Dallin's Birth Story

With Baby #2, we decided to try Hypno-birthing (the Mongan Method). It's a form of complete natural childbirth that I explained in a previous post. My main reason for trying this method was to avoid hyperventilating like I did during Tanner's birth and to have an even more natural birth experience this time around. Here's how it went...

Thursday, May 16

3:45 pm- I had my appointment with my midwife, Robbie Prepas. 2 cm, 50% effaced, -3 station. Baby’s head is down in position. Robbie feels I will have the baby very soon. I did not let her strip my membranes. We review the birth plan and hypno-birthing techniques that I will use to labor my baby as naturally as possible.

5:00 pm- I ask Jeremy to give me a priesthood blessing for peace and safety during the birth.
Later, I fall asleep for the night while listening to the Rainbow Relaxation CD.

Friday, May 17

Morning- Throughout morning, I have surges (hypnobirth term for contractions), about 1 or 2 every hour.

1:00 pm- Shopping at Target, a few more surges.

3:00 pm- Time to go to Jeremy’s USC banquet and ceremony. Potty before the drive. I have a feeling the baby will come tonight.

3:35 pm- In the car, surges every 15-20 minutes. Trying to listen to rainbow relaxation CD. Having difficulty relaxing in the car.

4:20 pm- Arrive at USC. 

4:30 pm- Another surge. I see food at the banquet! The banquet food ended up being my last meal before delivery: chicken sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, crackers and cheese, grapes and berries, fried chicken ball things, egg rolls, tomatoes and carrots, lemon bars, brownie, and lots of juice and water.

 You can see me pigging out in this pic.

We meet Jeremy's friends. He is so handsome in his cap and gown! We walk to find a place to take pics. Two surges on the way.

5:45 pm- Walk to the ceremony hall. Very difficult for me. My lower back and pelvic area have lots of pressure. Several surges along the way. When they come, I stop in my tracks, close my eyes and focus on breathing in and sending oxygen to my baby. I count vigorously in my head to 20 as I breathe in low and count quickly again to 20 as I breathe out. Repeat several times until the surge passes. Then I open my eyes and smile at MomZ and DadZ, kind of my way of thanking them for waiting each time (and because I'm so happy that I'm staying relaxed). 

5:54 pm- I get my chance to sit for just a moment outside the stadium. I ask for a picture of just me and my belly. DadZ asks “Don’t you already have tons of pictures of you pregnant?” I want to tell him that this is most likely going to be the last picture of me before the baby is born, but I don’t have the energy- just need to take the picture.

6:20 pm- Finally in our seats. Another surge. Wow, I’m dieing of thirst! Where is my water bottle!?

6:30 pm- The ceremony starts. We cheer for Jeremy as he walks to the music Pomp and Circumstance. Tanner screams and waves for several minutes “Yay Daddy!! Go Dada! Yay! Daddy! Hi Daddy, hi Daddy!”

6:50 pm- I'm feeling light headed, so I get up to find water. An usher goes to get two bottles for me. I talk to her during some surges. Instead of climbing over everyone back to my seat, I stay up in the “lobby” area.

7:00 pm- Jeremy texts to ask if I’m okay, but I don’t have my phone. He finds out that I got up to leave and haven’t returned. DadZ comes looking for me with Tanner. We all stay in the “lobby” together.

7:30 pm- Tanner dances and rolls on the ground and lays his head on the ground, ugh. I continue having surges, I’m guessing they are every 10-15 min. Each time, I go within myself, picturing my uterus pulling up over my baby and nudging him downward.

8:00 pm- We cheer for Jeremy as he walks across the stage! Tanner shouts “Go Dada! Yay Dada!” I tell Baby in my belly that we did it! We made it through all my shows at school AND Jeremy’s graduation before he (the baby) was born.

(check out Jeremy's grad-hat hair!)

8:45 pm- Bathroom. Surge.

8:55 pm- On the way to the car, a surge in the middle of the crosswalk. It’s a pretty strong one. Jeremy forces me out of the street, no a comfy situation.

9:06 pm- Surge in the car. Ate a fruit leather and water. Talked and visited during the ride home. No contractions, er surges, during the drive.

9:50-11:50 pm- At home. Jeremy gets a special present from Momz and Dadz. We look at the awesome picture book and visit.

Jeremy’s hand writing now- SL sat on the ball. No one is timing anything, but surges seem to be about every 10 minutes. Good breathing through the surges.

11:35 pm- SL eats bread with lots and lots of butter, bleh. Momz and Dadz go to their hotel.

11:55 pm- On the potty. Poo, pee and more bloody show. A long surge. SL thinks baby will come tonight. Jeremy already annoyed by the ridiculous things she is making him write down and read back to her.

Saturday, May 18

12:00 am- Surge.

12:12 am- Surge.

12:22 am- Another surge. After surge said “I can’t do this” in the same whiny urgent tone as last time when birthing Tanner. I point this out to her and then remind her that she is in control of how her birthing energy is spent. She can do it! She calms down a little.

12:45 am- I read a relaxation script while SL lays in bed, lateral position (on her side) with pillows in between knees and arms. She is very relaxed. We fall asleep.

1:00 am- Strong surge. SL wants to go to hospital, feels it's time. Surges are about every 6-9 min. She is doubting she can do it. After this baby, she doesn’t want to birth anymore.

1:05 am- I call Momz.

1:15 am- SL is shivering. Gave her a sweatshirt. Rubbed her arms and back. Getting stuff in car to leave.

1:30 am- Parents arrive at the house. SL has surges while they’re here. She is still shivering and cold. Takes awhile to get in car and leave.

1:50 am- Get into hospital room. Nurses love the gift basket of food that SL made for them. SL measured at 4 cm, 90% effaced. We decide she is far enough along to stay at the hospital. SL is cold, I give her four blankets.

2:10 am- I turn off lights, turn on candles, get headphones and Relaxation CD going. Robbie (midwife) is not on-call tonight, but she says she will come to do the delivery. SL is happy.

2:30 am- SL goes potty- poop. On potty for 15 minutes. Several surges. I had to be down next to her so she could lean on my shoulders while on the potty. The bathroom wasn't big enough for me to be on my knees, so I had to squat. During this labor, I ended up squatting more than my wife! 

2:45 am- Got the IV for the antibiotics because she is GBS positive. While nurse gave her IV, SL whined “ouchie.” SL says she whined because the nurse jabbed her in the wrong place and had to do the whole thing all over again. 

2:47 am- In between surges, SL says that “I feel it stretching everywhere, 360 degrees all around me, just the right amount of stretching.”

3:10 am – I just got back from moving the car. SL is looking very relaxed with headphones on listening to Rainbow Relaxation CD.

3:25 am- SL is cold again, shivering. I get her more warm blankets.

3:40 am- The monitor is beeping because the baby moved. SL still listening to Relaxation CD.

4:00 am- I help SL move onto the ball. She squats on the ball and leans body against the bed. She feels much better, but is still cold, needs blankets. I use the rolling pin to rub all over on her lower back. She says it feels great!

At this point, SL has discovered that during every surge that comes, she needs to hear the CD AND my voice. EVERY surge. That’s a lot of talking.

4:20 am- SL moves onto the bed in lateral position with about 10 pillows. She likes the pressure I put on the dimples of her lower back.

4:45 am- SL asks to be checked. She feels like things have progressed. Nurse checks her, she measures 6 cm, 100% effaced, -1 whatever.

4:50 am- Toilet again. Bloody show again (disgusting!)

5:00 am- Lateral position. SL says she’s very tired and sleepy. Nurse says SL is getting close, wants to check dilation every ½ hour. SL doesn’t believe her. Nurse will call Robbie a half hour before birth.

5:25 am- 7 ½ cm dilated, nurse feels the baby is coming soon, she is calling Robbie.

5:30 am- SL takes two really hard surges like a champ!

5:35 am- She got on me for not pressing on her lower back. I told her it’s really tough to hold pressure for so long, so cut me some slack.

5:40 am- SL is on her back, listening to Birthing Affirmations. Before a contraction, she called “help!” to let me know it was coming. She didn’t like that I left her side to write this down.

5:50 am- Now she’s hot and wants a wet wash cloth on her forehead.

6:00 am- SL calmly says “It’s so intense” during a surge. She keeps asking me to talk to her. When I stopped talking, she said “Don’t leave me!” She thought I walked away.

6:05 am- Robbie Prepas arrives on scene. She reports that the nurses say SL is doing amazing. She really is doing a great job! Robbie checks her and explains that since the bag of waters has not released yet, the liquid is keeping the baby from descending. She offers to break the water. SL declines. She wants to give it more time, hoping it can happen naturally.

6:10 am- SL gets up to go potty. On the way, I hold her complete weight during a surge (I did this a lot). She feels some liquid, maybe her waters releasing. We wait on the toilet through some surges, no more liquid. It wasn’t her water breaking.

6:30 am- Done with potty. SL is sitting up on the edge of bed, moving hips back and forth. I set up the video camera discretely on the side table. SL is asking my opinion about getting Robbie to break the water.

6:35 am- A really strong, long surge. SL says “Okay, get Robbie.” She decides that if that surge didn’t release the water, then it’s okay to get some assistance. SL asks about the process and asks to be checked before breaking the water. Nurse checks her, she is 8/9 cm. Robbie shows her the tool used and promises to be gentle.

6:40 am- SL says “You guys?… I’m really hot.” I put wet washcloth on her forehead again.

6:42 am- Water sac is broken. At first not much liquid came out. But with the next surge, tons came. Robbie says the liquid is beautiful and clear. “You and Jeremy make healthy babies.”

6:45 am- SL gets on all fours in polar bear position on the bed. Robbie tells her that SL can deliver in any position she wants. SL breathes and hums through more surges. Robbie says when you have the urge to push, you can start pushing. SL says “baby isn’t in the right position for me to push yet.”

6:56 am- Going through transition! SL moves onto her side, “I don’t know if I can do this.” We encourage her. She is doing so well and has never asked for an epidural or any pain killers.

7:00 am- Robbie encourages SL to push during next contraction. Nurse tells SL to hold breathe while she pushes. SL says she will not hold her breathe, she will breathe the baby down. Nurse agrees, okay that’s fine. Breathe the baby down.

I get our other camera and start videoing with left hand while stroking SL with my right hand.

7:05 am- SL is having doubts. “Do you think he’ll come out?” “Am I going to tear?” We tell her he’s going to come just fine. Robbie says “don’t resist, don’t fight it. If you push with the contractions, then we’ll have a baby soon." SL breathes through a few more surges. “I’m trying to relax.” Everyone says “You’re doing great. The baby is very close.”

7:08 am- Robbie says “you lucked out with the best team of nurses.” SL hardly seems to care. She asks “Guys, does it look like I’m gonna tear?” Robbie assures her she will do her best to massage the perineum to prevent taring. I tell her that her rose is blooming! (hypno-birthing speak)

7:10ish. am- SL doesn’t believe us that the baby is so close. “I still have a long way to go.” Robbie tells her she is doing great and the baby is right there, will be here any minute. SL reaches down, “I don’t feel him there.” I tell her that I saw the hair. It’s dark like Tanner’s!

7:12ish am- SL pushes/breathes the baby down through several long surges. SL says “come on baby” and “help him.” As the head comes out, she kind of brakes a hypnobirthing rule by hollering “It’s stretching! Ouchie. Owwwwwchie” like an opera singer with vibrato and everything. Robbie says in an empathetic tone “Ouchie is right. You're doing great.” As the head comes out more, SL says “Oh my heck, I see him!” More “ouchie” opera singing. Head is out. SL says “something’s wrong!” Everyone assures her nothing is wrong. Later, SL told me she thought she would feel lots of relief after the head was out, but she didn't. That’s because the shoulders needed to come. Finally, SL gives a final opera “Ouwwwwwwwwwchie!” that is the highest and loudest of all.

7:16 am- Baby is here!!

Robbie inspects him for a moment. "Look how big he is!" He looks perfect and croaks a little cry! SL gains her breath.

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Baby is placed directly on SL’s skin and chest. This was her favorite part of the birth. “Embracing my new baby skin to skin was like embracing the best smells and sensations of the world. To feel his slimy, fresh, tiny body on mine was so natural, so special, so organic. Just me and my fresh born baby.”

I (Jeremy) was balling like a baby, just like I did when Tanner was born. SL couldn’t stop saying “He is so beautiful!”

Robbie says the pulsating of the chord has stopped. She lets SL feel the chord to make sure.

Chord is clamped. I’m given the scissors and I cut the chord. It was thicker than I expected.

Baby snuggles up under SL’s breast. He cries a little, stops and looks up, cries a little more.

.

7:25 ish Placenta is delivered. As planned earlier, Robbie shows SL all the parts of the placenta. I think it’s gross, but SL is mesmerized. Baby pees on SL. I think he was jealous of the attention she was giving the placenta!

Baby fusses more. We start singing “I am a Child of God.” Baby stops crying during 2^nd and 3^rd phrases, but then fusses through the rest of the song.

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7:40 am Baby is given APGAR Score of 9/9. We get our alone time with baby for almost 2 hours. Baby never leaves SL’s chest the whole time. He latches onto the breast like a champ and feeds. He’s already one-upping his brother.

9:15 ish Baby is weighed and measured. 8 lbs, 4 oz. 19 inches. The OB from our 37 week appointment said there was no way this baby would be 8lbs. Was he wrong!

9:30 am We eat a big breakfast and then are escorted to our recovery room. We reflect on how well the birth went. We are feeling very, very blessed! Baby, Mom, and Dad did super, we were an awesome team. No epidural, no narcotics, no hyperventilating, no oxygen mask, no IV fluids for dehydration, no episiotomy, and virtually no taring. SL only needed 2 little stitches!! And Dallin was so beautiful and healthy.

And best of all, SL delivered the baby while wearing a Skippy t-shirt! We didn't plan it, but it has  made some awesome product placement advertising on our blog and facebook! Now when people want to have a baby, they will think of peanut butter. My boss will be so proud.