Hypnobabies birth of Samantha Riley Pope 4-12-09 as written by her Hypno-Mom Jody from Athens, GA

It was 3 am Easter Sunday morning and I started having cramps. I thought, “Hmm, could this be it?” The cramps definitely became pressure waves so I decided to walk around the house to see if they would go away. Of course I was kind of excited thinking this could be the beginning of my birthing time. I put on my headphones and listened to Hypnobabies scripts around 4am or so. Around 4:30 I started timing my pressure waves. They seemed to keep coming pretty regularly and at 6:30 am I woke my husband up to have him time my pressure waves. They were 55 seconds long and about every 3-4 minutes. I thought I was well on my way!

I called the doctor and he said to “hang out at home” for a bit. Called back around 7 and he said I could make my way to the hospital. I was dilated 3cm at 9am when we got there. At noon I was 4 cm. I walked the halls and used different positions for comfort. The nurses kept telling me what a great job I was doing and how well I was handling the pressure waves. A little later I told my husband and my sister, both of my birthing partners, to just hang out while I listened intently to my Hypnobabies scripts. After a while I told them that I wanted to think about an epidural.

I ended up getting an epidural and at 6pm I was complete and started pushing. I pushed for an hour and 42 minutes. Samantha started to come out and then her shoulder got stuck. While 4 pairs of hands were inside me or pressing on my tummy to help her get her shoulder out I was using my Hypnobabies “Peace” cue! Even though I had an epidural I could feel the pressure waves and feel the pushing and feel the crowning. While the hospital staff was helping Samantha to come out and which could easily have been a stressful situation, I continued to use my Hypnobabies strategies and relax while we all did our part to get my baby out. And sure enough, out she came without any shoulder or collar bone injuries!

In addition to the early pressure waves and stuck shoulder, here is another event where my hypnosis practice really paid off: I had third degree tears from my baby coming out and the issue with the shoulder, so as the doctor was stitching me up with his many yards of medical thread, I kept up with my Peace cue — for the entire 30 minutes of stitching.
I was a little disappointed I didn’t continue solely with hypnosis for the duration of my birthing time and wondered what I could have done differently, but I was so glad I had the training. I felt calm throughout my entire birthing experience – from the moment of the first pressure wave to the moment I could see my daughter’s shiny pink legs (and especially when her shoulder was stuck and when they whisked her away to get oxygen after she was born.)

I am so glad I took the Hypnobabies classes; they were great. And Samantha is such a calm happy baby. I really wonder if our daily prenatal sessions of hypnosis have to do with her calm demeanor!?