Inland HypnoBirthing®
Henry's Birth Story
At my 40 week appointment, (40 weeks + 3 days) my OB decided that because of baby’s size on the ultrasound (less than 20th percentile for weight) we should induce. My partner, Daniel, and I decided that induction was the best option for the safety of our baby.
We checked into the hospital on Wednesday night, (40 weeks + 5 days) at 7:00 PM. Our nurse took us back to our room and began asking us the general check-in questions. Our room did not have tub, so we asked if there was a room with a tub available in case I wanted to labor in water. Unfortunately, there were no rooms with tubs open. We informed our nurse that the pregnancy had been great, without any complications, but now our OB was becoming concerned about our baby’s size.
The resident doctor came in and did a quick ultrasound to confirm that baby was head down and in a good position for birth. After a quick vaginal exam, they determined that I was at 1 cm and about 50% effaced (my Bishop score was a 5). They called our OB to coordinate/determine which induction method we should start with. After discussing the options, we decided to start with the Foley bulb. Soon after insertion of the Foley bulb, I began having surges. They were tolerable and frequent, but still irregular in timing.
We tried to get some sleep as it was now the middle of the night. A few hours passed, and our nurse did another vaginal exam. I was now at 2 cm and 60% effaced, yay for progress! After informing our OB about the changes, we decided to do the misoprostol pill which was inserted into my cervix. I continued to have surges during the night/early hours of the morning.
By 8:00AM, our OB stopped by to check in on us and I was at 3 cm and 60% effaced. After discussing with our doctor, we decided to release my membranes to try to get things moving without having to start Pitocin. My surges continued throughout the morning, they were still tolerable but much more noticeable at this point. Our doctor came back around noon, and I hadn’t made any progress (still 3 cm dilated). We decided to start the Pitocin at 1 milliunit. Over the next couple of hours, we upped the Pitocin to 5 milliunits.
Unfortunately, the Pitocin made the surges much stronger and less tolerable. Around 4:00 PM, we asked about a room with a tub again, and one had opened up! We moved rooms so that I could labor in the tub and take a break from the Pitocin. I labored in the tub for about an hour, (all that was allowed as baby needed monitoring due to the Pitocin) and the water really seemed to help relax me and made the surges less intense.
I got out of the tub and they started me back on the Pitocin. A vaginal exam revealed that I was now at 4 cm and 70% effaced, which was not exactly the progress we were looking for after over 20 hours of having surges. We inserted an internal monitor to evaluate the strength of the surges/get a more accurate representation of how often they were happening. Our doctor was happy with the intensity of the surges but she was still concerned about their frequency, as they were still slightly irregular.
I labored for a few more hours and the surges were increasing in intensity and I was having trouble staying relaxed. We decided to try nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to see if it would help with the discomfort I was experiencing. After about an hour with the gas, it stopped helping and I was really struggling. We asked our nurse if we could take another break from the Pitocin. She said absolutely we could, but also gently reminded me that the surges would get much more intense before baby came. Daniel and I had a private conversation and decided that the best thing for us was to get the epidural to help me relax. We called the anesthesia team and within an hour I had the medicine.
With the epidural in, I was able to relax and even sleep a little. Our nurse checked me throughout the night, and within three hours of having the epidural, I went from 4 cm to fully dilated and 100% effaced. They let me focus and “labor down” with my breath for about an hour before we decided to start actively pushing.
Even with the epidural I could feel my surges/lots of pressure. Daniel helped me stay focused on my breathing and everyone was very encouraging as I pushed for about 45 minutes. Although the pushing method that the doctors encourage is very exhausting, baby was born at 41 weeks at 5:03 AM. He was only 6 pounds 3 ounces, and 20 inches long. He was placed directly on my chest and we spent the next few hours snuggling and breastfeeding (he started rooting around almost immediately!)
I am so thankful for everything that I learned in Mary’s hypnobirthing course! We have a happy, healthy baby boy who is very content and easy to please. While we had a much different birth in mind, we were very pleased with the level of care that we received. I never felt pressured from the doctors/nurses to do anything, and I felt well-informed and in control of each and every decision. Everything worked out in the end, and I was able to apply the breathing/techniques that we learned in hypnobirthing to help me stay calm and relaxed as much as possible during the birth of our first-born son.
~ Savanna
Spokane – October 2020
Amelia's Birth Story - 2019
Birth doesn’t always go as we hope and plan. Due to some special circumstances this momma needed to be induced and she did amazing! She was able to stay calm and make the best decisions for this birth. In her Birth Story email she told me “It was definitely a lot different than what we had hoped for but the coping techniques that I learned in class really helped!”
2019 Birth Story
On Friday, 11/01 I went to my regular weekly appointment at 36+5. I had some swelling of my feet but nothing serious. I felt ok- tired but normal. I had a lot of anxiety during the day that the appointment wouldn’t go well, but couldn’t pinpoint why. Baby was moving well, etc. At the appointment my blood pressure was high and they sent me to labor and delivery. We got to L&D around 4. They ran some tests and determined that I had mild preeclampsia and would need to be induced at 37 weeks, that Sunday. I received a shot of steroids and instructions to return in 24 hours for another shot of steroids and to turn in my 24 hour urine testing. We spent Saturday getting last minute things taken care of; installed the car seat and packed our hospital bags.
On Sunday morning we arrived at the hospital at 8am and we were taken to a room. They started an IV but didn’t have to hook it up to anything yet and attached the monitors to track the baby. The midwife came in and out and we talked about options. We decided to try oral medication which would allow me to be off the monitors most of the time and still eat and drink normally. I had to be on the monitors for 30 minutes before and one hour after each dose, but was free to move around with wireless monitoring. I had three doses of that which caused mild contractions all day and at 10 that evening the midwife checked me. I was not even dilated to 1cm, so they inserted cervadil and took me off the monitors to sleep. I didn’t sleep very well. The next morning we removed the cervadil and after a fairly painful check I was barely 1cm. The cervadil has caused a lot of irritation so rather than insert a second one We opted to continue with the oral meds. I had contractions 4-5 minutes apart all day but they were very manageable. After three more doses of that they checked me that night and I was still only 1cm. I was very discouraged by this and the midwife decided it would be better to stop all medication overnight and give me something to help me sleep. The next morning at 5am they started pitocin at the lowest dose. I had been having contractions for over 48 hours about 3-6 minutes apart at this point and was tired but not in any pain. They also tried three times to insert a foley bulb which was very painful and not successful. The pitocin initially didn’t make the contractions too bad, they let me eat breakfast before they started increasing it too much. Over the day the pitocin caused the contractions to become very intense and every 3-4 minutes. I was very annoyed by the constant monitoring and having to be attached to an IV. The monitors were wireless so I was able to use the tub and shower.
At 4pm the contractions were very intense and I requested pain management. We decided to have the midwife check me first to see where I was at. After 58 hours of contractions I was barely a 2! This was very discouraging. The midwife wanted to break my water but I was extremely tired and requested an epidural first. The anesthesiologist came and placed the epidural. I was very nervous about it initially but it went very smoothly. I was still able to move my legs but unable to feel contractions. The midwife then checked me again and in 45 minutes I had dilated to 3.5! I consented to her breaking my water. There was meconium present but the midwife was not concerned and reassured us that baby was doing great. I labored comfortably for about 4 more hours before I started to feel contractions in between my legs. I pushed my epidural button but it was not helping. They paged anesthesia who upped the epidural dose. This helped a bit but not very much. I was really feeling every contraction between my legs, and Around 1030pm I was having a hard time coping with them especially being confined to the bed. My midwife came to check me at this point and to my surprise said I was 10cm and ready to push! I may have cried tears of joy at this point. After over 60 hours of contractions I was finally close to meeting my baby. I began to push at 10:35. It was painful but felt productive. They brought a mirror so I could watch but I didn’t like it and requested that they remove it. I remember wanted to push her out before midnight because I wanted her birthday to be on an odd number day. Not the most logical but oh well. I pushed for one hour, and at 11:35 Baby came into the world! NICU was on standby because of the meconium but Baby was crying well and they were not needed. We did skin to skin for an hour and tried nursing. She had some trouble latching, likely due to being so early, but I was able to hand express some for her. Everything looked great for both mom and baby. Less than two hours later I was able to use the bathroom and we were headed downstairs to the mother/baby floor!
Overall it was not the birth I wanted but both baby and I are safe and healthy and that is all that matters!!
~ Jessica
Spokane – 2019
Lewiston Mom's Birth Story
On Monday, 4/24/17 at 4:54am I was sleeping (sitting up) in bed, because the night before I was unable to get comfortable lying flat in bed. I heard two loud “pops” and a gush of warm fluid. I hustled to the bathroom and indeed my water had just broke. I sat there in disbelief as the anxiety and excitement rolled in. As I was calling for my husband to get out of bed and get me some dry clothes his alarm for work went off. He got up and I said, “My water broke”. He thought it was a joke, and after I showed him he said “holy cow, this is it, we are going to have a baby today!”.
I had been contracting every 3-5 minutes without any pressure for days, and so we talked about if he was going to go into work or not and just wait for me to call him when actual labor started. We decided to have him stay home, and I told him to get ready for the day, I would do the same and then lay down in bed and start my HypnoBirthing. At 6:30am my contractions were every 3, I was shaking and feeling pressure. I told him that it was time to go.
We got to the hospital, were admitted and I asked to be checked. I was 3cm/100 effaced/ 0 station. My cervix was still posterior though. So I got in the jacuzzi and listened to the tapes while relaxing. One of the contractions brought me out of relaxing and up out of the tub, I then went back to the labor bed and asked to be checked. I was 4/100/0. At that time the pressure in my pelvis was intense. I stayed in hands and knees while my husband did counter pressure. I was starting to lose my focus and I told myself to listen and to do everything I had trained to do, but looking back this is the point that I got “spooked” and never regained my relaxation.
At 9:00am I felt the urge to push and I was 7/100/0. I was fighting the reflex to bare down. This is when I asked for the nitrous oxide… I used it for a couple contractions, but it wasn’t helping and was more of a hindrance. My husband, throughout this whole thing did everything he could to get me to focus, but I wasn’t listening and I was fighting my reflex to push. At 10:30am I felt like the exorcist. I was low tone moaning with each contraction in bed, and felt like I had to straighten my whole body during the contraction. In between I would close my eyes and try to rest.
I was checked again and my cervix was unchanged. I talked it over with my husband and (I know he felt uneasy about me using medications and that I just wasn’t focusing) but we decided that I would try a dose of IV medication to get me relax and then hopefully my cervix would melt away and we could have our baby. My nurse at this time advised from my cervical check that she thought I was transitioning and just needed to relax, that the baby’s head was very low, and I would be done soon.
After 3 more hours of fighting my body (1:00pm) and not relaxing, my doctor came in during her lunch to see me. We had many office discussions that at no point was she to let me have an epidural, and she had agreed. She checked my cervix during a contraction and thought that because I was fighting the urge to push, that I was causing my cervix to swell and she tried to show me different positions to use to relieve that sensation, but none of them worked. I asked her what she thought the problem was. She said that the baby’s head was in my pelvis asynclitically. She said relaxation is key.
At this point my husband and I talked, and I was needing an epidural. I couldn’t relax, I wasn’t being patient, I was pushing when I knew I shouldn’t and I wasn’t focusing. We asked for an epidural and my doctor really made me think if this was going to be the right choice for us. We both said yes and I got an epidural. –holy cow, was I so lucky, to have a great doctor who respected my wishes, and nurses who fought for me to have the exact delivery I wanted. They did everything they could for me to avoid an epidural.
At 1:30pm I had an epidural and I was completely happy with the informed choices we made during our labor path. I was comfortable, and able to rest. My husband and I enjoyed talking and looking forward to finally meeting our baby. At 6:15pm I was finally a 10 and I wanted to start pushing. We used a mirror and I pushed as I felt was correct. At 7:34pm we welcomed our baby girl into our world. She was 6 lbs 9oz and 19 inches long. She has dad’s big cheeks and mom’s dark hair. We are completely smitten.
We are so grateful for HypnoBirthing and we feel everything went perfect for us. I feel like I battled, and in the end I used a tool that allowed me to have her safely. Our next baby we will also be taking HypnoBirthing because our baby is sooooo calm and relaxed, and we attribute a lot of that to our practicing.
Thank you for all you have done for us, and we WILL keep in touch.
From a Happy HypnoBirthing Momma in Lewiston, ID – April 2017
Juni's Birth Story
We welcomed Juni to the world in August (exactly 41 weeks and boy was I ready for her to come out!!) She was born at home after 24hrs + of labor, though the real intense labor was probably about 10 hours. She weighted 8lbs 1 oz, was 20.5 inches long and is the sweetest little baby! We are totally in love! The birth experience was long but overall both my husband and I felt very confident and were happy with our home birth and our care team! I listened to the birth affirmations the most during labor and found them very helpful for staying focused. I don’t know if my birth was quite as calm as the ones that we watched in class, but overall I feel proud of how our birth went and very thankful we were able to give birth at home without medical intervention.
Thank you so much for all of your support, Hypnobirthing was instrumental in helping us have a peaceful home birth like we wanted!
~Sam
Spokane – August 2018