Our Birthing Story - Hypnobirthing Inspired
I have been asked a couple of times to share our birthing story. For those who are interested, continue on. For those who are not, you have been warned :)
We figured that we had another week before baby would make it's appearance... the doctor told us on that Wednesday that we were not dilated, even though I had been having contracts off and on for about a week. "We'll probably see you next week" the doctor told us. We thought the timing would be perfect since my mom was scheduled to fly into San Diego that Saturday. Andy was hoping for a Father's Day baby, and had conversations with baby about coming into this world on Sunday. Boy, did Jake have other plans for us!
I had been craving pancakes from Hash House A-Go-Go for a couple of days earlier that week. Thursday morning finally allowed DH and I the opportunity to go over to Hash House to fulfill that craving.
I had my fill of blueberry pecan pancakes, then DH headed off to work. I still had a bit of energy, and decided to go over to the Goodwill to see if they had any baby stuff. Plus, I had been wanting to get an additional dresser for the nursery.
There really wasn't much of a selection of baby stuff, nor was there
a dresser of the right size, but there was a couple of short-sleeved
maternity tops. Not wanting to spend a lot of money on additional
maternity clothing, I decided that the few dollars that these tops cost
were worth it, thinking I had at least a week to go (HA!).
I got home, was exhausted, and took a nap for a couple of hours.
I woke up, and felt "funny." I don't really know how else to describe it. It just felt funny "down there". So I decided that maybe I just needed to go to the bathroom.
I barely made it there. I literally walked into the bathroom, and just gushed. Didn't have time to pull down my pants or anything. I was soaked. And made quite a mess. Then the rush of excitement.
I called DH at work. My exact words? "I think my water just broke" We talked for about a minute, and decided that, yes indeed, we were pretty sure. It was three o'clock Thursday afternoon.
DH headed home. I called my mom. We talked for a minute, I described what happened, "yep" she said, it sounds like my water broke.
She told me she would look into changing her flight from Saturday to Friday and would give us a call to let us know.
I called my grandmother who lives in Orange County. Since my mom couldn't be there for the birth, I wanted the next best thing - grandma. She hopped in her car and headed down.
DH got home, we packed the last minute items in the hospital bags, shared a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then headed to the hospital. It was five o'clock Thursday.
We hit traffic, of course, and finally arrived at the hospital and checked in. It was six o'clock Thursday.
I was examined by a nurse. One cemimeter dialated. Contracts were not really that intense and not at all consistent.
I was talked into getting an IV block. Didn't really want one, as it goes against all things Hypnobirthing, but everything happens for a reason. (btw, I never mentioned it on the blog, but DH and I opted for natural childbirth training, and after a lot of research we decided on the hypnobirthing method).
Since things were not at all consistent, we decided to watch a movie. We brought a couple with us, and ended up watching "27 Dresses". Grandma arrived during the first part of the movie. We were also assigned a nurse, a nurse that happened to be trained in natural childbirth. DH and I were thrilled.
Our doctor stopped in sometime after seven o'clock. She indicated that since we were two weeks early and my water had "ruptured", that our labor would be a long one, and she would see us sometime in the late morning. Boy, was she wrong.
After the movie I decided to plug the Ipod into the ears and do some walking around, hoping to speed things up. They sure did!
At about ten o'clock, things were progressing.
By eleven o'clock surges were pretty intense. By midnight, they were still intense and consistent. The nurse checked us again... still one centimeter dilated.
From midnight to one-thrity, surges were extremely intense. At this point I asked for an epidural. Knowing my wishes on our birth plan using Hypnobirthing, both the nursing staff and DH made sure that this is what I truly wanted.
I was checked again - we were now at seven centimeters - we had gone from one cm to seven cm in ninety minutes! I credit this progression to everything we learned in Hypnobirthing and our practice.
I still wanted the epidural - and it was administered at three o'clock (good thing I had that IV block!). By four o'clock, I was fully dilated. (If only I could have held on for one more hour!). The decision was made to have the baby move down on its own, since my doctor was at home (sleeping, I imagine). I think this worked in our favor because I did not have to "push the baby down". The doctor arrived at about 5:20AM, and with six contractions, Jake was born at 5:42AM.
Hypnobirthing was certainly the best thing for us. And even though we didn't go the full way with Hypnobirthing, I still believe that it was by far one of the best things we did during our pregnancy. It really helped me get through the discomforts of the final weeks of pregnancy, as well as speed up our labor.
In thinking back on our labor, I remember the surges being quite intense and quite uncomfortable. But for the life of me, I cannot remember exactly what it felt like. I cannot describe it whatsoever. Doesn't biology work in the most amazing way?!
Of course I cannot end a post without a picture of our little guy:
Erika took this picture, when she came for a visit in the middle of July!
