My Birth Story-Part 2, Hypnobabies and Preparing for Birth

I have known for years that I did not want an epidural. I wanted to be aware of my child's birth and not be all loopy. I started researching natural childbirth and all of the benefits. I watched movies, read books and joined online forums. The more I learned, the more I wanted to go medication free.

I wanted to be prepared to go natural and wanted to find something that would be a natural pain management technique. I read about hypnobirthing online and was curious. So many women had positive experiences with hypnobirth, especially when they had used Hypnobabies. For those of you who don't know, Hypnobirthing is a pain management technique that uses hypnosis. I watched videos online of moms using Hypnobabies. It was amazing to see how calm and relaxed they were! Many moms would look like they were sleeping, even while going through transition!

I was able to find a local instructor for the course and it was just amazing! The instructor was wonderful and so were the other couples who were taking the class; in fact, we all still get together for play dates.

I was so surprised by how well the hypnosis worked. There was one exercise we did in class one day, where we put ourselves under hypnosis and our partner pinched our arm. I felt the tiniest bit of pressure when my husband pinched me. After we brought ourselves out of hypnosis, our partners pinched us again with the same amount of pressure they used before. The pinch my husband gave me after I was out of hypnosis was definitely enough to make me say "ouch"! I actually found myself practicing my hypnosis whenever I felt any type of pain unrelated to pregnancy. Leg cramps became a breeze compared to before!

I loved being in such a deep state of relaxation each time I went under hypnosis. My body was non existent; I felt like I was just a mind and soul. I couldn't feel my arms or legs, because every part of my body just melted away. I used to be so skeptical about hypnosis until I was able to experience it for myself. It is hard to describe how awesome hypnosis really is. I totally recommend everyone learn how to put themselves into a deep hypnotic state.

The course only lasted a few weeks and when it was over, the waiting game for birth felt like it had begun. I had a healthy pregnancy up until my last month or two. My blood pressure was climbing higher and higher and my doctors (I bounced around between several of the doctors in the practice, they were all so great!) wanted me to start taking it easy. I wasn't ready to leave my job as a nanny, so I convinced them to let me continue working if I stayed off of my feet.

I was doing great with the whole taking it easy thing until the beginning of May. My due date wasn't until the 31st but I had two days left at work before my replacement for the summer was going to start. I was started to feel pregnancy a bit more (I was one of those women who never got sick and felt great the entire pregnancy) and knew I really should be home, now that other nanny was done with school until fall semester. I ran around town with her that Thursday, showing her where preschool was, dance school and a few playgrounds we frequented. I was sad to be leave my "kids" for the summer, but was ready to have some time to myself before the baby. I was planning on a great last day with the kids, and had some fun surprises and projects in store for them.

I had a doctors appointment that same day and My blood pressure was high from being on my feet for most of the day. My doctor told me to drive into the city to the hospital and get monitored. I am not a city driver, and opted to drive the 30 min home and have my husband drive me in.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was taken into triage to be monitored. They took my blood pressure and it was still high. They wanted to continue to monitor and see how it changed as I rested.

I had another woman in the room with me, with a curtain separating us, for privacy. The woman had her two year old daughter with her, who was constantly falling into the curtain and crying. The mom was so rude to the little girl, which was hard for me to listen to. I kept threatening to my husband, that I was going to say something to the woman, because it was seriously that bad. A midwife was on my side of the curtain, putting information into the computer and checking the readings, when the little girl started crying again. The next thing we heard, was the mom, hitting the two year old! It wasn't just a swat on the bottom either.

The midwife ran over and told the woman that she has no right to beat her child and that the girl was acting like a normal two year old. She told the woman that she can't expect a child that age to sit there for that long without getting grumpy. A nurse actually sat on the other side of the curtain, playing with the little girl for the rest of the time that they were in there. I told my husband that I am glad the staff stepped up to protect the little girl, but that she was probably in for a worse punishment when they got home.

The woman on the other side of the room was obviously crazy. She wanted the nurse to give her an X-ray (remember, she is pregnant!) for a bruise on her leg that she said was caused by a nurse at a different hospital. She also wanted pain medication for the bruise. My heart still aches for her little girl and the baby that woman was pregnant with. I can't imagine what life at home must have been like for them and I am pretty sure CPS must have been called on the mother because of her behavior.

By the time the drama with my triage neighbor was over, I was finally given the all clear to go home. I was told that I was now on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was not to happy to be restricted to the couch or bed all day, but knew it was what was best for my baby.

I spent the few days on the couch, watching movies and reading books I had downloaded to my IPad. My mom came up to help me for a few days and drive me to my weekly OBGYN appointment. My blood pressure was still high, but was ok for the time being. My doctor said that she wanted to schedule an induction for the following Wednesday. I was disappointed, knowing that inductions raise the risk for needing a c-section. I was optimistic though, because I had lost my mucus plug a few days before and had a gut feeling that I would probably be going into labor over the weekend.

I had an appointment at the hospital that Friday for a Non-stress test. I had visited the hospital for a non-stress test on two other occasions, and wasn't too worried about it. My mom drove me into the appointment, since my husband had to work.

The monitoring portion of the test went great. They followed the baby's heart rate, my blood pressure, and any contractions I was having. The last part of the test was an ultrasound to measure the fluid. They had measured my fluid as a 12 the previous week, which was great, and I was expecting another great reading again.

The ultrasound tech I had, was a very sweet, bubbly woman. She had been carrying on conversations with us through the entire non-stress test. She became quiet all of a sudden while she was measuring the fluid though. She said she wasn't able to see any measurable fluid, and wanted to call in another tech to get a second opinion. The other tech wasn't able to measure any fluid either. The put a call into labor and delivery upstairs and they were told that I was to be admitted. I was told that I would be induced and to wait outside in the lobby for an escort, who would take me upstairs to labor and delivery.

I was in shock. I thought I would go into labor over the weekend and on my own. I thought I had time. Instead, I was going to be admitted to the hospital and induced. I hadn't thought much about going into labor, or about how close we were to having a baby. I thought I had time to think about all of that and then, all of a sudden, I didn't. I had expected to go into labor naturally and labor at home for hours. I had expected to lay in my tub, on my bed, or sit on my birth ball. I expected to listen to music or watch tv, taking time to put myself into hypnosis for every contraction. It was a bit of a disappointment to not get the labor experience I had envisioned for myself.

As I sat in the waiting room, I tried to call my husband, but my cell phone had no service. My mom went outside to call him. She arrived back to the lobby just as the escort arrived to take my mother and I upstairs to labor and delivery.