“When I got to the hospital it was 12 pm, I was 2 cm dialated, they monitered me for 45 minutes, my water had not broken, then I walked around the hospital to see if my contractions got stronger. Well they did. I went back 30 minutes later, I was 3 inches dilated, but my midwife thought that it was the castor oil and that my contractions would stop, so I was discharged, but she said stick around because of my family’s history of quick labor. So we went to a little pizza place about 5 minutes away and before we’d gone into the car to go there I was going into serious contractions where I had to stop and bend over, we still went to the pizza place and about 1 hour had gone by we were back at the hospital because I knew I was having the baby. This time they admitted me and it was a little after 3 pm, I was 4 cm dilated. I went to the laboring room, but it was hard walking over there. My sister was a great help to me, the contractions were super painful in my lower back and she did this thing with her hands that caused friction and was a great distraction.

…”I had lots of distractions, I had massage tools, heat packs and ice packs, and these spikey plastic balls that I would grab onto and the birthing ball was great. I also had a visual which was this holographic picture of a bird on a tree limb over the ocean at sunset. And I had music as well. My sister hung a twisted sheet on the back of the hospital door and shut it so I could swing on it and pull down with my body weight, which oddly as it sounds, was one of the best distractions I had.  The doula was there and she was helpful, but the most helpful tool was your class, seriously, I knew everything that was going on each step of the way, and I had no apprehension about what was going on with my body and that allowed me to focus on what I had to do, which was relax and get through the contractions. You went over everything so much so that i had it memorized and felt totally confident in the process.  And when a contraction came i just kept hearing your voice in my head, “be a limp noodle!” and I forced my body to relax. The most helpful thing I finally found was towards the end when they got so bad, I breathed into them, and just thought that my body absorb them and that it wasn’t painful, just a sensation, I pushed for 30 minutes…and ended up giving birth on top on the bed, leaning over the birth ball so I couldn’t see anything….Everything went really well, and completely natural.  He is so healthy and is just a joy….I look at the size of that baby and I can’t believe I gave birth to him, birth is a miracle!

Thank you for providing the tools to get through it, your class was priceless, really, and I wanted to share with you how it all played out in the end.”  Laura G.