Delilah

Hi Ashley! I hope this message finds you doing well. Brad and I are now the proud parents of Delilah, 5 lbs, 5 oz and 18 inches, born 5.5 weeks early on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 8:02 AM. We have quite the birth story!!! I am going to write it down in free form, partly so that I can remember what happened and also to share with you.

Contractions started on Sunday, October 30 around 4 PM. I called the UCSD Midwife number around 10 PM and was reassured that what I was feeling was simply practice contractions. Barely slept that night, woke up to continued contractions, called the Midwife number around 10 AM and was once again reassured that it was nothing to worry about...simply hydrate and relax. I took a long nap that day (after taking a Benadryl) and woke up with contractions - yet they were never on any sort of timetable. I called the Midwife at 6 PM and she recommended that I come in for an evaluation, more for peace of mind than anything else.

Brad and I left the house on Monday, Halloween evening, without a hospital bag - we thought for sure they'd be sending us home. I did at the last second throw my toothbrush and toothpaste into a bag. Once we got to the hospital, Rebecca the midwife on duty examined my cervix and reported that I was fully effaced and one cm dilated. At that point in time she said that she'd have to consult with the doctors on duty and most likely would have to turn my care over to them. She said that they would need to check my cervix again in an hour to see if there had been any change. Brad requested that she come back and be the one to examine me for consistency. She returned an hour later and reported that I was now 2 cm dilated and yes, most likely in labor. She did an ultrasound and confirmed the baby was definitely in the birth canal and at that point, turned my care over to the doctors.

I was moved from the evaluation room to a Labor and Delivery room around midnight. Brad asked if there were any volunteer doulas on call (Friday night Doulas was on our list of things to do this past week!!!!). Luckily a doula was on call and available to us. Her name was Lindsay and she arrived just after 2 am like an angel from heaven. We told her about our plan to birth using Hypnobirthing and no drugs, she was totally into it and supportive. The night went on with more contractions that varied with levels of intensity. Brad and Lindsay take turns massaging me and reminding me to use my breathing. I was checked a couple more times and was at 4 cm. In the morning a doctor came in and recommended that they break my bag. Brad asked her to give us some time to think it over...which we did and we decided that at 4 cm, that was not the direction we wanted to take. I was visited by many nurses and doctors...was placed on a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor and a penicillin IV...all things I had not envisioned - much less being in labor at 34.5 weeks - we received a visit from Pediatrics who discussed all of the risks our baby was facing due to preterm labor. It was scary. It was stated that I would be delivering in the OR and that my baby would be taken immediately for evaluation by the Pediatric team. The bright side: Brad could be with baby the entire time.

So, the day went on and on and although I resisted many requests to be 'checked', I did allow them to check a few times, only to find out I was holding at 4 CM. At some point I request a hot shower. You would have thought I asked for a walk around the block! What an ordeal, but the nurse finally relented and Brad was able to take me to the shower. A senior doctor named Dr. Hebert visited us and said that he had no interest in intervening with this birth. For at 34 weeks, she was either going to come or she wasn't and he didn't see a point in intervening with her plan. This comforted me. We also received a visit from the Chief Resident who was puzzled that I hadn't advanced, reiterated that she had no interest in breaking my bag, but suggested that I might need 'therapeutic rest'. She was going to consult with Dr. Hebert and return to us. At that point Brad asked her to please ask the midwife on duty to come down and discuss this option with us as well.

It is now about 3 PM on Tuesday, I am still at 4 cm, +2 and fully effaced and I haven't been fed in over 24 hours (besides the Saltine crackers Brad snuck to me). The midwife okays the therapeutic rest and explains it to us. I've been reporting more intense contractions, but from the monitor they can tell that in actuality they aren't that more intense. I am just very tired. Dr. Hebert says let this woman eat for she's not headed for a C-section any time soon. I am given some food and moved to the 7th floor for my 'therapeutic rest'. Lindsay the doula bids us farewell and says to call her if my status changes and she'll be there in a heart beat.

I become drowsy with the medicine which I am told will only make my baby sleepy. I am told I need this rest in order to finish the ordeal. I believe it. I am so spent. I sleep from 5-10 PM, Brad runs home to get us some supplies and my best friend Rae comes and sits by my bedside. I wake up thinking perhaps it was all a bit of a dream and it's now over only to find myself beginning to feel contractions again. I try to continue to sleep from 9-4 am during this time we listened to Marie Mongan on repeat. Around 4 am my contractions start to become unbearable. I am reminded by the nursing staff that I can not deliver there - I must deliver on the 2nd floor due to my preterm condition. Around 5 am I am checked and told that I am at 7 cm, -1 and it's time to move me downstairs.

Brad and I are now back on the Labor and Delivery Unit. Hooked up to machines again. Given a birth ball that can barely move within the small room. At 5:30 he asks if he should call Lindsay back and I say eh give her until 6 am. Lindsay arrives just after 6:15, I am checked again - and now told I am 6 cm, +2 (so basically the doctor in the paragraph above had no idea what she was talking about). I am really feeling the contractions and I ask what I can do for relief. It is recommended that I let the doctor break my bag which at that time, we weight the pros and cons - basically my baby is coming at some time but when will she arrive??!!! So, he breaks my bag at 6:30 and by 6:55 I am in active labor. Around 7:25 am I start feeling the need to push and of course, it's shift change! At 7:35 they load me up and wheel me into the OR and at least 8 people are present: Brad, Lindsay the Doula, Dr. Hebert (awesome), Dr. Tierney, a med student, 1 nurse and 1 doctor from Pediatrics, one Labor and Delivery Nurse. I am on my back, sitting up slightly, instructed to pull my legs back with each push and coached through each push which last about 10 seconds each. Completely lucid during contractions, I continue to push in rhythm with my contractions. At one point I ask if I have a hemorrhoid, I am told by the doctor that it's the biggest hemorrhoid of my life - it's my daughter's head and to reach down and touch it - which I do and it moved! I almost gagged!!! With each push, Dr. Tierney massages my perinea and moves my vagina around my baby's head with care.

The pushing lasted about 20 pushes and the last one I pushed with all my might and at 8:02 AM Delilah graced us with her presence. I saw her for a brief moment and then she was gone as was Brad. He was gone for at least ten minutes while I delivered my placenta. He returned beaming, full of excitement and word that our baby girl is really here and she's doing fine. I am wheeled back to my L & D room, change my gown and then wheeled to see my baby girl around 10 am where we instantly did skin to skin and she practiced nursing right then.

It's now 4 days later and I was discharged from the hospital on Friday and our baby girl is still at the Infant Special Care Unit at UCSD. It's heart-wrenching and painful, yet we know she's under the best care - and the best news is that she's healthy. She's just a little premature and needs some time to catch up. Each day we visit and see progress, I am pumping and she's beginning to nurse which is the most amazingly fantastic thing I've ever felt.

So, in short, our birth story is NOTHING like we ever planned or envisioned. But Delilah had a different plan and we are soooo glad she's here. And Brad is so proud of me - and I am proud of myself. I found a strength within that I had no idea existed. It was so important to me to birth my daughter without the assistance of drugs so that we could be present for and with her. Hypnobirthing allowed me to breath my way through the experience - and we used our BRAINs throughout the entire experience. Not only that, but I found a deeper love and understanding of my husband. I am so proud of the support we offer one another. Now we just wait eagerly to take our daughter home. Night time is the hardest time, but I am confident she'll be in our arms every night soon.

Thank you for letting me share.
xoxo
Laura

Blake

Hi Care!

Baby Blake has arrived!!  He was born on 11/4/11 (his due date).  7 lb., 1 oz., 20.5 inches.  We are so so so happy!  Guess what???  He was born en caul!!  So cool!!  I delivered him in the birth center shower, standing up!  It was a crazy long labor, but so worth it.  I was in my bed, my birth ball, my shower, then birth center shower, tub, walking halls, bed and finally the shower.  Crazy!!  So worth it though.  Baby Blake is amazing and so mellow.  He is breast feeding like a champ and sleeping really well.  He gained 2 ounces before we even left the hospital, I think because he started breast feeding immediately.  The nurses and midwives were so confused and kept checking the scales, haha. 

Thank you again!!  Feel free to share the photos :) 

UPDATE:

More of the Story...

 For the first 2/3 of labor (10 hours) the hypnobirthing breathing was working really well.  Then I got exhausted and everything got really intense for the last 5 hours, and I started to lose it.  Nothing was working at that point.

At the end, when I was in the shower, the midwife came in and checked me for the first time.  She said I was 8-9 cm dialated.  So they said I should get back to the bed and get ready to push soon.  I knew I was closer than that though, because on the previous contraction I used your trick and reached down and felt the baby's head!  As I stepped out of the shower I had a contraction and pushed and felt down again and out came the baby's head!!  The midwife was shocked and called everyone into the tiny room to assist.  On the next contraction the rest of him was out.  He didn't cry and just looked up at me as they put him in my arms.   I walked back to the room down the public hallway naked, bleeding, holding the baby with the cord attached, and so so happy, hahaha what a site!!



Jami, Ben and Liam's Birth Story

Jami had an amazing HypnoBirth and wrote up her story to share. Thank you so much for sharing, Jami! We look forward to posting many more inspiring birth stories soon!

When I found out I was pregnant I didn’t have a plan as to how or where I was going to deliver my baby, but I figured it would be similar to most other births I had heard about or seen. It would be in a hospital, I may use pain relief of some sort, and it would probably be a stressful experience. That’s what labor and birth look like on TV, right?

A few weeks into my pregnancy I spoke with my Mom about her birth experience. she told me that she delivered naturally and did not have an epidural. I was blown away. Women still had babies naturally and some even went as far as to not use medication to numb the pain? Well, I decided that I could do that too.I just had to find the right environment and the right people to nurture my birth experience, and I needed to get myself mentally and physically prepared.

I struggled for 3 months to find the perfect OB, which never happened for me.  I struggled for 3 more months to find the perfect hospital midwife, which never happened either. Meanwhile, I was researching all of the options women had for childbirth and I discovered that some women labor and deliver at home. (Gasp!) At home?! I could have a birth experience that didn’t require me to ever leave my house? It sounded relaxing and absolutely delightful! I told my doula that I was interested in exploring home birth and she scheduled an appointment with two homebirth midwives with whom she worked. Our first appointment was love at first sight for me!

After my husband, Ben, became comfortable with the idea of homebirth we signed on with our fantastic midwives. I discovered HypnoBirthing around this time and had been doing prenatal yoga for a few months. Not only was I confident that I had made the right choice in regards to where I wanted to have my birth, but I was confident that I was making the right choices in preparing myself mentally and physically for the big event. So when the time finally came on Monday May 9th I felt beyond ready.

I knew the real thing was happening when I started having surges that felt like none I had experienced before. The pressure was more intense and there was a tension that hadn’t been there with previous surges. Luckily Ben stayed home from work and we were able to relax and watch movies all day. During surges, while watching the latest Harry Potter film, I would focus all of my energy into utilizing the breathing techniques I had learned in our HypnoBirthing class. As the night went on and my surges intensified I sat on my yoga ball, moving slowly back and forth and from side to side, walked around the house, and started using some vocal toning.

When active labor started and my doula arrived I created a little comfort zone for myself in the living room. Ben put on my HypnoBirthing Affirmations track and I laid on the couch, breathing into each surge while staring at the birth art I had made to use as focal points. When I felt I needed to change positions I moved to my yoga mat. I did Cat-Cow and vocal toning during each surge and would rest in Child’s Pose. My next move was to switch between rocking on the birth ball and “slow dancing” with my husband, while my doula massaged by back. I think I used every technique we had practiced in our HypnoBirthing class, plus more when I needed something different. I also used vocal toning for almost every surge over the next 12 hours. (I had almost lost my voice by the end, but vocalizing helped me to send the vibrations and the breath down to my cervix. It made me feel strong and centered.)

After laboring in almost every room of my house for 9 hours my water finally broke. I had fallen asleep sitting backwards on the toilet, with my husband asleep against the wall behind me, his hands massaging my shoulders. (I’m not sure how he was able to continue massaging while snoozing, but I’m so thankful he did!) I ran out of the bathroom yelling, “My water broke! My water broke!” My midwife settled me down and told me we still had time and I needed to really focus my energy now because the cushion was gone and the pressure was about to increase...and increase it did, but I was ready.

At this point I was able to sleep between surges, so I took little naps between almost every one. I remember waking up for a surge, looking back at the window as I lay on the bed and realizing that it was light out. I had made it through the night! I ended up in what most refer to as the “pushing phase” for almost 3 hours.  I was able to breathe down for the first hour, but after that my body was depleted of energy and was telling me I needed to push. My midwives told me to listen to what my body was saying. My little baby’s hands were up by his head and all I could do was wait patiently for him to move them so we could get things moving along.

After encouragement from my midwife, doula and my husband I gathered all the energy I had left to get up, get something to eat, and change positions to deliver our baby. The midwives were cooking breakfast - I could smell something on the stove and coffee brewing - and someone made me scrambled eggs. I choked down eggs, strawberries, spoonfuls of honey, yogurt and string cheese. It worked in almost instantly to boost my energy.

I moved into the birth tub, took a squatting position, and started to feel my baby moving down with each surge. What an amazing sensation to reach down and feel my baby’s head. He was going to be with us any minute! Although that feeling gave me the energy to get him out, it was taking every last bit of my energy so I needed my husband to help me stay up. He jumped in the tub, sat behind me and held me up. I could feel a burning sensation and my midwife reminded me not to push, but to focus on her and maintain my breathing. The burning stopped almost immediately when I simply used my breath. I leaned back into my husband, gave one last push and our little man finally arrived. I could hear my husband laughing and sobbing behind me as we held the most beautiful baby boy we had ever seen.

William Roman Yaeger joined us on May 10th, at 9:48AM, weighing 6 lbs. 9 ounces and measuring 19 inches long. He was healthy and perfect in every way!

Thank you Care and Ashley for helping us to have the calm and gentle birth experience we imagined. Not only was it an incredibly empowering experience for me as a women transitioning into motherhood, but our family bond is now stronger than ever! We are forever grateful.