My HypnoBirthing Experience
From the very beginning my husband and I felt that bringing a child into the world should be a peaceful and spiritual experience for both of us and the baby and for us HypnoBirthing seemed like the perfect way to aid us in achieving our goal.
During my whole pregnancy I felt very positive about the birthing process. I didn’t listen to any negative comments and focused entirely on believing it would be a wonderful experience that I would be able to control. Our care provider, Richelle Jolley, a privately practicing midwife was the most supportive and incredible woman and she made a huge difference to our experience. Richelle became our friend, someone who I trust and love who shared our vision of a peaceful birth.
The day the baby arrived was a normal day! It was one day before our due date and I felt great with occasional mild pressure in my lower back (but honestly it was barely different to how anyone would feel if they were the size of a truck!). I had the sudden urge to buy more baby blankets, like as though my life depended on it, and after running a few errands with my husband I rushed off to Wal Mart to calm my mind and load up on supplies! While there I felt like I had to use the bathroom and after sitting in the grungy restrooms in the store for 10 minutes I started feeling like walking was getting a little more difficult! I had a midwife appointment at 2pm so I called Richelle and told her I wasn’t sure but thought maybe “something was happening!” I was feeling great so she said just come to the appointment as it was my first baby and there was a good chance it would be a while before we needed to get ready.
When I arrived I was feeling more obvious pressure waves, she checked me and I was already at 5cm. I was so calm but for some reason felt like crying, it was quite an emotional thing to think that I would soon meet the little baby I had been talking to and loving for the last 40 weeks! We had planned a home birth so along with Richelle and her assistant my husband and I rushed home. The pressure waves were quite intense by that point but my husband and the assistant helped relieve them by applying pressure to my knees and back as I sat on the couch.Everything I had learned in HypnoBirthing just came to me, I didn’t even really think about it, I just did it. Even though my husband had practiced with me reading scripts or just talking me through it I didn’t even need him to do that, my body and mind just sort of switched to auto pilot mode! I went into this state of deep concentration and relaxation, keeping my body and face relaxed. I had about another hour or so of pressure waves and even fell asleep! Even though I had been taught that I didn’t need to push I did feel an intense desire to do so and just followed what felt right to my body. I fell asleep again during this time much to the amusement of my husband who said he had never seen anyone so focused. I just kept envisioning everything opening and working the way it was designed to in my body, and even though I can say I felt uncomfortable I really didn’t feel pain like so many negative people had said, it was wonderful, and those lovely endorphins really helped! I think the key for me was just realizing that what I was feeling was a sensation that was controllable and how I chose to interpret in my mind what I was feeling would greatly add or take away from my positive experience.
It was so peaceful and quiet in our home, I felt absolutely in control and at ease. Our little boy was born about 3 hours and 48 minutes from the time we went to the midwife appointment. It was a perfect baby boy, he was 8 pounds and 21 and ¾ inches long and we named him Talmage James Elliott! It really was a wonderful experience and I would recommend to anyone who wants a similar experience to mine to choose HypnoBirthing and a home birth with a midwife who was as supportive and in tune as Richelle was. I truly do cherish the whole experience and just loved bringing my little boy into the world in such a lovely way. He is now 5 months old and getting bigger every day, at his last weigh in he was 20lbs and I greatly contribute his good health in part to his positive birth experience.