I wanted to share my birth story and experience with the Christian Hypnobirthing App to hopefully encourage anyone whose birth plan didn’t/doesn’t go exactly to plan. I’m a first-time mom and had an emergency induction due to preeclampsia. I managed to have an unmedicated water birth, which was so beautiful.
On 06/27 I had my 37-week appointment and was sent to triage with high blood pressure. After running tests, my midwife told me I was right on the edge of being preeclamptic. She knew my birth plan and said she was comfortable waiting another week to see if anything changed.
On 07/03 I had my 38-week appointment. Within five minutes of being there, my midwife came in and told me it was time to have a baby. My blood pressure had skyrocketed and I had been feeling super off all week. Leading up to my 38-week appointment, I had dealt with five to twelve hours of prodromal labor every night for about a week and was miserable. I hated the idea of an induction as it was my worst fear and the thing I thought would stand in the way of an unmedicated childbirth. That being said, I knew that a healthy mom and baby was the ultimate goal.
My induction started at 1 p.m. on July 3rd. I was extremely nervous for what was to come but prayed that God would protect us and give me energy for the long night ahead. I was already dilated to 4cm and was 70 percent effaced before my induction. The first tightenings began very shortly after the Pitocin was started. They started as very mild Braxton Hicks. Within a few minutes, the contractions became regular and were four and a half to five and a half minutes apart. I walked the halls for a little while then moved to the birthing ball to do hip circles.
The Pitocin was upped 2ccs every 30 minutes until I requested to stop upping the amount to see what my body would do. At 5:15 p.m. my midwife checked me and did a stretch and sweep. I felt discouraged because she was trying to pressure me to up the Pitocin and have my water broken. I was still only 4-5cm, but knew that the centimeters meant nothing. I just closed my eyes and reminded myself to remain relaxed and positive.
The contractions picked up in intensity immediately after the membrane sweep, and I started walking the halls again. Every time I got a contraction, I would get into a deep squat and sway back and forth. At 7:30ish, I started considering having my water broken because the contractions weren’t picking up in intensity or duration. I talked to my nurse for a while about it and weighed the pros and cons. Due to the prodromal labor, I hadn’t really been able to sleep for days, which left me exhausted. On one hand, I wanted to try to let my body progress as naturally as possible and avoid all other interventions. On the other hand, I wanted to have enough energy to go through transition and pushing. I decided to lie down to rest in an exaggerated side-lying position for 30 minutes on each side in hopes of getting some rest. After that, I decided to continue moving and requested to have my water broken at 10:30 p.m.
She checked me and I was still at 4-5cm. My midwife questioned this and said this is exactly why she wanted me to continue turning the Pitocin up. This upset me because she was being really pushy about progressing my labor quickly. Mind you… I was already at 16ccs, which is not a small number… Although I felt discouraged when she said this, I closed my eyes and prayed, reminding myself that my body was built for birth and that the centimeter dilation meant nothing. She tried to sweep my membrane first, then tried to break my water with her nail. After that failed, she tried to break it with a tool meant to poke the sack. She was still unsuccessful and tried two more times. She said she would try one more time if I was up for it, otherwise she was going to give up and crank up the Pitocin. Finally, at around 10:30, my water finally broke.
I had another contraction immediately after it broke and it was way more intense. I could no longer talk through contractions and needed my husband to apply counter pressure on every contraction along with heating pads to my back. By 11 p.m., my contractions were two to three and a half minutes apart.
My mom arrived around 12:15 a.m. My midwife told me I had hours to go before I was anywhere near pushing then hours of pushing. I had a gut feeling that things would progress a lot quicker than she thought and told my mom to get there anyway. At this point, I was vocalizing through every contraction. It felt best to lean forward and sway with counter pressure on my hips. I got in the bath at 12:34 a.m. and was moaning through each contraction. They were less than a minute apart and one and a half to two minutes long.
At around 12:45 a.m., my midwife walked into the bathroom and said, “Alright Jess, are you going to cave and get the epidural, or are you doing this thing?”
I said, “Oh, I’m in this. I’m doing it.”
She offered to get a birthing pool set up for me so I could have a water birth. I was over the moon because I had risked out of the birthing center and had mentally prepared to not have a water birth like I wanted. At 1:07 a.m., I got into the tub and immediately felt my muscles release. Although this intensified the pain, I knew it was more effective and focused on relaxing every muscle in my body. Every contraction made me want to clench up, but I moaned lowly and did a mental scan of my body every contraction to ensure I was relaxed. By 1:30ish my contractions were only 20-30 seconds apart and never fully released.
At 2:10 a.m., I experienced intense pressure. Felt like I was starting to push. My nurse checked me and said I had a ways to go and was nowhere near pushing. I was 6cm. My contractions were 5 seconds apart and lasted one to two minutes. At 2:42 a.m., I asked my mom to call the nurse in again. She checked and I was at 8cm. My body was already trying to bear down. At this point, my body was in a constant contraction. As soon as one would peak and start to die down, it would pick right back up. I was utilizing horse breathing to prevent myself from pushing and kept whispering “loose and open” over and over again to try to keep my muscles from pushing.
2:48 a.m., my mom called the nurse back in and I told the nurse I had to start pushing. She told me it wasn’t time. Fetal ejection kicked in and I started pushing anyway in spite of her telling me not to. My husband bowed his head and whispered into my ear. “Baby, trust your body. If it’s telling you it’s time to push, it’s time. You have got this.” The nurse wanted to check me again, but I was in a constant contraction. 2:52 a.m. I finally laid back for her to check me. I was crying out to God for strength, and then the nurse pulled away and quickly walked off. Although I was extremely upset at her in the moment, I found out she had rushed to get my midwife and was taking her badge, pager, phone, etc out of her pocket because she thought she was going to have to climb in behind me to catch my baby. I was 10cm and fully effaced, with his head about an inch away from my vaginal opening.
2:55 a.m., finally, I let my body push and started to J breath to encourage my muscles to push my baby out. I barely had to do anything. It was such a relief to finally push. My midwife arrived at 3:02 a.m. As his head began to crown, my nurse tried to coach me to push, which I really didn’t want to do. Instead, I waited for a contraction and I breathed him out; it wasn’t until the last contraction that I held my breath and pushed him out. His head and body were delivered in one contraction, and at 3:15 a.m., July 4th, he was in my arms! He came out with his eyes wide open. He wasn’t crying but I could tell he was taking air in. I rubbed the bottom of his feet and his back, and he let out a small cry. The water was cold at this point, so my midwife wanted to cut the cord so they could get him warmed up. I agreed that this was the best move as I was already shaking from the coldness. They brought him over to the warmer and wrapped him up. He was pink and looked perfect. He was on my chest by 3:21 and had only been apart from me for 2 minutes.
I used the Christian Hypnobirthing app and the course throughout my whole pregnancy, starting in the first trimester. I used the tracks to visualize my birth and the calmness and peace I would have. I went into preterm labor at 27 weeks and was admitted to the hospital at 33 weeks. I was on bed rest until I was full term and continued to meditate using the tracks and breathing exercises the entire time. I truly believe this was the only reason my birth went the way it did. The funny thing was that I only had the tracks playing for 10 minutes during the whole labor. I forgot I had my phone and was too focused to use them. That being said, my husband has been around me while I listened to them during pregnancy and was coaching me through each contraction just like the tracks do. He reminded me to be loose and open. He encouraged me to embrace the tightenings because each one brought me closer to meeting my son. He coached me through breathing and honestly ended up being my own personal doula.
He told our nurses at the beginning of the induction that we would not be using the word pain to describe my labor and that he would appreciate if they respected that. Instead, he asked them to use the words intense, effective, and productive. Anytime anyone (including myself) would slip up, he would interrupt and gently remind us that they were effective and doing exactly what my body needed them to do. He also reminded everyone that the use of the word “epidural” was not to be mentioned at all. I cannot recommend this course enough. I got my dream birth in spite of getting an induction, which was my worst fear. Immediately after giving birth, I told my husband I wanted to do it again and was so excited to go naturally without the use of Pitocin.
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