Birth story - Leah and baby Grayson

After my first born arrived 4 weeks early, I was able to relax and practice my hypnobirthing this time round! We had a brilliant one-to-one session with Siobhan and I regularly listened to my hypno relaxation and birth prep tracks, displayed my positive affirmations round the house & went to regular reflexology sessions.

Last Saturday after a lazy couple of days, I was intent on getting out and going for a long walk with my boys, so we enjoyed a wonderful day in the sunshine.

Sunday morning I woke with mild period pains, mentioned it to my husband but warned him not to get excited, so we just kept an eye on things.

By 11am we had warned grandparents to stand by and that we were heading to Sainsbury's to get bits for lunch even though my contractions were between 6-10 mins apart by this point. By lunchtime I couldn't sit through our meal without getting up regularly to pace the garden using my up breathing.

2pm we called my Mum to head up so that she was here to look after our 3year old just in case we had to head off to hospital. My contractions were strong, manageable but still irregular. Sometimes 7mins apart, then 3 mins, then 5 mins - it was very strange.

As we waited, I headed upstairs to check my hospital bags and whilst I was there my surges ramped up! I found hanging from my sons bunk bed in a crouch position the most comfortable and the mooing noise had started if I lost track of my breathing. I knew things had changed and we needed to leave soon.

We checked on my mums progress and she was stuck in traffic about an hour away!! I just knew we couldn't wait that long, and as we discussed what to do, my waters spontaneously broke on the patio! Our wonderful neighbour saved the day, drafted in to play with our boy so we could go! Lucky for us!

As we arrived at the birthing centre, the amazing team checked us in and had already got the pool ready - they didn't even examine me - just said it looks like you're ready, would you like to get in?

I was in the pool 1.5hrs, using only my breathing tools with quiet encouragement from my husband in one ear and the two amazing Midwifes who followed my lead and kept praising me, telling me to do what my body wanted.

I could feel baby's head come down and creep back up with each surge, and felt it's head whilst it was crowning - it was amazing! Last time I was so scared, but this time I was in awe.

We did it, I couldn't believe it. Drugs didn't even enter my mind, I just had my eyes closed and went with it, trusting my body could do it.

I felt so empowered and blessed to have my tools, the team support and the wonderful environment to birth my baby boy.