Everett’s Hypnobirth – Stage 1

Here is the full story of Everett’s birth!  I’m breaking it up into three posts so it won’t be too long.  Enjoy!

I went to bed Sunday night with no signs of labor. Shortly after lying down, I started to feel him move like crazy and he was putting a lot of pressure on my cervix. I was uncomfortable enough that I couldn’t fall asleep, so I lay there for well over an hour wondering if this could mean something. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom to check for bloody show or any signs, but nothing.

I finally drifted off to sleep and awoke to a strong surge around 3am. I was able to fall back asleep but awoke again shortly to another strong surge. From that point on, I wasn’t able to sleep the rest of the night. I started timing the surges on Nathan’s iphone application (iContraction) and they were coming anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes apart and lasting around 45 to 60 seconds. I was told to wait until they were 5 minutes apart and 60 seconds long for one hour before calling the midwife, so I just tried to stay as relaxed as possible while I waited it out.

Around 6am I started to lose focus. I wasn’t staying relaxed through the surges and was freaking out a little, not knowing if I should call the midwife yet. I really wanted to wait until 8am because the next midwife on call would take over at that time, and I didn’t want to bother whoever was on call for the last 2 hours of their shift. I woke Nathan up and he gave me some encouragement, which helped a lot. I had been playing my CD since the surges started and finally at this point decided to draw a hot bath. I stayed in the tub for an hour and it was absolutely wonderful. Instant relief and relaxation came and I was able to focus again.

I decided to get out and eat breakfast. As I was sitting at the table on my birth ball eating, the surges were getting strong enough that I needed hip presses from Nathan. I was losing focus again since I was trying to finish packing for the hospital and make arrangements for Kaisa. Finally, 8am came and I called Roberta who was on call for the day. I explained everything that had been going on and she said to go ahead and get to the hospital to be checked. I was relieved but nervous at the same time…I did NOT want to get sent home and I really had no idea how far I could have progressed.

After taking Kaisa to the neighbor’s and getting everything together, we finally got to the hospital around 8:45 or so. To my joy they were not busy at all and the “natural birth room” with the tub was open for me. The nurse checked me and I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced! This was the most wonderful news yet. I could stay and I was very close to having my baby.

As soon as I got changed and into the bed for monitoring, I got my groove back. I was a lot more aware of what I needed and wanted this time around. I had them drop the bed into a sitting position and Nathan did knee presses through each surge while I listened to my CD. In between surges the nurse asked all of those ridiculous questions but I remained calm and relaxed.

As soon as monitoring was over, Roberta drew me a hot bath and I spent the next hour or so in the tub, relaxing and breathing deeply through each surge. Nathan was feeding me ice chips and juice. His mom arrived at this point and commented how nice it looked to be having a baby here. I admit that in between surges I felt completely comfortable and even pampered! The surges were coming in spurts…two or three close together and then a 5 minute break. They started to get very intense and I felt them in my back, so Roberta suggested I move out of the tub and into another position because the baby may be a little posterior.

After another little while of sitting on the birth ball, then hands and knees, surges getting stronger and stronger, Roberta suggested I go to the bathroom. While sitting on the toilet I started to feel a very weak urge to push. They got me back into the bed and encouraged me to start pushing through surges if that’s what I felt like doing. My bag of waters was still intact and Roberta seemed pretty nervous about it popping everywhere and asked if she could break it…I said sure. At first she said it was clear, but as I continued pushing she saw greenish chunks and at that point told me that baby wouldn’t be able to come to my chest. They called in the respiratory people from the NICU just in case. I was pretty upset about this but there wasn’t much I could do at that point.