Anna's First Birth

Okay.... my birth story!!!

I had an amazing experience. Labor was wild - a crazy whirlwind in the end! 

It was amazing in the beginning - I was so under control and relaxed at home. I was 41 weeks on the dot and I took 2 tablespoons of castor oil in a shake at 12:30pm and my water broke at 3pm, with surges starting very soon after (I think they actually started an hour before and I just didn’t realize that’s what was happening). They were really frequent straight away - about 3-4 mins apart and about 30-45 seconds long for a few hours, then things started escalating and from about 7pm, with surges 2.5-3mins apart and lasting anywhere between 1 to 1.5 mins. 

During all that time I felt so in control and like I had this! I was using a mixture of Paula’s HypnoBirthing tools: I did the rainbow relaxation in the beginning, was shifting between a fun chill soundtrack I love listening to and also the rainbow soundtrack without the words, and moving between positions (hip circling while bending forward was the real winner for me) as well as having a long shower a few times with the warm water sprayed on my belly during surges. A hot water bottle or heat on my back and belly was also nice for me at points. Massage was nice in the beginning but later on I just had Shauli sitting with me rather than touching me. 

I was totally calm and on top of it and then at about 9:20pm or so we decided to go to the hospital because surges were long and super close. Right before we left home things started getting really intense for me - I had a few surges on the way to the taxi, felt like I might throw up (but it passed) and the taxi driver was super nice and drove carefully but I had some intense surges on that ride! The car ride wasn’t actually as bad as I had imagined (pro tip: open the window and enjoy the cool air on your face). 

When we arrived at the hospital I was having very intense and long surges and was feeling like ‘wow this is getting tough’, and I was sure I was pretty advanced! Then they checked me and they said I was 3cm dilated but fully effaced and the head was low. I was soooooo defeated!!!!! It felt like the surges were getting so strong but I was only 3cm dilated ☹️. 

Before I finished the monitor I was wondering how the hell I'm going to make it if this is 3cm!!!! I was SO hot and sweaty suddenly and was desperate to go to the toilet to pee and poo and they didn’t want to let me because I hadn’t finished the monitor (which only takes 20 mins), and I begged and finally they let me as I was close to the 20 mins, and once I was on the toilet I suddenly couldn’t help it and started impulsively pushing and was like fuck how can this be - I was just 3cm, what’s wrong?! How can I have the urge so early?! How will I make it?! 😱 At this stage I started to get a little panicked and felt like I was losing control. 

Then when I came back my doula was like, shit are you pushing? And she pulled the midwife in and was like, she’s pushing! Check her again and they were like, yeah sure 🙄 (the midwives knew it was my first birth and assumed I was just having a rough time). 

My doula pushed them and was like, guys she’s really pushing and so they checked me and she was like ‘fuck she’s 10cm!’. And then 4 midwives raced in and told me they were taking me up to the delivery room on the bed that was in the monitoring room and to hold onto it - I was on all fours on the bed and like 4 midwives were running down the hallway pushing me (while I was having strong surges and bearing down along the way) and they raced me up to a delivery room. We got to the delivery room and the baby was out in 30 mins from the time I was pushed through the door 🤭

I dilated from 3cm to 10cm in less than an hour, and we were at the hospital for less than 2 hours by the time we had the baby.

HypnoBirthing made this whole experience possible and amazing for both Shauli and I! There’s no way I would have been able to have such a calm and positive experience at home (I was so relaxed and smiling and talking and enjoying myself the whole time at home). And because I was in such a relaxed state even though I arrived at 3cm everything progressed so quickly after that. Moral of the story: don’t let the devastation affect you if you arrive at the hospital “not dilated enough” - stay calm and keep focused on what you’ve learned!

I didn’t get the natural birthing room or a natural birth midwife, or a room with gas - I asked for all these things when we got to the hospital but there was no time for ANYTHING once they were taking me to the delivery room - we didn’t use anything in our birth plan for the hospital (not the towel, pillow, essential oil, or speaker we had packed!), but the midwife we got in the delivery room was great even though she wasn’t a natural birth midwife and she went with us on the things we did request - she told me to push and I told her I wanted to try my own way and she was totally sababa about that (even though I ended up pushing because the urge was so strong. I recommend practicing the j-breath on all fours just so you can master it in that position in the case that’s what’s working for you at birth).

As soon as the baby was out I was overcome with such a sense of relief!!! I was so happy it was over but so happy it happened! Would not have been able to do it that way without Paula’s lessons!