Natural Pregnancy Project

This story was sent to one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. With the permission of the mama I am sharing it with you today. There are a few reasons I chose this story.

1. She uses hypnosis for childbirth
2. This is her second childbirth and it is completely natural
3. After this birth story she shares her first birth story which is not so natural.

I appreciate the difference in the two stories, but it also inspired me to let mamas know even if your first birth was completely filled with interventions ~ including a c-section ~ you can still have a natural childbirth for your second birth. So here’s Melissa’s story of the births of her children. Enjoy~

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I was five days overdue and antsy to see my little guy being born. I
went to my midwife’s appointment and then attended a group she
facilitates for expecting mothers. A mother had brought in her
newborn to talk about. Her husband suggested that I hold the baby
for positive vibes. The baby sure brought on regular pressure waves
until about 10:30 that night, but like the nights before it, they
stopped again. I joked with my husband, that it would be nice if
labor actually started early in the morning and ended by noon. I
was kind of glad they stopped that evening.

On January 4, 2008, at 6:15 a.m. the next morning, I was slowly
waking when I felt a leak. I knew I had not peed, but was not sure
if my water broke enough however, since it was very little. I got
up and went to the bathroom and called my midwife, Ingrid, to tell
her. Because the baby had been high up the day before she wanted me
to lay down and make sure I could feel him move around. She did not
want problems with a prolapsed cord. I laid down on the couch and
about 6:30 the waves came every 2-3 minutes but were not strong. I
decided to call Ingrid back since the waves were starting and were
coming fast. I then called our volunteer Doula and my sister to
come and get my 18 month old daughter. Anna seemed too little to be
present, so my sister, who is very close to Anna, took her. This is
when the excitement started. I felt a large pop and the largest
gush of water, way more than my first birth, came. I barely got to
the bathroom with just my pants getting soaked. Luckily nothing
else was affected, hehe.

It seemed like a circus for a couple of hours after that as everyone
arrived. Anna was gone before Ingrid, her wonderful assistant,
Brit, and Hannah our Doula arrived at 8 a.m. Ingrid and Brit set up
the pool and other supplies they needed while Hannah helped me
through waves, getting myself something to eat and dressing
appropriately. Ingrid and Brit checked my vital signs and saw that
I had slight meconium staining. Nothing to worry about they said.

After this, times are fuzzy. I can remember telling my husband that
he had to call the cable guy to not come that day. He had no way of
doing so, so when the guy arrived, my husband met him at the door.
Will explained I was in labor and the guy asked if we needed help.
He was a EMT as well as a cable guy. lol.

I spent my time sitting on a birthing ball, walking in my very small
apartment, and standing before the waves increased to the point I
begged for the pool. The waves seemed strong, but because I had
gone through birth once before, I did not fear them this time. I
knew how strong they could get and I knew I could handle them. The
pool was very relaxing as I hung my head over the side of the pool
and sat on my knees.

Hypbirth:
Childbirth Preparation Kit

I listened to my hypnobirthing CD of positive
affirmations and rainbow relaxation. Honestly, I did not pay
attention to the words, but listened more to the relaxing music.
The hypnobirthing techniques for breathing were most useful to me.
Hannah also would let me know when she felt me tensing up. She
would say to relax my brow and my shoulders. When I focused on
relaxing them, the intensity of the waves lessened. What also
helped was smiling every time I visualized how I wanted my baby to
be born. I pictured him peacefully exiting a cave on a small raft.
I was waiting for him outside in the calm waters at the mouth of the
cave. Hannah said every time I smiled, she could see me soften my
entire body, even during waves. When the waves became stronger I
also continued to focus on relaxation between waves. I found that
if I had not fully calmed myself from the last wave, the next was
harder to get through.

Ingrid did have me exit the pool, because labor had stalled. She
had me lay on my bed on my stomach, with one leg stretched out and
the other bent. This was not comfortable, but it was meant to open
me and progess labor. Thankfully I did not have to do this for
long. I was able to get up on my hands and knees, which was right
for me. Ingrid then gave me my first internal exam, but I asked her
not to tell me how advanced I was. She informed my husband, then
myself that she thought the baby was breech as she could not feel
certain parts of the head. She calmly talked about going to the
hospital if after her next check, she could not be certain if it was
a head or not. I had not packed a bag and I felt the urge to push
already, so I was certain the baby was going to be born at home, no
matter breech or not. Well she did check again and his head
appeared. I was allowed to enter the pool again. Immediately, I
felt my body do things I had never felt before. Because I had an
epidural the last time, I did not get this amazing intense feeling
of my body trying to shoot out a cannon. He wanted to come so
quickly, but I still had cervix left. I was told to get out of the
pool so that I could get into a position that would allow the cervix
to leave. I never got back in again, lol. Jack Aaron Boyd pushed
himself out at 1:25 p.m. in three waves on our living room floor.
Ingrid said later that transition from 6-7 cm to 10 and birth was
about 20 minutes. That is why I felt like he was a cannon shooting
out. His apgar scores were 7 and 10 and been the calmest baby
since.

I was truly blessed and ecstatic to have been completely involved
and aware of every wave, push and entry of my son’s birth. I felt
free during the entire birth to bring him in the most calm manner
possible. He truly is a hypnobirth baby as he is the calmest child
I know.

The next part is about my decision to home birth my second child.
It talks about my experience at a hospital with my daughter and how
I did not want that for my son. It is not essential to the story of
a natural child birth, but if you do include it, it shows my journey
through childbirth and making decisions for myself and my children.

When I was pregnant with Annaliese, I had researched about child
birth extensively and decided that I wanted a natural child birth
because it was best for her. Unfortunately, I decided late in
pregnancy with not a lot of options. We lived in an area that did
not have midwives available, but I did not even think of using one
anyway. I had chosen to use my OB-GYN who I had for years. I never
thought to ask about her perspective or the hospital’s perspective
of childbirth. So a month before I was due, I suddenly got the
feeling that my plans for natural childbirth would not be so easy.

My water broke at 9 p.m. Father’s day in 2006. I was not due for
another six days. We were visiting relatives and closer to the
hospital than to our home. We did not know what would happen if we
went or did not go right away so we decided to go straight to the
hospital as a safety precaution. The nurse checked us in and we
went over our plans. She stated that I had to have an IV since my
temp was over 100 (1st forced intervention)

She also explained
that I had to have pitocin (2nd forced intervention) the next
morning if labor had not progressed. I was then placed in bed and
strapped to the monitors (3rd forced intervention). I tried to rest
that night but nothing helped. I was too excited to see my new
baby.

My doctor came back from vacation that next morning and she checked
me. I begged her not to give me pitocin until at least the
afternoon. She asked me if I wanted pain medications at all and I
declined. She periodically checked me throughout the day, but labor
was slow. I do remember about 3-4 p.m. that afternoon, the waves
became intense. I had practiced the hypnobirthing breathing
techniques and was listening to the CD’s, but I was exhausted. I
became shaky and so tired that I was not relaxing anymore. I asked
for some pain medications, but my doctor suggested an epidural. I
agreed, but did not know the risks. My blood pressure and the
baby’s went down. They started pitocin when I got the epidural, but
I remember them stating the baby was not handling it and they
stopped the pitocin. I was already having significant pressure
waves, so I am not sure why I needed pitocin at this point anyway.

I believe around 6 p.m. I started to feel transition and the urge to
push. I am thankful progression did finally occur because they were
talking about doing a C-section. The nurse checked me and I was
complete. She told me to push through the contractions. I did
succumb to pushing but I did so while still breathing. However, the
best feeling was when I was waiting for the doctor. The nurse said
to stop pushing, yet my body was doing it on its own. When the
doctor came, the nurse told her that I would not count to ten and
hold my breath while pushing. It sounded like they thought I was
being defiant, but I felt like I kept my energy better that way,
especially since they gave me an oxygen mask. Later, my doctor told
me that she has never seen anyone push that way before. I wanted to
tell her I felt better when I did not push at all and allowed my
body to do it. At 7:02 my daughter, Annaliese Leora was born. The
doctor had to untangle her legs to tell us the gender. I let out a
joyous scream when I was told she was a girl. But then she was not
breathing. They rushed her over to the incubator and gave her
oxygen. It took a couple of minutes for her to start breathing.
That was scary, but I was relieved when I finally heard her cry.
They then handed me my beautiful baby. She did not breastfeed right
away and the nurse said that she would get me a breast shield. We
were transferred to the recovery room and I did not hear from the
nurse again. I had to call for the breast shield as Annaliese was
crying. We settled in for the night and we fell asleep. That is
when things turned for the worse.

Annaliese woke me up two times in the night and would not feed. I
changed her diaper with a nurse’s help. I mentioned to the nurse
that her eyes were funny and twitching. She dismissed it as just
immaturity of the central nervous system. I accepted this as I did
not know anything.

The next morning they took her to the nursery for a bath and check
by the Pediatrician. I slept soundly and did not wake when they
tried to come and give me a report. At 9 a.m. they woke me however
because the nurse notified the doctor that she saw Anna’s hands
moving in a repetitive motion. The doctor told me Anna was seizing
and would need to be transferred to the NICU in another town. He
thought that she might be reacting to the birthing process, but was
not sure. Her apgar scores were 3, 6, and 8. I was devastated when
I was not allowed to go with her. I called my husband to come and
get me. I checked out of the hospital to be by my daughter. This
was the scariest time of my life. When we got to the new hospital
(highly recommended NICU and birthing center), they explained that
they did not know why she was having seizures and we consented to
tests. They placed her on medications that make her so sleepy.
They said that I could not touch her. I broke down at the thought
of not getting to hold her. They never did find out what caused the
seizures for sure. I stayed with my daughter every day during the
day for five more days. She stopped seizing and was weaned from the
medications without complications. I was finally able to bring her
home on day six.

Because I was not able to nurse her (her medications made her so
sleepy for a week and a half), she took formula and breast milk from
a bottle. My milk supply dwindled however as the breast shield
turned into a barrier for stimulation when we did try to
breastfeed. When I attempted to stop giving her formula, she
stopped gaining weight. She had to go back on formula. It was with
determination and a lot of tears, we did successfully breastfeed by
2 months. It was still not the easiest after that for I always
worried that I could produce enough for her. So when Jack became
jaundice on day three and I was told to feed him formula, I
refused. We were already having difficulties with latching and I
did not want to repeat the same experience. I also wanted to avoid
hospitalization again because of the traumatic experience with
Anna. However, my midwife was my objective mind and assured me I
could nurse and not have to give formula at the hospital. We were
in a pediatric room instead of the NICU which enabled me to sleep
there with Jack.

I have to say I gave Jack a better start to his life with the
choices I made during his birth. As a new mother, you trust the
professionals around you to guide you in making the best decision
for you and your child. If I had better guidance into more natural
methods of pain relief and not been forced into medical
interventions, Anna’s birth story would be more positive, like her
brother’s.

Melissa Boyd, Wisconsin USA

[tags]natural childbirth, natural child birth, hypnosis for childbirth, childbirth with hypnosis, hypnosis childbirth story[/tags]

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