I came across Anna via Instagram in my second trimester, shortly after reading Marie Mongan’s Hypnobirthing book on the recommendation of a friend. The book had given me a totally new understanding of what birth could be like (ie: not like how it’s shown in the movies), and I felt it was a no-brainer to use hypnobirthing in preparing for my labour. My husband read it too and found it persuasive. After that we attended one of Anna’s free taster sessions which was informative and thought provoking. I remember being struck by Anna’s admiration for the Homerton Homebirth team, and that when the topic of the risks of giving birth at home came up, she turned the question on its head by asking us to think about the risks of giving birth in hospital, which I’d never considered. 

I was planning on giving birth at the midwife-led birth centre of St Thomas’ Hospital (which I’d chosen over my local hospital Homerton due to its equal distance from my home and workplace), because I felt I wanted the option of having access to pain relief and obstetricians if I needed them. 

I had a wonderful pregnancy, keeping active and feeling well, aside from some pelvic girdle pain in the last few weeks for which I received physiotherapy.

During my third trimester I listened to Anna’s hypnobirthing tracks as I fell asleep at night and whenever I had a nap; and I also attended her ‘Gather’ visualisation sessions on Sunday evenings which were blissful. I kept a close eye on her Instagram posts and stories as I found them informative and thoughtful. My husband and I had a private intensive 2h30 session at home with Anna. By this point I was a massive hypnobirthing geek: I’d listened to lots of podcasts, read books & birth stories, and watched online videos on the subject, so the session was a great opportunity to consolidate my own knowledge while bringing my husband up to speed on all things hypnobirthing, and Anna also taught us some positions whereby he could support me during contractions. Anna commented that our flat would be lovely for a homebirth, but I was still planning on giving birth in hospital and asked her for guidance on advocating for myself when faced with any suggestions of interventions I might not want. 

I felt particularly worried about any disruption to a physiological birth process arising from the process of leaving home during labour to be admitted into hospital, and specifically the hospital’s policy on carrying out VEs as a means of admission. What I wanted was an assurance that, on the day when I would arrive at hospital in the throes of labour, I would be able to decline a VE without having to put up a fight for my right not to consent to one, but when in my 37th week I asked the hospital for reassurance on this matter the response I received from various hospital representatives was evasive at best and hostile at worst. 

This tipped the balance for me: I had started my pregnancy feeling fearful about my body’s ability to birth a baby and trusting of the medical system’s ability to help me manage that process, and now I felt trusting of my body’s ability to birth a baby and fearful of the medical system’s likelihood of sabotaging that process. I finally decided that a homebirth was right for me. My husband was fully on board, which was important as he was going to be my birth partner. I got in touch with Anna who supported my decision-making process and directed me to the Homerton Homebirth team. I was allocated Philippa as my midwife and had my booking appointment with her very soon after, and immediately noticed how much more supported I felt compared to my experience of antenatal care in hospital: Philippa really took the time to get to know me and understand my wishes and concerns. I spent the next two weeks preparing a beautiful birthing space in my baby’s nursery, with a massive birth pool (borrowed at short notice from The Hackney Homebirth Support Group), affirmations stuck to the wall, LED tealights, a panoply of essential oils, and a basket of snacks. In the event, we never actually stepped into this birthing space, but I am certain that the process of preparing it was great for my oxytocin levels.

I woke up on the morning of my due date with what felt like slight period pains but didn’t get excited as I knew it was statistically unlikely I’d give birth on my due date; but by 5.30pm I was having regular contractions and knew I was definitely in labour. My labour progressed quickly and I was so glad to have lots of hypnobirthing knowledge and techniques at my fingertips. My husband called the homebirth team to find out who was on duty that evening and gave them a heads’ up. I used the ’in for four out for more’ breathing technique taught by Anna for every contraction during my labour, until right at the end when I was pushing.

In the early stages of labour I had some food and Lucozade, and tried to rest between contractions. I asked my husband to do the hip squeezes Anna had taught us, these brought lots of relief. I wasn’t in the least bit surprised when, at about 10.30pm, I went to the bathroom to use the loo and found that I was comfortable sitting there alone, with the safety of my husband being sat on the steps outside the door recording my contractions. At about half past midnight I lost my mucus plug and not long after that I felt a ‘pop’ and my waters broke, almost immediately followed by a rush of sensation downward, after which my contractions were accompanied by strong downward pressure. We called the midwives who asked to speak to me and then said they would come, and my husband ran me a shallow bath for me to lay in while we waited for their arrival. During this time I’ll admit that I felt quite anxious for the midwives to come soon: I rationalised that most first labours take a long time and this felt too quick so I concluded that perhaps something was going wrong. The midwives, Harriet and Sarah arrived at about 2am, and I immediately felt in good hands. Sarah saw that the baby’s head was visible already (I hadn’t thought to check manually or with a mirror!) and said that my body and baby were ready for pushing, and they guided me through a couple of different positions to facilitate that process, eventually helping me out of the bath and up the few steps to the bedroom where I went down on all fours.

Sarah was having trouble hearing the baby’s heart rate and found it to have slowed so recommended calling an ambulance as a precaution. While Harriet was on the phone to the emergency services Sarah urged me to push. I concentrated all my energy on pushing even before the next contraction came, and the next thing I knew, Sarah was exclaiming ‘We have a baby!’, to which Harriet asked ‘A baby, or a head?’ and Sarah delightedly confirmed: ‘A baby!’ while gently handing him to me. He was born all in one go, within 20min of the midwives’ arrival, and started crying immediately; the placenta came out 3min after that. My husband was by my side and we got into bed to have skin to skin contact with our new baby and help him have his first feed. It was the best start to our life as a family of three that we could have hoped for.