Author: kadiekbarber

We had baby Yaretzi, and wanted to take a moment to share the wisdom and the tools that helped us.

HypnoBirthing really helped me on my birthing day and although not much went according to plan (and continues to not go to plan postpartum) we are meeting each challenge with acceptance and grace. The meditations were useful before and during labor and I was able to remain unmedicated for 36 hours of my labor which I am so proud of. I only pushed with good calm breathing for 40 minutes with very controlled exit of her head using small breaths and small pushes resulting in minimal tearing. 

The book recommended the father deliver the baby, and he was interested and that resulted in a very beautiful, meaningful birth for both of us. He was able to receive her into his hands and pass her to me in the end with help from our midwife attendant. We both feel grateful for the HypnoBirthing course and are impressed by how useful it was for us. 

At 39 weeks – 0 days, I had an incredibly beautiful spontaneous normal undmedicated (and fast!) labor and birth, and unexpectedly caught my daughter Naomi, 7# 1oz! Catch your own baby as an unmedicated primp was NOT on my bingo card!!!

I asked not to know my dilation and I’m grateful for that choice as it kept me out of my clinical brain and focused in my body. Early on I thought, “Gah, I’m not breathing right, I’m doing it all backwards! Nope, that’s not the point. Stop thinking! Just do!” Haha! 

As I started to crown, my mom was preparing to do a blind catch as I was in a deep squat by the side of the bed.  But the sensation of her hand (only barely touching me occasionally) was too much, so (according to her) I batted her hand away and I caught my baby!! My version is that there was too much “going on down there” and I needed to feel what was happening, I felt a crowning bag, decided I had a long ways to go, and was shocked when I caught her with the next contraction!!  Wild! Then my cord avulsed and I had a manual placenta extraction! But it went well all things considered and I feel good about learning through that experience too as it informs my practice.

All in all, I’m left feeling so proud of myself, so in love with little Naomi, and beyond grateful for all of the love and support I had in bringing her into the world. The trust and sense of safety I had & have with my team is a blessing and something I wish I could guarantee all birthing peoples.

With my first born, I ended up with 45 hours of labor, an epidural that stopped working while I was pushing and ultimately a c-section. My baby was op which was making it harder to push her out and I had an anesthesiologist who convinced me having a c section was in my best interest. (Definitely wasn’t) During my c-section I thought I was dying because I couldn’t breath due to a high spinal. I then got put under and so I wasn’t awake when my baby was born. My husband also wasn’t allowed in the room. This was obviously not the plan and was devastating for me. 

When my second baby was born, I hadn’t dealt with the emotions of my last labor. My only plan was to get the epidural as soon as possible in hopes that I wouldn’t feel pain like I did in my previous labor. I was terrified. Looking back this was not the correct decision but I couldn’t see past the pain. This labor was better than my first, only 36 hours! I did have a problem with my epidural when it was initially placed. My leg kicked out uncontrollably, and I had an extreme headache for around 30 seconds that had me begging for them to take the epidural out, but they figured it out and my headache went away. I wasn’t pain free, but it was much more manageable. This baby was also op (no surprise as I was laying on my back for a lot of my labor) but my doctor rotated her and I pushed her out vaginally. 

With my last labor I decided that I needed to figure out how to cope with the pain. I realized that I couldn’t rely on anyone else to make labor better. I needed to do it for myself. I read some books on birth trauma and then decided to take your HypnoBirthing class. 

I woke up at 41 weeks on February 10th with what I knew was labor. It started out slow so I went to work for a few hours and the contractions spaced out. Around 2:00pm I was watching a movie with my daughters and husband and had to go take a bath because they were getting intense. My goal was to stay home for as long as possible. The contractions came on fast and strong and I was having a hard time coping. I wasn’t expecting them to be so intense so fast. My husband started panicking and called my mom (a labor nurse). Right before she got there my water broke with a huge gush that never stopped. I didn’t have any contractions for around an hour after that.I was thankful for this because it made getting to the hospital a lot easier, but I knew that something wasn’t right. I thought that maybe my baby’s head was really high which was a problem we had with my other two births. When the doctor came around 6:00 pm he checked me and said I was still only 1 cm dilated (this shocked me initially because of how painful my contractions had been while I was at home) and he also said he couldn’t feel the baby at all. Two days previously in the office the baby was head down. He scanned me and said the baby was transverse. He gave us the option of a c-section or he said he could try to do a version. He highly recommended I get an epidural for the version. My husband and I decided on the version. I was extremely anxious about the epidural because of my last experience but it went great. It took a few tries but he rotated the baby. They turned off the epidural and left me alone for a bit. A few hours later, the doctor came to check me just to make sure baby was in the correct position. While he was checking me he had a shocked look on his face and sat down and then said “the baby’s arm is sticking out of your cervix” he pushed it back up (very painful) said I was 6 cm and then said he would be back in a little bit to see how things were going. I labored for a few more hours and he came back and said I was 8cm. This was huge for me. I had never made it past 4 cm unmedicated before and I was coping really well. I spent the next little bit really hurting but was still hopeful that I was going to be complete at any point and would get to have an unmedicated birth. ( I had heard too many stories about people going from 8 to complete quickly) I used a birthing comb and also the positive affirmations you gave us with noise canceling headphones.  Around 4am I was struggling. I was so tired and the contractions were very intense. It has been around 2 hours since I was told I was 8 cm so I asked my mom to check me and she said I was still 8 cm. I then asked for the epidural. I stayed 8cm for the next 8ish hours. I rested as much as I could and was so thankful for the epidural. The doctor really didn’t want to give me any pitocin ( I also didn’t want pit) and he let me take my time dilating on my own. Around 10:00 am on February 11th he came back and checked me. I was complete and the baby was in the correct position! I started pushing shortly after and baby was born at 10:39am. 

While this birth didn’t go anything like I had planned I am so thankful for the HypnoBirthing class. I coped with the intensity of the contractions for so much longer than I even thought possible. While I did have to have more interventions than I was planning on, I felt extremely informed and they all led to the best outcome. I now realize that even with the best planning and best birth team sometimes things happen in birth that are beyond our control. I am so thankful for the mix of HypnoBirthing and also modern medicine that brought my baby safely to me.

We welcomed our lil Zoë on 8/25 at 7:29pm! Lil Virgo dream girl. She was 6lbs 8oz, 19.5inches and already cruising past her birth weight this past week. She arrived via c-section after 24 hours of labor, she was determined to stay in her cozy womb spot. We’re super grateful for a healthy lil girl and all that we learned in HypnoBirthing that allowed us to stay calm, present, and informed through the birthing journey. 

July 12th must be a special day, because that is when our baby boy Arlo was born, 9:40am.

We however, have a much different birth story and  after 48 hrs of labor did have to have a c-section.  But here we are,  with a healthy adorable boy with a voracious appetite- came out screaming and ready to breast feed! And although I am a sore momma, I am healthy and resting at home. 

We could not have gotten through the initial labor without the HypnoBirthing class. It allowed us to labor at home and empowered us to make hard decisions when we needed too. We had a wonderful doula who joined us on our journey, her support through this was priceless.