Bubble of Peace warning, for those doing hypnobabies

In the afternoon of 11/17/2013 (the day after my due date), I started having a lot of lower back pain.

At around 9:30 pm, I put on my hypnobabies track and tried to go to sleep. The back pain was getting really bad though and I couldn’t concentrate and couldn’t get into hypnosis. I got up and spent some time bouncing on my labor ball and watched a little TV.

At 11 pm, I realized that, while the back pain was constant, it would get worse in waves. My husband timed a few contractions while massaging and putting counter pressure on my back. The waves of pain were ranging from 1 to 4 minutes apart and lasting for 45 seconds to a minute.

By midnight, I had thrown up a few times and the waves were now not only in my back; they were in my back, my lower belly, and my upper thighs. My husband kept insisting that we go to the hospital and I kept refusing, believing that I was in early labor and had 15-25 hours to go (from all that I had read about most moms’ first births). At 1 am, the pain was unbearable and I finally gave in to my husband’s request and we called the doctor. When I told the doctor that I had thrown up 4-5 times and that my waves were coming every 1-3 minutes, he told us to come in and get checked.

My husband woke up our daughter, grabbed the hospital bags and the birth ball and we went downstairs. I threw up by the car and told him that I didn’t want to go, that I couldn’t do this. He reassured me and got me in the car. The drive took about 25 minutes (Funny side note: in Mali, after 11 pm, there are tons of police checkpoints on the road that you have to stop at and have your ID and car paperwork checked. My husband blew through 3 checkpoints while yelling out the window, “My wife’s giving birth!”). With every contraction, I would squeeze his hand and he would talk me through it. In between every contraction, I would tell him how we were going to the hospital too early and how mad at myself I was for not being as calm and zen as I had imagined being in (what I thought was) early labor.

We arrived at the hospital at 2 am and I got checked out by the doctor: 8 centimeters! I was overjoyed to be so far along! 15 minutes later, my water broke on the hospital bed. And soon after, I felt the urge to push.

For pushing, I got down on the floor, on my knees, with my arms wrapped around my husband. The pain was truly indescribable and I pushed as hard as I physically could. I pushed for about 10 minutes, screaming my head off while pushing (there went my “calm” birth I had imagined). The screaming almost became hypnotic for me and I couldn’t NOT do it. I felt the doctor helping me stretch and then I felt the head come out. Another big push and the shoulders were out and I could feel her being pulled from my body.

My husband held me while I asked him if the baby was a boy or a girl. The doctor said, “Muso” (‘girl’ in the local language here). After a minute, they cut the cord and helped me walk over to the birthing chair. I threw off my tank top on the way and they put my baby girl onto my chest. I just kept saying, “My baby, my baby”. She had a little attempt at breastfeeding while I felt some more contractions that pushed the placenta out. Then the doctor stitched me up (1st degree tear) while we just stared at our little baby girl, Amina Noelle.

And now, here I am, with Amina sleeping soundly next to me. She is so beautiful and I can’t believe that she was the one growing inside of my belly all of this time. I am so, so in love.

TL;DR: Had an unmedicated hospital birth in Mali, West Africa. 3.5 to 5 hour labor (depending on how you count it!). Got to hospital at 2 am and gave birth at 2:35 am. Mostly back labor. BABY GIRL!

• For anyone interested in hypnobabies: I don’t regret doing it, even though it didn't help me the way I had expected during labor. For me, I think it really helped me to have a positive, worry-free pregnancy. I slept really well thanks to the hypnosis tracks and I had a lot of confidence going into labor. And I think that my hypnobabies training helped me remain relatively calm during a frightening experience.