May 21st I had my third son, second Hypnobaby and first home birth. It was absolutely amazing. ​

At 39 weeks I woke up around 6 am to a small “pop” and a gush of fluid as my water broke. I went to the bathroom, discovered bloody show and thought to myself, “I guess I’m having a baby today!”. My second hypnobaby came at 38+5 but I had it set in my head this baby was staying put for at least another week. It also happened to be the day of my oldest sons’ preschool graduation, that I would have liked to attend, but I was in transformation as he was graduating that evening (he had three grandmas that attended- very thankful for family). 

Introducing my hypnobaby, born at home in the water on Sunday, July 2 at 8:38 pm. 8 lbs 10 oz 19.5" and perfect in every way!

I awoke at 3:00 am at 40+4 with stronger pressure waves than any of the practice waves I'd been having, and thought this could be it! 

So I put on my tracks and ended up sleeping through them for another 4 hours or so. At around 8am I noticed they were getting more powerful and knew today would be it! I started timing them, ate a good breakfast and got a shower in while playing tracks. I live alone, so about 9:30am I called my mom and sister to come over and began my early birthing time tracks. The tracks were amazing as I began to experience feelings I hadn't before! My Hypno-Doula, Aileen Larson, showed up around 12:30 and immediately assisted me with my peace and relax cues during each wave. My sister ended up carrying around my bright orange hypnoanesthesia towel around on her shoulder as I found comfort in that. They continued to get stronger, a sensation I feel I couldn't have prepared for being a first time mom! I was very vocal, but apparently (I'm told) I was quite serene in between each birthing wave. My tracks were constantly playing for me all throughout the day and served me as a powerful guide and something to focus on. After about 12 hours of active birthing time I pushed for an hour when I felt the urge and out he came! It was an instant relief and I suddenly felt very normal, like I had just come out of another dimension  

It was the most intense day I've ever had, but I'm so proud to say I had the birth I envisioned at home in the water completely naturally. It's fun to put on tracks or relaxation music now and see my baby respond to it. I think he likes Kerry's voice better than mine!

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.

This is the story of Jane Rose’s birth, July 26th, 2013.  It was such a wonderful birth that I just have to share it. My first birth was the med free and uncomplicated birth that I wanted, but it was nowhere near “easy” or “comfortable.” I had listened to the Hypnobabies tracks and read the material, but I never practiced and didn’t use them at all. This time I really embraced the Home Study. I started early, practiced often, and really focused on visualizing my birth with the tracks and through prayer. I slept wonderfully falling asleep to the affirmations and even used an inversion with the Fear Clearing track to flip my baby when she was breech!

Karen's Story:
I had already started Blooma’s Prenatal Teacher Training when I found out I was pregnant. It was perfect timing. I started to feel really sick; nauseous, headaches, sleepless nights, but getting to the 10 required Prenatal Yoga classes was such a treat and could not have happened at a better time. It was hard to get there, but once I got there, it felt amazing. Blooma’s classes were a blessing in disguise since I had to take these classes for the training, yet I was a part of a community that intentionally gets together to practice yoga and to share their feelings and thoughts about pregnancy. I loved being a part of it and I learned so much about my body! The instructors were all amazing and truly care about pregnancy and what was happening in the lives of all of their students.  It was such an empowering and loving environment and I felt so fortunate to be there.

Check out this amazing story of another Twin Cities' couple who used the Hypnobabies home study course to have a fantastic birth.

Editor's Note from Anne: Hearing Michele tell me this story was one of the main reasons I became a Hypnobabies Instructor!

Elena’s Birth Story

We loved the Hypnobabies program and will do it again if we have another baby. Besides doing a ton of reading on my own (Ina May Gaskin, etc.) and going to a few Childbirth Collective classes, the Hypnobabies program was the only childbirth education that we did. I ordered the home-based program because we were looking to save money (to pay for our doula and placenta encapsulation) and I knew I had enough discipline to do it on my own. Although I did miss a few times, I very consistently did the hypnosis tracks every day and the affirmations CD at least once a day, sometimes twice. I usually listened to the affirmations on my bus commute to work, which put me in a good mood and set the tone for the day. The affirmations CD really was my favorite and I think made the most difference for my birth. I was confident in my birthing ability and truly believed birth could be easy and awesome.