Hailey’s Birth Story

She actually has her baby boy IN THE CAR! This one is a MUST READ

On the morning of August 24th, the day before my “guess date”, my husband Paul got up at 5 AM to be to work early, and of course, I was awake. The last few weeks of pregnancy really get you prepared for a newborn Anyway, he went to work, and I laid in bed for a little while longer, hoping to fall back asleep for an hour more before my 2 year old Heath got up for the day. While I was lying in bed, I started to have some pressure waves. Now, these were very different than the practice pressure waves I had been having since I was 6 months along, these were much lower, and more in my back. I was not uncomfortable, just mild pressure waves. I had a midwife appointment scheduled that day at 2, so I just went about my day, playing with Heath and making sure he was being taken care of, all the while having mild pressure waves, and wondering if today would be the day! I was texting Paul all day, giving him updates about how I was feeling, and so far, everything was fine. I did seem to have a bladder issue though, or so I thought. I thought I had peed, just a little, and was wearing a pad, in case I had lost control of my bladder…kind of embarrassing!

Heath and I went to the appointment in Orem, and as I was walking in, I felt a little more pee come out…luckily I was still wearing the pad, so it was ok. I talked to the Trinette, my midwife for the day, and just kinda gave her the heads up about how I was feeling, and told her I might have lost a little bladder control. She told me it was probably just early stages of labor, that it could happen tonight, could happen next week, but that the pressure waves I was feeling were definitely ones that change the cervix, and that got me kind of excited I called Paul after we left, to tell him what had happened at the appointment, as I did every appointment. He said “Well, that’s great! Can I go to Farmington tonight to look at a boat?” And I said “Sure!”

We got home, and Paul was home working in the garage. About an hour and a half later, around 4:45, I could definitely tell that I was not, in fact, peeing on myself, but gushing a bit of fluid every time I sat down or got up. It started to dawn on me that my water might have broken, so I called back, and told them that I wasn’t sure if my water had broken, so they told me to come back so they could see what was happening. All 3 of us got into the car again, and headed back down to Orem.

When we got there, Suzanne was there and asked for the pad I was wearing so she could test to see if it was amniotic fluid. And indeed it was! She said she wanted to check me, just to see where we were, and I said ok. I laid down, she checked me, and said he was posterior, meaning he was face up instead of face down, and I got a little discouraged. I had kept turning him by being on all fours and sitting forward, and he had kept going back and forth all throughout my pregnancy. I was also completely thinned out, and at about 7 cm dilated. I was shocked! I was not in pain, not uncomfortable, and not ready to have a baby yet! Suzanne said she didn’t think it was an active 7, meaning my pressure waves were not close together, not consistent, and that I was still very comfortable. So, I asked her if I could go home, thinking it would happen much later in the night, even very early morning. She said I could go home, but as soon as I started to feel more pressure, don’t dawdle, and get back there quickly.

So, we went home, I had a grilled cheese sandwhich, and Paul went to Farmington to look at the boat. I called my mom, to come and stay with Heath overnight, in case we needed to leave in a hurry. She came over about 7:30, and that’s when I started to feel some stronger pressure waves. At this point, I am sitting on my birth ball, listening to my Hypnobabies tracks and needing to say “relax” out loud to myself to keep calm and relaxed. My mom started timing my pressure waves, and using counter pressure on my back, because it was starting to get a little more intense.

At about 8:30, I called Paul and asked if he was coming home soon, because I was starting to feel alot more pressure during each wave, and they were about 6 minutes apart. He said he was on his way, that he would be there in a half hour. I said ok, and kept going, staying relaxed, listening to my tracks, and waiting for him to come home. I decided to get in the shower, to see if the water would help, and it did! I still was feeling some pressure, but it felt better to be in the water, I noticed they started to get really close together, but they were shorter, which confused me, because I knew they were supposed to be longer…I got out, and got dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, and called the midwife on call, Sarah, to tell her we would be there in an hour. Paul got home, got in the shower, and was shaving, when all of a sudden, I am leaning over the coffee table, trying to braid my bangs so they were out of my face, and I have to push! I have this crazy intense pressure just drop into my pelvis, and I have to push! I start yelling “I gotta push, I gotta push!” and Paul comes running down the stairs. My mom starts pulling cushions off the couch, wanting to see if I am crowning! I can’t move, I am literally stuck leaning over the coffee table. Now, I also felt the need to go to the bathroom, and I know that is the feeling of needing to push, but I could tell the difference, and I needed to go to the bathroom! I told Paul this, and he says “No we need to get in the car.” I told him I had to go to the bathroom, and to help me to the toilet. He did, and I was able to relieve myself, but not have the pressure go away. Paul gets me to the car, with me stopping every 2 minutes to have a pressure wave, and involuntarily push at the same time. I get into the front seat, and lean my seat all the way back to get the pressure off my pelvis, and we take off!

Paul drives like a mad man, with me pushing and grunting, my Hypnobabies Pushing Baby Out track in my ear, but it very hard to hear, Paul is using the cue words he learned, saying them over and over to me, but I can’t hear him either. It was so amazing how my body just knew what to do, and I did not want it to stop! I start to feel burning, and stinging, and stretching, and I know its my baby’s head trying to come out, which was telling me he had flipped back to anterior! Although I had vizualized my birth over and over again, this was not what I had planned! I wanted to be in a tub, with the lights low, and quietly enjoying my baby’s birth. Instead, I am in the front seat of my car, going 90 MPH down I-15, in construction, pushing my baby out and just a little nervous it was gonna happen on the freeway! At one point, there was a semi-truck that tried to cut us off, either because he didn’t see us, or he did see us flying down the freeway, and decided to take matters in his own hands and get us to slow down. He had 2 trailers hooked up, and we were halfway up him when he started to come into our lane. There were only 2 lanes, and we were on the left of him, in between him and the concrete barrier. He starts honking on the horn, and I opened my eyes to see a wall of semi trailer coming at me…Paul got us out of there, and we kept racing to the birthing center.

We finally got to our exit, got off the freeway, and I know that baby is coming…as we turn onto Center Street, I feel his head pushing through further and further, and I yell at Paul “His head is coming out RIGHT NOW!!” Every time I pushed, Paul reached over to feel if his head had come out yet. As we are turning onto State Street, I feel another push, and insane burning, and then relief, as his head pushes through! Paul reaches over, feels a bulge in my pants, and says “oh CRAP!” I strangely feel better, but now I am terrified, because his head is out, and I don’t know what to do except breathe…

We get to the parking lot of the birthing center, and Paul is wailing on the horn like there’s no tomorrow. The midwives come running out, with everything to help deliver a baby, and Paul slams the car into park, jumps out, and yells “the head is out!” My door flies open, my sweatpants are ripped off, and I push one more time, and he is out and on my chest!

Wow. He had a good healthy cry, and I looked at him, looked at Paul, and just cried,  in shock that this just happened to me! I looked at Rory, and said “You look just like your brother! Happy Birthday Rory!” They gave him a 10 on his Apgar score, both 1 min and 5 min, which I thought was amazing!

Now, he is still attached to me by his cord, and the midwives are trying to decide whether to deliver the placenta in the car, or try and get me inside. They start talking to Paul, saying they wanna carry me inside. Now, I know I am not a small girl, and I am not about to let these 3, 100 lb girls and my husband try to carry me inside! So I just say “give me just a minute to breathe, and I will walk in”

I slowly move my legs over, still holding Rory, wrapped in towels, and get out of the car. They put a chuck under me, just in case things fall out, and they rally around me, 3 midwives and my husband, and we walk inside! I delivered the placenta, which was super healthy, and weighed 1 lb 11 oz, and then got to be sewn up…which let me tell you, was much worse than having the baby! I had torn pretty good, and it took them 45 minutes, and 4 shots of numbing stuff, and was just not fun. After they were done, we weighed and measured Rory, and he was 9 lbs 15 oz, and 22 inches long. He pooped 3 times before they had weighed him, and they all said that he would use up a lot of diapers, which he has!

It was a very intense, amazing experience, something I will never forget. Hypnobabies is such an amazing program, and I could not have had this phenomenal experience without it! I am a huge believer and am suggesting this program to all my pregnant friends! Thank you to Littia for giving me the confidence and training to do this!

Candy Brandon

“The labor was fairly smooth and thanks to such a great husband/coach, we were able to use hypnobabies with great success.  Below is the link to her “birthday” video, enjoy.”

(This isn’t a birth video, but does show some great pictures of the birth and is a super cute way to preserve and share their experience)

http://animoto.com/play/m9cyWdjpWDMXXeRNlvXkDQ

Jamie’s Birth Story

At our midwife appointment on April 14th, the day before my “guess date”, and my blood pressure was still high, so our midwife was concerned that pre-eclampsia was still on the horizon.  She didn’t want to send us to the hospital for the 4th non-stress test in 2 weeks, so she suggested that we go to the hospital that night to start Cervadil to get my cervix to dialate since I was still at a 0, and then plan to start Pitocin the next morning to get things moving.

We went to the hospital at 7pm and by 7:30 they put in the Cervadil—it’s like a suppository, but they have to put it behind the cervix to dialate it—NOT fun when your cervix is completely closed and high.  Anyway, then Josh and I just played games and hung out til we got tired and went to sleep.  As I’m sure most of you know, hospital beds are like ROCKS.  I couldn’t hardly sleep, so I listened to my “Come OUT Baby” Hypnobabies CD (our instructor suggested it as a way to avoid induction—-it’s like anything else used to induce—it won’t work unless your body is ready for it).  Well, I guess it was, because at 3am I woke Josh up because I was having pressure waves.  I have no idea what stage I was in, because the pressure waves were coming so close together I’d have like 5 in a row and Josh thought I was only having one.  He was SO great supporting me and using Hypnotic suggestions and techniques to get me to relax.  It was fabulous.  We really realized how important it is that birth partners get involved and how vital it is to practice together diligently.  I didn’t want to listen to any CDs (I thought the I-pod headphones would irritate me, so we put the relaxation music on on Josh’s laptop), so Josh had to use scripts that he made up from what he could remember and what instinctively seemed to work from my body cues to get me to focus and relax.  IT WORKED GREAT!

He called our doula, and she came over, totally surprised to see me so relaxed and having so many pressure waves…it was nuts.  The nurse came in and checked me and I was at a 2 and totally effaced.  By 7:30am when they came to take out the cervadil and start the pitocin, i was at a 5, so they decided to just forget the pitocin because I was obviously progressing quickly on my own.  By 8:30 am when the midwife showed up, I was at a 9, and by 9:57am Stephen was born.  So total time was 7 hours.  It was crazy and happened SO FAST.  Josh was totally my hero, and our doula was totally amazing.  Everyone kept saying that I was just glowing and so happy and were surprised that I could laugh as I was pushing—the nurses were fabulous help too, and very encouraging.  They never once offered me an epidural.  Near the end I did get some Fetanol just so I could breathe in between a few contractions and they gave me oxygen to make sure that the baby and I were both getting enough. At one point they also had me stop pushing so I could let the last lip of my cervix finish dialating, which was SO hard, but when my midwife got there, she held back the cervix edge and let me push—it’s amazing how your body just does it—it doesn’t take any effort from you at all…you just have to go with it.  They also had to put an internal monitor on him shortly before he crowned because the pressure waves were so intense and close together that his heart rate was dropping and not going back up after each wave (he was also pinching off the cord- it was once around his neck, and one of his arms was tangled in it too), but he did just great and had a beautiful cry when he came out.  I can’t describe how I felt when his body came out—which is a totally amazing feeling too—I cried and laughed and was just…WOW….jeesh, I’m starting to cry now just thinking about it.

He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and was 20 inches long, so a perfect size.  We love his fluffy brown hair and love looking into his eyes.  He’s so alert and just loves taking in everything he can hear and see.  It’s so amazing to have this new little life in our family.

 

Miranda’s Birth Story

We had our baby on St. Patrick’s Day and it was exactly the birth I had been hoping for.  We had a little girl, Ava Corinne, and she weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and measured in at 21 inches long.  Here is my birth story:

At about 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning I woke up with a pressure wave, but it felt different than my
“Braxton Hicks” I had been experiencing so I wasn’t sure if this was the real thing or not.  It felt more like
a menstrual cramp, and not just the tightening I had been feeling for weeks previous.  I got up and went
to the bathroom, went back to bed and woke up again at 6:00 in the morning with the same sensation.
After that point I continued to sleep but was aware that they were happening every so often.  At 8:00 a.m.
I decided to get up and start my day, and they seemed to be coming on about every 15 minutes or so, although
I hadn’t timed them yet.  They were still very manageable on my own and I was able to fix breakfast and even
go for a walk with my husband and daughter around the neighborhood.  They were still coming on and seemed
to be growing a little stronger, to the point where I would get kind of shaky during them.  I cleaned my bathrooms,
since we were having a homebirth and I wanted things clean.  At about noon I decided to call my mom, Jill, who
acted as my “doula”. She stopped by the store to get some birthing snacks and was at my house about 20 minutes
later with fruit and juice and crackers We just hung around for a while, fed my daughter lunch and decided we
should get her sent off to the other Grandma’s house for the day, just in case things got serious here. My husband
drove her over and when he got back to the house, my mom and I were on the couch starting to time my pressure
waves to see what we were really looking at as far as time. They were about 8 minutes apart, and a little more than
a minute long, which surprised me because they only felt to be 30 seconds or so.  My pressure waves were becoming
pretty strong and I decided to put on a CD and buckle down.  The hypnosis helped a lot, and the waves seemed
to be no big deal at all.  They actually slowed at that point, to be about 16 minutes apart, but lasting over two minutes
each.  I got up to move over to my birth ball but that didn’t seem to be as comfortable so I got up after a pressure
wave to move back to the couch, and before I could even lay down, another one was starting up, which caught me off
guard.  My mom continued to time them and found that they were suddenly only about 3 minutes apart, and still lasting
for two minutes or more each. After four or five of these we decided I should call my midwife, this was about 3:00 in the
afternoon.  I decided I’d like to get a bath going and as I was walking up the stairs to go get in, I lost my focus and
had a really hard and, quite honestly, painful contraction. I had to stop midway up the stairs to get through it and
my husband stood with me, putting pressure on my lower back.  Once I got upstairs and in the tub, I realized that
this was the test.  I had to truly put forth my weeks of practice in hypnosis to work or else, based on my frantic
moment on the stairs, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this and have the beautiful birth that I had been dreaming of.
My husband put on a Hypnobabies CD for me (I can’t remember which one), I had my mom whispering cues into my ear
and I was able to become deeply focused and in control.
Only a matter of a few minutes later, I was aware of my midwife in the room and she asked if she could listen to the
baby’s heartbeat.  Everything sounded fine, and so she proceeded to give me an internal exam.  At this point I was
elated to hear her say that I was fully dilated and to keep up whatever I was doing because it was working beautifully.
She sounded amazed that I was that calm while being that far along, and that helped me tremendously to keep it up.
I started to feel pushing sensations along with my pressure waves suddenly, but because of the intensity that I felt,
I was unable to waver from my hypnosis even long enough to tell anyone anything in a full sentence.  So I said “pushy”
when I felt pushy, and I said “talk” when I felt another pressure wave coming along, so that my mom would continue
to give me cues. My body started pushing without my conscious effort and with the first push, my water finally broke.
I had about three more pressure waves, with three more pushes and my sweet baby was born.  My midwife placed her
immediately in my arms and my husband covered her with a towel as we started talking to her.  She was alert, calm, and
so beautiful.  My placenta was delivered shortly after and my bleeding was well controlled.  I did tear and require a
few stitches along where my old episiotomy scar was, but everything else was completely intact.  I was able to
nurse my baby right away and she picked up on it very quickly.
My total birthing time, counting from when pressure waves seemed to be consistent at around 8:00 a.m., was 9 hours and 50
minutes and a total of 12 minutes of pushing….which I am so proud of, seeing as my previous birth was 15 hours
with two hours of purple pushing. And although I did have a moment of weakness on the stairs, I was able to refocus and
have the outcome I had wished for.