Hypnobabies and accidental UC...

[Juvysen]

I've been doing the hypnobabies program for a few weeks now, and I'm really excited about the way it helps me to relax. I have high hopes for it. However... I'm planning a homebirth, and my births tend to run on the shorter side (not uber short), like the last one was probably about 5 hrs, and the one before (the first one) was induced from 1 cm and no contractions, but was only 8 hrs start to finish, with two hours of pushing at the end.

I guess I'm wondering if I should at least prep DH, mentally, for the possibility of a accidental UC (maybe I should anyway...), because I'm wondering if I'll be able to relax to a point where I won't necessarily know how far along I am, and i may go faster than I expect (I realize it could be slower, too... you never know). Our midwife is about an hour and a half away, and our midwife's assistant (who is a student midwife, herself) is about 45 minutes from our house.

The idea of an accidental UC is both exciting and a little scary, for me. I love the idea of UC... but am too chicken to actually PLAN one

Anyway, I guess I'm just wondering what the liklihood of accidental UC is if you're using hypnobabies - like think there's more chance than if you're not? Stories? Experiences? Insight?

[Bluegoat]

It's probably never a bad idea to know what to do just in case things go differently than planned.

I think if you find yourself very comfortable, you need to be diligent about timing length and frequency of contractions, because those will be your best objective indication of what's going on. A good job for a dh. And really trust your instincts.

[ExuberantDaffodil]

an accidental UC is totally what happened to me. and both my labors have been really quick.

With my hypnobabies birth, I called my midwife around 3am, and she didn't think I "sounded like" I was in hard enough labor. She went back to bed to wait for another phone call... which came from my mother at 3:50 saying, "MY DAUGHTER IS PUSHING. WHERE ARE YOU?" Babe was born a few minutes later, without midwife. Good times.

a few days prior my hubby and I had a talk about what he needed to do in case it was just he and I when I went into labor, which was - "just catch and put the baby on my chest with a blanket." As it happened, my mom caught and put the baby on my chest with a blanket.

the timing of contractions wasn't overly indicative of my labor progress, either, because I went from 6 minutes apart, to three minutes apart to one minute apart all within an hour.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by ExuberantDaffodil

an accidental UC is totally what happened to me. and both my labors have been really quick.

With my hypnobabies birth, I called my midwife around 3am, and she didn't think I "sounded like" I was in hard enough labor. She went back to bed to wait for another phone call... which came from my mother at 3:50 saying, "MY DAUGHTER IS PUSHING. WHERE ARE YOU?" Babe was born a few minutes later, without midwife. Good times.

a few days prior my hubby and I had a talk about what he needed to do in case it was just he and I when I went into labor, which was - "just catch and put the baby on my chest with a blanket." As it happened, my mom caught and put the baby on my chest with a blanket.

the timing of contractions wasn't overly indicative of my labor progress, either, because I went from 6 minutes apart, to three minutes apart to one minute apart all within an hour.

This totally seems like something that could happen to me. With my first I went from 6 cm to 10 cm in 20 minutes of the tub... with my second they broke my water at 7 cm (I asked them to) and he was on my belly 20 minutes later. That time, I didn't push *at all* and the baby just shot out - 7 minutes from the moment I could feel him start to come down until he was on my chest, all the while I was breathing him down. I have a feeling that if I'm very relaxed (which sounds wonderful) the whole thing may go VERY fast. It makes me mildly nervous that my son needed some help with getting him breathing after that, though. Just rubbing, but still.

I'll have to mention to my midwife that some women who use hypnobabies don't sound like they're as far along as they are... apparently she hasn't had any other patients that did hypnobabies.... at least she doesn't think she has.

[callieollie]

Yeah, you definitely can't use how you "sound" as an indicator for how far along you are because many hypnobabies births never "sound" like you're in labor. My hypnobabies birth was 3 1/2 hours from waking up to what I just thought were bh contractions to baby out. The first hour, I just thought it was BH so I got water, did laundry and then tried to go back to bed. I couldn't sleep so I decided to sit on my birth ball and time the contractions. They were 2-3 minutes apart but only 45 seconds. They were totally comfortable so I didn't think it was anything. I decided to wake my dh anyway "just in case" and then he called the midwives and doula even though I didn't think it was necessary. We headed to the birth center and discovered I was 6 cm. 30 minutes later I was pushing (or rather the baby was just coming out) and after 4 minutes of that, she was born. It was super fast and I had no clue it was coming that fast. I didn't even believe I was really in labor until I found out I was 6 cm and that was 30 minutes before she was born!

With our next baby (which we're going to be ttc soon!), we'll be doing hypnobabies again and probably a homebirth so I plan to just call the midwives and doulas the second I feel anyway just so they know. I figure they are within an hour so they SHOULD be able to get here no matter what. For me, I think preparing for a UC would just freak me out so I'd rather just believe that isn't going to happen and if it does, deal with it then. But it sounds like you might feel better preparing for it ahead of time to put your own mind at ease. There's no harm in that so I'd say, learn what to do, and if you need it, you'll be prepared, and if not, no harm to having knowledge!

[Pepper44]

This is a great question, I have been wondering the same thing as the OP! Subbing to see more responses.