Birth eve...

This time 9 years ago I was in early labour with our first gorgeous boy James who was 9 days overdue...

I was feeling impatient yet terrified at the same time.

If only I new what I know now - hypnobirthing WORKS!!!

That is my one and only regret, why didn’t I know about it all those years ago or more to the point, why didn’t I believe in it second time round? Do you know what, I didn’t believe because I had been there, done it and worn the T-Shirt and no one could of changed my mind, I am pretty stubborn when I want to be. This was until one of my best friends who I trust dearly told me that history didn’t have to repeat its self. She told me things could be different.

To be honest I think I was pretty naive first time, I kept thinking my Nan did it 5 times it can’t be that bad.

I was wrong, birth can be that bad, my Nan was just AWESOME.

I was therefore cynical that ANYTHING could make labour and birth better.

BUT, even if I could go back in time and do things differently I surprisingly wouldn’t change a thing.

You probably wonder why this is?

In truth, I have experienced birth with and without hypnobirthing (twice!).

I now understand how much it helped and how supportive it was first hand, but, I also understand that until you experience that for yourself or see it with your very own eyes then you will still feel some cynicism towards it and those of you that find hypnobirthing first time round, hats off to you, you did better research than I ever did.

Why should you believe me?

All I can say is that if I hadn’t done things in the "standard fearful" way both the first and second time then I would never of truly known the difference. As an instructor this is even more paramount as I understand how birth can feel in the traditional manner and how fearful you feel no matter if you are pregnant with your first baby or your fifth.

I seriously considered not having more children because I didn’t want to go through labour and birth again, I also considered booking in for a c-section just so that I didn’t have to go through labour and birth again, BUT, I was just as scared of going through surgery.

Thankfully I did change my mind as I honestly wanted more children, but, some ladies are so fearful they never take this step - how is that fair? How can you win? Why should our fear stop us having what we truly want in our life? Nobody wants to have regrets.

First time you are scared of the unknown, second time plus you know what’s to come (or so we think!).

Our hormones are a rollercoaster, one moment we can feel excitement, the next we can feel petrified.

On top of that becoming a mummy can feel scary, its a HUGE responsibility, it is LIFE CHANGING.

I am not here to say that I have a magic wand to make everything better, BUT, I am here to tell you that you do have CHOICES, you can take back the CONTROL, you can feel CALM and CONFIDENT and that you can prepare for one of the most important days of your life and have the most positive birth story no matter what direction your labour and birth takes you - if you want to.