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). 

I had some pressure waves at 1:30 in the AM on Sunday, but was able to sleep through them for about 3 hours until I realized they weren’t going away. They still felt more menstrual crampy, but they were wave-like. Then I got very excited and started to get the house ready from 3:30 am-4:30 am. I went back to bed to try and rest and listened to some different tracks (don’t remember exactly which at this point, but I used the cheat sheet and the guide to pick which ones). I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours. I reached out to my birth team in the morning to give them a heads up. For the next few hours, we just got the house ready. I tried to rest, eat, drink water,  pee, etc. I listened to tracks and worked on getting my hypnosis going. ​

My entire life I imagined my birthing time would be at a hospital using an epidural or receiving a C-section. If you would have told me that I pulled a 180 I would not have believed you. I first heard of Hypnobabies from my older sister who birthed two healthy boys using her hypnosis. For her first, I thought she was on drugs. Who in their right mind would willingly birth naturally and at a birth center nonetheless! That's not how they show it on the movies so it can't be right. For her second, I was more open to the idea of birthing naturally and was intrigued by this whole hypnosis idea. She encouraged us to look at all the options and to educate ourselves. ​

Home birth and Hypnobabies went hand in hand for me, I could not have done one without the other. Early on in my first pregnancy my chiropractor and friend mentioned a home birth midwife and everything about birthing at home seemed right. As I began to show, and people knew that I was indeed pregnant, the question began to arise “So, where are you giving birth?”, especially since I work in a hospital! The surprised reactions and horror stories, began to stir around in my mind, “should I really be doing this?”, “am I brave enough”, “should births really be in the hospital?”, “can I really do this?!” ​Enter in Hypnobabies... ​

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!

Dear sweet Aubryn,

You are just over two months old now and the absolute light of my life! We have spent the last two months cuddling, nursing, and getting to know and love each other more and more each day. I could not imagine a more perfect little girl to join our family - your Brothers, Daddy, and I are so blessed.

This is the story of how you entered the world.

The summer is halfway gone and my winter baby is no longer a newborn. It is probably time to write my second born’s birth story before the finer points melt away like the snow already has!

My first born, Delsy, was born in June 2012 in the hospital using Hypnobabies. It was a long birthing time. It was a good, but somewhat difficult birth. (Read the story here) And I hated staying in the hospital afterwards. So when I found out that I was pregnant again in the summer of 2013, I looked at our insurance benefits again and realized that free-standing birthing centers were covered in-network! I quickly transferred care to Minnesota Birth Center and signed up to take the Hypnobabies course again with Anne, who had been our hypno-doula with Delsy and was now a Hypnobabies instructor.