I was one of those first time baby-bearers who had only heard horror stories about birth, but after learning about hypnobirthing with Anna, all of my fears and nerves were replaced by confidence and calm.

7AM in the morning of baby’s due date, I felt my first surge as I was lying in bed, then my waters trickled down. My partner and I had planned for a home birth, but there were 3 other births that weekend, so we ended up going into the maternity ward to check my dilation around 9AM. I accepted a membrane sweep at that time because the surges got very strong very quickly - I wanted to get this show on the road!

As it was a quiet day, we were invited to settle into the birthing centre - a beautiful, spacious room with everything someone in labour could need. After putting on our playlists and scents, I crab walked up and down sets of stairs between surges to increase the dilation.Two lovely and knowledgeable midwives were on shift, who carefully read through my birth plan and left us mostly alone, only coming in to offer gentle suggestions.

In Anna’s course, I particularly enjoyed learning the physiological side of pregnancy and birth, finding out that your body will produce wonder hormones and flex in miraculous ways to make space for your baby to have their grand entrance to the world. These facts helped me to stay grounded as I headed into stronger surges. I also asked my partner to repeat the positive affirmations we had written down. The midwives were calling me ‘the silent labourer’...

By 4PM I got into the birthing pool, and the water felt amazing. The surges kept getting stronger, and a couple of hours later I agreed to a dilation check - everyone was excited that it was 8cm! (“Not too shabby” was apparently what I said...) The pushing part lasted 45 minutes, the warm water really helped with the pain, but gas and air intensified the surges for me so I stopped using it. 10 minutes before the birth I got out to try to wee (I felt like I couldn’t in the pool) and had some very intense fetal ejection reflexes - the head was crowning!

I remember reaching down and feeling his soft hair coming through, and was later told by my partner that I instinctively caught our baby as he came out and cradled him in the pool. It was truly a life-affirming moment and one of the most significant moment of our lives.

After the placenta came out, I fainted for a few seconds due to blood loss (post-partum haemorrhage, which is one of the most common emergencies), then a few hours later a blood clot started causing me a lot of pain, which had to be drained in the theatre under spinal anaesthetic. But throughout the long night, I was still able to keep using my breathing techniques, joking with the doctors even though I was on the operation table.

I was told my labour at 12 hours was very short for a first birth, and though we ended up having to stay at the post natal ward overnight, it meant the baby got all his checks done, saving us a lot of appointments during the first weeks. There’s really a positive side to anything that can happen on your family’s special day.