I gave birth to Juniper on the 19th at 2:43 AM. It only took 10 hours, and the midwives are still talking about how spiritual it was, and how in control and calm I was. All of the techniques were what drove me through to that end result, and everyone in the birthing room also commented that the Rainbow Relaxation mp3 in the background kept everyone else at peace too. I went to the hospital dilated at a 3 and everything happened exactly as I imagined... it was truly wonderful!! Thank you so much for all the support and knowledge you provided to my husband and I. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you! I've attached some photos!! She weighed in at 7lbs, 14 oz.

 

Here is my story:

I went into the hospital when my surges were a consistent four minutes apart. I was dilated to 3 centimeters, so they made me walk around for an hour. When I got to 4 and half centimeters they admitted me.

 

Joe and I had both agreed to do a HypnoBirthing experience, which meant no medication, no hard pushing, no stress...To naturally breathe the baby down in a hypnotic state through relaxation with the belief that "what the mind perceives, the body will follow."  We had learned how to do this from taking a 5 week course and through daily practice of relaxation and the MP3's provided to put us in that wonderfully euphoric state.

 

I will say without a doubt that it worked and we could not have asked for anything to go better. I was in labor for a total of 10 hours, with 2 hours of actively pushing or as they put it "breathing the baby down". Yes the contractions or "surges" as we like to call them were very intense, but nothing your body could not handle, otherwise we would not be able to birth babies!

 

Our HypnoBirthing teacher Estee through "Philly HypnoBirthing" was fantastic! One of the things she told me was "Every HypnoBirthing mother will smile in between her surges because she knows she is one step closer to meeting her baby." The first photo was exactly that. My Mama Alison took (photo on the right) when I had a brief reprieve as my surges were 1 minute apart. I honestly have no recollection of the photo because I had successfully put myself into that deep relaxation. Thanks to her I can without a doubt say that our birthing experience was truly magical and one I will cherish until the end of my days. Even my husband stated "I would absolutely 110% pay for the classes again for our second baby". 

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So to all the pregnant mamas out there who are nervous about birth and who have heard some pretty negative stuff from other mothers (cause I sure did)-- Don't be nervous. Just ignore the negativity and listen to your intuition and know that everything our bodies go through as women we can handle and have for years, so why should birth be any different?

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