I had been empowered by hypnotherapy previously which had helped lift me out of the deep sadness and loss We had experienced when we were not successful in getting pregnant. When our little boy chose to join us we were fortunate that pregnancy was a joy and all straightforward.

I had not given much thought to pain relief and was open minded thinking I will just have whatever I need without thinking or being aware of the potential consequences of unnecessary medical intervention. After attending an ante natal class about pain relief I realised I didn’t want any of the side effects for me or my baby and this quickly prompted me to start hypno birthing classes. Wow, am I glad I did that! As a result I birthed at Serenity midwifery led centre which I wouldn’t have known about if not for my hypnobirthing teacher. The whole ambience of the place was so warm and nurturing and I shudder to think of how different my birthing experience would have been in the clinical setting of a hospital. My labour was 42 hours in total from the first surge and I have no doubt that I would have had unnecessary medical intervention in another setting – not least because without the breathing techniques and mindset learnt through HB I would probably have thought that I couldn’t cope and have wanted intervention. I also had a doula who helped me enormously through the transition stage when I struggled with the surges because my baby had turned back to back.

The sense of relief after the event that I stayed with it and had a natural birth is overwhelming. I’m so happy that I gave my baby the natural birth he deserves and he is such a chilled out little fella! It was such a beautiful experience.

A family friend said to me afterwards on seeing that I was very tired ‘I think that’s barbaric to let someone labour for 42 hours without helping’. But I thought how wrong can a person be! I followed my body and my baby who both knew what they were doing and had a beautiful experience however tiring! If I’d had ‘help’ it may have become a very ugly panicky distressing experience that frightened me when I remembered it as I hear so many women talk about. As it is I have many more hours of labour to remember with fondness! Every day I look at my little boy and still have to pinch myself that he’s here and thank goodness that he had a great start with our hypno birth! It might not have been the quickest or ‘easiest’ route, but it was the most natural and kindest to my baby and my body. There’s so much more I could say but I have a lovely wriggly baby requiring attention :-))