A beautiful birth story from a HypnoBirthing family in Richmond, VA

On Sunday 3/4/18, my water broke around 5:30pm while making dinner. I called the midwife and my doula to let them know my water broke. The midwife on call called shortly later and told me to send my husband to get castor oil and that she would call back around 9pm. I went to bed and began listening to my rainbow relaxation CD. The midwife called back at 9pm. I thought contractions might be starting so she said she would call back at 10pm. When she called back at 10pm, I told her nothing was happening. She suggested taking the castor oil with peanut butter to get things moving but it was up to me what I wanted to do. I was worried about the time limit regarding your water breaking and also trying to get to the hospital while in labor during Monday morning/afternoon (there is a lot of traffic and construction between our house and the hospital). I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep either so I decided to take the castor oil. I had the castor oil/peanut butter toast at 10:30pm and went back to let to bed listening to my rainbow relaxation CD.

Around 1:30am contractions started although they felt more like period cramps. I texted my doula to let her know. I did my relaxation and surge breathing through each one for about an hour and my contractions were about 6 to 14 minutes apart. At about 2:30am, contractions picked up and were 2 to 6 minutes apart for about 20 minutes. I had a bad/hard contraction that immediately took me back to experiences of my first birth. Fear came rushing back to me, I thought to myself, ‘I can't do this. I'm going to need an epidural,’ thinking that labor would drag on for hours like it did with my first baby. At 2:46 am, I texted my doula that thinks we're picking up. At 3:38am, I told my husband to call the midwife and tell her things were picking up. She asked to talk to me and I told her how things were picking up fast and I was a bit concerned. She said if I wanted to come in, to come in. I felt relieved as during my first birth, they seem to push us to stay home for the longest time. I told her we would come in. My husband called our doula and told her we are headed to the hospital at 3:43am.

We packed up and got outside to our large SUV. I had a bad contraction before getting into the truck and then had trouble getting in the truck. Once I got in, I laid down on the blankets in the back of the truck and started my rainbow relaxation scripts on my MP3 player. I breathed through the contractions on the way and I braced myself for the bumpy ride. When we got to the parking garage at the hospital at around 4:15am, I got out and we started walking towards the elevators. I got to the last car in the row before crossing to the elevators and I felt a contraction coming. I squatted down and grabbed on to the bumper of the car and as I did, I felt my body pushing the baby down. I grabbed my crotch because it felt like the baby was going to come out then and there. The contraction/pushing stopped and I told my husband to call the midwife and tell her I was pushing. She called security and said they were coming down to the parking garage.

I tried to get up and walk to the elevators but I couldn't. I knew I could get to the elevators but not all the way up to labor and delivery. I felt safer knowing I could go back to the blankets in the back of the truck, so I got on my hands and knees and waited for the midwife to come. After a few minutes, the midwife and nurse ran out with everything needed to deliver a baby. They tried getting me to get up and go to the elevator. The midwife checked me there in the garage and said that we had time to get up stairs. The nurse and midwife pulled me up and carried me by my arms to the elevator. Once we got to the main level, there was a wheelchair waiting for me. I climbed onto the wheelchair backwards on my knees. They quickly wheeled me upstairs. I had only a couple small contractions on the way while I focused on my breathing.

Once they got me into the room, the midwife helped me take my shoes and pants off and I climbed into the bed on my hands and knees. The midwife told me to push and I beared down. It hurt so bad! She told me he was so close and to push. I pushed again and it hurt so badly. Again, it immediately took me back to my first birth, the forced pushing in the pain for 3 hours straight. I said, “I can't do it! I can't do it!” They told me I could do it and I heard my husband say something about breathing. I thought to myself, ‘I need to do my birth breathing, I need to do my J-breathing, I need to relax,’ as I was breathing erratically. I tried slowing down my breathing, relaxing my body and began to visualize the J-breathing. I instantly felt my body start pushing the baby down. I felt an instant of pain (ring of fire) but it happened so quickly and my baby boy, Finley Wyatt, was born at 4:30 a.m.

I cannot thank Joy enough for her support and amazing Hypnobirthing class. I truly believe the breathing and relaxation techniques helped me so much! I don't think things would have gone as smoothly without them. This birth was completely different than my last. While there may have been a few things contributing to my short labor (~3 hours) and birthing experience, I truly believe Hypnobirthing techniques were very crucial to me. I felt really confident going into this birth with all the things I had learned from the class even though I had so much fear from my last birth.