My sister-in-law is 32 weeks pregnant. Every time I talk to her, text with her, blackberry messenger her, etc., it always gets me to reminiscing about my experience.
My husband and I took a Hypnobirthing class. I really had wanted to sign up for a Bradley class, but apparently they are hard to come by in the greater Cleveland area. At least when I was signing up for a class they were. Hypnobirthing seemed to be the next best thing. We went to sleep every night to the sounds of this woman’s voice, repeating things about wombs and flowers and trusting your body and other miscellaneous nonsense. And then there was the second track, which was all about the colors of the rainbow and going deeper into relaxation. It was weird. And oddly soothing. So we listened to it for the duration of my pregnancy.
And during labor.
Turns out that this CD only works if you’re actually in the room.
Ever since I was a teenager and heard of water birth, I had wanted to experience water birth for myself. My friends and I joked about it and giggled when we were in middle and high school because it seemed so foreign from every movie or TV show we had ever seen. But in the back of my mind, I knew water birth was for me.
Needless to say, my entire birth plan centered around having a water birth. The hospital that we went to provided tubs for laboring moms. The tub was an enormous thing. They had the water filled up almost to the top. I’m pretty small. At 5’1″ I’m hardly a giant. So getting into the one-size-fits-all tub that was filled to the brim was a little uncomfortable. Not to mention that I had dilated 4 centimeters within three hours and was 40 weeks pregnant, so it was hard to maneuver anyway.
My husband set up the CD player, put on the Hypnobirthing CD and away we went. But I hated the tub. I opted for the shower instead. And in the bathroom I couldn’t hear the CD!
Who knows, maybe Hypnobirthing would have been great had I actually been able to stay in the room where the woman on the disc was soothing everyone else in attendance. Unfortunately that’s not the way the cookie crumbled for me. I stayed holed up in the bathroom for almost 8 hours.
My midwife, the nurse and my doula were great. I don’t remember much but I do remember them being so reassuring through my entire experience. But I couldn’t have gotten through without my husband by my side. If we were the only two in the room, I could have done it with his guidance alone. The other three were an added bonus.
It’s too bad the Hypnobirthing lady wasn’t much help. But boy am I glad for my husband. Thanks honey. I couldn’t have done it without you. 🙂
