I just wanted to get in touch to say how helpful we found the hypnobirthing course and report back now baby Booker has been born! He’s a month old now and we’re just getting to grips with everything (and finding time to write emails)! I’ve attached a picture of Booker, he seems to be asleep in all the pictures I have of him! He was born on the 14th September.  He’s a pretty big baby – he was 9lb 6oz when he came out and has continued to grow!

His birth was wonderful – I started having contractions on a Thursday evening when my family were round for dinner, but was convinced they were practice contractions so went to bed. I kept in mind all the useful practical info about making sure I was rested, so having been woken up by them at 2.30am, rather than jumping up and going for a walk, I read time out and had a snack and then went back to bed where I even got some sleep until I was woken by a gushing at 6.30am when my waters had broken! I tried not to get obsessed about timing the contractions but eventually did when they seemed quite strong and was having 3 in 10 minutes. I called the midwife at about 8am and she said she’d drop by at 10 to see how I was getting on. I spent the next couple of hours on my hands and knees on the sofa – I have to say it definitely hurt but I just concentrated on resting between each contraction (until I couldn’t even rest any more because they were so strong)! When I thought I couldn’t bear it any more, my body suddenly seemed to start to push, and what a relief that was. There was a slightly comedy moment where the birthing pool was far too hot but I really wanted to get in and so Al was bailing buckets of cold water on to me. Being unable to speak I somehow managed to text the midwife saying I had started to push!

Eventually the midwife arrived at about 10.30 (so I am told!) and I could hear her saying to Al that I was in the pool a bit early and she’d just check on me and pop back later. I remember thinking that I was sure I was pushing but of course couldn’t speak to let her know. She sent Al off to put the heating on and next thing I heard was her calling Alex’s name because the baby’s head was crowning! I found the J breathing incredibly helpful at this point and just let my body get on with it whilst concentrating on breathing. Al did the soft touch massage as well whilst Booker was coming out which was lovely, he also assisted the midwife as only one of them was there, caught Booker and then managed to take some pictures right away as well! Lovely baby Booker was born at 11.12am on the Friday morning.

So I just wanted to say thanks – the course gave both Al and me the confidence to have a fantastic home birth. Oddly the bits that I found most helpful were the practical bits. I’d been practicing my rainbow relaxation and visualization, but didn’t have much of a chance to use it all. What was amazing though were all the bits about trusting my body and relaxing – I can imagine I’d have been terrified with no midwife otherwise. Al also absolutely loved the course and felt it really enabled him to know what was going on and be confident. Thanks Kat.