Dear Kat,

Noah Bruno was born on 30 September 2017 at 00.50.  He’s happy, healthy and feeding well.

We cannot thank you enough for all your help – which made such an enormous difference both in the run up to the birth and in the birth itself.  We both approached birth in a calm, informed way – excited to meet our little one and without fear.  In the birth itself, I unfortunately had to be induced as we’d had a number of signs for a few weeks that Noah wasn’t growing and blood flows from the placenta were slowing down.  I was very sad to be on the labour ward and having a different birth to one we had planned but we used the hypnobirthing techniques to adapt and to create a calm atmosphere on the ward.  The birth itself was fine – I had a very short active labour which I managed with gas and air.  In that moment, so many things from the classes came back to me that I hadn’t realised I had thought about. I was naked and on all fours and the experience was animal and amazing – I went into my own little zone and my body took over.  The team of midwives (and two doctors at the very end!) who brought our baby earthside could not have been more amazing.

Even though the birth ended up being more medicalised than I had wanted, I am so pleased it turned out to be a positive birth and that I managed to do it without pain relief. I feel empowered by the experience.

We are besotted with Noah who is beautiful, tiny, noisy and amazing.  We are loving getting to know him – and recognising some of the traits we had already gotten to know in the womb (like his regular hiccups).  We can’t wait to introduce you.

Thank you so much for everything – you made such an enormous difference.

With love,

Lucy and Sam xx