Site menu:
Baby Stories
Hi Lea,
I hope you still remember me. I’m Juli Curtin and
my husband, Brett, and I took your hypnobirthing
class in July last year. We spotted you shopping
with your son shortly after Dylan was born in Oct
at Desert Ridge and you asked me to send you my
birth story. I apologize for this taking so long
and I hope you can still make use of it. Life with
a newborn and 3 year old is very time consuming!
I sent you a Happy New Year’s card, I hope you received
it.
It all started about 4 weeks before my due date
of Oct 17th, I dilated to 2 cm. About 2 weeks later,
I was dilated to 3 cm. This whole time I was feeling
braxton hicks contractions and major pushing on
my pelvic floor, but not much change in dilation.
Then on Saturday Oct 9th around 5pm, my water broke
in a slight trickle down my leg. I wasn’t feeling
any contractions, but I was positive what it was.
I called the on call OB since my OB (Dr. Ann Langer)
had told me that she wanted me to go to the hospital
(Scottsdale Healthcare North) once my water broke
because I had delivered my first baby so quickly
after my water broke. The on call OB said to go
ahead to the hospital and check in. On the drive
to the hospital around 6.45pm, with my husband and
3 year old daughter, I had my first contraction.
It was mild, but it felt different from the braxton
hicks contractions from before.
When I got to the hospital, it was about 7pm and I was then dilated to 4 cm. The nurse hooked me up to a monitor in the triage room and gave me an antibiotic drip since I had tested positive for group B strep. After the antibiotic, the nurse told me to walk around the birthing floor for about an hour and then come back to get measured. After an hour of walking around, I was dilated to 5 cm. My contractions were more noticeable, but still really quite mild. I could talk and walk and do everything very normally still. Then she told me my birthing room was ready so we moved my things down to my room and got settled in. I met my labor nurse who was Alaina. She was very sweet and very helpful. Alaina asked me if I wanted to take a jacuzzi bath but I wasn’t in the mood yet. So she said why don’t you walk around for another hour. I was surprised at this because it seemed to me that although my contractions still weren’t very painful, I could tell that things were progressing and I was surprised she said it was OK to just walk around the floor for an hour. I felt as if my baby was really pushing down now. But I figured that since I wasn’t in pain, that I might as well kill some time. It was about 10pm and I decided to walk around with my husband and my sister for awhile.
Well, this is when I started feeling serious contractions. They started coming about 5 minutes apart and each time one came, I had to stop walking and talking and just breath into it. I still felt fine to walk, but I was walking much slower this time and stopping a lot for the contractions. After about 40 minutes, I decided I should have Alaina measure me again because I was pretty sure that I had dilated much more now and if felt as if my baby was ready to drop out of me. I went back to the nurses station and told Alaina that I was feeling more serious contractions and I wanted her to measure me. She gave me this look as if I was joking and I said to her that just because I was talking to her in a normal voice and walking fine that she still needed to measure me because I could tell things were progressing. So she measured me and I was now 7cm. She asked me if I wanted the jacuzzi now and I said yes. It was the best thing I could’ve done! It was so relaxing and while in the tub for about 30 minutes, my contractions got more intense. My husband was with me holding my hand and I closed my eyes and just focused on breathing slowly and deeply the whole time. With each out breath, I would hum in this low, deep moan which really relaxed me and kept me focused. It was almost like an ‘ohm’ breath. After 30 minutes Alaina told me I should get out and she measured me again. This time I was 10 cm. She said she had called my OB and she was on her way to the hospital and would be there very soon. I basically just waited about 10 more minutes for Dr. Langer to arrive all the while breathing slowly and deeply and moaning with each out breath. The contractions were getting deeper and deeper.
Then Dr. Langer arrived and I told her I was
feeling the urge to push. Alaina said to hold
my breath and push as hard as I could, I did that
once and started to see my baby’s head appear
in my birth canal. It was amazing! (I had asked
for a mirror to see the birth process). Then I
held my breath and pushed again, I felt this serious
burning sensation, which I remembered from my
first birth. My baby started to move down more.
My mom and sister asked me if I was feeling any
pain because my face was completely calm. I said,
“yes I am, but just wait!” Alaina the nurse kept
saying, “Good job, you’re doing great!” I pushed
3 more times with loud groans and then his head
popped out! Dr. Langer said, “He’s a big one!
You’re doing so great, push just one more time,
really big and he’ll be out”. So I pushed as hard
as I could, groaned almost like a growl/scream
and he popped out! They cleaned him off quickly
with a towel, my husband cut the umbilical cord
and they placed my baby on my chest. It was 12.20am
on Oct 10th, one week before my due date, and
5 1/2 hours after my very first contraction. How
amazing! I delivered my baby exactly how I wanted
to, completely naturally and with my husband,
mom and sister by my side. Even though I may not
have used the specific examples given in the hypnobirthing
class, I know that all of the relaxation techniques
and breathing techniques helped me tremendously.
Also, I continued my yoga practice throughout
my entire pregnancy right up to the day before
I delivered and I know that helped a ton too.
Hope to see you again sometime,
Sincerely
Juli Curtin
Lea,
I just wanted to let you know that I gave birth
to our beautiful baby girl, Malia Isabel Budoff,
on Sunday September the 26th at 4:44 p.m. I had
a beautiful, natural birth experience, although
it definitely did not resemble the births on the
videos. :)
I also thought you would be happy to know that I
had an amazing experience at Scottsdale North. From
the time we got to triage my experience was one
of 100% support. When the nurse Pam asked how I
wanted to pursue pain management and I paused she
suggested with breathing and relaxation. She then
went on to encourage me, when I asked her about
not having meds. She suggested, to always know that
I was in complete control of my experience whether
I was in a hospital setting or not. The hepatitis
B form was presented to me then and when I stated
that I was declining, she went and got the waiver
form. No protest. Soon after, I met my labor and
delivery
nurse whom I truly believe is an angel. We sat down
in the room as she asked Geoff and I about ourselves
and our goals for birthing. When I told her I was
pursuing a natural childbirth she said as long as
I was certain that it was what I wanted she would
do everything she could to help me have a natural,
beautiful birth. And that she did. When I was dilated
to 9 and asking for pain medication Carol would
not give in to me. She reminded me calmly and repeatedly
about the good that I was doing for my baby and
myself. She was gentle and supportive and amazing
for Geoff and I. After birth she told me that she
loves working with women having natural childbirth
and that she would love to work with any of your
clients if they are interested and in labor while
she is working. I just
thought you would be happy to know that there may
be good change in effect in the hospital world...
or I may have just been incredibly blessed.
Overall, hypnosis was an amazing support for me.
Once I hit transition, labor intensified dramatically
and I was neither quiet nor in a trance, but my
breathing definitely helped me to recover between
surges. With more practice and less pressure in
my tailbone I may have more closely resembled those
births in the film. :) In the end, I felt energized,
amazing and so grateful for the gift that we had
been given. Your classes definitely helped Geoff
to be an amazing support system for me and I would
definitely pursue natural childbirth again.
For now, we are just busy being madly in love with
our new little life.
Thank you,
Kerri
Hi Lea,
Just thought I would drop you a note. This is Tim
and Kristen. We took your recent hypnobirhting class.
Everything went wonderful. Because I was a VBAC
my doctor wanted me in the hospital as soon as I
started getting them 5 ins apart. Well, I was at
10 mins for about 6 hours, jumped to 3 mins apart
so we went to the hospital and when I got there,
I was already 9cm.
Our daughter Tiarra Felicity was born in less than
an hour of arriving at the hospital. It was really
quite amusing since we walked in. The nurses said,
can I help you, I said, we are checking in, they
were all calm and said ok, lets get you up on the
bed and check you. I was having surges about a minute
apart by then and was sitting on my ball (which
was a huge help) so I climbed up on the bed and
the nurse checked me and said, oh my gosh, we better
get your Dr here now. Since I was a VBAC they were
in a bit of a panic, the ER Dr had to come up until
a Dr arrived. My Dr arrived about 10 mins after
the birth.
I wasn't quiet like in the videos, I was very loud
but not due to any pain, just due to excitement
and adrenaline I think. From the time I was 10cm,
the baby was born in about 20 mins after that.
It was a fantastic experience! Thank you for your
training and class.
Kristen, Tim, Nicole and Tiarra
Hi Lea,
Ryan Hal Michael is an adorable
angel. He slept most of the night for his first
night home (last night), which is more than I
can say for his silly brother, who sat up in the
bed yelling, "mommy...it's a baby!!!"
for about 4 hours. Ryan just likes to eat and
sleep, ahhh.... he's a sweet guy and very very
cute. He was born on June 4th at 6:37am, after
3 hours of labor...thanks to the help of my 2
sweet friends Erin and Lynn, who I could not have
done it without (thanks!!). He was 7lbs 15oz and
20 1/2inches, nice size boy!
We're busy getting settled, but wanted to send
a picture as soon as we could, so these are from
the hospital, not fancy, but still cute!!! I've
inserted them in the mail and also as an attachment
for those of you that can open attachments.
Enjoy.
Love
Donna, Evan, and Ryan Hal
Over all, our experience was a positive one. My husband was doubtful at first, but was more excited once he was educated through the hypnobirthing classes. The relaxation tapes I was provided with from class were wonderful. They helped me stay calm and go to sleep at night when my mind was racing nervously about the upcoming baby. I also believe my body started preparing for the baby sooner because of the tapes and hypnosis. In bed at night, I would picture the baby going down the birth canal and being born easily an healthy. I started to dilate and efface over a month before my due date.
My membranes ruptured on a Friday night at about 11:30p.m., eleven days before my due date. When I called my doctor, he told me to go straight to the hospital. If I were to do it over, I would have stayed at home until morning and gotten some sleep. But since this was my first baby, I did what the doctor told me and went right in. I started listening to the tapes on the ride to the hospital and was very relaxed when we arrived. I couldn’t feel my contractions (surges) and would not have even known I was in labor if my water hadn’t of broken. For the next few hours the nurse made me walk the halls, which irritated me. I had to receive antibiotics, and was tripping over IV things to which I was hooked up to. That took me out of the relaxed state I was in. Just remember that your in control. If you don’t want to walk, don’t walk. I will remember that next around. There’s no need to rush the baby, he’ll come when he’s ready.
By about 6:00 a.m., I started to feel mild surges. I felt it was time for my husband to start doing more of the hypnosis techniques with me. Up until this point, I just listened to my tapes and tried to sleep. It was then that I started wishing we had practiced more. We practiced about twice a week together and I did a lot on my own. He did so well in the practices that we thought it would go just fine. Well, when it came down to it, he froze up. He didn’t seem to be doing it like we’d practiced and I started to panic. I told him he was the worst coach ever! I think he was just nervous. The surges were getting stronger, but not unbearable. We called Lea, our instructor and she came down to the hospital. She was wonderful. However, I’m sure the instructor, can’t be at every birthing, so be sure to practice, practice, practice!
Well, it turns out that I had back labor. I really believe if I didn’t have the back labor, it would have been a piece of cake. I couldn’t even feel the surges across my bell, where I was told you normally feel them. The last couple hours were intense, but not once did I consider asking for the epidural. My doctor had left it as an option fo me case it got to be "more than I could handle."
I had Trent at about noon on Saturday. He was very alert and started breast-feeding immediately when they put him on my chest in the delivery room. He was drug free! After the birth I was Tired, but overall felt really good. I was up and walking around right away. Honestly, I felt well enough to go home by that evening, although I stayed the full two days. The doctor sent me home with a prescription for pain pills, which I never even needed. I attribute the speedy recovery to the HypnoBirthing.
When I think about having my next child, it is tempting to consider just getting an epidural. It would probably be the easy way out. But let me tell you, I was proud that I didn’t have any drugs given to me that would have been passed along to Trent. I was proud to see the awe in everyone’s faces when I told them I took no drugs and didn’t even need an episiotomy. HypnoBirthing is based on positive thinking and I really believe my next birth will be even easier than my first. Birthing is the most amazing experience and I’m really looking forward to doing it again.
Jennifer, Tom and little Trent B.
It was 1 am and I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt like I was having a menstrual cramp. I started my hypnobirthing breathing techniques to stay relaxed. I noticed that the cramps seemed to come on to me about every 10 minutes so I continued to breathe and remained in my own comfortable world. Sitting on the toilet was the most comfortable position since it helped open up my hips, although I was able to get some sleep between the "cramps". My mucus plug released in the mid morning which seemed weird to me since I was still 5 weeks ahead of my estimated delivery date.
Around 7 am I went downstairs to call my boss to say I wasn’t going to be in that day because I thought I should relax through what I thought were braxton hicks surges. After that call, I set myself up in a quiet room with my relaxation tapes and CD’s. My breathing continued as I pictured my abdomen filling up like a balloon. The thermometer visualization also helped comfort my entire body. Around 9 am Glenn suggested I start timing the surges so we could call the doctor. I was vaguely coherent enough to realize the surges were around 5 minutes apart. The time distortion that we did in class to set my body clock to "10 minutes" really worked! In addition, the birthing affirmations tape helped me transition through the surges in a calm and relaxed state.
Around 10:30 am Glenn started timing the duration and frequency of the surges for me at which time we determined they were 3 minutes apart. It was finally time to call the doctor. The doctor’s office suggested we come in for a birthing check although they were skeptical I was in labor. We slowly packed some clothes and prepared ourselves for the journey to the doctor’s office. On the car ride to the doctor’s office I continued listening to the birthing affirmations tape over and over again. Focusing on what Mary Ann was saying helped coach me through the surges at a time when Glenn wasn’t able to focus on the baby and I.
Upon our arrival at 12:30 pm the doctor checked me and determined I was 8 cm dilated and that it was time to deliver the baby. By the time I was wheeled next door to the hospital and checked in at 1 pm I was 10 cm dilated and still in a calm and relaxed state of mind. At this point I was completely lost for time-everything did seem to pass in 10 minute increments. At 3 pm our beautiful baby boy, Jared Harris, was born. He was 5 weeks early and weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces and measured 19.5 inches long. Fortunately, his lungs were fully developed and he was given a clean bill of health from the neonatologist. After breathing Jared to birth with the coaching of my OB and Glenn, I birthed the placenta. Glenn proudly cut Jared’s umbilical cord!
Glenn was a wonderful coach. He said all of the right calming and encouraging phrases that we practiced in class and at home. He knew when to touch my arm and what made me feel most comforted. I could not have made it through without him! I also believe that having him experience the hypnobirthing class with me and practicing the techniques at home provided him with methods to stay calm in what can be an overwhelming and anxiety ridden time.
I can truly say I did not feel pain throughout the entire process. I would categorize my sensations as mild menstrual cramps that caused some pressure in my lower abdomen. I did not know I was in active labor until I arrived at the doctor’s office and it was medically determined I was in labor. Staying at home until the very end helped keep my relaxed aurora and allowed me to get comfortable in a familiar environment.
The labor nurses were quick to try to connect me to the monitoring system upon my arrival to the hospital. Glenn & I kindly informed the nursing staff we were using hypnobirthing techniques and would appreciate a slower and quieter pace from everyone. Because we the labor process was moving so quickly, we did not have time to hang our sign on the door. The lead nurse even dimmed the lights for us and requested all nursing staff leave the room until we were settled in comfortably. Obviously our wishes were well respected and we were allowed to determine the pace processes moved at through the end of our delivery.
I was truly blessed throughout the entire pregnancy and delivery experience. I had 5 weeks of exhaustion during the first trimester and a small amount of heart burn throughout the span of the pregnancy. I did not have any nausea, food cravings or food aversions. I did have the expected emotional waves at times but by using the relaxation suggestions Lea made before we started the class and everything we learned in class I was able to minimize my stress levels. After the birthing process was over, I was ready to take a shower and go for a walk. I had sat on my tailbone for a while and wanted to move around. The nurses at the hospital couldn’t believe me and told me I would have to wait until the next morning for such activities.
I would highly recommend experiencing the hypnobirthing classes even for women who are confident they want the infamous epidural. Hypnobirthing is nothing but a way to manage stress. I still use it nightly to slow down when I get into bed (for the few hours of sleep I do get!). The classes turned my husband from a skeptic to a believer and when we were successful in using the method we made even more believers out of our family members and friends (they thought we were crazy at first!).
Danielle, Glenn and Jared A.
Peter and I loved your classes and really used the tools you taught us. Josh was coming very fast and face up, no less! I filled several red balloons during the rapid contractions and that saved me. I wish I had learned hypnobirthing with Evan as I had him naturally as well. Both children are joyful and peaceful and healthy thanks to natural childbirth. I’ll be using your techniques with my future daughter, as I’m almost 42 young. Keep up the good work!
In appreciation,
Jana, Peter, Evan and Josh
Hello Lea,
I don't know if your received our email announcing
the birth of our baby girl so I wanted so send another
and a recent picture. This was taken this morning.
She was born 5/31/2003- only few days after our
follow up meeting. Everything went very smoothly.
My waters released at about 5am and she was born
at 3:13pm. Labor was manageable until about 1- 1:30pm
when I decided to get an epidural. After I got the
IV, the nurse checked me and I was at an 8. I did
not realize (nor did they) how close I was. When
it came time to push, I only had 3 sets of pushes
and she was out!
It was the most amazing moment of our life. OH!
Adrienne Olivia was 6 lbs 4oz, 20 inches long. She
is just precious!
Thanks for all your help,
Judy