One of our Hypno-mamas shared the birth story of her daughter Colette. She was able to use her self-hypnosis tools throughout the entire birth. Their birth made a different turn than expected and they were able to recognize that based on their circumstances, they made the best decisions possible. She hopes her story will help other mamas recognize that a doula can be very beneficial to help both mom and dad during a birth. We are grateful that she was willing to share her birthing story with us.
"We made it all the way to 42 weeks, and so made the decision to induce my birthing time. The first step was ripening my cervix, and the medication kicked in so quickly that within 15 minutes I have having birthing waves constantly without any time to rest in between. The birthing waves came so quickly that I wasn't fully prepared and was not sufficiently using my hypnosis - it took an hour or two (I think - we had the clock covered up) to "catch up." My husband constantly helped with the "relax" cue, which was so immensely helpful.
We had been told the first step of induction would probably take several hours to kick in, and that we'd be able to get some rest that night. They didn't give me the first medication until about 10:30 pm(which was at least an hour and a half after I was usually heading to bed!), and then of course with birthing waves starting immediately, we got absolutely no sleep. So about seven or eight hours in, both my husband and I were falling asleep between birthing waves (only a minute or two apart at this point) and I was having a hard time maintaining hypnosis. My husband was trying to maintain the relax cue, but he was starting to talk nonsense he was so tired! This is when I knew we should have hired a doula - a mistake we won't make next time! We were so exhausted that I ended up opting to get an epidural just so I could get a little sleep.
Of course there's no way to know for sure, but I think if I had been able to fight the exhaustion and skip the epidural, our birth would have turned out a bit differently. Since we were so far along, my placenta was starting to give out, and the baby's heartbeat was dropping significantly with every push. The epidural makes it so you can't feel anything, and so I felt like I lost control of getting to push with my body's urges instead of when I was told. Would this have prevented the baby's heart decelerations? Probably not, but she may have come out with fewer pushes. We ended up trying forceps, which failed because she was not in a good position to be pushed or pulled out - again, if I hadn't had the medication and been forced to remain on my back, we could have used gravity to our advantage and found a position that would keep her turned and able to come out. Ultimately, we ended up with a c-section, which was the best option based on the the decisions we'd made. We are happy to have a beautiful, perfectly healthy little girl who is the light of our lives.
The good news (other than our beautiful healthy baby) is that I'm a great candidate for VBAC and we know exactly what we will do differently next time around. I was told that because of my pelvis shape, I have a higher probability of needing c-sections with future babies, and that is just more reason for me to know staying unmedicated and able to feel and move my body during birth is extremely important. I still believe in Hypnobabies, even if the ultimate outcome was not what we were hoping for. Let my story help to convince you if you're on the fence - hire a doula! "
"We made it all the way to 42 weeks, and so made the decision to induce my birthing time. The first step was ripening my cervix, and the medication kicked in so quickly that within 15 minutes I have having birthing waves constantly without any time to rest in between. The birthing waves came so quickly that I wasn't fully prepared and was not sufficiently using my hypnosis - it took an hour or two (I think - we had the clock covered up) to "catch up." My husband constantly helped with the "relax" cue, which was so immensely helpful.
We had been told the first step of induction would probably take several hours to kick in, and that we'd be able to get some rest that night. They didn't give me the first medication until about 10:30 pm(which was at least an hour and a half after I was usually heading to bed!), and then of course with birthing waves starting immediately, we got absolutely no sleep. So about seven or eight hours in, both my husband and I were falling asleep between birthing waves (only a minute or two apart at this point) and I was having a hard time maintaining hypnosis. My husband was trying to maintain the relax cue, but he was starting to talk nonsense he was so tired! This is when I knew we should have hired a doula - a mistake we won't make next time! We were so exhausted that I ended up opting to get an epidural just so I could get a little sleep.
Of course there's no way to know for sure, but I think if I had been able to fight the exhaustion and skip the epidural, our birth would have turned out a bit differently. Since we were so far along, my placenta was starting to give out, and the baby's heartbeat was dropping significantly with every push. The epidural makes it so you can't feel anything, and so I felt like I lost control of getting to push with my body's urges instead of when I was told. Would this have prevented the baby's heart decelerations? Probably not, but she may have come out with fewer pushes. We ended up trying forceps, which failed because she was not in a good position to be pushed or pulled out - again, if I hadn't had the medication and been forced to remain on my back, we could have used gravity to our advantage and found a position that would keep her turned and able to come out. Ultimately, we ended up with a c-section, which was the best option based on the the decisions we'd made. We are happy to have a beautiful, perfectly healthy little girl who is the light of our lives.
The good news (other than our beautiful healthy baby) is that I'm a great candidate for VBAC and we know exactly what we will do differently next time around. I was told that because of my pelvis shape, I have a higher probability of needing c-sections with future babies, and that is just more reason for me to know staying unmedicated and able to feel and move my body during birth is extremely important. I still believe in Hypnobabies, even if the ultimate outcome was not what we were hoping for. Let my story help to convince you if you're on the fence - hire a doula! "
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