Hi, Listeners! In this first Monday-Mini-Episode, I share the story of one of my HypnoBirthing clients, Christina, who was diagnosed with Group B Strep at 36 weeks. When her membranes released at 39 weeks, her midwives made the evidence-based recommendation that she go immediately to the hospital for induction and antibiotics, even though labor hadn't yet begun. When she and her husband got to the hospital parking lot, she called me sobbing with the words I'll always remember: "Every cell in my body is telling me not to go into the hospital right now". Listen to find out what she did from there, and discover the one thing powerful enough to make her refuse the sound, reasonable recommendation of her trusted midwives.
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Hey everyone, I want to tell you the story of a HypnoBirthing client of mine whose name is Christina.
But first, let me ask you this question.
What would you do if every cell in your body were telling you to take a different course of action? If every cell in your body were telling you to run, would you listen to it? When Christina and her husband signed up for my hypnobirthing class, they were planning on giving birth in a hospital. But when they went on the tour of the hospital about a month after they completed my class, what really caught their attention was the other couples going on the tour. They expected the nurse to talk about epidurals and interventions and all that so they were prepared for that, but they weren't prepared for the other couples on the tour to be asking logistical questions that had nothing to do with their birth experience or their satisfaction rate around their birth. The question that stuck out the most to Christina was when one couple asked where to get their garage parking ticket validated. So that really rocked them more than you might imagine they went home, they were just like, this doesn't feel like our place. If this is the right place for for those couples, this can't be the right place for us. So they switched, they switched to a midwifery group. They were thrilled with their decision and had their remaining prenatal appointments with this new group. When Christina was 36 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with Group B strep. And the evidence based protocol does indicate that women with Group B strep should receive antibiotics during their labor. What Christina didn't expect was that if her memories would release early, that she would have to go to the hospital and start getting pitocin to get labor started, because they didn't want the exposure of the group B strep bacteria to the baby for a prolonged period of time. Once the membranes released, that's a risk that has to be managed. So this is what happened. She and her husband followed the midwives recommendation to meet them at the hospital. They got to the parking lot of the hospital, and Christina burst into tears. She couldn't bring herself to get out of the car and go inside. They called me and Christina was crying so hard that I actually couldn't even understand what she was saying. So for a minute or two, I helped her to just slow her breathing a bit. And when she stopped gasping and crying so hard, she said to me, that her membranes released and her midwives wanted her to go into the hospital for induction. And I'll never forget, she said, Cynthia Every cell in my body is telling me not to go in there right now.
What do we do?
I know that the midwives are following evidence based protocol, I know that what they were recommending was, quote appropriate. It wasn't reckless, it wasn't unnecessary. It was appropriate. But here's a woman saying, every cell in my body is telling me not to do this.
So which one which voice should speak louder? The professionals, right, the professionals that she hired that she trusted that she chose, or herself, her intuition, her gut instinct. Now, we might not all agree on this, but to me, nothing is more important than your instinct. And in my opinion, as a mother in raising children, one of the most important things I can possibly teach my children To listen to their gut instinct to listen to that voice, if your child at any point in his or her entire life has a moment where they could say, every cell in their body is telling them to run, every cell in their body is telling them not to take a particular course of action. Wouldn't you want them to listen to that voice? Wouldn't you want them to trust themselves? So what could I do? I wasn't the medical provider, I was speaking to a client that I cared about whose intuition I trusted. And all I said to her was, did you ask them this? Did you ask them Matt, can you buy more time? Can you do this instead? Can you manage the risk this way? And she said she had already asked all those questions and they were not going to budge. She asked me if I thought she had any alternatives. And I said, you always have alternatives. You can always try to speak to another provider and see if you can find another provider you respect who might take a different course of action. This is exactly what she ended up doing. They drove away from the hospital and spent the next day or two, making calls to other practices in particular home birth midwives. And they found a home birth midwife who disagreed with the protocol that her midwives were recommending, even though the evidence supports it. This one midwife said I don't believe it is the right course of action. I agree with your instinct, I would never suggest you come and be induced for this reason. There are other ways to manage this. And they talked about it for a few hours. And at the very end of pregnancy, they made the switch and she didn't go into labor for at least another week. and ended up having a really beautiful home birth with this new midwife. I always say that the best of my education comes from my own clients. Nothing has expanded me so much as the couple that have come through this community. And I changed after Christina's birth. I saw what importance there is. And what I'm always saying myself, I'm always saying here Everyone listen to yourself. This was a woman who was really put to the test, because every rational person around her was saying, go in for the induction even though you're not in labor, because your group B strep, positive and your memories have released, but she listened to herself.
And fortunately, her husband felt very much the same way. So there was no discord between the two of them. But when she made the switch to having the home birth, before she went into labor with her son, she did feel overcome with peace. And that's how you know you're making the right decision. We can stay in our conscious minds if we insist. We can make lists of pros and cons. We can try to talk ourselves into or out of decisions. But when we get quiet, there is a voice. There are emotions brewing in the subconscious. are we listening to them? Are we suppressing them? Are we trusting ourselves a little bit less than those around us? Or a little bit more than those around us? life does come with these really difficult moments. Now, we could all say, well, easy for you to say now, Cynthia, because her birth went so well. But what if it didn't? That's true. What if it didn't? What if it didn't had she walked into the hospital? Or what if she had that home birth and things didn't go well? Or what if her baby had contracted Group B strep? So the question isn't whether there was a right and wrong answer here because either one could have been the right decision. But what do we have to fall back on other than being able to say to ourselves, I truly felt in my heart and soul, this was the right choice. But when we have an adverse outcome and say I knew I wasn't supposed to do that. That's a special kind of suffering. So this isn't about judging her and asking ourselves whether she made the right or responsible decision. We already know she did. Because she says so because it was only her birth to have. It was only her and her husband's baby. And they were on the same page. That voice inside of you is speaking. So the only question is, are you listening? And if so, what is it saying? So I hope that gives you something to think about. Maybe it reminds you of a time in your life when you trusted your instincts. And maybe that's a good story for you to share with your children so they can do the same one day. So thank you for listening to this mini episode. We'd love to hear your thoughts reach out to us at down to birth show on Instagram or leave us a message at 80243 83696802 Get down. And as always remember hear everyone and listen to that wise voice inside.
