My Secret to Successful Hypnobirthing, Part 2
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| 38 weeks with Sweet Boy and 38 weeks with Baby Girl |
Baby Girl was born almost two years ago, on a warm June day.
I was 39 weeks pregnant and so ready to be done. I was pretty sure this baby was bigger than Sweet Boy had been, mainly because my belly was noticeably bigger and I'd had a lot more pressure and soreness in my pelvic area those last few weeks. The top reason I wanted Baby Girl out was because I'd had multiple "false alarms" and was getting pretty discouraged.
At 37 weeks, I started having mild but regular surges (Hypnobirthing language for contractions), 2-3 minutes apart for several hours. We got packed up for the hospital, convinced we'd be heading there in the middle of the night. But almost as soon as I lay down to get some sleep, they stopped. Both Stephen and I were a little frustrated.
A few days later, it happened again. We got all excited, but once again, the surges died away.
The following Sunday, at 38 weeks and 6 days, I got ready for church and began having some rather odd surges. I felt a tightening sensation across my lower abdomen, accompanied by pressure in my pelvic floor. These surges came every 2-3 minutes and got more intense as time went on. I called the midwife to let her know what was going on and asked what she suggested I do. She told me I could go to the hospital to get checked or I could wait until the surges got more uncomfortable. She was convinced I was in labor and she would see me later that afternoon. I decided to wait until the surges became more intense.
Stephen and I walked around the neighborhood a few times to try to encourage my body to get the show on the road. But after a few hours, the surges stopped again. I was frustrated that this kept happening. I tearfully told Stephen that I just wanted the baby out. I hated that I felt like I couldn't trust my own body. I thought I knew what labor was like, but I kept getting tricked.
I went to bed that night, still feeling emotional and frustrated. Shortly after falling asleep, I began to experience period-like cramps (but a little stronger) every few minutes. That definitely made for some strange dreams! It kept happening, so I finally got up around 2 or 3 a.m., thinking maybe this was it. But the cramping stopped within a few minutes of getting up. I had told myself it was probably another false alarm, so I wasn't too frustrated when nothing happened. I went back to bed.
Up to this point, I had still been unsure about what visualizations and affirmations (things I would repeat to myself to keep me focused) I was going to use during labor, so I tried various things during each "false alarm." I think I was so focused on trying to make labor happen (that, plus the surges I'd had to that point hadn't been terribly uncomfortable), that I wasn't too worried about using visualizations or affirmations yet.
Anyway, just before 7 a.m. the next morning, at exactly 39 weeks pregnant, I was woken up by Sweet Boy crying. I went into his room and lay down next to his bed to try to encourage him to go back to sleep. After a few minutes, I realized he was up for the day and decided to just get us both dressed. A few minutes later, the period-like cramps started up again, but this time they were stronger. And they kept going, lasting 45 seconds to a minute, every two or three minutes.
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| Sweet Boy and me, a couple days before Baby Girl was born |
I told myself not to get too excited, but these surges felt different than any of the "false alarms" I'd had. They kept getting stronger (i.e.: painful), and they didn't stop. I had an appointment with my midwife at 9:30 that morning, so I decided I would go and ask her to check my cervix to see if I was really in labor. I woke Stephen up around 8:00, about an hour after the surges had started, to let him know that I was having strong surges. I told him I was going to my midwife appointment and we could decide from there whether to go to the hospital.
Between 7:00 and 8:00, I established a set of visualizations and affirmations that I felt would be most effective for me. I did the "slow breathing" taught in the Hypnobirthing classes, in which you inhale as slowly and as deeply as you can and exhale just as slowly. I also decided to visualize a balloon inflating as I inhaled and deflating as I exhaled. As I inhaled, I thought the word "balloon" to myself, to remind me to breathe slowly and deeply. As I exhaled, I thought the word "down," while directing my breath and energy downward. I found that thinking just one or two words, rather than a whole phrase or sentence, helped me focus better.
The result was that I was able to relax completely, and felt extra pressure on my cervix while I exhaled (meaning that I was actually helping Baby Girl move down the birth canal). My entire labor this time around, the surges were still painful, but far less painful than they'd been with my first. I was able to remain completely relaxed and limp during each one. The pain turned mostly into intense inward and downward pressure. This was a huge difference from my first labor.
As a side note, there were a couple of times I lost focus a little bit and became afraid. In those moments, the pain increased noticeably. Thankfully, each time, I was able to get back to the deep breathing, visualizations, and affirmations that kept me focused and unafraid. I don't think I had a single surge where I was afraid for more than a few seconds. This was also huge for me.
9:00 rolled around, and the surges were still in full swing. Stephen thought I was a little silly for insisting on going to my midwife appointment when I was most likely in labor, but I wanted to be sure before we went to the hospital. We left Sweet Boy with my mother-in-law and let her know that we'd probably be heading to the hospital after the appointment. I gave him an extra hug and a kiss, knowing that I probably wouldn't see him for a little while.
***Stay tuned for Part 3!***
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