they are open to doing this for moms that are “slow to progress”

My first son was obsessed with tags.  He would suck on them all the time.  Even his shirt tags, while he was wearing them.  It looked hilarious.

They didn’t have Taggies back then, but he would have loved these products.  Apparantly he isn’t the only kid who loves tags, because they have made a whole product line for kids that do.  It is soothing to rub tags or for some kids to suck on them.

I have a coupon code for free shipping for purchases over $45.   Enter N6W4M8P4P5 when you check out.  It should be good for all of 2010.

Enjoy!

This is the fourth of 4 posts.  Each birth is unique and I don’t think of my doula clients as numbers by any means.  But I am also fascinated by numbers, so I enjoy doing my stats each year.  I am going to post my overall Doula and then Hypnobabies Students Stats.  Then I will also post my stats for doula clients and Hypnobabies Students for 2009.

This post is for all my Doula Clients – some did the Hypnobabies Home Study instead of taking my live course.  But they ALL did Hypnobabies.

I have had 10 wonderful doula clients give birth this year.  My goal was to attend 3 births.  I totally met THAT goal.  2 were planned cesareans, so I only attended 8.

Cesarean Rate: 30%  (If I take out my 3 moms this year that had breech babies -what are the chances of THAT? 2 in the same week even-  then it is 0%.)

The rest of the statistics don’t include the cesarean moms.

So of the moms who had vaginal births looking at epidural/un-medicated:

100%  un-medicated

0%  epidurals

Stats of vaginal birth moms regarding comfort:

50%  completely comfortable

25%  some manageable discomfort

25% had discomfort during active birthing time (these Mom’s had baby’s in odd positions that caused discomfort.  Both moms stayed calm and relaxed during their birth)

It was a great year as a doula.   I enjoyed every birth I attended and learned a lot too!

This is the first of 4 posts.  Each birth is unique and I don’t think of my students as numbers by any means.  But I am also fascinated by numbers, so I enjoy doing my stats each year.  I am going to post my overall Doula and then Hypnobabies Students Stats.  Then I will also post my stats for doula clients and Hypnobabies Students for 2009.

This post is for all my Hypnobabies Students (some of my doula clients do the home study and I do not count them in these statistics)

Cesarean Rate: 18%  (If I take out my 2 VBAC moms who didn’t even get a chance to try and my mom that had a surprise breech baby and was forced to have a cesarean then it is 13%)  Way better than the national average of over 30%.  The power of education. 

The rest of the statistics don’t include the cesarean moms.

So of the moms who had vaginal births looking at epidural/un-medicated:

80%  un-medicated

20%  epidurals

So of the moms who had vaginal births with NO Pitocin looking at epidural/un-medicated:

96%  un-medicated

4% medicated (1 mom whose baby was born 20 min later.  She said if she had a doula she wouldn’t have asked for epidural)

Stats of vaginal birth moms regarding comfort:

50%  completely comfortable

25%  some manageable discomfort

25% had discomfort during active birthing time

Moms with no pitocin comfort level:

53% completely comfortable

29%  some manageable discomfort

18%  had discomfort during active birthing time

What can we learn from this?

Hypnobabies works! 75% mostly comfortable births and 82% of moms with no pitocin were mostly comfortable.

The moms who had discomfort had a reason; posterior baby, malpositioned baby, SPD or pitocin.

If a mom wants to have an un-medicated birth, Hypnobabies is a great class to take.  It gives you a lot of tools to help moms birth without medication.

The education moms get about normal birth and the pros and cons of intervention helps them to make positive choices.  The relaxation and hypnosis tools helps them to stay comfortable and reprogam their minds about birth.  These things together help moms avoid cesareans, unless they are truly medically needed!  These things also help moms stay comfortable during their birth and give them tools to manage any discomfort they do have.

Also, when possible let your birthing time begin on its own.  If you choose to be induced, know you can still do it un-medicated!  I have seen it done!  :)

4 moms who had comfortable births did have pitocin.  They really were active in monitoring how quickly the nurse turned the pitocin up.  Slower is better.  The nurses like to turn it up every 20 minutes.  This isn’t a race to see how quickly we can force the baby out.

(This is the third in a series of e-mails Angela, posted on the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group in December.  I will be posting them here approximately on the dates she sent them in December so you can see the steps she took to try to create the ideal birth for her.  It required a lot of her work on her part.  Check back to see the challenges she faced and the choices she made and what the outcome was.)

Thank you for all of your encouraging words.  It makes me smile and we are so happy with the change!

The head OB at the practice called me from her home on Saturday and left a message asking me to call her back on her cell.  My brother-in-law is the head neruologist in the area and she is one of his good friends. They also serve on several large medical boards here in the Phoenix West Valley.  So He called her and told her I was unhappy and that I must have mis-understood what the Dr. was saying about the induction.  He thought I misunderstood and the me and the baby were in danger and he wanted me to go to the emergency room.  Glad I have a strong husband who says..no thank you to his brother! We told him we had already met with another doctor and all was ok! He is the one who also had his wife induced at this practice (I mentioned it in the first post).

So I called the Head OB back yesterday to explain what happened.
I told her the story, and she said :

“well you must have mis-understood me in our meeting two weeks ago.  We may honor certian patient requests to not induce prior to the due date on certian occasions but IT IS OUR PRACTICE POLICY WITH ALL PATIENTS TO INDUCE BY OR PRIOR TO THE DUE DATE.”  She is the one who told me and my husband two weeks ago that they would not consider induction until after 41 weeks.

So this practice is NOT upfront about their practice policies and to me they were not exactly honest with me in my questions and requests.  She also told us in that same appointment to stay home as long as possible during birthing time knowing all along that it would be unlikely that I would even make it to that point..since all along they planned to induce prior to the due date.

Realistically they were not going to even give me a chance.

So I just told her on the phone, “thank you for taking care of me for the past few months but I will be delivering elsewhere because your practice does not align with our philosophies and desires for birthing our baby. I just wish I would have known this earlier.”

She said “Well I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

And that was it.

Just wanted to fill you in on the post-converstaion with the Owner and Head OB of the Practice.

We will be writing a letter and I will be sharing my story with fellow moms in the valley.

Blessings!

Angela A.
40 weeks & 2 days!
Phoenix, AZ