Amanda's Hypnobabies Birth Story

Baby Gavin is 2 weeks old now, and I am emerging from my cracked shell and feeling much like myself again (only better). I have been writing about his birth but end up with a novel, so I am going to try and make my story a bit shorter...

My birthday was January 27th. I felt great and wore makeup for the first time in weeks, and I stayed at work a little late to get caught up on things because I had been feeling pretty rough and unable to work full days for quite some time. My baby had started to "drop" a week or so earlier and at my last prenatal doctor appointment I as 1.5 cm dilated and about 75% effaced.

On january 28th I woke up feeling not so great, my skin hurt and was intensley itchy (I had been itchy like that for days - no rash, just wildly itchy), and I noticed that every half hour or so I would have a birthing wave. I went to work as normal but by noon realized that it was a very real possibility that I was in my early birthing time. The presure waves did not increase in frequency or intensity until much later that evening.

At about 1:15 on the 29th I woke with much stronger birthing waves and very painful pressure in my lower back. Shortly after waking I lost my mucus plug. Once the plug came out I knew that my baby would be coming soon. I stayed up and sat on my birthing ball, and focused on my breathing. I had also listened to my early birthing time Hypnobabies track before bed - just in case, right?! By 3:00 I decided that I'd better call the hospital. They told me to come on down because at that point my pressure waves were only minutes apart and were picking up in intensity.

I checked into the hospital at around 3:45 and was dialated to 2.5, and 80% effaced. At 4:13 my water bags ruptured. I was not at all prepared for the amount of amniotic fluid that would come with each pressure wave - I felt like I was pumping an ocean through my body. There was moderate mecconium in the fluid so they decided to monitor my baby more closely than I had originaly wanted, but his heartbeat remained steady and strong. By 7:00 I was so exhausted and unable to get a grip on the discomfort that I asked for an epidural. I was at 5 cm when I got the epidural shortly after 7:00. I spent the next few hours resting. By 12:30 it was time to rock and roll!

I was fully dialated/effaced and my baby's head was deeply engaged (and wouldn't you know, sunnyside up!). The nurses brought in a mirror so that I could watch his birth, and I was surrounded by wonderful women and my husband who all supported me as I pushed like I had never pushed before. As I pushed, I could see my baby's head come closer to the outside but as soon as I stopped pushing his head would sink back in. This went on for almost 2 hours and we weren't getting any closer. My OBGYN asked me if I wanted help and I said yes because I could see that this baby was stuck in my pelvis. The doctor used the vaccum (which was something I never wanted to have happen but at this point I needed the assistance) but because my baby's head was so hairy the vaccum wouldn't stay put and popped off several times. My uterus was slowing way down and the pressure waves were much weaker so they gave me pitocin to help with the last few pushes. At 2:23 PM - exacly 37 weeks into the pregnancy - Gavin was born!

The little guy had a large hematoma on the top of his head from the vaccum and a big dent in the side of his head from my pubic bone. He had some jaundice from the injury and we ended up spending extra time in the hospital so that he could be under the bilirubin lights, and days later we were admitted to the hospital again for more bilirubin light therapy. He is fine now and isn't the slightest bit yellow. I am healing fast from 3rd degree tearing, hemorraging after his birth, intense lower back pain (which for a few days was worse than the tearing!), and it was discovered that I am very anemic so I have started taking lots of iron and am feeling myself grow stronger each day. My baby is amazing, my husband is wonderful, and I have had so much support from loved ones. And though his birth did not happen how I had planned it to, and mostly everything from my birthplan went out the window, I couldn't imagine it happening any other way.

Hopefully in a week or so we will venture out for postnatal yoga! I can't wait for you to meet Gavin.