I worked with Charlie back at the beginning of 2010 when she joined one of my HypnoBirthing groups at Born in Stoke Newington. She fully embraced the philosophy and I was proud to spend time with her during her pregnancy offering aromatherapy massage. We also had great fun with a pregnancy photo shoot to capture this transient time in her life.

Here are Charlie’s thoughts on her pregnancy and the birth of her beautiful son Luca Thomas…

“HypnoBirthing had a profound affect on the way I felt about being pregnant and childbirth, it took away anxieties and any preconceived ideas. HypnoBirthing armed me with knowledge and gave me the confidence to actually enjoy the event rather than dread childbirth. I felt empowered and excited about meeting my baby.

During childbirth I did nor cry, panic or swear and I could not believe how calm and collected I felt. I enjoyed my aromatherapy massages whilst pregnant, it helped with the general discomforts of being pregnant, helped me sleep when I was heavily pregnant and massage helped me feel relaxed and re-energised.

I wanted to remember the special time of being pregnant so I decided to have some photos taken, so that I could one day show my son. It was fun and I was so pleased to have a beautiful souvenir of my bump.

Being pregnant made me feel vulnerable and fragile and because of this I explored HypnoBirthing and found ways to relax through massage and fully understanding about what was happening to my body. Becoming a mother is a magical experience and ‘mother nature’ is so clever, I would recommend any new ‘mum- to- be’ and ‘dad-to be’ to take the HypnoBirth journey in order to help overcome any worries or concerns related to having a baby!”