Where it began

My first pregnancy was during lockdown and I was put on an extended maternity leave due to being a frontline worker and the uncertainties about the effects of Covid 19 on unborn babies.

Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands and due to the restrictions on birth partners at the time, I felt compelled to be as prepared and in control as possible.

Without any antenatal classes available to me, I dived into the depths of google and stumbled upon hypnobirthing.

I was hooked and poured all my time into researching this mysterious (to me at the time) method.

I’ll be honest - I thought it was all too good to be true. But what was the worst that could happen?

When I made it to hospital after two days of labouring at home, the midwives were expecting to send me back because I was so calm. When they examined me, they were stunned to find I was actually in established labour! And only a few short hours later I met my beautiful daughter.  The trainee midwife spoke to me like I was some kind of unicorn: “I’ve heard about people who birth like you, but I’ve never seen it before”.

When I fell pregnant with my second child, I was so happy. People would ask “How are you feeling about the birth?” and I'd reply “Yeah I can't wait, I'm really excited to give birth again”. They'd stare at me in disbelief.

But the truth is, I've never felt so empowered as I did birthing my daughter. I knew I could do it again. And wow, what a magical second birth I had. I knew right then, I needed to help others experience this.