Well, we had a baby boy on July 29; 3 weeks early! We named him

Duncan Scott. He was 6 lb 4 oz (the same as my daughter) and 19

1/2 in. And what an experience it was…. I will tell you the

whole story so it is in writing…

On Wednesday, 7/26 I had my prenatal check with the Midwife. At this

time I begged for her to check me because I was curious to see what I

might me dilated to. After some resistance, she confirmed that I was

3 cm and 50% effaced, but explained that it didn’t mean anything

because some women stay a 3 for weeks. I just smiled and said thanks

and left. On Friday around 4am, I woke up to go pee and found that I

was spotting. I called labor & delivery at OCH and the nurse

suggested that I come in to get checked out. My mom drove me to the

hospital (Scott and I were fighting so I spent the night at my

sisters!) Upon arrival, she checked me and I was 4 cm, still 50%, she

hooked me up to the monitors and while there, I had strong, regular

surges for 4 hours. She then checked again, but I was the same so she

sent me home because I hadn’t progressed any. That night, my mother

was convinced that I was going into labor, so she kept my daughter

with her at my sister’s house and I stayed home with Scott. We awoke

the next morning and both kind of laughingly said, “today is a good

day to have a baby!”. We went on a walk and after feeling like I

couldn’t go anymore, we put our hospital bag in the car and drove to

IHOP. We had a HUGE meal with lots of eggs and meat. We then got on

the freeway and headed to the hospital b/c I felt like my water might

be leaking. This time they admitted me because I was now to 5 cm and

they felt like it was time to have the baby. They called the midwife

and to my surprise, it was Betty! She showed up almost immediatly and

after talking with her about my last delivery, we both decided to

break my water to get things going. This was around 10:30am. I

walked, and walked, got on the birthing ball and then walked somemore

before I decided to lay down and listen to the cd’s I brought. Around

4pm, Betty decided that we needed to introduce pitocin, which I was OK

with since I hadn’t progressed at all since being admitted. I

prepared myself by staying in the bed with earphones on and waited for

the magic of pitocin to start. I waited, and waited and after them

upping the dose several times, the surges started. The first part of

my labor was a breeze. Time passed around me and at times, I wasn’t

even aware that I was in labor, but the more the pitocin was upped to

keep me having strong surges, the harder it got. When I finally

realized that I was fighting the surges because I wanted a picture

perfect hypnobirth, I understood the reason for taking the class. it

wasn’t that I was there for a “pain free” birth, I didn’t want an

epidural. After I came to grips with that, I was able to better handle

the surges as they came. Don’t get me wrong- this was the hardest

thing I have ever done; but my preperation allowed me to get thru it.

I was nervous about Betty being there upfront, but she proved to me

that if there was ever a midwife to have at your birth, she was it!

Once I started into labor, she didn’t leave my side. She knew I had

done the HB class and was very supportive of what ever Scott and I

wanted. I did ask for fentynal and she suggested that I get in the

bath and try that for relaxing. After a while she did give me the

medication and all it did was allow me to relax inbetween surges.

Once I wanted to stay in the bed, she propped me up to help with the

labor and then showed Scott how to help with each surge by pushing on

my knee straight into my hip, while she did it on the other leg. I

don’t know how or why this helped, but it did! Betty then said that as

soon as I was ready to birth the baby, I was to do it the way my body

wanted to! She never told me to push, she just encouraged me in the

was I was positioned and gave me positive reinforcment. Right before

8pm, (so I was really only in labor for about 3 1/2 hrs) she announced

that I was complete and that it was now my turn to birth the baby

out. Scott was ready to help deliver the baby, but as soon as I saw

the head crown in the mirror, that was motivation enough for me to

finish birthing at 8:03pm Betty literally caught him midair as he

flew out so quickly. They immediatly put him on my belly as Scott

hurridly pulled my gown out of the way so it was skin to skin. My

first contact with Duncan was holding his foot and hearing Scott

say, “guess what it is?… a boy!” Scott then cut the cord so they

could work on him. His breathing was of concern to the doctors, so

they took him to the nursery for less 10 min. Now it was time to

deliver the placenta. That was amazing! Betty waited, and told me

that I would have a surge, then some blood would come out and then out

would my placenta come, which is exactly what happened. When she

examined it she showed the nurses because she observed that it looked

like a 41 week placenta (i was only 37). It was starting to break

down already, and because my body knew it, that is why I was having so

much preterm labor! Come to find out I was so anemic that I was only

a few points away from a blood transfusion, which is why the placenta

looked the way it did. Well, needless to say Scott, Betty and all the

nurses were awesome! I couldn’t have asked for a better support

system. Later that night, Scott and I

reflected on the experience. I am SOOOO grateful for the

hypnobirthing class because with out it, I am sure that I would have

had another epidural. Although it wasn’t pain free, I feel as though

it was a successfull hypnobirth because it was the relaxing and

breathing that we learned that allowed me to birth Duncan as quickly

as I did. I have talked about HB to anyone that is pregnant and I

plan on taking the class again for the rest of my pregnancies. This

has even helped with my nursing! I went into it with a positive/can-

do attitude and I am now going on 6 1/2 month strong!

I hope that this wasn’t too lengthy, I just get excited and long

winded when I share my experience. It was great, and Betty was

great! My goal for the next baby is being able to go into labor

without pitocin and being able to have it more on the painfree side!

Thanks again for writing me, I feel like an idiot for not getting this

to you 6 months ago. I’d love to see you and chat some more. Thanks

for all that you did to help me achieve one of the most incredible

experiences in my life! You are a godsend….

Love,

Leanne