Becca

Hi Launi,

This is long overdue.  I started your class last October, had my little girl in January and she is now over 4 months old.

About 3 weeks before Claire’s due date, I was diagnosed with cholestasis of pregnancy.  Basically, the bile duct gets blocked and the bile backs up into your blood.  The baby’s liver, which shouldn’t have to work until the baby is born, is having to process the mom’s bile.  The condition is rare.  My main symptom was itching all over without any rash.  The doctor ran some blood tests and confirmed the diagnosis.  From the research I did, there is a high risk of stillbirth with this disease and the protocol is usually to induce labor as soon as the baby’s lungs are mature.  Usually the longer the baby is in the womb, the greater the chance of stillbirth.  With the doctor, we decided that if the baby had not come by 39 weeks, I would be induced.  I think my doctor thought I would throw out the HypnoBirthing idea at that point, but I did not.

At noon on January 20th, I was started on pitocin.  By 8:00 that night, I hadn’t progressed at all and was put on the highest dose of pitocin.  After 4 hours on the highest dose and still no dilation, we decided on a c-section. Medical protocol is usually that if you’ve been on the highest dose for 2 hours and have not progressed, you probably aren’t going to and they do a c-section.  Unfortunately, little Claire hadn’t even dropped yet and wasn’t ready to come and no amount of pitocin at that time was going to do it.  So, how did HypnoBirthing help me? I did not get an epidural.  I went through 12 hours of hard labor on pitocin without the epidural.  I obviously had to get one for the c-section. I think the doctor was surprised and impressed.  I don’t know that he’s ever seen someone not have an epidural with an induced labor.  I was able to use the HypnoBirthing techniques to help me relax and have a fairly comfortable experience.

After I’d been on pitocin for about 4 hours, the doctor put on a intrauterine monitor  From that point on, I was stuck to the bed.  I think it would have been even easier if I was able to move around and do my own thing.  I loved doing HypnoBirthing and hope that next time I get to carry it through to the end.  Everyone thought I was crazy for doing HypnoBirthing.  They’d say “oh, you’ll see.  You’ll be screaming for an epidural.”  Well, after laboring for 12 hours on pitocin, I never screamed for an epidural.  I’m excited for next time to see what it will be like without being strapped to the bed and having an induced labor.

Claire was born on January 21st.  She was 6 lbs 10 oz and very healthy.  I don’t feel cheated that I didn’t have a completely natural labor.  I feel blessed that despite the complications I have a healthy, happy baby.  And I feel pretty proud about the fact that I proved a lot of people, including my doctor…wrong.

Thank you for all you taught us.  You are an awesome teacher.  Even my husband loved the classes.  We really felt confident in our ability to have a natural, normal labor.  Even with the complications, we were happy with our birth experience.

-Becca