Here are my thoughts as a Hypnobabies instructor and as a Hypno-Doula of over 30 of my students:

My first response is No! But I think in reality:

It depends on how you define success!

I say something like this in the first class:

• The purpose of Hypnobabies is not to have a pain free birth
• It is to have the best and most comfortable birth possible
• Each birth is different and you and your baby together will create your experience
• the birth location you choose, your baby’s positioning, different interventions – there are so many things that work together in creating your birth experience
• You will learn the information you need to make the best choices for YOU and your baby
• You will learn and develop tools to help you every step of the way.

If a mom takes this attitude and is flexible and makes the best choices for her during her birth and is supported in those choices she will hopefully feel successful.

A different definition of success:

However, there are some moms who get hung up on the comfort part.

I think it may be possible that some moms search out Hypnobabies because they are so afraid of the pain and that becomes their main focus, birth being comfortable. Which I know it CAN be, but moms would benefit to focus on the bigger picture.  Because birth has so many facets to it, it is very limiting to focus on only one part.

These Moms may feel they have failed if they have discomfort.  I try to reassure them, there is NO WAY to fail, but they have their own perceptions and create their reality.

Moms need to start asking these questions,

• Did Hypnobabies help you during your pregnancy?
• Did Hypnobabies help you during your birth?

If the answer is yes, then you were successful with it! 

I will have 2 follow up posts with Moms and their insights about being successful with Hypnobabies during their births.

• Last year I had what I thought would be my fastest birth, which involved me running red lights as I drove mom and dad to the hospital, because their car had been towed!
• The year before that I did attend a birth where I met mom and dad at the hospital and baby was born 24 minutes after I got there.

Well this year Shelly had her 2nd baby and outdid both the stories above!  I attended Shelly’s first birth and was so excited when she called to say she was pregnant again and asked if I could be her doula!  I had an open spot in my next Hypnobabies Class, so she came to class and it was just such a joy to go to pre-natal appointments and see her cute boy and how big he was!

We all were hoping that this birth would go much quicker for her.  Well, we got what we hoped for!

Shelly called me around 5:30 PM on Saturday, while I was out to dinner for my hubby’s birthday,  to say she had seen Lindsey (her midwife) that day and was about 2cm.  She was having pressure waves about every 30 minutes.  Maybe it would be in the next day or so.

Shelly texted me around 12:30 am.  She said she was having pressure waves every 5-7 minutes.  I asked if she needed me to come.  She said yes, “they were getting a little unmanageable”

Her hubby was still in bed at this point.  She had been having pressure waves closer and closer since 10:30, had spent 110:30-12:30 in the shower and finally realized this was it!  She got Chris up a little after she texted me so he could start getting the tub ready.

I hopped up and took a fast shower.  E-mailed my other client and my back up doulas and then headed out.  I was hoping that she would have a faster birth than last time.  Her first birth (I was her doula then) was fairly long and she was exhausted by the time it was over.  So I prayed on the way over, “Please bless that she will have her baby by sunrise today the 16^th!”  (I was very specific, I didn’t want it to be sunrise the next day!)

I got to her house around 1:30 am and decided to park a little up the street leaving room for the midwife when she got there.

I went in and Chris said she was having trouble focusing. I peaked in the bathroom and said “Hi”, I told her I would run my bags up (their bedroom downstairs was FILLED with the tub and no extra room).  So I ran up, got out my notebook to write notes and headed back down.  (I did not have any time to write any notes!)

Shelly was leaning on the sink and I helped her through a pressure wave.  She said it was really intense in her back.  She asked for some juice.  So after that wave I ran up to get some and hurried back down.

When I got down she was sitting on the toilet.  When she had her next pressure wave she made a little pushy noise.

“Are you feeling pushy?”

“NO!”

“Have you called the midwife?”

“Yes!”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

However with the next pressure wave she makes more pushy noises.  I wonder, “Am I going to end up catching this baby?”

Lindsey got there about 5 minutes later, much to my joy, around 1:45.  Shelly had had another sounding pushy to me pressure wave and had another right when Lindsey got there.

Lindsey asked, “Is she pushing?”

I responded “Shelly doesn’t think so, but it sounds like it to me!”

Lindsey checked the baby’s heartrate and then hurried to get things set up.  Chris was trying to fill the birth pool.  I was wondering if there would be time for that.  I could see in the bedroom, her Mom was also working frantically to cover the bed with the plastic sheet and a blanket.

I just focused on Shelly and supporting her through each pressure wave.  After a few more she said she felt burning in her birth canal.  I said, “Great!”  I relayed the news to Lindsey.

With the next one I took a peek and thought I saw a bit of baby head!

I yelled to the other room, “Lindsey I see the baby’s head!”

Lindsey yelled back, “Is the head OUT?”

“No but it is right there, or maybe it is the amniotic sac.”

So Chris and I helped get Shelly into her bedroom.  I am thinking it was around 1:53 or so?

Shelly asked, “Is the baby almost here?” I assured her yes!

We helped her get on her hands and knees, but it was hard for Lindsey to hear the baby, so she asked her to get on her side.  Shelly quickly moved to her side and I held her leg up, because the head was right there.

We heard the baby’s heartbeat and the head was practically crowning at this point.  On the next pressure wave she pushed the head out… right as the other midwife called.  Lindsey said, “The head is out.  It is the house with the Christmas Lights.”  I was glad I had parked up the street so there was room.  Another pressure wave and Shelly pushed the baby out.  It was 1:59!

As she pushed either the body or the head I can’t remember which, a gush of amniotic fluid came out and flooded the bed, Lindsey and my leg got soaked! 

Shelly was a bit shocked once the baby was out. I think we all were.  So Shelly didn’t get her water birth, but it was certainly a very wet birth.  Because the bed was soaked and Shelly was all wet, she was really cold after.  She enjoyed the baby and after awhile Chris got on the bed and I changed my pants.

After the placenta was delivered, Shelly went to the bathroom and got cleaned up and settled on the bed. The baby was weighed and measured.  8 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches.  The birth photographer was there by then and was taking pictures.

After awhile I realized it was time to go.

I was home and back in bed by 5 AM.

It was certainly one of my fastest births and I am so glad I got to be there.  Had I known it was going to be that fast I would have skipped the shower!  So I could have given Shelly more support.  That hour after she texted me was a challenge because she was all on her own while Chris was getting the tub set up.

She is very happy how it all ended up though!

I always feel like this was one of my longest births, but it was partly because I was at Angela’s birth the whole night before, got a total of  5 hours sleep and then headed off to Shelly’s birth.  So I was working on very little sleep.  Looking back, I wasn’t even with Shelly for 24 hours.  But for Shelly, her early birthing time was starting before I even headed to Angela’s birth, so it was VERY long for Shelly.  However she did an AMAZING job!

When I first met Shelly and Chris they were planning a hospital birth.  Even at that first meeting Shelly expressed interest in homebirth.  They signed up for my Hypnobabies class and then hired me as their doula.  Angela was in their class and she had a homebirth with her third and was now planning another homebirth with her 4^th.  I think her presence in the class helped Shelly and Chris to research home birth more.  They ended up switching to Michelle Freund when Shelly was 37 weeks.

Shelly called me on Wednesday saying she was feeling crampy, but there was no regular pattern to them.  I called her later that night to say I was going to Angela’s birth.  I gave her my back up information and hoped she would wait to have her baby the next day!

Thursday early afternoon I touched base with Shelly (after taking a 3 hour nap).  She was still crampy about every 10 – 20 minutes.  She was going to see Dr. Jen for an adjustment later that day.

I went to bed at 9 pm and Chris called 11 pm on Thursday night.  Shelly was now having pressure waves every 7-10 minutes.  They were feeling really crampy and it was hard for her to be comfortable.  I said I would come now.

I got to their house around 11:45.  Shelly resting on bed, listening to Easy First Stage, very focused.    PW seem to be every 5-7 minutes and pretty intense.   Shelly had to work hard to stay relaxed through them.

I said, “Let’s call the midwife!”  Michelle sends Sheryl to check things out.

12:30 I helped Shelly get up to pee.  1 AM Sheryl arrives.   Shelly likes to be standing during her pressure waves, but is pretty tired.   Sometimes she lifts up a leg to put on bed.   This helps her feel more comfortable.

It is hard to tell when she is having PW because she stays so relaxed.  Sometimes I can tell, but not always.  It seems like her pw are getting closer together.  It seems like they are 2-3 minutes apart now.

Sheryl wants to check her to see if Michele should come.  Shelly doesn’t want to be checked because she would have to lie down.  At 2:15 we have another potty run.  Sheryl checks heart tones and baby is LOW into pelvis.  Shelly doesn’t even like to be checked with the Doppler.  This is a good sign and means it is time to call Michelle. 

Michelle probably got there around 3:30?

Shelly is standing by the bed leaning on the ball to rest.  Chris is sleeping on the bed and snoring.  Shelly doesn’t appreciate this.  Shelly has this blanket over her shoulders to keep her warm and she looks like an Indian princess to me.  She looks beautiful, strong and stoic.

Chris starts getting the pool set up and Shelly gets in around 6:30 am.  She seems to enjoy being in there.  I lie down for a nap (48 hours with 5 hours of sleep is catching up with me) Michelle and Chris take over.  I come out around 7:30 and Shelly is still in the tub relaxing beautifully.  Later Shelly tells me she never knew I left her side!  She had such a wonderful group of support people, we worked pretty seamlessly.

9:30 we decide it is time to get out of tub.  Michelle wants to see what is going on.  It takes 20 minutes to get Shelly out of the tub.  Then she spends about an hour on the toilet.  I LOVE how patient Michelle was.  Never rushed Shelly to do anything.

11 Shelly has her first vaginal exam.  She is 6cm, baby’s head it tilted a little.  This is probably why it is taking so long.  She thinks the baby’s head is small and baby is small.  The baby iust needs to descend more to put even pressure on cervix.

Shelly rests in bed flipping sides.  I take another little nap.  At 1 PM another potty break.

1:05 we head upstairs.  Fun music is on, sunlight, smoothie.  We are trying to energize Shelly, she is lagging in energy (who can blame her after working so hard for so many hours)

She walks 2 laps with Chris and about 1:30 she gets on hands and knees, chest low.

1:55 she says “Water”  So we get our trusty glass of water with a straw (how did women birth pre straws?) and she shakes her head NO and says “Water!”

Her water had broken.  We get her cleaned up and back downstairs about 2:20 onto the toilet.  She spends about an hour there.  Another VE says she is 8cm +1.  Good progress is being made.  We encourage her to follow her body.

3:30 she is back in the bedroom on her hands and knees.  She is doing little pushes at the top of pressure waves.  We encourage her to listen to her body.  She is doing great.

4 she really starts actively pushing with each pressure wave.

At some point Michelle checks again (maybe 5:15ish) and there is a lip left and she holds it back while Shelly pushes, so baby can move down and past that last little lip.

5:59 Baby is born.  He is doing great.  Shelly is exhausted and feels faint.  We get her lying down and help her and baby.  It is a little chaotic for about 5 minutes, while we are all worried about Shelly and checking baby.

She is SO tired and out of it for about an hour.  We are giving her fruit, protein bar, coconut juice, etc.  By the time I leave around 8 she is doing better.  Still TIRED, but more alert.  Baby is beautiful and weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce.

After the birth we talk about what may have happened if she had a hospital birth.  We both agree she probably would have ended up with a cesarean.  She also hated having her stomach touched during the birth and she couldn’t imagine having to have monitoring with belts on.

Her birth is the one that inspired me to make Moms Deserve Medals! Because she did deserve a medal!

Sign up for my RSS feed, so you can get notified when I post her 2nd birth story next week!

I was so happy when I reader offered to share her story of her external version for my X day.  I had not thought of a good topic for today.  So here is Sarah’s story of how her home birth was almost derailed by a breech baby, but how an external version helped her baby turn head down.  She went on to have a wonderful home birth. Thanks Sarah for sharing!

I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on January 25, 2011 at home. We named her Nellie Joy. Her birth was intense, exhilarating and beautiful…but it almost didn’t happen the way we planned.

This is Nellie’s story.

My first baby was born in the hospital. It was a typical hospital birth. We had taken Bradley classes and hoped for a natural birth but I was forced into an induction 41 weeks, 4 days. I was given cervidil, then pitocin, had my membranes ruptured, got an epidural, and pushed out a healthy baby boy. Many would call my son’s birth “normal” but I found it to be traumatic in that none of the decisions that were made about my care (or his for that matter) were left up to me. I felt powerless, out of control, and hopeless for most of my hospital stay. I spent many weeks in therapy to help me process the experience which was very healing.

So when I became pregnant the second time, I knew that I wanted something different, and my husband and I decided to have a home birth. We found a very competent Certified Professional Midwife, began prenatal care, and everything went along just fine without any complications. I began the Hypnobabies home study course and felt completely prepared for a natural birth. Then one night at 37 weeks, just before Christmas, while lying on my left side in bed, I felt the baby moving a lot and felt a lot of pressure on my left hip bone. I didn’t think anything of it until 2 days later at my prenatal appt. when our midwife, Liz, was palpating my belly and asked “Has this baby had any big movements lately?” She was having trouble determining the baby’s position with just her hands so we agreed to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound confirmed my worst fear…our baby had turned breech in my ninth month of pregnancy, after being head down all along.

With only 2 weeks until my due date, I immediately began doing everything I could to turn the baby. I did breech tilt and inversion exercises twice a day, listened to the Hypnobabies “Turn your breech baby” track, visited the Chiropractor every other day, and prayed, prayed, prayed.

But after a week went by with no success, we met with our midwife and discussed our options. Proceed with a home birth of a vaginal breech baby? Our midwife was willing to do it, but my husband and I weren’t sure we wanted to risk it. Our baby was complete breech with her feet down and my son had been born with a large head, in the 97^th percentile, so that concerned us. And we live in a state where CPMs are technically illegal, so we didn’t want to risk a breech birth and have our midwife be prosecuted for it. Schedule a cesarean? It seemed so drastic after planning a home birth…not to mention it brought with it so many risks.

I decided I wanted to try an external version. Thankfully, we found a doctor who was willing to do one for us. He practiced in another state and our midwife had transferred patients to his practice before so we trusted his judgment. We decided that if the version was unsuccessful that we would go ahead and proceed with a cesarean section that day. I felt that if our birth had to be by cesarean, I didn’t want it to be an emergency, and I wanted this doctor, whom I trusted, to perform it, so I felt it was best for me not to wait until I went into labor.

On January 6^th we checked into the hospital. The night before my husband read me the Change of Plans script. It helped me to cope with all of the emotions I was feeling. I needed my Bubble of Peace as soon as we got to the hospital. There was a problem with my paperwork and everybody kept saying I was a “scheduled Cesarean.” I had to keep telling them that we were there for an external version- I didn’t want to keep hearing them say “cesarean.” A nurse came in and put me on the monitor and told me that when she was pregnant her babies were breech, and she had tried versions but they were unsuccessful. Again, Bubble of Peace. I didn’t need to hear her negativity!

Next came an IV. It would have been a nightmare had it not been for my Peace cue. It took 5 attempts to get my IV started. I was so dehydrated from not having anything to eat or drink (I had to prepare as if I might have a cesarean) and the nurse had trouble finding my veins. I just kept saying to myself “peace, peace, peace” and I got through it. The nurse remarked on how impressive my composure was.

The doctor arrived and performed an ultrasound. Our baby was indeed still breech, in the complete breech position with knees bent and feet at the bottom. The baby was mostly on my left side with a lot of open space on the right, so the doctor said he would try to get the baby to do a forward roll into the extra fluid on my right side.  I was given a shot of turbutaline to relax my uterus since I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, probably from dehydration. My husband and I said a quiet prayer together, that my baby and I would be safe no matter what the outcome.

When it came time for the version, my husband and doula stood at my side. I used my finger drop and immediately went OFF, completely loose and limp. The doctor squirted a lot of jelly on my belly and began firmly, but gently, moving our baby with his hands. Within a minute the baby was transverse. He checked the baby’s heart tones and continued. Another minute and a half later our baby was head down. The entire process had taken less than 5 minutes. I could hardly believe it- it happened so easily! I opened my eyes and the first person I saw was our nurse Amy. She winked at me. I smiled back at her with relief.

The doctor stayed and chatted with us for awhile after the version. We decided to keep the baby on the monitor for 4 hours, just to make sure the version hadn’t caused any stress, and then we could go back home. He said that my relaxation during the version was crucial to its success. The doctor said that my “abdominal muscles felt like butter” and “wherever you were, Hawaii, Cancun, wherever, I’d like to be there too!” I was able to be that relaxed because of my Hypnobabies training.

We went back home and waited for labor to begin. Nineteen long days later, at 42 weeks, 2 days, the Braxton Hicks contractions I’d been feeling for months finally turned into labor. It began around 6 in the morning. I took a shower, ate breakfast, and called my sister to come pick up our son. I listened to my favorite CD and walked around the house-it was much too cold to walk outside. When a pressure wave would come, I stopped and leaned on my husband for support. He would whisper relaxation cues into my ear and sway me gently from side to side. It was very romantic. We ate lunch and watched a funny TV show. Around 1 I decided to go try to rest. I put on my Deepening CD and feel asleep for at least 20 straight minutes without a wave, it felt so nice.

When I woke up from my nap we were ready for our doula to come. We stayed upstairs in the bedroom with the lights low. I sat on my birth ball and leaned into a stack of pillows during my pressure waves. She warmed a rice sack in the microwave and put it on my back which felt really nice. Around 5 I had a wave that double peaked and thought “uh oh!” Our midwife Liz wasn’t there yet and we hadn’t made the bed! I was so calm and comfortable that I had no idea how far along I was. My husband and doula called Liz, made up the bed and by the time she got there I was in full-on transition. It was very intense, and I was struggling to cope. I began to feel a lot of pressure during my waves. A few more went by and I realized I was holding my breath and bearing down at the top of them. I said to Liz “I think I’m pushing.” I then had my first and only vaginal exam. Liz said all that she could feel was my baby’s head so I was free to push however I’d like to.

I began pushing on my side but didn’t feel like it was effective. Liz suggested hands and knees so I tried that. With the first push in that position my water broke. I was glad that it had remained intact for so long, protecting my baby. I pushed a few more times and began to feel discouraged. Everyone there was encouraging to me to keep going, that I was doing fine. My husband got in front of me on the bed and I clung to him, drawing strength from him to keep pushing. I looked him in the eye and said “Honey, I don’t think I can do it.” He said “You ARE doing it. I know you can.”

I pushed awhile longer but still felt so discouraged and unsure. I didn’t realize how close I was. Liz said, “Sarah, feel this baby. Push this baby into your hands!” I reached down and felt a smooth round head about to crown. With the next push I was crowning. I began to use my Hypnobabies tools again which allowed me to breathe the baby out. We have it on video and it is very beautiful to see how slowly and gently the head came out. The shoulders came out a few seconds later and the baby slid out. I sat back on my heels and there in front of me on the bed was a beautiful baby GIRL…that part was a surprise J I was so happy and so grateful. I said “Thank you Jesus for this girl!” and clutched her to my chest. It was one of the best days of my life.

I was stuck on finding something for the Letter T.

Then I remembered my book!

Download your free copy of

The Top Three Tips to Enjoy Your Birth!

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What are some thing you will learn?

• Three steps to help you trust your body and your baby!
• Three powerful choices you can make to improve your birth.
• Discover what the strongest muscle in your body is and how can you harness its power to help you birth more easily?
• Learn the most amazing Mental Tool available to prepare for your birth.
• How can “professional love” help you during your birth?
• Learn the most powerful tool you have as a parent and how to start using it NOW!

What people are saying:

• Be excited instead of nervous about your birth.
• Mom-friendly, unbiased information
• Practical, easy to apply suggestions
• Improve the outcome and perception of your birth
• Avoid information overload – Precise and to the point
• Incredibly helpful
• Wonderful Advice to ALL expecting mothers
• Great Advice and information
• Easy to read
• Read in half an hour
• I read it again and again
• Useful in any birthing situation – from cesarean to natural

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These are a few of a birthing mothers favorite places to be:

• Rocking Chairs
• Birth Balls
• Showers
• Sitting on the toilet
• In the Bath
• Resting on the Bed
• Standing and leaning on Birth Partner

Have I forgotten any?

Originally posted in 2007

I was so excited to go to Belly Sprout, in Fullerton to see the Business of Being Born.  I had heard good reviews of it and I love birth, so it seemed obvious I would love this film.  Belly Sprout is a great little space, with natural items for babies and moms, with room in the back for classes or film screenings.  It was fun meeting new people as we waited for the film to start.

The film overall was enjoyable.  The intention of the film seems to be showing how homebirth can be safer and better than hospital births.  There were interesting interviews and quotes throughout the movie.  Some wonderful home births were shown.  They were empowering to me as a natural childbirth enthusiast.  These same births could be seen as scary by moms who are afraid of the pain of birth.  As a Hypnobabies instructor, I know birth can actually be comfortable and enjoyable if you have the right hypnosis tools, so I wish a Hypnobabies birth had been included.  I worry that some moms might see the births in this film and say that is why I am going straight for the epidural.

They did discuss some of the different problems that come up with hospital births.  Including the cascade of interventions, though I wish they had been a little more explicit in that, because while as a childbirth educator I am well aware of what that entails, many women are not.  It was fascinating to see OBs interviewed and when asked the question, “How often do you see a natural birth?”  They were sitting there dumbfounded.  The answer was basically never.  My friend’s husband is doing his residency in Obstetrics and he agrees with this statement, they never see a normal, natural birth.  They are taught not to be lifeguards, jumping in if something goes wrong, rather they are taught only how to actively manage birth, which leads to problems of their own.  So how are they going to learn to support moms who want this?

The ending of the film ruined the whole film for me.  I think it was important to show that at times it is medically better to have a hospital birth (in this case the baby was preterm and breech).  This birth would have been better towards the front of the film, I am thinking after the OB says “95% of my job is boring, but then 5% is exciting/scary”  Ok, show the scary birth at that point of the film, then spend the rest of the film showing the wonderful 95% that are safe at home.   I think they were trying to have this moms story be one that wound its way throughout the film, but I really think its position in the movie undermines the whole purpose of the film.

Since this mom did end up with a cesarean, PLEASE use this as a chance to talk about VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and how next time this mom can have a vaginal birth and it would be ok.  Tell the world about ICAN and how it is a wonderful organization to help moms avoid cesareans or recover from them if they have one.  Let this film really educated and help the world in more ways than just homebirth.  It would add maybe 1 minute to the film, but would have the potential of helping thousands of women.

Overall I guess I would give the film 3 out of 5 stars.  If they could edit it and change where the cesarean birth is in the film I would make it 4 out of 5.  I would not recommend my Hypnobabies Moms watch it while pregnant, as I want only positive images in their mind as they prepare for their births.  But I do think it would be a great film to show in a college class to help women think about births before they are in that stage of life.  If we educate women earlier about their choices in birth and their power as women and mothers, we can change the world!

Edited to add in 2011 – I think this film has opened a lot of women’s eyes to the option of home birth.  I think today I would give it a 4 out of 5.  Again, I don’t love that it ends with a cesarean.  I am thrilled to say that mom has since had a VBAC.

My children and friends were confused when I told them how excited I was to go to a Spinning Babies Class.  My boys all thought I said Spitting Babies (boys and bodily fluid – ugh).  I wondered if my friends imagined little babies doing a spinning class?

Well, for those not in the know, Spinning Babies is about helping pregnant moms encouraging their babies to be in an ideal position to be born!

I have referred many moms to the Spinning Babies Website, where they can learn about optimal fetal positioning, belly mapping, tips to help their baby get in an ideal position, etc.   I knew it was great information and wished I was better able to share it hands on with my doula clients.

However some of the things seemed confusing to me, like Belly Mapping and all I could do was say, “Read the site!”

The Spinning Babies Class

So when I heard Gail was coming to LA, I knew I wanted to go to her class!

It was GREAT!  The information was so useful and hands on practice helped me to really grasp and understand the concepts.  I feel confident doing these things with my doula clients now.

I think back to quite a few of the births I attended where this knowledge could have helped some moms have easier births!

Belly Maps

One of my favorite parts was when 2 moms came in and Gail walked through doing a Belly map with them.  One mom had a breech baby and the other was a nice LOA.  Seeing her walk through this made it click in my mind and I finally GET it! 

I WISH that L&D nurses were able to take this class.  If every L&D nurse knew this info I think the cesarean rates would drop quite a bit.  Some easy hands on techniques could help with those posterior babies out there trying to get born.

It was well worth the money and time to go to the Spinning Babies Class.

Click here to see if a class is coming close to YOU!

I had set a goal to attend 10 births in 2010.  Victoria and her hubby took my Hypnobabies class.  They were not sure if they wanted a doula.  We kept in touch after class.   I told them what I tell all parents, “I think for a first time mom a doula is SO great, almost essential.  But you have the education and tools from Hypnobabies to have a good birth on your own.”

When she was 37 weeks they decided, Yes they did want a doula!

I was so excited (not because of the 10th birth, I had another mom that was due close to them, I just liked them and was excited to be at their birth!)

Here are the notes I took from her birth -

6:30 PM December 29^th Victoria calls me and says she has had pressure waves 6-8 minutes apart for a few hours.  She has been pretty active so I suggest listening to a CD while resting and see what happens.

(My parents arrived from Chicago minutes after she called.  So we quickly opened Christmas presents, as they were leaving a day later and I didn’t know if I would be going to a birth and how long I would be gone)

7:30  Victoria calls back and says they are now around 4 minutes apart and she is going to get into the tub, she is ready for me to come.

8:40 I arrive at their house and find Victoria resting nicely in the tub, pressure waves are 3-6 minutes apart and she is relaxing beautifully through them.

9 A decision is made to go to the hospital.

9:15 out of tub

9:30 heading to hospital

10 getting assessed in triage.

10:15 getting settled in room, 3.5 cm and very effaced.  She sits on birth ball for awhile.

11:15 get heplock

11:30 moves to rocking chair and listens to Fear Clearing and Deepening CD.  (The Rocking Chair was such a great place for Victoria!  I think she spent most of her birthing time in the hospital here.  A great place to be upright and still be monitored)

12- Victoria throws up and then gets checked, she is 5cm.  (At this point she had decided not to know how far along she was.  I went out to ask the nurse later) Gets back on rocking chair

Having lots of strong pressure waves

1:30 AM gets checked again, 5 cm, but baby is much lower and has bulging bag of water  (again, Victoria didn’t know this at the time.  I think it is SO wise not to find out how far along you are.  Too many moms get stuck on the number.  While she was “still at a 5″ her body had done a lot of work.  But she may not have believed that and only heard the 5)

Tries these positions:

• bed
• ball
• back on the rocking chair

2:30  Victoria takes a 30 minute shower with me helping her, letting Nick get a good rest.  It feels great to both of them. 

3 back onto rocking chair.

3:30 She is having more and more back pressure so we try a new position: hands and knees.  Nurse, Nick and I help with giving her pressure against her back and hips.

4:00 gets checked and is 8 cm

4:30 I suggest she pee again because I can tell it will be time to push soon.

4:45 Victoria has urge to push and nurse doesn’t want to check her, assumes that it is bag of water.  Victoria asks if the OB can come in to break her water.

Dr. S. comes in and breaks her water and checks her.

I remind the Dr. “Victoria doesn’t want to know how far along she is!”

She asks, “What if it is time to push?”

“Then it would be OK!” I assure her.

Dr. S. announces, “You are 10 cm +1 station, time to push!”

Victoria starts pushing in a mother directed way.  C. isn’t tolerating the pushing very well, so her nurse asks if she can direct pushing.  Victoria says yes and asks for oxygen too.

5:00  Start active pushing.

6:30 a mere 12 hours after calling me, C’s head is starting to show consistently.

6:45  C. starts crowning

6:55 C. still crowning, Dr. asks if she can do episiotomy and Victoria says yes.

6:56 Cole is born!

Victoria did amazing.  She stayed focused and calm and relaxed through the whole birth.

It was such an honor to be a part of this birth and I am so glad, for me, that they decided to have a doula. 

I really loved this post with a letter to The Natural Birth Club. She talks about how some moms make others feel bad because of they didn’t have Natural Childbirth.

Why do moms do this?   Why can’t we just listen and support moms as they share their birth experiences?

I think this is something very important to remember.  Since my first was an emergency cesarean after planning for a natural birth, her letter really resonated with me.  I hope that I always try to do listen and support moms regardless of how their birth goes. I am all about mom following her intuition and making the best choice for her and her baby.  That can look different for every mom and every baby.

I moderate the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group and a lot of moms come and share their birth stories.  I love reading all of their stories, regardless of what path they took.  Some seem apologetic and say something like, “I didn’t really have a Hypnobabies birth.”  As if they had only one idea of what it would be like and if they didn’t get it, it didn’t count.

It is hard because we do talk about visualizing what you WANT and focusing on that and for many moms preparing with Hypnobabies, what they want is un-medicated birth.

While it is important to focus on what you want before the birth, it is equally important to be flexible about birth because it is unpredictable. There is no way to know what cards you will be dealt. Maybe your baby will be a surprise breech after 12 hours of labor, like Adriel’s story above.

You can’t fail at birth. If you prepare with Hypnobabies, and use your tools during your birth, you had a Hypnobabies birth.  Regardless of if you chose an epidural or needed a cesarean or went un-medicated.  You have had a baby, you succeeded!

Back to Adriel’s post.  I am glad she wrote it, to remind us all that we are all members of the same club.  

Moms doing the best we can!

(She wrote a follow up post which is just as great.)