I originally had a scrapbook for 'my' baby pictures and birth stories.
I then shared on my blog for awhile. I also had a website where these could be found, but lost a bunch of content. While I know I must still have it somewhere, I have not located it as of yet.
I was on sort of a hiatus after I moved to Iowa. I had just one small class and two private classes in the first year.
Thus, since I'm now sharing on a dedicated page, I will start with the most recent HypnoBirthing® story I have. I will add some of the older ones as I find them or can transcribe them from the hardcopy scrapbook.
If you have taken class with me and would like to inspire others, please (pretty please?) sent me the picture you would like me to use and your story in your own words. Thanks!
I then shared on my blog for awhile. I also had a website where these could be found, but lost a bunch of content. While I know I must still have it somewhere, I have not located it as of yet.
I was on sort of a hiatus after I moved to Iowa. I had just one small class and two private classes in the first year.
Thus, since I'm now sharing on a dedicated page, I will start with the most recent HypnoBirthing® story I have. I will add some of the older ones as I find them or can transcribe them from the hardcopy scrapbook.
If you have taken class with me and would like to inspire others, please (pretty please?) sent me the picture you would like me to use and your story in your own words. Thanks!
Shared with permission of Clover's mother, photo credit: Kristy Hall. http://kristyhallphotography.com
The Birth of Clover May
Never could I have imagined that my birth of my daughter would be as beautiful, quick, and painless as it turned out to be. For two months, I had been practicing Hypnobirthing like it was a college finals exam. I had devoted hours to mentally preparing myself to greet my daughter with an unmedicated birth. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan and would not be able to return for her arrival, so I developed a wonderful team of women to help me. I had the best midwife, whom was excited at the thought of a hypnobirth and supported my non-Westernized means of delivering her. I mean this in the sense that I wanted her on my chest immediately, no bright lights, no coaching of any means, and delaying any “normal” procedures. My doula had assisted me for months to have a great birth preference request. She was to help advocate this birth style for me since I would be in my non-talkative state of mind during labor. But by far the key to this beautiful birth was my Hypnobirth instructor, Kim.
I was honored when Kim said she would be available to me if I wanted her at the birth. She was remarkable. Now for the day my daughter arrived:
Overnight, I had developed surges that were painless and intermittent, so I timed them for an hour or so at a time, but they varied between 6-9 minutes apart, lasting for 40-75 seconds. Since this was my first all-natural birth, I did not know what it should feel like to go into labor. They were strong enough, though, that I had to lean against the wall and get quiet as I focused my energy on the expansion of my belly and the uterus muscles. Yet I didn’t think I was in labor. I chased after my nearly three-year old son like normal, went out to lunch with my sister and niece, and even washed my suv. All day, I had been texting my midwife and updating her about my confusion as to whether or not I was in labor. She said that we could put my mind at ease if I wanted to go downtown to her office and get checked. So, come 4pm, I drove downtown to see her. I joked with the ladies in her office about how hard my belly was getting and showed them how tight my belly got when I had a tightening sensation. They couldn’t believe that I couldn’t feel it. It was true; the tightening around my stomach where “you could bounce a dime off these abs”, was painless. Lacy, my midwife, checked me and I was at 4cm, 90% effaced. She then informed me that I would deliver my baby by midnight. I laughed at her and told her I’d see her in a few days for my 41wk appt. She laughed back that I shouldn’t wait too long to go to the hospital since she may come very quickly. I drove home, very certain that I would not be seeing my baby that night.
When I got home, I texted Kim that maybe we should go to the hospital just to see. My mind was a mix of worry and digging my heels into the ground about having this baby. Since I was without my husband, I was worried about taking care of our daughter while caring for our son. Was everything ready in the house? Would my son be well cared for? Who would let out the dog?...Thoughts were inhibiting my believing that I was in labor. So Kim gladly came over to give me a ride to the hospital. While Kim drove me the five minutes to the hospital, she was timing my surges. She noticed that I would stop speaking and would stare out the window when I had a surge. She noticed that they were pretty intense in her eyes and occurring quicker. When I walked into the LDR unit, I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue at one of the nurses I recognized. You see, I’d visited the LDR unit many times getting prepared for this birth. I had wanted all my cameras and wifi to work well so my husband would be able to skype the birth from Afghanistan. So, the nurse thought that I was back for another round of questions about the internet. She asked if I was going to have a baby tonight and I laughed that everyone thought so but me! There was only one other mother in the LDR unit. She had a baby already, so it was just me left for everyone to attend to. I’m not high maintenance, nor did I want many people around, so Kim hung up my “Hypnobirthing Family, please give us privacy” sign. That sign was the best! Everyone knew right away that this was going to be a unique birth.
The nurses ordered antibiotics and started an IV drip while waiting for the meds to arrive. I was hooked up for the 30 minute contraction baseline monitor. Kim was wonderful in making sure everyone stayed quiet when I had my surges and seemed to “fall asleep” on the bed, middle of answering whatever question they had asked. (You really have to allow yourself to have the hypnobirthing experience. Only you are going thru it. Allow it to fully encompass you. Live for this special time. Take it all in and just be. Screw everyone else – and their paperwork! You have nothing to prove to anyone right now. You know you got this.) From 6:30 until 7:05pm, I was asked question after question for the intake paperwork. That irritated me about as much as the antibiotic did! The burning sensation from the antibiotic was worse than anything else I was experiencing. Once the first round of meds was in, I asked them to remove the IV lock or whatever they had put into the top of my hand. They said they would need to stick me with a new needle every four hours for the antibiotic. I said that was fine with me and Kim commented that I wouldn’t be pregnant in four hours. ;) Again, I thought Kim was crazy, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. When my first birth was written like a drug rave, I was highly doubting that she would come so quickly.
Once my husband was on skype and I was able to get set up with him, the surges started to some on stronger and faster. I envisioned the opening of my cervix and my baby dropping down into my pelvis. I imagined what it would be like to see her and look into her eyes for the first time. Little did I know, that my midwife had only just been notified that I had been admitted and was in strong labor. She was on her way! I asked Kim to help me by doing a “deepening” technique. She started at my toes, telling me to envision myself melting and relaxing. It was in the way she said the word ‘melting’ that helped me to just soften my entire body. I felt her drop into my pelvis the moment Kim verbally cued my abdominal area to melt and open. I said, “oh, something just changed.” My doula commented that I must be in the transition stage. Since I was still fully dressed, no one could tell that her head was right there, ready to be born. I had wanted to experience the build up of labor in the beautiful, jetted bath tubs at the hospital, so I asked my doula to draw me a bath. She started to say that I wasn’t going to need it, but Kim jumped right in and started the bath and set up all my candles. She also felt like I wasn’t going to make it to the tub, either, but didn’t want me to know that. God bless her! (She knows you never tell a laboring mother no. Ha!)
I was laying on my side, listening to my body and being so aware of what was going on. I have all the education tools, videos, and books that I studied to thank for that. I knew what was going on with my body and I was never fearful. It amazed me to think that my body knew exactly what to do and so did my little baby. She was descending down and would make her entrance when she was ready. I kept imagining a rose blooming or a wave forming and cresting onto the shore. During these intense surges, I would look at my husband or keep my eyes shut, listening for the cues from my body as to when to breathe deeply and feel her move down. I never stopped breathing deeply since I knew that my muscles needed that oxygen to stay relaxed and work efficiently. I recall going deep inside myself and feeling my body tense and release, always knowing that with the passing of each surge, that surge was never going to happen again. It was gone. Lacy, my midwife, arrived just after 8pm and sat quietly on the edge of the bed and said softly that she just wanted me to know that she was there. She said she wanted to take off my shorts and I told her to just cut them off. I did that because I didn’t want any distraction from what I was doing. Even though I looked like I was sleeping, I was focusing very hard on relaxing and staying in my self-hypnosis. Lacy later would joke that the only thing holding her in was my shorts!
Just a mere 70 minutes after completing my intake paperwork, my daughter was born. For the final few minutes, I felt her drop deeper within my pelvis. I actually felt her head nod twice. Kim explained later that she was positioning her head in the birth canal. It was so cool to feel her so close to being born, but still within my body. My powerful body had taken over for me and was giving birth to my daughter. It was going to happen and it felt so crazy-empowering! I had one surge where I thought to myself, “Is she going to fit?” But with that thought, I just kept envisioning myself opening up like a beautiful rose and passing this new life thru me. When I had read books, so many times, they spoke about how intense and scary this time of labor can become. This was what all my practice had led up to. I was ready for this time! I seriously had to check out of my head and allow my body to do the “expelling”. I could feel her head as she was being born. I won’t lie, I very well could’ve freaked out at that moment and tightened up. But I did the opposite: I relaxed even more, knowing that by relaxing, my body could finish doing its job that much faster. The intense birthing part did not last very long. I did not have back to back surges that were out of this world crazy. Every few minutes, I would look at the Skype camera and see my husband’s face watching me give birth to his daughter. At that exact moment, a surge would come over my lower abdominal area and I would feel her head work to open my cervix even more. From all my readings, I knew that this was good, this was the way it was supposed to be. I remember grunting and allowing myself to be the incredible, powerful woman I knew I was.
I had once final surge, propelling her out of my body and into my heart. She came out so quickly, that my water never broke and she was born "en caul”. I reached for her right away but the midwife said, “hold on, she so slippery. I don’t want to drop her.” Within seconds, she was on my chest and I felt such love. Then she started wailing like nothing I’ve never heard before! She was here and she wanted everyone to know it! Mom might have been quiet and relaxed, but she was going to let us know she was alive and very well. She managed to ace her first test with an Apgar score of 9. I held her to my chest, Frank cried, and we waited for the cord to cease pulsating.
My placenta was delivered right after the birth with no worries. She nursed within a couple minutes of being born and I was even able to cut the cord myself! I was in love with how my birth went right away. I kept her on my chest for a good half hour and cuddled this new bundle of baby. My husband even asked, “Honey, did you have an epidural?” Ha! No way, I told him. That was all me. He always says that it was amazing to watch me since it looked like I was asleep. Hypnobirthing allowed me to give myself the education and skills to have the birth I had always wanted. I had no idea I could do this until I met with Kim, read the materials backwards and forwards, did the fear-release sessions, and practiced for hours envisioning this beautiful birth. My life and outlook on birth in America has changed because of this first-hand experience. I am so happy, even months later, that I was able to give my daughter this precious, pain-free, fear-free birth. It has truly changed my life. I love this birth!
Never could I have imagined that my birth of my daughter would be as beautiful, quick, and painless as it turned out to be. For two months, I had been practicing Hypnobirthing like it was a college finals exam. I had devoted hours to mentally preparing myself to greet my daughter with an unmedicated birth. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan and would not be able to return for her arrival, so I developed a wonderful team of women to help me. I had the best midwife, whom was excited at the thought of a hypnobirth and supported my non-Westernized means of delivering her. I mean this in the sense that I wanted her on my chest immediately, no bright lights, no coaching of any means, and delaying any “normal” procedures. My doula had assisted me for months to have a great birth preference request. She was to help advocate this birth style for me since I would be in my non-talkative state of mind during labor. But by far the key to this beautiful birth was my Hypnobirth instructor, Kim.
I was honored when Kim said she would be available to me if I wanted her at the birth. She was remarkable. Now for the day my daughter arrived:
Overnight, I had developed surges that were painless and intermittent, so I timed them for an hour or so at a time, but they varied between 6-9 minutes apart, lasting for 40-75 seconds. Since this was my first all-natural birth, I did not know what it should feel like to go into labor. They were strong enough, though, that I had to lean against the wall and get quiet as I focused my energy on the expansion of my belly and the uterus muscles. Yet I didn’t think I was in labor. I chased after my nearly three-year old son like normal, went out to lunch with my sister and niece, and even washed my suv. All day, I had been texting my midwife and updating her about my confusion as to whether or not I was in labor. She said that we could put my mind at ease if I wanted to go downtown to her office and get checked. So, come 4pm, I drove downtown to see her. I joked with the ladies in her office about how hard my belly was getting and showed them how tight my belly got when I had a tightening sensation. They couldn’t believe that I couldn’t feel it. It was true; the tightening around my stomach where “you could bounce a dime off these abs”, was painless. Lacy, my midwife, checked me and I was at 4cm, 90% effaced. She then informed me that I would deliver my baby by midnight. I laughed at her and told her I’d see her in a few days for my 41wk appt. She laughed back that I shouldn’t wait too long to go to the hospital since she may come very quickly. I drove home, very certain that I would not be seeing my baby that night.
When I got home, I texted Kim that maybe we should go to the hospital just to see. My mind was a mix of worry and digging my heels into the ground about having this baby. Since I was without my husband, I was worried about taking care of our daughter while caring for our son. Was everything ready in the house? Would my son be well cared for? Who would let out the dog?...Thoughts were inhibiting my believing that I was in labor. So Kim gladly came over to give me a ride to the hospital. While Kim drove me the five minutes to the hospital, she was timing my surges. She noticed that I would stop speaking and would stare out the window when I had a surge. She noticed that they were pretty intense in her eyes and occurring quicker. When I walked into the LDR unit, I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue at one of the nurses I recognized. You see, I’d visited the LDR unit many times getting prepared for this birth. I had wanted all my cameras and wifi to work well so my husband would be able to skype the birth from Afghanistan. So, the nurse thought that I was back for another round of questions about the internet. She asked if I was going to have a baby tonight and I laughed that everyone thought so but me! There was only one other mother in the LDR unit. She had a baby already, so it was just me left for everyone to attend to. I’m not high maintenance, nor did I want many people around, so Kim hung up my “Hypnobirthing Family, please give us privacy” sign. That sign was the best! Everyone knew right away that this was going to be a unique birth.
The nurses ordered antibiotics and started an IV drip while waiting for the meds to arrive. I was hooked up for the 30 minute contraction baseline monitor. Kim was wonderful in making sure everyone stayed quiet when I had my surges and seemed to “fall asleep” on the bed, middle of answering whatever question they had asked. (You really have to allow yourself to have the hypnobirthing experience. Only you are going thru it. Allow it to fully encompass you. Live for this special time. Take it all in and just be. Screw everyone else – and their paperwork! You have nothing to prove to anyone right now. You know you got this.) From 6:30 until 7:05pm, I was asked question after question for the intake paperwork. That irritated me about as much as the antibiotic did! The burning sensation from the antibiotic was worse than anything else I was experiencing. Once the first round of meds was in, I asked them to remove the IV lock or whatever they had put into the top of my hand. They said they would need to stick me with a new needle every four hours for the antibiotic. I said that was fine with me and Kim commented that I wouldn’t be pregnant in four hours. ;) Again, I thought Kim was crazy, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. When my first birth was written like a drug rave, I was highly doubting that she would come so quickly.
Once my husband was on skype and I was able to get set up with him, the surges started to some on stronger and faster. I envisioned the opening of my cervix and my baby dropping down into my pelvis. I imagined what it would be like to see her and look into her eyes for the first time. Little did I know, that my midwife had only just been notified that I had been admitted and was in strong labor. She was on her way! I asked Kim to help me by doing a “deepening” technique. She started at my toes, telling me to envision myself melting and relaxing. It was in the way she said the word ‘melting’ that helped me to just soften my entire body. I felt her drop into my pelvis the moment Kim verbally cued my abdominal area to melt and open. I said, “oh, something just changed.” My doula commented that I must be in the transition stage. Since I was still fully dressed, no one could tell that her head was right there, ready to be born. I had wanted to experience the build up of labor in the beautiful, jetted bath tubs at the hospital, so I asked my doula to draw me a bath. She started to say that I wasn’t going to need it, but Kim jumped right in and started the bath and set up all my candles. She also felt like I wasn’t going to make it to the tub, either, but didn’t want me to know that. God bless her! (She knows you never tell a laboring mother no. Ha!)
I was laying on my side, listening to my body and being so aware of what was going on. I have all the education tools, videos, and books that I studied to thank for that. I knew what was going on with my body and I was never fearful. It amazed me to think that my body knew exactly what to do and so did my little baby. She was descending down and would make her entrance when she was ready. I kept imagining a rose blooming or a wave forming and cresting onto the shore. During these intense surges, I would look at my husband or keep my eyes shut, listening for the cues from my body as to when to breathe deeply and feel her move down. I never stopped breathing deeply since I knew that my muscles needed that oxygen to stay relaxed and work efficiently. I recall going deep inside myself and feeling my body tense and release, always knowing that with the passing of each surge, that surge was never going to happen again. It was gone. Lacy, my midwife, arrived just after 8pm and sat quietly on the edge of the bed and said softly that she just wanted me to know that she was there. She said she wanted to take off my shorts and I told her to just cut them off. I did that because I didn’t want any distraction from what I was doing. Even though I looked like I was sleeping, I was focusing very hard on relaxing and staying in my self-hypnosis. Lacy later would joke that the only thing holding her in was my shorts!
Just a mere 70 minutes after completing my intake paperwork, my daughter was born. For the final few minutes, I felt her drop deeper within my pelvis. I actually felt her head nod twice. Kim explained later that she was positioning her head in the birth canal. It was so cool to feel her so close to being born, but still within my body. My powerful body had taken over for me and was giving birth to my daughter. It was going to happen and it felt so crazy-empowering! I had one surge where I thought to myself, “Is she going to fit?” But with that thought, I just kept envisioning myself opening up like a beautiful rose and passing this new life thru me. When I had read books, so many times, they spoke about how intense and scary this time of labor can become. This was what all my practice had led up to. I was ready for this time! I seriously had to check out of my head and allow my body to do the “expelling”. I could feel her head as she was being born. I won’t lie, I very well could’ve freaked out at that moment and tightened up. But I did the opposite: I relaxed even more, knowing that by relaxing, my body could finish doing its job that much faster. The intense birthing part did not last very long. I did not have back to back surges that were out of this world crazy. Every few minutes, I would look at the Skype camera and see my husband’s face watching me give birth to his daughter. At that exact moment, a surge would come over my lower abdominal area and I would feel her head work to open my cervix even more. From all my readings, I knew that this was good, this was the way it was supposed to be. I remember grunting and allowing myself to be the incredible, powerful woman I knew I was.
I had once final surge, propelling her out of my body and into my heart. She came out so quickly, that my water never broke and she was born "en caul”. I reached for her right away but the midwife said, “hold on, she so slippery. I don’t want to drop her.” Within seconds, she was on my chest and I felt such love. Then she started wailing like nothing I’ve never heard before! She was here and she wanted everyone to know it! Mom might have been quiet and relaxed, but she was going to let us know she was alive and very well. She managed to ace her first test with an Apgar score of 9. I held her to my chest, Frank cried, and we waited for the cord to cease pulsating.
My placenta was delivered right after the birth with no worries. She nursed within a couple minutes of being born and I was even able to cut the cord myself! I was in love with how my birth went right away. I kept her on my chest for a good half hour and cuddled this new bundle of baby. My husband even asked, “Honey, did you have an epidural?” Ha! No way, I told him. That was all me. He always says that it was amazing to watch me since it looked like I was asleep. Hypnobirthing allowed me to give myself the education and skills to have the birth I had always wanted. I had no idea I could do this until I met with Kim, read the materials backwards and forwards, did the fear-release sessions, and practiced for hours envisioning this beautiful birth. My life and outlook on birth in America has changed because of this first-hand experience. I am so happy, even months later, that I was able to give my daughter this precious, pain-free, fear-free birth. It has truly changed my life. I love this birth!
Ashley and Farfum have two gorgeous HypnoBirthing babies!
My husband and I took Kim’s HypnoBirthing class in preparation for the birth of our first child. Right away we could tell that Kim was incredibly experienced, knowledgeable, and passionate about helping families have the best birthing experience possible. I really looked forward to our weekly class sessions which left us both feeling confident and excited about our upcoming birth. I learned that hypnosis was not some strange or foreign thing; but that it was in fact something we can already do instinctively and can easily learn how to bring ourselves into a deep relaxation.
When it came time for our birthing, my baby was in a position that can be much more challenging to birth. I believe that statistics show first time moms with baby in this position only have spontaneous vaginal birth 26% of the time. It can also lead to slower progress in labors and increased discomfort. My labor followed this pattern and was longer and slower to progress, but the patience I learned in class kept me company as I listened to my body and trusted it would let me know what I needed. My husband was an active participant in the birth, helping to guide me into a state of relaxation using the techniques we learned from class. HypnoBirthing helped me to get rid of my fear of birth and be totally in the moment. I actually rested pretty comfortably for the majority of my active labor. When I did have discomfort, it was short lived and now looking back it is hard to remember. Not once did the thought of asking for pain medications ever cross my mind because I was so focused on the moment. At every step along the way, I felt trust in myself, in my husband, and in my birthing team to discuss the current status of my birth and baby, as well as empowered to make the choices that were right for us. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy after 2 days of prodromal labor and 12 hours of active labor. I firmly believe that what I learned in my HypnoBirthing class gave me the tools to make this the absolute best birth it could be.
We recently had our second son, also using the HypnoBirthing techniques. I had a very easy 8 hour labor. The whole process just seemed to happen without me having to try as I allowed my body to do its thing. This time I really felt my body just go limp and relaxed with each surge (contraction). I know they say that each time you go into hypnosis you go deeper and faster. I feel that the more I practiced the techniques, this became true. Funnily enough my second baby arrived in that exact same position as my first baby. This surprised me because I was so much more comfortable for this birthing.
My experience with Kim and with HypnoBirthing has completely changed the way I not only view childbirth, but also the way I view my own intrinsic power. Taking this class was one of the best things I have ever done!
My husband and I took Kim’s HypnoBirthing class in preparation for the birth of our first child. Right away we could tell that Kim was incredibly experienced, knowledgeable, and passionate about helping families have the best birthing experience possible. I really looked forward to our weekly class sessions which left us both feeling confident and excited about our upcoming birth. I learned that hypnosis was not some strange or foreign thing; but that it was in fact something we can already do instinctively and can easily learn how to bring ourselves into a deep relaxation.
When it came time for our birthing, my baby was in a position that can be much more challenging to birth. I believe that statistics show first time moms with baby in this position only have spontaneous vaginal birth 26% of the time. It can also lead to slower progress in labors and increased discomfort. My labor followed this pattern and was longer and slower to progress, but the patience I learned in class kept me company as I listened to my body and trusted it would let me know what I needed. My husband was an active participant in the birth, helping to guide me into a state of relaxation using the techniques we learned from class. HypnoBirthing helped me to get rid of my fear of birth and be totally in the moment. I actually rested pretty comfortably for the majority of my active labor. When I did have discomfort, it was short lived and now looking back it is hard to remember. Not once did the thought of asking for pain medications ever cross my mind because I was so focused on the moment. At every step along the way, I felt trust in myself, in my husband, and in my birthing team to discuss the current status of my birth and baby, as well as empowered to make the choices that were right for us. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy after 2 days of prodromal labor and 12 hours of active labor. I firmly believe that what I learned in my HypnoBirthing class gave me the tools to make this the absolute best birth it could be.
We recently had our second son, also using the HypnoBirthing techniques. I had a very easy 8 hour labor. The whole process just seemed to happen without me having to try as I allowed my body to do its thing. This time I really felt my body just go limp and relaxed with each surge (contraction). I know they say that each time you go into hypnosis you go deeper and faster. I feel that the more I practiced the techniques, this became true. Funnily enough my second baby arrived in that exact same position as my first baby. This surprised me because I was so much more comfortable for this birthing.
My experience with Kim and with HypnoBirthing has completely changed the way I not only view childbirth, but also the way I view my own intrinsic power. Taking this class was one of the best things I have ever done!