“We were able to embrace the turns that the birth took and fully enjoy the moment we met our son.”

Dear Kat

It gives us great pleasure to finally introduce you to our son, Reuben John. After 14 days, and a 24 hour induction he was born, by emergency c section, at 7.58 on the 16th of December.
We thought we’d write you this note, as it may be useful to read out in your sessions as an example of how your course can still be of great help, even if things go completely off piste (And also to tell any potential clients how great we think you are !)
As you will have gathered by now, the original birth ‘wish list’ kinda went out of the window. Nevertheless, we managed not to panic, and instead make calm, informed decisions throughout the labour – turning what could potentially have been an extremely stressful situation, into a much more relaxed experience. We were also able to discuss openly our wishes with the staff at Homerton, which in turn meant we were able to avoid the major drugs and intervention we felt most apprehensive of.
In short, the hypnobirthing and relaxation methods, principles and exercises you taught us, had made us extremely well equipped mentally. And empowered by the knowledge that we had. Your course encourages couples to establish a rounded viewpoint about labour – rather than sticking religiously to one ‘school of thought’. This turned out to be particularly relevant in our case, with regards to induction.
Initially, they ‘informed’ us that we would be coming in to be induced on Tuesday 13th (11 days past the due date). Knowing that we had the right to decide for ourselves (and armed with the facts about the World Health Organisation’s 42 week due date etc… etc…) we asks lots of questions, and eventually negotiated to get the induction date pushed back to the Thursday. We chose that date partly as it was the last day that they would have let us labour in the Birthing Centre as intended. We also thought it was a good compromise, as we knew that there were potential risks involved in letting him overcook!
As it turned our decision was spot on. After little Reuben’s heart rate started to decelerate to a worrying level, with increasing frequency late on in the labour, the doctors informed us that the placenta could be starting to fail. It made us realise that if we had we gone beyond our induction date (ie. past 14 days) we really could have putting our baby in grave danger. Thankfully, we were in the right place and the emergency C section was performed, enabling us to receive our beautiful, perfectly healthy young boy.
Without having the balanced and well rounded viewpoint which your course gave us, we would not have been able to make our decisions confidently. We also would not have been able to deal with such a serious and unpredictable situation in such a calm and rational manner. In fact, we were able to embrace the turns that the birth took and fully enjoy the moment we met our son.

We won’t get too gushy on you but we can’t stress enough how much we appreciate your help and support, and thank you wholeheartedly for your hand in helping our little boy make the best possible start in the world.
With love
Ben and Lianne