So, my birth was veryyy long and not totally typical. But as hard as it was, it was a super positive experience and I hope it will make you other hypno-moms excited for your birth!

My water broke and I didn't have my baby until 52 hours later. I was 40+1 and we were at the movies (haha awesome), so we obviously missed the end of the movie. This was at 3pm on 2/13. Contractions didn't start until 11pm that night. My husband jokingly told me he didn't want a Valentine's Day baby and to just hold it in until 2/15 lol! He cursed me!

At 11pm contractions came every 3-5 min right off the bat. I did a Fear Clearing session and Early First Labor tracks, but I didn't feel the need to truly *focus* through the contractions, I found my contractions to be very manageable with deep breathing throughout my labor. 

We went to L&D at 3am on 2/14. I was 100% effaced but only about 1-2 dilated. I should also mention that I have a septate uterus, so in hindsight my midwife suspects that my contractions may not have been as effective as a normal uterus, so it took my cervix a really long time to dilate fully. 

Even though I was only ~2cm dilated, the hospital decided to keep me since my water had already been broken 12 hours.

I went to the natural birthing suite (rooms moms can use if they don't plan on using pain meds) and tried to settle in. I didn't want to "waste" my hypnobabies tracks until labor got to be really intense, so I just listened to gentle music during this time. Contractions were still about 3 min apart, but tolerable. (Seriously ladies, don't be scared of contractions! I wouldn't say they're pain-free but as long as you're in a good mind-space, they are totally manageable! No need to scream through them or anything like that!)

This went on until they checked me again at about noon on 2/14. I was only at a 4 😣 So the RN stretched my cervix and this did help to increase the contraction strength a bit. I started using my hypnobabies CDs now, and contractions started to come right on top of each other, and I was getting excited because I felt like "yes! Now we're getting somewhere!" I labored like this until about 5pm and then I felt like I had an urge to push. I even had my husband grab the nurse. And I tried pushing and squatting a bit but then I felt the contractions ease and then I knew it wasn't time yet. I had the RN check me again and I was only 6cm. At this point I became extremely discouraged. I was getting so tired and I had felt like I was *there* but was just barely over halfway. 

I then decided to get into the birthing tub for more comfort and then my labor almost completely stalled. I was able to take a short 15-20 min nap and I told my husband I couldn't do it anymore. I asked the RN what my pain management options were and I told her I was so scared to get out of the tub and for the contractions to start again. I was also starting to get worried about infection because it'd been over 24hrs since my water broke.

Luckily! I had a great support team. The RN told me she would start with IV fluids and penicillin to protect against infection and help me stay hydrated for more endurance. And my husband told me to really dig deep into the hypnobirthing and use the CDs like they were intended. So off we went again and you guys, hypnobabies is like magic. Really. I have no way to explain how it actually worked but I was able to sit down on the bed and just calmly and silently sit through my contractions. The RN also brought in a breast pump to help ramp up contractions and while I totally could feel it working, I just felt so peaceful and calm. Haha it sounds fake when I try to explain it now, but just trust me, it works! 

I continued like this until about midnight before they checked me again. Now I was about 8-9cm dilated, but the midwife on call was getting ansy saying it should not be taking this long and since my water had now been broken for 33 hrs she suggested we try pitocin to see if it could get me to fully dilate. 

Again I got scared though. I felt like if my contractions got any stronger I would need an epidural (remember I was soooo tired at this point). So my husband and I talked about it, and he told me he was scared if I got the epidural I would be too tired to actually push our baby out and in hindsight he was sooo so right. So I told the RN to give me 1 more hour and if I hadn't progressed significantly by then, then we could consider it. 

After the hour, I made it to a full 9 cm, and they let me labor on until shift change at 7am. The new midwife came in at 7, and she basically broke it down saying my body just needed a push. And as my labor was slowing again she said let's try pitocin and at this point I was ready to just get this baby out. 

So we did the pitocin and honestly the contractions weren't any worse then what I'd been experiencing already. They do increase pitocin every half hour though, and they had to keep increasing my dose until I was at maximum dosage. At 3pm (48hrs since my water broke!) while I didn't really feel an urge to push, pushing through contractions made the contraction feel sooooo much better. I still had a bit of a cervical lip, but they let me go ahead and I definitely did the "purple pushing" not "breathing the baby out". I'm not sure if breathing baby out would have worked for me. At this point I really felt like I needed to do strong pushes to help my contractions. 

Going into pushing, my baby was facing the correct way (head down, facing my back - I'd done something called the Miles Circuit before labor which helped get him well positioned). However for whatever reason (possibly my septate uterus again?) he flipped face up while descending down my birth canal and unfortunately got stuck under my pubic bone. They let me push however it felt comfortable for about 1.5 hours and then my midwife suggested I go into a Trendelenburg lithotomy position (i.e. on my back, with my head lowered - the absolute last position I thought I would give birth in!) and she helped push his head down while I pushed. At this point I was so beyond thankful I never got an epidural. Pushing was so not intuitive for me. And I totally felt like I had to push down and then push forward (hard to explain exactly, but it was the only thing that made me feel like I could get him to budge), so I'm sooo happy I had feeling so I knew what to do! I really had to focus on this movement with each push. 

So another hour passes by and he is *right* there. TMI but he was so close that my midwife was just sitting there playing with his hair between pushes hahah. Meanwhile I am getting beyond tired and starting to get worried about how long I can keep this up. Seriously, I know it's so hard, but try to stay in shape while you are pregnant! You may need every last bit of endurance you have! 

My midwife finally suggested that maybe we should try a vacuum to get him out the rest of the way. I ask her the risks and she tells me and she also says that if we try the vacuum and it pops off his head 3x then that is it. We have to do a c-section at that point. 

So we agree and she gets the vacuum. She attaches it and I push like crazy and she pulls and it pops off! But! I can feel him get past my pubic bone! And I can feel him crowning! And his head feels ginormous haha! Like surprising/somewhat scary big! But I'm so determined to get him out that I keep pushing through it (I never felt a "ring of fire" just shock at how big he felt lol!) and his head comes out! And then one more good push and he's out, and it's the absolute best feeling in the world. I never felt *super* connected to my baby when I was pregnant, but the second I saw him I absolutely fell in love. It was great. 

So I'm holding him, and then I birth the placenta (which feels really good btw haha, like a big relief!) and the midwife is concerned with how much I'm bleeding and immediately starts stitching. My perineum did not tear at all, but when he turned in my birth canal he tore the inside of my vagina which needed about 20 stitches to repair (I tell you, this kid did not want to come out!!) But once again hypnobabies helped me out! One of the RNs mentioned I had a really high iron count and she heard one of the affirmations on the hypnobabies track was "I have high iron" or something and she thinks that maybe that helped me, since I did actually end up losing a pretty good amount of blood. But ultimately my baby is now 3 weeks old and I feel great and feel completely healed and I have a sweet, calm, very strong baby boy. So meet Finley Daniel, born 2/15/17 at 18:18, 8lb13oz and 22" long