Each of my pregnancies has been a little different. With Otto’s pregnancy I felt well emotionally for the most part although I did have some increased stress in the second trimester due to the ongoing delta wave of COVID and the stress of my work as a nurse practitioner. We did finally end up catching COVID at 23 weeks in January but fortunately we all had mild cases.
|
We’d like to share our birth story with you, as it is a testament to Hypnobabies that we feel positive about how things progressed despite the many challenges we encountered.
We had quite an eventful birth - my birthing waves started on the 13th, and they were very strong from the start, but only got more intense as my birthing time progressed. When we made it to Willow birth center at 5:20pm and I was checked by the midwives, I was 3cm dilated, 80% effaced and Kira was at station 0. Things only got more intense then, and the next time I was checked at 6:40pm, I was at 10cm and she was at +2 station! On paper, this birth was so straightforward! To me, this birth was more mentally challenging than the last one was. I was “in my head” a lot more this time - second guessing where I was in the process and/or my ability to do the work. Once I got out of my head and listened to my people and my body, everything moved right along!
This birthing time began much like my previous two - with lots and lots of warmup waves! I had a lot of start and stop waves in the days and weeks leading up to my birthing time. A couple times I actually contacted my team, letting them know that things may be starting, but each time they fizzled out after a few hours. A Hypno-Dad shares his version of the birth story of their first baby: a Hypnobabies home birth7/27/2020 It was around 3 am on 6/29/2020, and it was thundering & raining that night. The power went off a couple of times, so both of our sleep was disturbed. Leslie got up to go to the bathroom and that's when she had bloody show. She came back to bed and had her first pressure wave. I woke up to her breathing through it, and I asked if that was what I thought it was! We remembered that we needed to get our sleep, so we tried falling back asleep but it was especially difficult for Leslie as she kept having the waves.
BOP (discomfort, intense pushing phase, almost a necessary episiotomy)
We did an in-person Hypnobabies class, and as first time parents, we are so grateful for that. We were able to complete most of the class before Covid hit. I was pretty good about getting my tracks in every day, and I was a sleeper. I feel asleep (and stayed asleep) for about 90% of all Hypnobabies tracks. They relaxed me instantly, and I just always conked out! In hindsight, I wish I would have had some more conscious experiences in hypnosis (I could have attempted some more upright positions during my tracks, which might have helped me stay awake) prior to birthing, but I know that Hypnobabies was still incredibly helpful during our birthing time. UPDATE: Katie shared clips from her beautiful Hypnobabies birth and we made this lovely, inspirational birth video to show other hypno-families as they prepare! Hey All! Instructor Anne Ferguson here to share a fabulous birth story of a beautiful and speedy birth I attended last weekend! I had missed this family's first birth because it had been quick also, and the Mom didn't realize how far along it she really was in time for the whole team to assemble. This time we were all motivated to make it there on time! My birth doula career is winding down (just one more birth left on the books!) and it has been a wonderful month of two beautiful out of hospital births. It was lovely to spend these early morning hours with this family and team. To view this story and her fabulous professional photos please visit her blog at: https://katherinedegroot.com/blog-1/2020/06/26/langstons-home-birth-story/ To read this family's first birth story click the link below: http://www.hypnobabiestwincities.com/twin-cities-stories-and-videos/an-amazing-day-a-first-baby-comes-fast-at-a-birth-center You may also enjoy reading this article I wrote in 2018, inspired by Katie's first birth, called "The Secret to Having a Natural Birth": http://www.hypnobabiestwincities.com/articles-and-information/the-secret-to-having-a-natural-birth   Rosalind Grace entered this world peacefully at 12:20 am on May 29, 2020, one day before her mom and dad’s 5th wedding anniversary, amidst violent unrest in Minneapolis, under COVID-19 quarantine...and born upon a throne, as a princess should (eh-hem, a toilet). (scroll down for amazing pictures!)
For this pregnancy I was excited for the opportunity to finally have my birth center birth. I had risked out and had to birth at a hospital for Isla due to hypertension. I found Willow Midwives and once I toured the beautiful facility, I was excited to give birth again. I had also decided to learn about Hypnobabies and use hypnosis for a more comfortable birth. UPDATED 6/10/20 and AMAZING VIDEO ADDED...
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for Hypnobabies and how much of a difference it made for me. This was my 3rd baby, but first time using Hypnobabies and I came away from this birth feeling worlds of difference. During past pregnancies, I’ve been a lot more anxious, but this time, my daily hypnosis became such a comfort to me and I looked forward to it every day. This pregnancy had new challenges with COVID-19 – being quarantined, isolated from friends and family and the financial toll that came with shutting down our small business for months, but Hypnobabies helped me to stay positive and focus on what I could tangibly do. It gave me the confidence to switch to a home birth at 34 weeks and I’m so glad I did. I loved our previous midwives (my previous two births were at a free-standing birth center), but I just felt instinctually that given everything going on, home birth would be the best thing for us. On March 16 and I spent most of the night watching movies (Bohemian Rhapsody and Bridesmaids), doing Hypnobabies, and dozing through strong and long birth waves but they were pretty spaced apart. At 6:10 am I decided to get my team together because I felt like I needed some support especially after I did a modified side-lying release for myself that was super intense and thought I should get up and move around. I texted my midwife Emme of Trillium Midwives and doula Lindsay of MamaAligned/One Strong Mama and woke my husband up.
This was my second birth and second Hypnobabies birth. From the start this pregnancy was different from my first. With my first I didn’t really have any complaints aside from SI joint pain in the third trimester. With this baby I had severe acid reflux from 6 weeks, and symphysis pubis pain from 12 weeks on. Then at our 20 week ultrasound our son was diagnosed with ventriculomegaly and hydrocephalus which is enlargement and increased fluid in the ventricles in the brain. My pregnancy went from routine to high risk and I had to start following with the perinatologists at Minnesota Perinatal Physicians. My first son was born at the Minnesota Birth Center with the nurse midwives there so that had been our plan for this baby as well. I had a fetal MRI at 28 weeks to confirm the hydrocephalus and it suggested that his hydrocephalus was due to aqueductal stenosis which is a narrowing in the duct in between the third and fourth ventricles in the brain. I now had to give birth at the hospital, but our plan was to still have the nurse midwives attend our birth.
|
Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
