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The moment I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to bring our baby into the world naturally. I was determined to experience child birth in all it’s glory without a drop of medicine. In one of my prenatal yoga classes I heard another lady mention something about Hypnobabies. I went home and googled that term and did some research, which is when I came across a Hypnobabies birthing class, that I immediately signed my husband and myself up for. On the first day of class I met Carrie, and what a blessing this was. I had had a difficult pregnancy, dealing with hyper emesis and a thyroid condition. I had all these doctors ready to medicate me and I really wanted nothing to do with it. In the Hypnobabies birthing class Carrie really taught me that I am in control and I can advocate for myself and educate myself on all my options. By the end of the 6 week class I started to feel more and more confident that I was going to have a smoother birth than I did pregnancy. Also, by the end of the class I knew I wanted Carrie to be my doula! Not only is Carrie well versed and knowledgeable about bringing babies into this world she is kind, caring, fun and funny, judgement free and so strong! Leading up to the birth of our baby Carrie was there for me every step of the way. Our darling girl was born 3 weeks early and Carrie stood by my side for all of it, she was there for every text and phone call that came her way and physically by my side, literally holding me up throughout the night until my baby was born. Carrie provided both my husband and myself with love and support that we didn’t even realize we needed. There is no doubt in my mind about recommending Carrie to be apart of your birthing journey. I am forever grateful that Carrie helped bring our daughter into this world au natural. I did it without a drop of medicine; Hypnobabies and Carrie were all I needed (oh yeah, and my husband ;))
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Hi Carrie! I wanted to share my birth story with you, feel free to use the story and any of the photos for your website or classes! Whatever you need :) thanks again for being a part of this magical experience. Love, Valerie, Mike, and Roxie B I R T H ❤️ S T O R Y A lot of you know that I became very passionate about how I wanted my birth experience to be...as natural as possible and as fearless as I can be. Mike and I studied Hypnobabies for months leading up to birth to change my mindset and clear all my fears of all the horrible stories I've heard about labor. And I gotta say- self hypnosis, meditation, Mike, my doula, and the beyond wonderful team at South Coast Midwifery made this possible for me. I hopefully will inspire someone to have this highly emotional and incredibly special experience too. I ignored my due date- it became a "guess date" (to avoid interventions) and we knew it was sometime between June 8th and 19th. Well by June 8th I was bored out of my freaking mind and went back to work for a nice distraction... I mean who doesn't like salon drama? Nothing exciting happened until June 13th when the natural signs of labor starting rolling in! I thought my water broke but it didn't, I was leaking a lot of amniotic fluid and the contractions were SERIOUS. I waited 2 days for my water to fully break...nothing. So on the verge of a mental breakdown and wanting all the drugs in the world I went to the midwifery and just about died inside when she told me I was only a measly 1cm dilated. I was sent home with orders to sleep and eat every hour. Oh and to have a glass of wine. Yeah right... it's 7am... I couldn't eat a thing. SLEEP?! Not happening. She had to reassure me that pregnancy is natural, normal, healthy, and safe. If I didn't eat and get rest then I would be transferred to HOAG medical center and most likely have interventions because I have exhausted myself. I was not in any danger and I knew this wasn't going to go well if I didn't reset and focus on everything I have learned to do... which is to really do nothing and trust and listen to my body. I had to get it together and let the process happen the way it's suppose to. I had to believe that nothing could be stronger than me because it's all with in me. I was able to drink 1 protein shake. The next day they had me come in to assess me, so we went the midwifery Friday June 16th at 8:30am with an open mind that I may be transferred to the hospital... and I was ok with that. I was given an IV of fluids (because I was so dehydrated it stalled my labor) and then SNAP my water was broke. I drank as much peppermint honey tea as I could and hopped in the birthing tub. BEST PART EVER/ magic started happening. We put on soothing music, lit candles, ate fresh fruits with nuts and honey, mediated and used my hypnosis and before you know it I was smiling at the camera at 9 1/2cm dilated. Transition was rough yet tolerable, using my hypnobabies techniques made it so incredibly fast and the discomfort was easy to accept. I imagined every contraction was tight baby hug not wanting to let go until the perfect moment. Sometimes I would imagine each contraction being flower petals reaching up inside me to comfort baby to release. Mind over matter right?! It's go time- I hopped out of the tub to drain and refill so baby Roxie could arrive in gorgeous clean water but when gravity hit there's was no time for waiting for the enormous whirlpool bathtub to fill. I made it to the bed, got cozy, and starting pushing. Midwife Rachel asks Mike if he would like to deliver the baby and he was instantly hands on "catching" baby and she was put to my chest. It was barely 30 minutes of pushing and two positions. Everything went to plan... skin to skin contact, delayed cord clamping, dad cut the cord, dad helped catch baby, no unnecessary interventions, just all love and an incredible life experience. BAM we're a family of 3 and I ordered a cheeseburger 🍔. We had a golden hour of new family bonding and then my entire family came into the room to join us and place bets on how much baby weighed. 8 and 1/2 lbs of perfection, my mom was shocked 😳. The birth team poured the most delicious sparkling cider in beautiful champagne glasses and cheers us to new beginnings and a job well done. We got cleaned up and went over postpartum rules and went home with our 4 hours old brand spanking new baby girl. We were in our own bed sleeping by 8:30pm the same day 😴 ....and we haven't slept since. Roxana Belle Owen June 16, 2017 @ 4:32pm 8lb 6oz and 20.5 inches long
Hi Carrie. I just wanted to thank you so much for your love of teaching. When we first signed up for this class, I felt like, yes, I was getting a refresher, but really this was more for Frank. I’d done this before and I knew I would be able to do it again. I am so grateful that whatever intention brought me there, this experience helped me create the birth we wanted...needed. As you know with a natural hypnosis birth there is no way to describe the incredible and powerful feeling it is to experience birth and the rush of that power for those moments while baby is being born. I am again in awe of what my body has done and what women’s bodies are capable of and how amazing it feels to be here with my baby, at home, in peace and in my comfortable bed. You will forever be a part of our birth story when we reminisce on her beautiful birthing day. Thank you again for all the encouragement and snacks 😉. *note* Fabiana took my class only. This was her third hypno-baby. She came to class 6 - at 38 weeks pregnant - having warm-up waves. She went on to have her baby that night; active birthing time was just 40 mins.
 Remi Born July 16th at 10:32pm 7lb. 3 oz. 19.5in This was my third Hypnobaby! My first Hypnobaby was born 9 years ago, my second Hypnobaby 7 years ago and I had amazing experiences both times. I used the home study program for my first two children but this time I decided to actually take a class. I highly recommend taking a class if you can. I feel that I listened to my tracks and practiced a lot more when held accountable. I also learned a lot of new things that I didn’t know before. My instructor, @Carrie Cesario Mendes was also my hypno doula and it made a world of a difference having a doula who truly understood and was passionate about Hypnobabies! Although I had positive experiences with birthing my first two children, this time I had my dream birth! “Visualize your birth” was my favorite track and I listened to it daily in the last few weeks. It is truly amazing what we can manifest through visualization because everything went almost exactly as I had envisioned. Birthing my daughter was the most empowering and spiritual experience of my life! From the beginning I knew that I wanted a natural water birth for my daughter. I was very disappointed to find out that according to my hospital’s policy I was only allowed to “labor” in the tub but not actually give birth in the tub. My midwife told me that they would have to get me out of the tub before I started pushing. A home birth was not really an option for me because I personally feel more comfortable birthing in a hospital setting. Still, I continued to visualize a water birth at the hospital while listening to my Hypnobabies tracks. During one of my weekly Hypnobabies classes the topic of catching your own baby came up and it really stuck with me. So I also started to visualize pushing my baby out and pulling her up to my chest myself. During my last month of my pregnancy I was experiencing prodromal labor. Lots of inconsistent waves starting in the evening and dying off by the morning. It was getting to be really physically and emotionally exhausting because I would have lots of sleepless nights with waves that didn’t result in going into my birthing time. At week 40 I was tired, cranky, anxious, and not feeling quite myself anymore. I was listening to Hypnobabies tracks every single day and “Come out Baby” was played several times a day for the last two weeks because I was feeling desperate for my baby girl to make her debut. On Sunday, July 14th I met with my hypno doula, Carrie for a hypnosis session. After our session I felt my anxieties fade away. My husband started his paternity leave that following day so we dropped off our kids at summer camp and decided to spend the day at the beach walking down the pier. It was such a nice moment for us to relax and connect. After the hypnotherapy session and therapeutic beach walk I felt that I was finally mentally in a good place for baby girl to make her debut. That afternoon I had a little bit of bloody show and I started getting some stronger waves but they were not coming consistently so I rode the waves all night listening to the Hypnobabies tracks. I decided to go into the midwives office the next morning, July 16th. I was feeling waves every 10 minutes or so. The midwife did a vaginal exam and told me that I was about 3cm dialated 50% effaced. After my appointment we decided to go to the mall to have lunch and do some walking to move things along. Once at home the waves were coming every 4-6 minutes so I took a shower, got all of our stuff ready and headed over to the hospital. Once I got in the car and put my headphones on I was totally in the zone. My waves were coming every five minutes at this point. There was a bit of traffic so it was about 5:00pm when we arrived at the hospital. We had prepared snacks and drinks to bring to the nurses and they really seemed to appreciate the gesture. I was also really glad that I did the registration and paperwork before I went into the hospital since I didn’t have to bother with any of that once I arrived. When we were admitted, the nurse immediately asked us “What would you like us to call contractions?” and my husband asked her to call them “waves.” The nurses and staff at the hospital were amazing and very considerate of our Hypnobirth and birthing plan! The nurse did a vaginal exam and I was 4cm dilated and 60% effaced and -2 station. They gave me the option to go home and labor at home but I preferred to stay at the hospital at that point. I was very focused and in the hypnosis zone until my midwife walked in. She was so warm and friendly and wanted to chit chat with me. Although I appreciated her friendliness I was completely pulled out of the zone and switched over to my “thinking brain!” My waves seemed to come to a complete stop and the midwife again recommended that I go home to labor which I really did not want to do. At about 6pm Carrie (my hypno doula) arrived to save the day. She came with a suitcase full of her tools, a peanut ball, a birthing tool, and most importantly her presence. As soon as Carrie arrived she set a different tone in the room and helped me get right back into the zone. I was listening to hypnobabies tracks on my headphones while she was reciting affirmations to me. I liked having both voices speaking to me since it gave me a continuous stream of suggestions and affirmations. Carrie had me do some Spinning Babies moves to get the baby to come down further. We did the side lying releases, shaking the apple tree and the abdominal lift and tucks. I’m not going to lie, the abdominal lift and tucks were quite intense and I felt some pain when we did these. Once the nurses blew up and filled the birthing tub I stepped inside and felt such a relief! The warm water was really soothing and felt so relaxing. Carrie poured warm water on my back while my husband held my hand and I was able to completely focus on my birthing time. My midwife and nurse sat on the bed just observing for about an hour when they decided to step out. They must have figured that I had quite a bit of time left until I started pushing. Soon after the midwives stepped out, I started feeling the urge to push. I decided to just listen to my body and let it do what it wanted to. I wasn’t making any loud sounds or looking like I was in distress so even my husband and my doula didn’t realize right away that I was pushing. I wasn’t feeling any pain. It just felt like intense pressure. After pushing for about 10 minutes (or less) I felt the baby’s head bulging out. I put my right hand below and felt her face. Her tiny nose and mouth! I was so excited to meet her! I pushed about two more times and felt her coming! I reached with both hands and pulled her right up to my chest saying “Hi Sweetie!” I was just so happy she was finally here! I was blissed out with her on my chest when my husband said “Her cord!” and I noticed that the cord was wrapped around her neck twice. I knew from my Hypnobabies class that a cord around the neck was very common and that it’s unlikely to cause any problems so I didn’t panic. Just then the nurse and midwife rushed in to find me with a baby on my chest. She quickly came over and unraveled the cord from around Remi’s neck. Right after she was untangled she let out a cry and my heart just melted. We waited for the cord to stop pulsating and my husband cut the cord. Remi was alert and latched on right away. Carrie massaged my legs with Cypress essential oils while I birthed the placenta. The midwife said I had a minor first degree tear. I think having a water birth really helped with the tearing and recovery. Remi was a perfect 7lbs. 3oz. despite my gestational diabetes. She was born at 10:32pm. It was less than 6 hours since we arrived at the hospital and everything went so quickly and smoothly! Remi’s birth was everything I had ever dreamed of. I ended up having that waterbirth that I wanted so badly and even got to “catch” her myself! My older children are over the moon to have a baby sister and our family finally feels complete. Thank you Hypnobabies and Carrie Cesario Mendes!
Lucas’ guess date was June 5, 2016. Because I didn’t have him on this day I had a non stress test scheduled for the following Monday. During the regularly scheduled 40 week appointment, my OB talked about the stress test and mentioned a possible induction. Knowing I definitely did not want to be induced medically, I decided it was time to start walking to induce naturally. On the 8th of June my mom, my stepsister, and I walked about 4 or 5 miles. At 5:30 in the evening I was laying on the couch and felt a pop and a huge gush. MY WATER BROKE! Little did I know I had been in early birthing. My pressure waves were consistently 20 minutes apart, but I attributed this to walking. As soon as my water broke I got up and went to the bathroom and then got in the shower. As soon as my water broke my pressure waves got closer and stronger. From 5 minutes apart to 4 1/2 minutes apart. I enjoyed the hot shower for about an hour and then lied down and listened to my Fear Clearing track and got into deep hypnosis. I hadn’t felt Lucas move in a while so Cameron called the doctor on call and was told to take me to the hospital. On the way to the hospital I listened to Birthing Day Affirmations. I felt so calm, confident, and in control. We went straight to triage where I was checked for progression and was admitted. While in triage I listened to my Special Safe Place. I enjoyed being able to move during pressure waves so I kept my switch in the middle for the majority of my birthing process. Once in my room the intensity of the pressure waves seemed to intensify. We kept the Special Safe Place on repeat out loud in the room. I did a lot of swaying and talking to myself. I would repeatedly send my hypno anesthesia to my belly and back. I was able to spend some time in the shower and really enjoyed the relief that the water provided. While in the shower I felt the urge to push but was told not to until I was checked to make sure I was fully dilated. I did not want to know about my progress but assumed I wasn’t there when I was told I could not push. They told my husband, Cameron that I was only at an 8. From 8 cm to 10 cm everyone thought I was taking a nap because I was so deep into hypnosis. This lasted for two hours. The nurse asked if she could check me and I was ready to push! We turned on the Pushing Baby Out track and left it on repeat. I tried different positions and the lithotomy position felt right. I started with open glottis pushing and was encouraged to do “purple pushing”. After a long four hours of pushing I was holding my sweet baby boy. As it turned out he was posterior. I do not recall being informed of this and was unable to try the lift and tuck. The eight hours of active birthing and four of pushing were so worth it! I felt so accomplished and proud of myself. I accomplished a completely un medicated childbirth. I had an easier and more comfortable childbirth because I used Hypnobabies. I have already recommended it to so many people and will continue to do so. I cant imagine what my birth story would have been like if I hadn’t used Hypnobabies. ~ Renee   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! I love Carrie and I was able to have my successful homebirth come true with her by my side. Carrie was our Hynobabies instructor, I found her on a random google search AND when my midwife also suggested her I knew it was meant to be. During our class time Carrie made my husband and I so comfortable about birth and gave us tools to have a clear vision of what we wanted for our homebirth. Her voice was so relaxing I knew I had to have her as my Doula. She could put me in the best-relaxed state with just her voice alone. I told my husband I had to have her their for our birth. Our homebirth was a breeze because of Carrie. Before Carrie arrived my husband felt very anxious and unsure of what to do, once Carrie got here he felt reassured and knew she was able to help me and give my husband peace of mind knowing that she had been through this multiple times and was experienced. As soon as my contractions got closer together she was called and never left our side until our baby girl was born. She knew exactly what to do and gave me prompts just when I needed them. She was assertive and recognized what I needed to guide me through each contraction. She went above and beyond my expectations and I cannot wait to have her again for my second homebirth. Thank you Carrie for everything that you’ve done for our family. ~
On 5/9/15 at 8am my water broke... It started out as a small trickle with no contractions. I realized by 9 am my contractions were coming in a lot more. I was very calm and collected. I assumed we had more time to finish any baby stuff this weekend, but we didn't so I wanted to make sure we at least went to Babies R Us (so glad I went because we got a brand new pack and play Trinidad Ed. for $189 org. Price $250) and Target to pickup last minute items. While shopping I started to feel contractions every 2 minutes lasting only 25 seconds. I couldn't focus to time exactly my contractions. After we left Babies R Us, at the car I felt a huge gush of water come out. When I got home I knew we had to pack our bags, finish our laundry and shower. This is when I really started using my hypnobabies techniques. I have listened to these tracks for 21 weeks so I started listening to the tracks to ease me. The contractions really only felt like pressure. By 12:30 my contractions started to feel stronger and closer together but totally doable since I had breaks in between. On the way to the hospital I listened to more relaxing affirmations (this takes away the fear of giving birth). I was admitted into the hospital by 12:45 (after we stopped to get cookies for the nurses at Albertsons). By this time I started feeling pushy. My contractions started feeling more intense... But again it was completely bearable!! It felt like a lot of pressure. By 1:30 my pushy feeling continued and the midwife gave me a vaginal exam - I WAS 7 cm and 100% effaced!!!! They were soooooo surprised!! By 2:00 I started to push baby out asking my hubby to put on the hypnosis track of pushing the baby out. I'm not sure how long I was pushing...everything was so fast! 2:30 baby was here. Amazingly enough there was no ring of fire so many women talk about. It was a tingling feeling. A few pushes and baby was out! I think pushing the baby out too fast caused my tears, but my hypnosis still protected me still during this time. Everything was calm and beautiful, and my baby girl was alert and calm! The midwife and nurses just kept saying: you need to teach other women how to do this.
I believe the key is to just go with the contractions and not being afraid of it. I had my husband and doula remind me to relax. The room was quiet. The nurses were awesome and NEVER pushed me to do anything I didn't want to do. Hypnobabies didn't just prepare me for birth but it kept me calm and focused the entire pregnancy. I slept very well all the way through my pregnancy and didn't let the negative horror birth stories of other people affect me. Remember ladies, our bodies are made for this. Don't be afraid and embrace it all!!  Carrie supported my family and I through my second child birthing experience. I wasn't satisfied with my first child birthing experience in the hospital two years ago, so I decided to educate myself more deeply and have a natural birth experience. First, we took Carrie's Hypnobabies class and then we asked Carrie to be our Doula for our big day! The classes were great. It was a few hours once a week that allowed us to educate ourselves, practice techniques, create our birth plan (super helpful for hospital births and doulas) and did I mention RELAX! Carrie was always available to us via e-mail or phone outside of class. As our doula she visited our home to get to know us and understand our birth plan. Carrie was all about giving me and my family the tools and information to plan the birth that we wanted, never forcing her own preferences on us. Carrie is truly on a mission to give every family the birth they want and imagine, and boy, did we get that! I had such a wonderful birth! I was on the fence about a water birth and had communicated in advance that I was open to it, if it felt right when the time came. Carrie suggested it during my birthing experience to help relax me more during the later stage of my birthing when I was fully dilated and I am SO GLAD she did. Being in the tub made such a difference for me! My baby was born in the tub about 30-40 minutes later!"
Of all the choices to have our first child, our wisest was asking Carrie to be our Doula. She was our trusted partner, our mentor, our coach, and our friend through the trials and tribulations to meet our son. Her knowledge and experience guided us through peeks of birthing, and her patience and warmth grounded us during the valleys in-between. While our journey wasn't exactly to plan, the experience was beyond expectations- and Carrie was there every step of the way. Our son is wonderful and the memory of his arrival will always include you.
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