Elora's Birth Story

Elora came to us Friday, September 23rd 2005 at 8:32 pm. She weighed 10 lbs 3 oz and was 21 inches long. She is beautiful and has brought a wonderful spirit into our home!

To explain a little, I used a childbirth hypnosis program called Hypnobabies. It was a home study course that I ordered off the Internet. For the last few months of pregnancy, I practiced going into a deep state of relaxation, and basically re-programmed my mind to think of birth as a wonderful, positive experience with little or no pain. That birth doesn’t have to be complicated and a fearful matter. I learned to put away any fears, which could’ve led to the fear-tension-pain cycle. I practiced everyday by listening to CD’s and bringing myself into hypnosis.

I had been having braxton-hicks contractions for a while before birth, but nobody believed me because I could only feel them if I touched my stomach and it felt tight. I discovered this when I went to my doctor at 36 weeks and I was on the table, and she said, “You’re having a contraction right now.” I just thought to myself, “Oh, I am?” Anyway, I was almost all the way effaced for the last month of pregnancy, but I was always at one cm. Starting at 39 weeks, I drove myself crazy wondering when this baby would come. I did everything they tell you to do… but nothing worked, this baby just wasn’t ready to come out yet. So at 41 ½ weeks my doctor and I decided we would induce with Pitocin at 42 weeks.

On Friday, September 23rd at 2:00 pm we arrived at the hospital to be induced. The doctor checked me and I was 90 % effaced, 1 cm, and –1 station. They set up the IV and got the Pitocin going by about 2:30 pm. The contractions started at about 2 to 3 minutes apart and were pretty much like that the whole time. At first the only way I knew I was having a contraction was if I looked at the monitor or felt my stomach. So I really didn’t feel a thing. My husband, Travis, and I played Uno, then after a little while, he did his homework or slept, and I just put on my birth affirmations CD. After a couple hours, the contractions began to feel like mild cramps, nothing bad at all. So I listened to my Birth Guide CD, and began using my light switch for each contraction (going into hypnosis). After a little while they got a little more intense, but Travis used the cue word of “relax” and put his hand on my forehead, and a wonderful wave of relaxation went through me. At 7:00 pm I went to the bathroom and at 7:15 or so I asked the nurse if she’d check me. I was at 5 cm. About a half an hour later or so I started feeling really hot and shaky, and the contractions were really intense. I think it freaked Travis out a little, because he’d say “RELAX!” in a not so relaxing, pleading way. During this time, I was wondering if this is what transition is like? Thinking that I couldn’t be at transition, because they just checked me and I was at 5. But I began doubting, and thinking that I couldn’t take this much longer –thinking that I still had a while to go! I even told Travis that I might want an epidural, even though, in my mind, I knew that I didn’t want one! But Travis was great, and kept telling me I was doing great, and that I didn’t really want an epidural. I told him to call in the nurse to help me go to the bathroom, just to get a nurse in there. By the time she came in, I thought I felt a pushing urge, so I told the nurse this. She checked me, and I was 10 cm!! This was at 8:00 pm, so I went from 5 to 10cm in 45 minutes! So she called the doctor, and then everybody was getting everything ready, and I started pushing. I was making a lot of ooo and ahhh sounds, which seemed natural at the time. As I was pushing the nurse thought that she’d be delivering the baby. The doctor was probably very surprised to get a call. He even told me before labor began that he thought I’d probably deliver the next day. The doctor did come in time though, and I continued pushing. This didn’t hurt at all, just a little tiring for my legs. My eyes were closed when Elora was born, and my husband said, “Cynthia, open your eyes, you did it!” I opened my eyes, and there was a baby on my stomach! I said, “Oh, she’s big!” I couldn’t believe there was a baby on my lap! She was beautiful, it was amazing! So after a half an hour of pushing, Elora was born.

I am still in awe of this whole experience. The doctor and the nurses were all in awe. They said that I did better than most of their epidural patients. They hadn’t seen a birth like this before; I was the talk of labor and delivery. The lady who gave birth to a 10 lb baby naturally! Honestly I wouldn’t have known that I was giving birth to a 10 lb baby or a 4 lb baby! I did get a second-degree tear; I think this is because we slacked off on perineal massage. We did it during weeks 36 to 39, but during weeks 39 to 42, we were too busy hoping the baby would come soon. Recovery was great though, a little hard to sit and move around, but not too bad. The nurse kept asking me on a scale of 1 to 10 how much pain was I in? This was a very annoying question, I was thinking, “Pain? What’s that? I might be in a little pain, 1 or 2 maybe?” I didn’t take any pain medication after birth. The doctor did numb me with a few stabs before stitching me up, I think that hurt more than anything… I hate needles.

The only thing that I’m disappointed about is the fact that I didn’t go into labor all by myself, but I was getting inpatient. The fact that I had waited until 42 weeks to be induced was a long time already. I am really pleased with the whole birth experience; I would do it again in a heartbeat! Hypnobabies enabled me to be more relaxed as the due date of my baby came. I think it is because of Hypnobabies and because I was so ready and relaxed that my labor was so short, especially in a first time mom. I felt great the last few months of pregnancy. I slept all the way through the night, and felt little discomfort as the days progressed. I felt ready and had no fear of birth. Also, in one of the CD’s it says that 20 minutes will feel like 5, so even with a 6-hour birth, it only felt like an hour or two to me.

Elora is beautiful, and I can’t get enough of her! We are just so happy that she’s finally here! Making us a family of three instead of just the two of us. I love her so much, and feel even more love for my husband Travis as well.

(This story was written about a week after Elora was born)