Hi Phyllis - I took your prenatal yoga class through Overlake Hospital from Feb-July - I had my last class with you on July 28th, and the next day I went into labor! I was just scanning the Swedish @ Issaquah yoga website looking for family yoga classes, or something I can do with my now 6 month old, and when I saw your name come up under the prenatal classes, I was so excited! The Issaquah Swedish is really close to my home, so I hope you are still there for the next couple of years, because I will definitely be signing up for yoga the next time I'm pregnant.
I wanted to share with you the highlights of my birth story --
I started off with surges late Friday night. They were mild enough so I was able to get some sleep. The next day I continued to work through them - with all the breathing techniques and confidence I gained in myself throughout yoga and especially HypnoBirthing, this sounds weird but I was actually able to enjoy the surges! They were not painful in the way you normally think of pain, instead I took that time to close my eyes, breathe, and think of my baby, and it was a really beautiful experience -- it's hard to explain, but I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about :) We had a great day (it was also our wedding anniversary!), we went to the farmers market, and I even baked blueberry muffins just to give myself a distraction! Eventually the surges were 5 minutes apart, so it was time to go to the hospital. We got there at 5:30pm, and I was 4cm dilated. The surges were still manageable, so I did not want an epidural, and going into this whole thing, I knew I wanted to try to have a natural birth, especially after seeing all those amazing HypnoBirthing videos. At 6:15pm, my membranes released, and the nurses said now it's going to get more intense - and boy did it! I was still doing ok, but when they offered the epidural again, I said well let's be honest, how much longer do I have? And they said since you are a first time mom, you are probably looking at another 8-10 hours. I couldn't believe it - the sensations were getting so intense. It was at the point where I couldn't mentally get my head around doing this for another 8 hours. So at that point I agreed to an epidural. When they were done administering it, they were about to walk away and leave me to relax, but my husband says "wait - aren't you going to check to see if she's dilated any further?" and so the nurse reluctantly checked, obviously not expecting to see that much progress, since I had been there for less than 2 hours at this point. Well they checked - and I was at a 10!! It's time to push!! So THAT'S why it was so intense - I didn't have 8 hours ahead of me, I was already there, I was ready. I wish I would have known that, and listen to my intuition and not gotten the epidural. At this point everything had happened so fast, so the nurse said would you like an hour to just relax, before you start pushing. So at 8:30pm the doctor came in, and then after just a few surges, our beautiful daughter, Kathryn Grace was born. So from the time we got to the hospital to the time she was born was only 4 hours! The birth must have been so easy on her because she scored a 10 on the APGAR! The doctor said she hadn't seen a 10 in 3 years. Anyway, I just felt so prepared for the day and I credit that in large part to HypnoBirthing and of course I know the yoga was so supportive. The doctor even commented that during the birth it seemed like I had done this before, and when I told her I had taken HypnoBirthing and prenatal yoga, she said "ahhh, that's why". So I just wanted to share my story with you and thank you for preparing me for this day and giving me the tools I needed to have this be the amazing experience that I hoped it would be.
I hope this note finds you well, and I look forward to seeing you in the future. Please let the other women know how wonderful birth could be!
Lizzie Dalton