My journey to Hypnobabies started when my dear friend from college sent me a book on Hypnobirthing when I was pregnant with my second child. She had a wonderful experience using the techniques with the birth of her son and thought I would take interest in it with the upcoming birth of my second baby, another girl. When I got it in the mail, I told myself that I should read it and have an open mind, as there was a reason why it was sent to me. The birth of my oldest daughter, Annika Nari, was a good experience. It was relatively short (8 hours) and it was without complications. The one thing that was noteworthy was that I had a lot of anxiety and fear with the whole birthing process and those feelings still loomed with the upcoming birth of our second child, nicknamed Baby AJ.
After reading the book, I was completely intrigued. Could birthing really be comfortable? Could it really be joyful and without fear? After doing some research, I found Hypnobabies and loved their philosophy and that they had a home study option (unfortunately, none of the classes fit my schedule). Without hesitation, I ordered the home study kit and started my journey to having a comfortable, easy, joyous child birth experience.
The home study materials were fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to the CD’s and practicing the self-hypnosis techniques (finger-drop method). It was incredibly relaxing and I really looked forward to my Hypnobabies time every day. The “Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations” were especially helpful in embracing my pregnant body and enjoying being pregnant, as my husband and I decided that this would be our last baby. In addition, the “Visualizing your Birth” track was awesome! I vividly pictured myself in the birthing process and that our Baby AJ would have the same darling face as our older daughter but with lighter colored hair. My special place that I created in my mind was nursing my Baby AJ in her room with the view out the window to be The Hotel Del Coronado in California. The hypnosis tracks cemented that place in my mind as comforting and safe, ultimately using it in conjunction with the “Peace” cue to aid me in the birthing process.
When I was about 36 weeks pregnant, I had a local Hypnobabies instructor and doula, Anne, come over and to do a home study review with my husband and I. That was really good, very informative, and reassured me that I was ready to do this. Now, I was just ready to be patient and wait for my Baby AJ to be born.
(Editor's Note: Read more about the home study and our "home study advantage" private classes here.)
I woke up on the morning that I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant with menstrual like pressure waves. Initially, I didn’t think much of it since I thought that my water would break, as it did with my oldest daughter. After about a half hour, I realized that they were coming more frequent and that I had some increasing pressure in my perineum area. I decided to call my OB’s office and the physician on call told me that I should head to the hospital since I had been dilated to 4cm for the past 2 weeks. I told her that I was hesitant that this was the “real thing” since my water hadn’t broken yet and she chuckled and said that it’s often one of the last things to happen in the birthing process! After that, I woke up my husband, got my oldest daughter ready to spend the day with her Grandparents, and got ready to head to the hospital.
On the car ride, I listened to the “Birthing Day Affirmations” track and turned my light switch to “off” and “center” when necessary to deal with the increasing birthing waves. Once we got to the hospital around 9:00am, I was dilated to 6cm and it finally became real that we were going to have a baby that day, Saturday June 7th.
The major theme that I gathered from the home study materials, through the one-on-one with Anne, and on the online Hypnobabies Home Study group was to use the tools that I had learned. I was ready!
The home study materials were fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to the CD’s and practicing the self-hypnosis techniques (finger-drop method). It was incredibly relaxing and I really looked forward to my Hypnobabies time every day. The “Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations” were especially helpful in embracing my pregnant body and enjoying being pregnant, as my husband and I decided that this would be our last baby. In addition, the “Visualizing your Birth” track was awesome! I vividly pictured myself in the birthing process and that our Baby AJ would have the same darling face as our older daughter but with lighter colored hair. My special place that I created in my mind was nursing my Baby AJ in her room with the view out the window to be The Hotel Del Coronado in California. The hypnosis tracks cemented that place in my mind as comforting and safe, ultimately using it in conjunction with the “Peace” cue to aid me in the birthing process.
When I was about 36 weeks pregnant, I had a local Hypnobabies instructor and doula, Anne, come over and to do a home study review with my husband and I. That was really good, very informative, and reassured me that I was ready to do this. Now, I was just ready to be patient and wait for my Baby AJ to be born.
(Editor's Note: Read more about the home study and our "home study advantage" private classes here.)
I woke up on the morning that I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant with menstrual like pressure waves. Initially, I didn’t think much of it since I thought that my water would break, as it did with my oldest daughter. After about a half hour, I realized that they were coming more frequent and that I had some increasing pressure in my perineum area. I decided to call my OB’s office and the physician on call told me that I should head to the hospital since I had been dilated to 4cm for the past 2 weeks. I told her that I was hesitant that this was the “real thing” since my water hadn’t broken yet and she chuckled and said that it’s often one of the last things to happen in the birthing process! After that, I woke up my husband, got my oldest daughter ready to spend the day with her Grandparents, and got ready to head to the hospital.
On the car ride, I listened to the “Birthing Day Affirmations” track and turned my light switch to “off” and “center” when necessary to deal with the increasing birthing waves. Once we got to the hospital around 9:00am, I was dilated to 6cm and it finally became real that we were going to have a baby that day, Saturday June 7th.
The major theme that I gathered from the home study materials, through the one-on-one with Anne, and on the online Hypnobabies Home Study group was to use the tools that I had learned. I was ready!
Smiling in between pressure waves, 6+cm.
I listened to “Easy First Stage” over and over, sat on the birthing ball, rocked on hands and feet, and even laid still in the fetal position. All through this time, I was using my light switch, “peace” cue and special place to make my birthing experience more comfortable. My husband was a fantastic birth partner, as he would read me scripts and put his hand on my shoulder and use the “relax” cue. Above all else, Kerry Tuschhoff’s voice (narrator of all the Hypnobabies tracks) was the most effective in helping me relax since her voice had become so ingrained in my mind over the past 9 weeks. When I knew I was getting close to the pushing stage, I switched over to the “Pushing Baby Out” track to get ready for what would be coming next.
Throughout this time, I was quickly dilating and the time just flew by. Before I knew it, I was complete at 10 cm, but my water had not broken yet- Go figure! The attending physician suggested that she break my water at this point and I agreed. As soon as that happened, my body took over and pushed my baby out. I did my best to remain relaxed and let it do its thing! That was truly an amazing experience. About three minutes later, our beautiful baby girl, Arabella Jade, was born at 1:00pm. She was just as I pictured her in my mind, the same darling face as her older sister, but with lighter hair. Arabella weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long. Just perfect.
As soon as I gave birth, the nursing staff and the attending physician all remarked how they could not believe that I was in labor! They told me that they hadn’t seen someone so relaxed through the process and that I was the talk of the floor. WOW.
People ask me if it was painful and I have to say that it really wasn’t. It was intense pressure and I experienced some discomfort at times, but it was very manageable with the skills that I had learned through the Hypnobabies program. I am incredibly thankful for having found the program and being able to give Arabella such a beautiful, joyous, and confident birth. With that being said, even though the births of my two daughters were each of a different path, they both ultimately had the same outcome; Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby. My husband and I are overwhelmed with gratitude for that same wonderful outcome and that we will have our daughters for the rest of our lives. And then the sisters will have each other for the rest of theirs. Our family is now complete.
Throughout this time, I was quickly dilating and the time just flew by. Before I knew it, I was complete at 10 cm, but my water had not broken yet- Go figure! The attending physician suggested that she break my water at this point and I agreed. As soon as that happened, my body took over and pushed my baby out. I did my best to remain relaxed and let it do its thing! That was truly an amazing experience. About three minutes later, our beautiful baby girl, Arabella Jade, was born at 1:00pm. She was just as I pictured her in my mind, the same darling face as her older sister, but with lighter hair. Arabella weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long. Just perfect.
As soon as I gave birth, the nursing staff and the attending physician all remarked how they could not believe that I was in labor! They told me that they hadn’t seen someone so relaxed through the process and that I was the talk of the floor. WOW.
People ask me if it was painful and I have to say that it really wasn’t. It was intense pressure and I experienced some discomfort at times, but it was very manageable with the skills that I had learned through the Hypnobabies program. I am incredibly thankful for having found the program and being able to give Arabella such a beautiful, joyous, and confident birth. With that being said, even though the births of my two daughters were each of a different path, they both ultimately had the same outcome; Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby. My husband and I are overwhelmed with gratitude for that same wonderful outcome and that we will have our daughters for the rest of our lives. And then the sisters will have each other for the rest of theirs. Our family is now complete.
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