Sofia's birth

For months my husband and I had been preparing for the arrival of our first child, we planned for a natural unmedicated childbirth as long as it was safe for her. We decided to take hypnobirthing classess with Jennifer and learned a great deal during the process. We practiced the breathing techniques and hypnosis almost every night and visualized the natural, healthy birth of our little girl until the day I went into labor.

On Jan 23rd at 4:00 am, three days after my due date, i woke up feeling really crampy. I soon realized that I was in labor, my contractions were lasting about a minute and they were betwen 8-10 minutes apart until about 8:00 am when they started getting stronger, longer and closer. I told my husband at about 7:30 am that I was having contractions, he planned on going to work for a few hours but five minutes after he left the house (around 8:30 am) my water broke. I called him and he turned around and we went to the hospital, I was admitted immediately. I was 3 cm dilated and my contractions were ~4 minutes apart. I was hooked up to the i.v. and the fetal monitor and was told that as soon as an acceptable baby heart pattern was establish I would be able to get up and walk around as I had requested in our birth plan. The nurse kept telling me that my contractions had a good pattern but the baby's heart rate was "flat" it was not going up and down with the contractions as they liked to see it. I was told that I couldn't get up until an acceptable heart pattern was established... hours passed and the contractions kept getting stronger and closer, I listened to the CD that we got in the hypnobirthing class and with my husbands coaching kept breathing through every contraction. I dilated up to 6 cm's but the baby's heart rate never reached the pattern that they wanted to see so I was not able to walk around. Once I reached 6 cm's I stayed there for about 3 hrs, at that time the Dr. advised that we get the epidural and pitocin as the baby's heart rate had started dropping after each contraction. We asked for some time to think about it and after much thought and about 12 hours of labor we agreed to the epidural and pitocin however the baby's heart rate started dropping even more once I got the medications, at that time the Dr. recommended a C section as I had only dilated one more cm since getting the medication and the Dr. was concerned about the dropping heart rate. They believed she had the chord wrapped around somewhere but were unable to tell where... after discussing our options we agreed to having the C section. Sofia was born at 7:49 pm, weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21 in long. She had the chord wrapped around her neck and that's why her heart rate kept dropping.

Even though we could not have the natural birth we had hoped for, we are grateful that our daughter was delivered safely and healthy. I was able to use all of the techniques that I learned in our prenatal yoga class with Shelley and in Jennifer's hypnobirthing class while I was in labor, during the surgery and continue using the breathing techniques now when Sofia is being fussy. It helps me stay calm and calm her down too :)

Thank you Shelley for your guidance during the classes and for recommending Jennifer, we look forward to hearing more about the postpartum and baby and me classes.