I said, “I need to shimmy, I need to shimmy!” With the help of Chris, my husband, I got to my feet. Feeling very shaky, but determined to listen to my body’s needs, I began to shimmy my hips. What seemed to be just a moment after I started to shimmy, I felt the baby was dropping and about to be born. Much to the surprise of the hospital staff, Angelina Rose was born fifteen minutes later, a very short four hours after we arrived at the hospital.

The cold hard medical facts are: I’m 38 years old and this is my first pregnancy and labor experience. Chris and I first went to the hospital on a Saturday morning when the contractions were about 7 minutes apart. I was in the forty first week of the pregnancy and very ready to have the baby. However, after being admitted and examined, I was disappointed to learn that my cervix was only 1 centimeter dilated. While in the hospital, the contractions slowed to 20 minutes apart. Though I was ready to rock this baby in my arms, the baby was on a different schedule. It was unknown how long my body would take to be fully dilated. The midwife on call didn’t feel we needed to stay at the hospital. We decided it would be more comfortable to spend the day at home.

My friend Nicole and our doula, Luann Richardson, came over to the house when we got home. The companionship was comforting. When a contraction came I would stand and do hip circles. The motion helped me relax as well as allowing the bones in the pelvis to gently reposition. Being home was much better than spending the day in the hospital. Later in the day, Chris and I decided to go out for a bite to eat and do some shopping. I hoped that walking would speed things up.

Later that evening, I rushed to the bathroom and lost my dinner. A call to the midwife confirmed that it was time to go back to the hospital. It was then 10:30 pm. After the whole process of being admitted to the hospital a second time, I received another internal examination. The midwife determined that I was about 4 centimeters dilated and the water broke. Both the midwife and nurse felt it would take another six hours before I reached full dilation (at a rate of a centimeter per hour), followed by another four hours of pushing. That’s a total of at least ten hours of active labor. Well, I was not going to disagree with a twenty-plus year veteran in maternity care; however, I did say the pushing would only last about a half a hour. I am a belly dancer, after all. Without commenting, the nurse began settling me in for a long night.

As I noted above, the baby’s birth – including active labor and transition - was completed in four hours. Did my belly dancing training help shave six hours off my labor? Absolutely! Belly dancing was an essential element of my birth plan.

Like many new mothers, I wrote a birth plan as a way of preparing for the labor and birth of the baby. My husband and I reviewed all the various educational materials available, videos, and books and took a prenatal birth class. The best advice we received was to use the birth plan as a means of preparing for decisions that might need to be made quickly during labor. These decisions included such things as choosing pain medicines and episiotomies. Though I did not want to have any negative thoughts, we were also told to be flexible enough to drop the birth plan if labor didn’t go as we hoped.

My birth plan had three important elements: people, pain management and belly dancing. I read that anxiety and fear could increase the length of labor and cause more painful contractions. During labor, I wanted to feel as relaxed as possible in order to listen to the needs of my body and trust in the labor process.

First, it was very important to me to have people around me, with whom I felt comfortable and secure, to assist me in birthing the baby. My husband Chris is a wonderful blend of strength, empathy, and trust. It was very important to me that he be at my side. Next, I asked one of my closest friends, Nicole Bell, to be there. She had witnessed other births and also knew belly dancing. Since neither Chris nor I had previous birthing experience, we also enlisted the help of a doula, Luann Richardson. She was a very soothing presence during the whole experience. Luann was a bridge between the medical world and us. While the hospital staff is usually working with several patients at the same time, the doula would be with us during the whole birthing experience. Rounding out my birthing team were the hospital and OB/GYN staff. Michelle was the hospital nurse-midwife and Nannette Landry, the midwife on duty that night from the South Shore Women’s Health. This was a wonderful team that both supported my birth plan and cared for me and my baby’s welfare.

The presence of my support group was soothing and reassuring. Luann helped me relax between contractions with massage. When I needed things such as a blanket or a birthing ball, either Luann or Nicole would get it. I didn’t need to wait until the nurse returned. Even the light chatting about things other than giving birth was helpful.

The second element of my birth plan was pain management. I decided to use hypnobirthing along with breathing techniques to manage the pain of the contractions. If at all possible, I did not want to take pain medicine. I wanted to be able to listen to the needs of my body during labor. I felt that any amount of pain relief drugs would dull my senses as well as dull the pain of the contractions. Having said that, I then added if the contractions got too rough, I would take something to ‘take the edge off’. Since I wanted to be able to stand, walk around and belly dance, I needed to be able to use my legs. That eliminated the option of an epidural.

Hypnobirthing is a form of self-hypnosis. A very good friend of mine, Maureen Niak, who taught self-hypnosis for many years, took the time to develop a pain management formula for me, and taught me how to use it to manage the pain. When a contraction came, I would focus inwardly and count down from the number five. As I counted, I would reduce the pain to a level that I could manage. It put a sense of control in my hands while allowing me to tune into my body. I held the hands with my husband or Nicole or Luann during the contractions. This helped me feel their support.

The third element of my birth plan was belly dancing. Many of us in the belly dancing community feel that the one of the original purposes of belly dancing was to help women give birth. Dancing as exercise strengthens your muscles and increases your endurance levels. Belly dancing strengthens the muscles of a woman’s body for many important aspects in a woman’s life such as becoming pregnant, giving birth, and caring for the new infant. In order to do this, women who learn belly dancing become very connected to and aware of their bodies.

So, how did this birth plan work for me during active labor? After I was settled into the room, the midwife nurse left us to ourselves while she assisted other patients. Both she and the midwife, Nannette, periodically checked back in on us. But with Chris, Nicole and Luann with me, I felt good and cared for.

During active labor I moved my hips in a circular motion as I had throughout the early stages of labor. While I had never before given birth, it felt right for my pelvis to be moving. I was amazed that throughout the labor, my body seemed to instinctively know what to do. My body naturally wanted me to change positions. The birthing ball was very nice. On the ball I continued to do my hip circles in a seated position. Chris helped me stay balanced while I was on the ball. I would stay in a position until my body wanted to shift to another one.

I lived from one contraction to another. The hypnobirthing, along with my breathing, made the contractions quite manageable. I didn’t think about asking for pain medicine. I really didn’t need it at this point during the labor. Shifting positions helped with the contractions as well.

It wasn’t long before I felt like pushing. Michelle, the nurse, said it wasn’t time yet. About three hours had past since I arrived. Being fully present in each moment, I didn’t notice the time. I just felt it was time to push. I could feel my muscles bearing down. I asked Nannette to do another internal examination and check my cervix. As it happened, my cervix at that point was swollen. This was no good. The baby couldn’t fit through. Though the cervix was dilated, the swelling made the opening smaller.

Nannette had the hospital bed adjusted so that my hips where higher than my head. Therefore, the weight of the baby was below the cervix. Michelle showed me how to change my breathing when I felt the urge to push. My cervix only needed a little time to get rid of the swelling. After about fifteen minutes, Nannette checked and the cervix was about 9 centimeters dilated. I was given the ok to push.

With help, I walked to the bathroom where they had me sit on the toilet. I think Nannette and Michelle still felt I had a ways to go before the baby came. I could feel the head in my pelvis. I sat on the toilet for about two pushes and then knew I needed to shimmy. It felt so right and so natural to shimmy at that moment. I shimmied relaxing all the muscles in my pelvis and my thighs. The head felt even lower and I knew I needed to go back to the bed and have this baby.

Nannette had stepped out of the room at the time Michelle was checking me on the bed. As I felt my body start the next push, Michelle was excitedly calling for Nannette. The baby was crowning. After the longest ten minutes of my life, Angelina Rose was born. I finally held my baby in my arms.