ALEXIS & TOBY

 

When I was expecting my first baby, I was so naive as to how birth would play out for me. Even though I was a midwife and had attended hundreds of births myself and therefore knew that birth has ideas of its own, I definitely had expectations. When the day of my birth arrived, I woke up, went for a wee, then stood up and my waters broke in an almost comedy fashion ! I thought that I would have a considerable period of irregular surges (contractions) and then in time my labour would fall into a pattern. Boy was I wrong. 30 minutes later I was pacing around my house huffing and puffing, experiencing 3 powerful surges every 10 minutes, wondering what was going on here ?!

My midwife friend arrived at my house and suggested examining me..........9 cm dilated !!!! I literally couldn't believe it, there was no way we were going to make it into the hospital so I had to make a swift decision to utilise my hypno-birthing skills and techniques so that I would not completely spin out with overwhelm because this birth lark was not going as planned (does it ever).

With an incredible tribe of family (husband, mum, sister) and the most supportive and encouraging midwives I could hope for, I birthed Toby, on my bedroom floor. He was 9LB 3 and even though it was nothing like we had imagined, it was such an incredible and empowering experience.