‘I am strong because we are strong, we are strong because our baby is strong, our baby is strong because I am strong’

I woke at 1am feeling very floaty. After going to the loo and finding some blood in my knickers, I called the hospital to ask for advice. They asked me to come in as a precaution. 

I was so convinced that Henry still had a couple of weeks before arriving - I hadn’t finished painting the kitchen cupboard doors yet! 

My birth partner Jack, grabbed our nearly fully packed hospital bag and I ordered an Uber. We both assumed they would send us back home after checking everything was okay. 

When we arrived, we were directed towards the labour ward where I was hooked up to a couple of monitors. My surges started to get slightly more intense, and I realised that I had started labour. I asked a midwife about transferring to the birth centre to have a water birth, but she said this was unlikely as they needed to monitor my bleeding. This was when my hypnobirthing lessons with Anna really helped - I focused on my breathing,  visualisations and my affirmation, allowing me to adjust my expectations of how Henry was going to be born and still feel powerful and excited about what was about to happen.

We were then taken to a room on the labour ward (which was super lovely!) and a midwife came to check on us every hour to see how my bleeding was doing. I didn’t allow this to interrupt my focus - breathing and joking around with Jack helped.

At around 6am, a midwife came and said that they were no longer concerned about my bleeding, and they were going to take me to the birth centre for a water birth - yippeee!

The next stage of my labour was exactly how I imagined it to be. Jack and I breathed through the surges together and I felt very connected to him. Our midwives totally respected our birth plan and were amazing at responding. There was such a fuzzy, warm focus in the room. At around 11am, the pool was filled up ready for me to get in. Henry was born at 11:50am. He arrived en caul, and was the most peaceful, beautiful being I had ever met. 

I know that without our hypnobirthing lessons with Anna, I would not have found it so easy to remain calm and positive at the beginning of my labour.

It made the world of difference.