Alex's Birth Story

My water broke at about 3:45 on Sunday, September 29th (during the fourth quarter of the football game). I was unsure if it was indeed my membranes releasing because I never experienced this with the birth of my first son. I waited a few minutes and then sure enough there was more water. My husband was at the football game and had gotten a ride with a friend so I decided to wait until he came home from the came to decide what to do. I had tested positive for Group B Strep earlier in my pregnancy so we decided to go to the hospital. We took Evan to his grandparent’s house and then we were on our way. Labour had not started (as far as I could tell) as I was not feeling any surges, or at least they were no different from what I had been feeling for the last few weeks. We were at the hospital for a few hours and the nursing staff was wonderful. I explained that I planned to use Hypnobirthing during the labour and they asked me to explain what it involved so that they could support me during the labour. My one concern going in was that they would have to rupture my membranes, as they did during my first labour, but nature took care of this for me. After being there for three hours, they told us that we could either wait a bit in the hospital or go home and wait for labour to start their. The hospital staff told us that it could take a while and gave us a whole list of instructions to follow if labour didn’t start.

As it was, my labour started around 1:00 am on Sunday, September 30th. The surges were completely manageable and I was able to stay relaxed without listening to the CD’s. It was like I watched in the birth videos, I was completely alert and feeling no pain. I had decided that I would feel a tightening sensation and that is exactly what it felt like. We left for the hospital at about 3:00 am because I had to have some medicine because of my Group B Strep status. We got to the hospital at about 3:30 am and it took until 5:00 am for them to check and see how dilated I was. At this point, I was 4 – 5 cm. I had been listening to the CD’s from the moment that we got to the hospital so that I could remain in a relaxed state and not find the background noise of the hospital to distracting. I was aware of the nurse coming in and out and I can remember her telling Daniel that it didn’t really look like I was in labour or advancing very quickly. After the doctor checked me, I decided that I wanted to walk around a bit and we went for a walk down the hallway. At first, it was easy to deal with the surges and I could relax myself quite quickly. However, after we had walked for maybe ten minutes the surges became quite strong and close together. We headed back to the room and I once again began listening to the CD’s. At about 6:20 am I told Daniel to go get the nurse because it felt like the baby was ready to be born. I started breathing the baby down at that point. She checked my and I was 9 cm dilated. She started setting up the equipment and they called for the doctor. The doctor arrived at about 6:35 and with a few quick breaths, Alex Taylor Vincent was born at 6:44 am.

I found the labour very relaxing and only experienced a bit of pain while he was crowning. I felt that I had a wonderful birth experience and the hospital staff was supportive and respectful of my wishes.

Honni Lizee (written Oct. 2007)