A HypnoBirthing c-section story

Jennifer & Alessandro took my classes in November 2009 at Babies by the Sea Boutique. Here is their birth story:

Hi Carol,

I hope you are doing well!

Luca finally made it into the world 15 days late! In fact, my water broke and I went into labor on my own on the 23rd of January, shortly after our email conversation. The labor was amazing... we started active labor around 5pm and labored at home for about 9 hours. Around 2am we decided it was time to go to the hospital. The labor continued there where we used a combination of our HypnoBirthing breathing techniques, light touch massage, the birthing ball, the shower and walking the halls to move through it. The whole time I felt very much in harmony with my body and what was taking place.

A slight turn of events took place after about 15 hours when Dr Biter checked me- I was only dialated to about 5 cm and my contractions, while intense, were starting to come further and further apart. This was a bit of a set back as I was really feeling like I was going through transition and thought for sure I was going to be pushing in no time.

At that point we decided to start a small amount of pitocin to see if it would move things along, as we were still trying to achieve a vaginal birth. I was able to dialate to about 9cm, but at that point we had hit the 24 hour mark since my water had been broken and for some reason Luca was not engaging in my pelvis. Dr Biter could actually push Luca's head back inside me, which made us think there was something preventing him from being able to descend properly.

So it was at that point that we decided a c-section would be necessary for Luca to be born in a safe way. We discovered that he did have the cord wrapped several times around his neck, which could have been the reason he was unable to move through the birth canal. Going into this, I never envisioned that I would have a c-section, especially as we went to such great lengths to prepare for a completely different type of birth. But after working through all the possiblities with Dr Biter, we came to peace with the fact that this was how Luca was meant to be born. And we felt good knowing that we had tried everything we could to have the natural birth that we had planned. It was a humbling and surreal experience, but we had amazing people by our side who made all the difference in the world.

So at 4:15 on January 24, Luca was born by cesarian section- a big healthy boy weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces and 21.5 inches long. We were so happy to finally meet him and have been on cloud 9 ever since.

And I wanted to thank you for helping us prepare for our birth. Even though it didn't go how we had planned, we still feel like we got to experience an amazing labor and birth, which in the end is what it's all about. I wouldn't change one thing about it and will be going for the VBAC the next time around!

All the best!!

Jennifer

Congratulations on your birth! I'm sorry it didn't go as planned. I'm glad that you were still able to have a positive birth experience using your HypnoBirthing techniques. That's one great thing about HypnoBirthing---even when things don't happen the way that we hope, the techniques can allow the birth experience to still be a positive one. The information learned in HypnoBirthing classes allows parents to know their options, to weigh out whether or not the medical interventions being suggested are truly medically necessary or are being suggested to "move things along". Sometimes we can have our idea of the "perfect" birth, but our babies know they need something different. In Luca's case, it seems he knew it was best for him to arrive via c-section.

Take care & enjoy your babymoon! Thanks for allowing me to share your story.

www.AWellLivedLife.Net
www.AWellLivedLife.blogspot.com

Never Forget

I will never forget what infertility feels like. I will never forget the heartache. I will never forget the tears. I will never forget the desperation. I will never forget what it feels like to lose hope. I will never forget the stab in your heart when your hear someone else's pregnancy news. Pregnancy news that should have been yours.

I will always remember that while I have been lucky enough to finally get my pregnancy news, to finally be closer to hearing those pitter-patters, there are others who are still waiting. Others who have been waiting far longer. Others who have been through so much more. Infertility is a bitch. It is a mean cold bitch. And I wish no one the misfortune of experiencing it. But. For whatever pain infertility has brought me, it has brought me so many new friends whose support and care have meant so much, and indeed has kept me sane throughout this time in my life. I hope I can do the same for some of you. I will continue to follow your stories, give support and send my love. Indeed I hope and pray that infertility chokes on its own bitterness, jumps out your window and gets hit by a truck.

But. I will understand if you do not visit my blog anymore. I know how hard it is to hear someone's else pregnancy updates. There are days when no matter how happy you are for that person, you cannot deal with hearing about scans, baby tickers and nausea. Been there. I still don't know how I am going to adapt my blog or how I want to write about the next phase of my journey. For now all I want to say is thank you. Thank you to all the people who have read this blog, who have commented, who have followed. You made this last year so much less terrible and so much less scary. You gave me hope and strength. And you were here when I got the best news I could have ever wished for. Thank you. YOU. Yes you.

And thank you to Jessica, Rebecca, Triumph & Christina for my beautiful blogger award. Another way we support and encourage each other. And here's to passing that blog love on.

The Rules:

*Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

*Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

*Tell us 7 interesting facts about yourself.

*Nominate 7 bloggers that you love and link to their blog.

7 Interesting Facts About Me

1. I grew up on a boat.

2. I've swam with reef sharks.

3. I speak Chinese.

4. I intend to adopt one day.

5. I met my husband at his concert.

6. I have a pierced belly button.

7. It took me 2 years, 1 varicocele embolization, 3 IUIs & 3 men to get me pregnant. Let me clarify the 3 men bit - Mr. T, Dr. B & Aziz the sperm lab guy.

7 Beautiful Bloggers who more than deserve this award:

Banking On It

CD1 Again

Woman Anyone?

Chasing Pitter-Patters

Late for a Very Important Pregnancy

Life & Love in the Petri Dish

Gracie in Brooklyn

Wise Words

There's so much I need to write about. So many emotions. So many questions. So much to say to all of you. But I received such an amazing email from a dear friend today. The wisdom and care in her words brought tears to my eyes and I knew that I just had to share it with you all. So for now I will just leave you with her words and wait to share mine later.

I just wanted to write to you properly to say congratulations again. I was so sure that this was going to happen for you and T and I'm really excited... You know, our babies are going to have more or less the same age difference as us. I'm now going to offer the only I advice I will ever give because, let me assure you, you are soon going to get really really really fed up of hearing unsolicited advice from other people. So, my number one all time piece of advice (which a friend also gave me at the beginning of my pregnancy) is to stop listening to anyone's advice except people who you really trust and who you know are on the same wave length as you (and maybe not even them). This is the most emotionally vulnerable time you'll ever go through and it's really easy for people to guilt trip or headf**k you into thinking you are doing something wrong, and believe me, EVERYONE has opinions on motherhood. I don't even want to tell you about what people here have to say about home birth, which is what we're planning... let alone the idea of using cloth nappies... and a million other things that we are doing differently to them and which obviously freaks then out. (People really don't seem to like if if you do anything too natural that flies in the face of western medicine). Even things like "You shouldn't eat spicy food" (uh-huh, so that's how India became overpopulated) or "What do you mean you don't drink half a liter of milk a day" (Ditto China). This hilarious book I have says that the best tactic now and after the baby is born too is just to make a placid face like a cow and nod and say "You might be right" and then change the subject and do whatever the hell you want to do. Don't let other people's doubts become yours. And remember that if the little creature is OK there's not much that can shake him or her out of there. Half the women in the world still give birth in the fields practically.

So shut your ears and focus on you and T and little proto-creature. Other than that, I'd say definitely get What to Expect When You're Expecting, there's a quite recent British edition, and it's funny and very informative and presents all sides of all arguments and has lots of useful pragmatic advice. I know you already have Ina May's book, which is amazing. And just enjoy it all... It's such a beautiful time. So that's the end of my advice. But if there's anything else you ever want to ask me about, you know I'm here.

Everything with us is great. I am beginning to feel a bit like a walrus, soon to graduate to a whale. Like both these animals, I am at least graceful in the water - I've taken up swimming classes as I've been forbidden from running (same reason as you and power yoga) and it's fabulous. Take good care of yourself and just breathe deep and think of all the wonderful things ahead.

PS I didn't have much nausea but when I did fresh ginger grated into hot water totally saved me. When I was out, rooiboos chai tea bags were almost as good.