Lincoln's Lovely Birth

I was honored to have Hope and her husband in my Hypnobabies Class. They used my doula partner Cindy as their doula and had a great birth! – Sheridan

Here is Hope’s story of Lincoln’s birth

I would like to preface my birth story by just saying I had been dilating for 3 weeks with very little discomfort other than being 9 months pregnant. On my June 4th 39 week appointment I was 3 cm, 70% effaced and the baby was at a -1 station.

About 2:15 am on June 8, 2008 – I woke up with some discomfort. I went to the bathroom because I felt like I was going to have diarrhea. It was a little but nothing too bad. I had been having soft stool for about a week and half. I was unable to get comfortable back in bed and I decided to listen to Special Place. Still didn’t really think I was in my birthing time, thought maybe it was just wishful thinking.

3:30 am – I decided to start tracking what I hoped were pressure waves. The pressure waves I experienced at this time were mostly in my hips and lower back. The pressure waves were about 9 minutes apart. I decided to listen to Birthing Day Affirmations.

4:20 am – I Listened to Easy First Stage for the first time. My pressure waves were getting a little painful and I didn’t know if I would ever find a place to be comfortable. The birthing ball only helped for about 30 minutes. I never put myself into off with my light switch or began using the peace cue. In retrospect I wish I had begun around this time with using both. Next birth I will have a note to myself to do this.

5:00 am – I decided this was definitely it and woke up my husband to help me with support and tracking pressure waves.

5:19 am to 6 am – We began tracking and the pressure waves were anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and half.

5:46 am – Called Cindy my Doula to let her know I was in my birthing time. I had very intense discomfort in my hips and sitting on the toilet did not help at all, even made it worse. I couldn’t get comfortable by laying on the bed either. I would lay my head and chest on the bed and at a 90-degree angle sway my hips side to side with every pressure wave. I continued to listen to easy first stage. Pressure waves were 5 minutes apart. Cindy recommended getting in the shower. I was in the shower for about 30 minutes with a towel folded under my knees and my hands with the water hitting my lower back. This really helped both my spirits and the pain.

6:21 am – My husband called Cindy and asked her to come to my house. I knew it was time to call for my Doula because I had two thoughts that I may get the epidural. After these two thoughts I never thought about it again. But thank god for Cindy. Get a Doula if you are on the fence about it. When my Doula arrived she helped to focus my husband to read the birthing time scripts while I had a pressure waves. I really liked the one where they would count down from 5 to 1. They would hold my hands and read the scripts and tell me to relax and go to my special place. I used my special place and these scripts until the baby was born. The scripts that my husband read to me were the most important part of my birthing time. He thinks he counted down from 5 to 1 about 200 times that day. I was in a lot of discomfort from 4 to 8:30 am.

9:00 am – My pressure waves are about 2 to 3 minutes apart. We left for the hospital. I threw up the only thing I had eaten that morning a banana. After throwing up, I became extremely focused and calm for the remainder of my birthing time. We arrived at the hospital around 9:30. The security guard at the hospital and the triage nurse didn’t believe I was in labor. The Security guard even asked what was wrong when I calmly stopped at the front desk to just close my eyes and sway my hips during a pressure wave. My husband had to tell him I was in labor.

10:15 am – I am 5 cm (slightly disappointed as well), 100% effaced and a +1 station. The midwife said my water had broken already but I hadn’t noticed and we all assumed it must have happened while I was in the shower. My Doula did not think my dilation was accurate because my emotional state was much more focused. While walking from the triage room to L&D room I would just lean on the hand rails during pressure waves, close my eyes and sway side to side. Once I got into the bed I stayed in the bed for the next few hours.

12:30 pm – 7 to 8 cm. They wanted a pee sample. My husband helped me out but dropped it into the toilet (poor guy – but how sweet is he for holding a cup under me during all that). When I walked back to the bed, I leaned on the bed and had an urge to push. I let my body push and then got back into bed. Cindy was able to coach my husband to switch to transformation scripts based on my appearance and emotional state. He said he wouldn’t have known to do this without her.

1:15 pm – I am complete with a little lip on the right side but the nurse said I could push past it. They drew blood around this time since my urine sample had fallen in the toilet and they were concerned around protein. It was irritating but I was able to remain focused. I let my body do the pushing and my midwife let me go at my own pace. We didn’t rush anything. While pushing I thought I was loud but everyone that was there said I was just grunting and wasn’t loud at all. They told me that I was going to feel the ring of fire and pushed twice feeling a little burning sensation but it turned out that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would have been and forgot about it. I kept my eyes closed for most of my birthing time and used the relax cue from my husband the entire day.

1:42 pm – Lincoln Alan arrived weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches. I had a few hard days of breastfeeding because of inverted nipples but with the help of my lactation consultant my baby already weighs 7 pounds 9 ounces and is only 1 week old. He is the new love of my life.

I am so proud of this accomplishment. The midwife and nurse were fantastic and were so excited. My midwife even said that I gave her faith in midwifery again. They all wanted to know more about hypnobabies. Everyone wanted to know about my experience and I was so excited to tell a few people about my experience, especially the ones that doubted a completely natural childbirth could happen. I could not have done it without my husband and my Doula. I didn’t use my off switch or peace cue or the center switch or focused my anesthesia but I think practicing hypnobabies for 3.5 months helped me to naturally relax and use it subconsciously even though I didn’t purposely do it. I look forward to my next birth.