It’s so lovely to be able to write this positive birth story, after reading so many before Nara was born and wondering then if I would have a good experience to share….and I do and here it is.

Nara was born on 6th February at 5.19pm, all 8.9 pounds of her! Leading up to the birth I had extra scans as she was measuring big, and there was talk of possible induction and how I may not be able to be on the midwife led unit. I found this devastating at the time, especially as the birth with my elder daughter ended up being very medical and I was so hoping for as natural a birth as possible led by midwives not doctors.

Doing the hypnobirthing course really built my confidence in being able to deliver a big baby, afterall my baby is just the right size for my body! I was prepared to fight my corner by empowering myself with the information and facts. Given I had no medical issues I believed I should have the chance of being on the midwife led unit to start with at least, and I spent a lot of time detailing my wishes on my birth plan-with stickers and all!

Turns out we didn’t even have a chance to look at the birth plan as it all happened so quickly. Nara was due on the 14th of February, but on the morning of 6th February I started to feel some lower back period like pains, something I had felt over the last few weeks so didn’t pay much attention to. Interestingly, I had the best night sleep in months the night before, maybe the body’s way of giving me rest before the birth.

By midday I could feel the surges coming on quite strong, about 7 minutes apart and used the breathing techniques and affirmations to work through them, as well as the postures I practiced in my antenatal yoga. The sacral pressure my husband did was so so helpful in getting me through each wave. I managed to continue working through them till they were about 3 minutes apart, and coming really strong. This is when we decided to call it and went into triage as they were going to decide if I needed to be midwife or doctor led.

When I arrived at triage the midwives informed me there was no time to decide where I would be, I was having the baby now in triage! This was amazing as the midwives were really on board with my request to use hypnobirthing. I used gas and air and when the time came they said “use your J breathing and breathe your baby out”. I was so happy to hear this language being used, and I knew what to do. We got to triage at 4.20pm and Nara was born with no medical intervention or pain relief at 5.19pm. We managed to have delayed cord clamping and I learned afterwards that the midwife used a hot compress to protect my perineum so I only had a very small tear.

Despite not having time to share my birth plan, I had the birth I wanted, led by midwives, trusting my body and using the techniques I had learned. I am so grateful I had fantastic midwives who were on board with hypnobirthing. They said I did all the hard work at home and made their jobs easier by coming at the right time and doing the course! I can proudly say I laboured at home like a yogi and birthed in triage like a goddess!

Thank you Kat for all the preparation, but more importantly for helping me build trust and confidence in my own body and mind’s ability to birth my baby. This confidence is something that will be used in life going forwards, not just for the birth, and for this I am truly grateful. xxx