Roopa (Hypnobabies Class)

Our little BOY(!!) arrived on Christmas Eve!  His name is James Nihit Lee and we are completely in love :)  I wrote out my birth story for you below!  I'm so proud of myself and excited I chose to do Hypnobabies.  My birthing time was even better than we had hoped for!  Thank you so much!!  

I had an appt on Dec 23 (my guess date) and at that point the baby was still pretty high and my cervix was completely closed.  My doctor shockingly did not mention induction and I was very thankful for that.  The next morning, Dec 24, around 6am I started having some mild pressure waves.  They continued all morning and afternoon, but were so mild I wasn't sure if this was the real deal.  They grew in intensity, but never got unbearable by any means.  I slept in between PWs and even fell asleep in the middle of many of them!  During each PW I just kept repeating some of the birth affirmations to myself, using the peace cue to help stay relaxed, and praying.  I was trying not fight against what my body was trying to accomplish.

Eventually Gary suggested I listen to the Easy First Stage track, just in case this was it.  I listened to it, but struggled staying in off switch.  I had to keep going into center switch and wasn't confident at all that it was working.  It didn't feel like my hypnoaneasthesia was working or like I was in deep hypnosis which, at the time, I found disappointing.  Looking back, Hypnobabies was DEFINITELY working!  That's why the PWs were so manageable!    

My doctor had said to only come in once I was having PWs 4-5 min apart for an hour.  He also said to only come in if the PWs were painful enough that I couldn't talk through them.  My PWs never got that close together and never got intense like he said they would.  At 3:15pm, I was on the couch half asleep during a PW when my water broke.  The water was brownish and I knew that meant the baby was in distress.  At this point, fear for my baby's safety set in and I started feeling the PWs much more than before and they were painful (I think because I allowed fear to enter into the picture).  Even still they weren't painful like my doctor had warned (I'm not sure why this surprised me) and I was able to call the hospital on the way and talk through the PWs.

We got to the hospital at 3:45pm.  At that point I was feeling a lot of discomfort and was afraid I'd be like this for hours.  I am embarrassed to tell you this, but I got there and on my own asked for an epidural.  I thought what I was experiencing was still the early stages of birthing and was scared for when it would get even more intense.  I told the nurse I was afraid my cervix was still closed, but she checked and I was fully dilated and ready to go!!  I was shocked!  I'd gone through the majority of my birthing time at home and even slept through half of it!!  I knew I could do it on my own at that point.  After 30 min of pushing, James arrived at 4:44pm (59 min after we pulled up to the hospital)!  He was 7lbs 9.6oz.  He is healthy and passed all his tests with flying colors :)

I did end up with 4th degree tearing, but even that has been manageable pain-wise.  I've been using my peace cue to manage some of the discomfort and I really think it's helping.

Thank you so much, Carrie, for all your encouragement and for teaching us.  Gary and I are both so happy and feel so blessed to have such a wonderful birthing experience.  I hope you and your family had a great Christmas!