Diana and Erik #1

Thank you so much for the class.   I am so grateful for all that you taught us.  My husband Erik was skeptical at first but as the class went on it made sense and so we practiced.  When the big day came the practice paid off.

Our Story

I had been having Braxton Hicks for about two weeks quite regularly, but things really began Wednesday 17th May when I was 39 weeks along.  I started having more regular surges during the night and they woke me up a couple of times.  At about 5:30 I woke up and started timing them.  They were about 15 minutes apart.  Erik woke up and we tried not to get too excited.  He went to school and I got up, showered, finished packing the hospital bag and did the laundry.  I monitored them all morning and they got down to 5 minutes and were becoming stronger.  During one strong one, I started to panic, but did the hypnosis and was able to relax through it.  After that I got into a routine and it was easy to relax with each one regardless of what I was doing.  I was even able to carry the laundry up three flights of stairs and relax through them.  I wouldn’t have gone into the doctors yet, but we had an 11:00 appointment so Erik came home and we drove there (I took my hospital bags just in case).  The midwife asked me questions and I told her that I wasn’t having any pain, that I was having some regular tightening, but it wasn’t painful.  So she checked me and I was dilated to a six.  She couldn’t believe it because of how relaxed I was.  We were excited and went over to Orem Community Hospital where we checked in.  I sat there as calm and happy as can be and within 2 hours I was at an 8.  Erik’s parents came and we watched a movie while I labored (just relaxing through the surges).

After another 3 hours, I hadn’t progressed any more and my surges were becoming less strong and frequent.  Betty wanted to break my water to get things going again but I asked for a little more time before she did that.  I took a shower and tried to get it going more.  When she came back, I was just the same and so she broke my water and did an internal monitor.  The surges still did not pick up.  Betty wanted to give me Pitocin but I really didn’t want to take it.  After a lot of persuading, we finally agreed.  As soon as the pitocin started, I wasn’t able to keep up the relaxing and so things got painful really fast.  I started throwing up and fainting because they hadn’t let me eat (at least that’s my belief), and I just didn’t have the energy to really handle it very well (when they started the Pitocin, it was about 8:30).

Hannah’s heart rate was decelerating with the contractions and so they thought that the cord was around her neck.   Betty told me I couldn’t breathe down but had to push because “this baby has to come now!”  (Pushing was another thing that I didn’t want to do, but by now it was out of my control). When they could see her head, they realized that she was turned so that as it was, her head would never fit.  Afraid that the cord was still around her neck, they told me to pant through the contractions and I told them to turn off the stupid pitocin.  They did.  They gave me a spinal block and Doctor Judd came in to either use forceps or to take me in for a C-section.  He was able to do an episiotomy and use the forceps to turn her and bring her out.

Hannah was born at 10:50, 7lbs 9oz, a cute little girl with red hair.  She was taken away to check her vitals because of the scare with the cord.  What had happened was that instead of the cord being around her neck, her fist was wedged into her neck and so with each contraction, it pushed into her artery.  I was disappointed that things didn’t go exactly as I wanted them to, but I was grateful that it wasn’t a c-section.  As I look back, I remember being worried that she wasn’t turned,  but they assured me that she was.   Even with the pitocin, the hypnosis helped.  When they gave me the spinal block, the anesthesiologist told me to hold still so that he could put the injection in my spine.  Right as he started, another contraction began, but because of the practice I had had with hypnosis, I was able to make myself go limp and still so that he could safely give me the injection.

Erik and I firmly believe that HypnoBirthing is the way to go, and that if her head had not been turned, I would have been able to breathe Hannah down relatively quickly.  We absolutely love being parents – Hannah is a calm and happy little girl.  Thank you so much for all you taught us.  We will be forever grateful for our new attitude that has and will make birthing a happier experience.

Love Diana, Erik and Hannah