For all of those Hypnobabies birthers out there, this is a heads up that my birth story does mention p***. It went so quickly that I didn't use HB too much during the end, but I used it splendidly for the weeks of prodromal labor beforehand.
I had been predicting my baby on Thursday night, 9/24, for over a month. It was the night of the full moon, and the full moon had treated me well in the past. But I’d been experiencing prodromal labor again and I’d taken Vitamin C in my 3rd trimester in an attempt to keep my water from breaking until late in labor. So I had no idea if this was really it, for days and days before-hand.
So, when the strongest contraction yet began around 2:00am on the 23rd, I was skeptical as usual. They continued for hours, but around 6:00am I’d had enough and got back in bed. Contractions spaced back out to every 20-30 minutes and I slept the next few hours. Jay had to go paint an office, so I had to wake up with little guys. Contractions picked back up a bit, then not, all day long. Around 4:00pm, as I was watching Ellen, they started getting stronger again, and were consistently 6 minutes apart. There was a lot of downward pressure, too. So, I called my mom and asked her to come, and Jay started setting up the birth pool.
Around 6:00 my mom got here and contractions had spaced back out to nearly non existent again. I was so extremely frustrated! I put Logan to bed at 7:30, nursing him for almost an hour to try to get things going. Nothing. I felt so bad for calling my mom over “for nothing”. I asked her if she’d hate me if she just had to go home and turn around and come back again in a few days. Of course she wouldn’t.
Around 9:00 I lay on the couch listening to my Hypnobabies tracks for easy first stage and birthing day affirmations. Every time there was a mention of “I trust my body” or something about I will happily follow whatever path my body takes me I started to cry. I was just so frustrated. And tired. And since things usually happen for me while I’m trying to sleep, I decided to go to bed. But not before asking Jay to try his usual magic (what got it in there will get it out), and then nursing Logan again. Logan didn’t sleep, so we didn’t sleep, til around 1:00. 1:21 my water broke. I told Jay that I don’t know what’s in there, but he needs to bottle it for pregnant women! Works every time for me.
I started to get excited, finally. I hobbled downstairs with a towel between my legs and grabbed one of the adult diapers I’d bought for this purpose. I lay back down in bed to try to get a little more sleep before contractions got too bad. I usually have hours before things really pick up after my water breaks, but these began immediately and were no joke! Logan was back to not sleeping again, rolling around, back and forth between Jay and me. Finally I told Jay I needed him to go get the birth pool warm again because I needed it already. He was surprised. When he came back he told me to go get in and he spent another 20 minutes getting Logan back to sleep.
When I got downstairs I began getting little last-minute things together. I started shivering and trembling a little bit. I’d been so hot this pregnancy, and even all day, that I was confused. It felt like when I was entering transition in my first birth. But there was no way! Finally I finished gathering my homeopathics, adding rescue remedy and lavender essential oil to the pool, etc. I got in. It felt wonderful!
My first 3 contractions in the pool were a little easier. Jay came downstairs and put some more water on the stove so we could really heat the water. I was having a hard time already, up on my knees through contractions. Jay was pouring water over my back during them and that really helped. But I was trembling through them. I kept saying “Holy Cow, I’d swear I was in transition already!” By this point it was only 2:30. Soon after, the contractions were really hard and left me with less than 30 seconds between them. I told Jay he’d probably better go get the kids up. I was still in denial that this was the end. There was no way my labor could be that fast. But I knew they would never forgive me if they missed it, so I erred on the side of caution.
Julian and Eva came down very shortly after. Jay told me that Miah said “No, not right now” and went back to sleep, lol. And we, of course, planned from the beginning to just keep Logan down. Eva started getting on her swimsuit, then hopped in to pour the water on my back. I had maybe 6 more contractions that were unbelievable. I tried so hard to keep my pelvic floor, butt, and legs relaxed through them, but I just couldn’t. I vocalized more loudly than usual, and just did what I could to stay alive, lol. After the last I said “It felt a little bit pushy in that one, so pray that the next one really does bring a push.” I only had long enough to say that before the next one began, and about 10 seconds in I started pushing. HARD.
When it was over I turned around to a squat and Eva was right between my legs with her hands outstretched. J She’d insisted the entire pregnancy that she was going to catch this time, and she was ready.
Usually when I push it feels wonderful. The contractions change in quality, to be not so intense, and there are much longer breaks between them. Not so this time. They were pretty much the same as they’d been, and with 15-30 second breaks or so between them. It was very difficult. I pushed, but only when my body made me. The rest of the time I was “breathing the baby down”. I just let my body do what it needed to do and tried to keep breathing deeply.
Every couple of contractions I would feel inside to see if that squishy baby head was moving down, and it was but slowly. Finally the head was right there and I told Eva she could feel. She did and she was amazed at how squishy it was. With the next contraction the baby began to crown. I felt like I’d been pushing for hours, but I looked at the clock and it had been about 10 minutes, lol. I felt the usual ring of fire, then it got crazy. I was trying hard to ease the head out slowly. I kept saying it felt like I was tearing this time; that this was the biggest baby head I’d ever delivered. I reached down to put some counter pressure on my labia and feel the progress I was making with the head. Slowly the head emerged to the chin, then I just let loose with a huge push and out popped the head and the rest of the body in a split second.
Eva was ready and she grabbed that baby up out of the water in a flash and handed it to me. I pulled the baby up into my arms as Jay said “10 fingers, 10 toes!” and I pulled up the legs and said “And NO PENIS!” Yay! We had another girl! It was 4:00 am, about 2 and a half hours after my water broke and things got real. I’ve always had 5+ hour births, so no wonder I’d had such a difficult time breathing anesthesia and so on from my Hypnobabies training this time. But I’d been envisioning a 3 hour labor via Hypnobabies, and I guess I got it. Well, 3 hours and 3-4 weeks of prodromal, but I digress.
Eva was asking if she could hold her before we even cut the cord. I had to explain that the cord was only long enough to get her to my breast. It took her about 10 minutes, but she nursed great before the cord was cut, and has been ever since. I got to name her my name I’d been holding onto since the pregnancy test. She’s very light, with light hair, like Miah. She’s got a tiny but powerful cry. Eva is absolutely in love, holds her any chance she gets, and keeps repeating “I can’t believe I have a SISTER!”
At 6:00 Miah woke up and immediately began petting her. He LOVES her and pets and kisses her whenever he can. He asked if she could come and take a nap with him when Jay took him to put him down. J Logan was up about 10 minutes later. He looked thoroughly confused and really didn’t want to touch the baby until he saw Miah doing it. They’re both being so very gentle with her, it’s great to see. Julian has been the most ambivalent. He was far more interested in helping Jay with the mechanical stuff, cutting the cord, etc. I guess he’s desensitized to babies being born here now, lol.
We have no scale, so we’re not sure what she weighs, though it’s always a safe guess to go with “around 8 lbs” around here. We thought we’d take her to the Dr’s office later today and get her weighed. Our very unscientific measurement has her length at 21 inches, but I’d have sworn she was shorter. I had practically none of the rib pain during this pregnancy that I’d had with all of them previously. So far she’s doing great sleeping about 2 hours at a time, then nursing and spending some quiet alert time. If that’s not textbook… Nursing is going well. She’s got a rough latch, like Julian did, but I’m kind of at fault for letting her get away with it. She doesn’t open very wide, she pushes it out between her gums, etc. But, we’ll work on that over the next week and she’ll get as good as the rest.
Jay did an awesome job keeping everything perfect for me so I could do what I needed to do. He kept the water warm, and did all the background stuff a midwife would usually do. Got the kids putting towels in the dryer soon after the baby was born. Emptied the pool. Made me some tea with red raspberry leaf and catnip. Boiled the scissors, tied off the cord, etc, etc. He did just wonderfully! I even had him check me out for tears. He said “There look to be some things on the outside of you that should be on the inside, but no tears”, lol. I kept saying while pushing that my hemorrhoids were going to be KILLING me for weeks.
The afterpains are bad, but not as bad as last time. I got myself some “Afterease” from Wish Garden herbs, and I’m taking Arnica and lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen. My bleeding is great this time, due to the Alfalfa taken in the last weeks and maintaining good iron levels. I delivered the placenta all on my own in 45 minutes this time, due to the assistance of the Placenta Out tincture I bought for that purpose. Jay and the kids will be dehydrating placenta this afternoon, so I hope to completely avoid PPD again this time. At the moment, I’m just trying to relax, take it easy, and fall in love with my new daughter.
I had been predicting my baby on Thursday night, 9/24, for over a month. It was the night of the full moon, and the full moon had treated me well in the past. But I’d been experiencing prodromal labor again and I’d taken Vitamin C in my 3rd trimester in an attempt to keep my water from breaking until late in labor. So I had no idea if this was really it, for days and days before-hand.
So, when the strongest contraction yet began around 2:00am on the 23rd, I was skeptical as usual. They continued for hours, but around 6:00am I’d had enough and got back in bed. Contractions spaced back out to every 20-30 minutes and I slept the next few hours. Jay had to go paint an office, so I had to wake up with little guys. Contractions picked back up a bit, then not, all day long. Around 4:00pm, as I was watching Ellen, they started getting stronger again, and were consistently 6 minutes apart. There was a lot of downward pressure, too. So, I called my mom and asked her to come, and Jay started setting up the birth pool.
Around 6:00 my mom got here and contractions had spaced back out to nearly non existent again. I was so extremely frustrated! I put Logan to bed at 7:30, nursing him for almost an hour to try to get things going. Nothing. I felt so bad for calling my mom over “for nothing”. I asked her if she’d hate me if she just had to go home and turn around and come back again in a few days. Of course she wouldn’t.
Around 9:00 I lay on the couch listening to my Hypnobabies tracks for easy first stage and birthing day affirmations. Every time there was a mention of “I trust my body” or something about I will happily follow whatever path my body takes me I started to cry. I was just so frustrated. And tired. And since things usually happen for me while I’m trying to sleep, I decided to go to bed. But not before asking Jay to try his usual magic (what got it in there will get it out), and then nursing Logan again. Logan didn’t sleep, so we didn’t sleep, til around 1:00. 1:21 my water broke. I told Jay that I don’t know what’s in there, but he needs to bottle it for pregnant women! Works every time for me.
I started to get excited, finally. I hobbled downstairs with a towel between my legs and grabbed one of the adult diapers I’d bought for this purpose. I lay back down in bed to try to get a little more sleep before contractions got too bad. I usually have hours before things really pick up after my water breaks, but these began immediately and were no joke! Logan was back to not sleeping again, rolling around, back and forth between Jay and me. Finally I told Jay I needed him to go get the birth pool warm again because I needed it already. He was surprised. When he came back he told me to go get in and he spent another 20 minutes getting Logan back to sleep.
When I got downstairs I began getting little last-minute things together. I started shivering and trembling a little bit. I’d been so hot this pregnancy, and even all day, that I was confused. It felt like when I was entering transition in my first birth. But there was no way! Finally I finished gathering my homeopathics, adding rescue remedy and lavender essential oil to the pool, etc. I got in. It felt wonderful!
My first 3 contractions in the pool were a little easier. Jay came downstairs and put some more water on the stove so we could really heat the water. I was having a hard time already, up on my knees through contractions. Jay was pouring water over my back during them and that really helped. But I was trembling through them. I kept saying “Holy Cow, I’d swear I was in transition already!” By this point it was only 2:30. Soon after, the contractions were really hard and left me with less than 30 seconds between them. I told Jay he’d probably better go get the kids up. I was still in denial that this was the end. There was no way my labor could be that fast. But I knew they would never forgive me if they missed it, so I erred on the side of caution.
Julian and Eva came down very shortly after. Jay told me that Miah said “No, not right now” and went back to sleep, lol. And we, of course, planned from the beginning to just keep Logan down. Eva started getting on her swimsuit, then hopped in to pour the water on my back. I had maybe 6 more contractions that were unbelievable. I tried so hard to keep my pelvic floor, butt, and legs relaxed through them, but I just couldn’t. I vocalized more loudly than usual, and just did what I could to stay alive, lol. After the last I said “It felt a little bit pushy in that one, so pray that the next one really does bring a push.” I only had long enough to say that before the next one began, and about 10 seconds in I started pushing. HARD.
When it was over I turned around to a squat and Eva was right between my legs with her hands outstretched. J She’d insisted the entire pregnancy that she was going to catch this time, and she was ready.
Usually when I push it feels wonderful. The contractions change in quality, to be not so intense, and there are much longer breaks between them. Not so this time. They were pretty much the same as they’d been, and with 15-30 second breaks or so between them. It was very difficult. I pushed, but only when my body made me. The rest of the time I was “breathing the baby down”. I just let my body do what it needed to do and tried to keep breathing deeply.
Every couple of contractions I would feel inside to see if that squishy baby head was moving down, and it was but slowly. Finally the head was right there and I told Eva she could feel. She did and she was amazed at how squishy it was. With the next contraction the baby began to crown. I felt like I’d been pushing for hours, but I looked at the clock and it had been about 10 minutes, lol. I felt the usual ring of fire, then it got crazy. I was trying hard to ease the head out slowly. I kept saying it felt like I was tearing this time; that this was the biggest baby head I’d ever delivered. I reached down to put some counter pressure on my labia and feel the progress I was making with the head. Slowly the head emerged to the chin, then I just let loose with a huge push and out popped the head and the rest of the body in a split second.
Eva was ready and she grabbed that baby up out of the water in a flash and handed it to me. I pulled the baby up into my arms as Jay said “10 fingers, 10 toes!” and I pulled up the legs and said “And NO PENIS!” Yay! We had another girl! It was 4:00 am, about 2 and a half hours after my water broke and things got real. I’ve always had 5+ hour births, so no wonder I’d had such a difficult time breathing anesthesia and so on from my Hypnobabies training this time. But I’d been envisioning a 3 hour labor via Hypnobabies, and I guess I got it. Well, 3 hours and 3-4 weeks of prodromal, but I digress.
Eva was asking if she could hold her before we even cut the cord. I had to explain that the cord was only long enough to get her to my breast. It took her about 10 minutes, but she nursed great before the cord was cut, and has been ever since. I got to name her my name I’d been holding onto since the pregnancy test. She’s very light, with light hair, like Miah. She’s got a tiny but powerful cry. Eva is absolutely in love, holds her any chance she gets, and keeps repeating “I can’t believe I have a SISTER!”
At 6:00 Miah woke up and immediately began petting her. He LOVES her and pets and kisses her whenever he can. He asked if she could come and take a nap with him when Jay took him to put him down. J Logan was up about 10 minutes later. He looked thoroughly confused and really didn’t want to touch the baby until he saw Miah doing it. They’re both being so very gentle with her, it’s great to see. Julian has been the most ambivalent. He was far more interested in helping Jay with the mechanical stuff, cutting the cord, etc. I guess he’s desensitized to babies being born here now, lol.
We have no scale, so we’re not sure what she weighs, though it’s always a safe guess to go with “around 8 lbs” around here. We thought we’d take her to the Dr’s office later today and get her weighed. Our very unscientific measurement has her length at 21 inches, but I’d have sworn she was shorter. I had practically none of the rib pain during this pregnancy that I’d had with all of them previously. So far she’s doing great sleeping about 2 hours at a time, then nursing and spending some quiet alert time. If that’s not textbook… Nursing is going well. She’s got a rough latch, like Julian did, but I’m kind of at fault for letting her get away with it. She doesn’t open very wide, she pushes it out between her gums, etc. But, we’ll work on that over the next week and she’ll get as good as the rest.
Jay did an awesome job keeping everything perfect for me so I could do what I needed to do. He kept the water warm, and did all the background stuff a midwife would usually do. Got the kids putting towels in the dryer soon after the baby was born. Emptied the pool. Made me some tea with red raspberry leaf and catnip. Boiled the scissors, tied off the cord, etc, etc. He did just wonderfully! I even had him check me out for tears. He said “There look to be some things on the outside of you that should be on the inside, but no tears”, lol. I kept saying while pushing that my hemorrhoids were going to be KILLING me for weeks.
The afterpains are bad, but not as bad as last time. I got myself some “Afterease” from Wish Garden herbs, and I’m taking Arnica and lots of Tylenol and Ibuprofen. My bleeding is great this time, due to the Alfalfa taken in the last weeks and maintaining good iron levels. I delivered the placenta all on my own in 45 minutes this time, due to the assistance of the Placenta Out tincture I bought for that purpose. Jay and the kids will be dehydrating placenta this afternoon, so I hope to completely avoid PPD again this time. At the moment, I’m just trying to relax, take it easy, and fall in love with my new daughter.
I have a "Lexi Elizabeth" too. 
I love all the herbal info you shared... Very empowering stuff to include in a lovely successful unassisted birth story! 
