The Birth Of Ted

A positive home birth with a suspected small baby.

I feel like I need to start my birth story way before birth as Hypnobirthing was not only invaluable during labour but also throughout my pregnancy. It was brought to my attention at my first midwives appointment that apparently my first child, my daughter was ‘very small’ at 6lb 7oz. Nothing was ever said to me at the time but on my first midwife appointment I was told that I would have to have regular scans to ensure my baby wasn’t small again as they would likely need to induce labour if the baby was small and was also told I wouldn’t be able to have a water birth if this was the case. I was frantic from this first appointment. I was in my first trimester and I was already being told I might need to be induced before I’d even had chance to cast eyes on my baby. I found the whole appointment very negative and was even told that maybe ‘my babies just don’t thrive in my pregnancies’. My first birth had been amazing i...

The Birth Of Brooke

A healing home birth story using hypnobirthing after a difficult first birth

Wow where to start?

What a journey.. From the start I knew I wanted a home birth after a traumatic first birth.

I suffer pregnancy related tachycardia and this was a battle I had to fight to prove a home birth was the best place for me. I had a birth matters session with the head of midwifery who could completely see the benefits of home birth and was so positive and supportive and signed it off at around 33 weeks..

Then Corona hit!

Home births suspended…

Well, I did what I could and again spoke to another senior midwife who again was pro home birth who assured me she would do all in her power to help..

Due date week arrived and home births are back on!

On the morning of Saturday the 25th my lovely home birth midwife came to see me, I was 40 weeks and 4 days.. We discussed how everything will work, she told me the days she was on call and that Saturday as in tonight was one of them...

The Birth Of Hugo

Second time parents preparing for their first home birth

We had completed Abby’s course in 2015 for the birth of our son Reuben. Although his birth did not go exactly as we had planned, the course gave us the tools and confidence to control the things we were able to and to make informed decisions throughout the labour. My recovery from his birth was tough and I was so upset I didn’t get the water birth I had hoped for. So when we found out I was pregnant again in August 2018 we discussed a homebirth from early on. We are lucky in Leeds to have a dedicated homebirth team and my midwife advised me to go to one of their ‘meet the midwife’ sessions and she would transfer my care over to them if that’s what I decided to do. The session was fab and their whole ethos mirrored Abby’s teachings on her hypnobirthing courses, they even discussed the ‘BRAIN’ technique. I was excited to transfer my ante natal care to the team at 20 weeks and we booked a refresher course with...