Matthew's Birth

Here's the timeline:

2pm -- Acupuncture treatment (4th treatment over 10 days to try to avoid

 induction on the 21st)

3:30pm -- Laid down for a nap and felt some minor surges, but nothing that I hadn't felt before.

5:00pm -- Barry arrives from picking Michael up from daycare; I finished doing dishes and putting away laundry; more surges and getting stronger so decide to make the strategic calls to our support people (one to pick up Michael and my doula) to put them on alert

6:00pm -- Call support people back to ask them to make their way over; I get into bathtub

6:30pm – Supports arrive; I'm in full blown labour -- 2 mins apart and getting stronger

7:15pm -- Surges now 1 min apart; get out of bath and get dressed in spurts

 between contractions

8:00pm -- Arrive at hospital -- 7 cm dilated and membranes bulging; am told to stay on the bed in case water breaks

Timeline is fuzzy from now on

Start vomiting (now in transition) and have a spectacular projectile membrane breaking experience. There was “thin meconium,” so NeoNatal and Respiratory nurses were put on alert. While standing up trying to get changed into new gown and them changing sheets on bed, I'm leaning against Barry and out of my mouth comes "I have to push". Nurse tells me to get on bed and turns out I'm fully dilated. Dr McMeekin-Down arrives and, shortly thereafter (about 10-15 pushes later), Matthew arrives at 9:05pm with a full head of black hair. APGARS were 9 and 10.

I can now say I was induced by acupuncture for BOTH boys! I also have to credit hypnobirthing for a rather “ideal” birth experience. I took hypnobirthing classes in March/April and had been practicing with my doula weekly since then (as well as my own daily practice). I definitely used hypnobirthing techniques from start to finish. The breathing and relaxation techniques, I believe, really kept the labour moving and allowed me to be "in the moment" at all times. The pain was intense but I never felt out of control. Importantly, the L+D nurse we had really respected our choice to use hypnobirthing -- in fact, she actually read our birth plan and referred to it several times while we were there -- and never offered an epidural or gas.

Recovery has been much faster with this birth than with Michael’s – which I attribute to both the fast labour and the hypnobirthing which kept my mind and body relaxed.

Written by Christine Crowe