So, when we tried to conceive and my pregnancy test was positive I was overjoyed. However shortly after this initial joy the dread crept in and I thought oh my, I actually have to go through labour and its going to be so painful.I’m not going to lie, I was petrified, I thought how on earth am I going to get through that, I couldn’t possibly get through it and if I did surely, I would need a shed load of medication.I’m not the type of person who likes to use medication, I don’t like putting something into my body that I’m not familiar with. I began to research alternative medicine and other alternatives of pain relief.My colleague at work had mentioned hypnobirthing, I initially thought what the bloody hell is that.It sounded like some mumbo jumbo and I thought hypnotise, yeah whatever, how can I be hypnotised during birth.When I looked into the meaning of hypnobirthing, it did not mean hypnotise at all. Well at least not in the typical sense or the stuff you see on the TV. Hypnobirthing is an umbrella word for a set of techniques that are readily available to all of us.It means to birth as naturally as you can using education, breathing techniques, relaxation aids, such as visualization and music. It works on the basis that the more relaxed you are then the easier the birth will be for both you and baby.Think about it, in the body we have muscles, if you are tense and your fight or flight response kicks in, you’re naturally going to resist against the natural process of birth.It teaches you to let your baby move down the birth canal as naturally as possible, without you tensing up and using the breath to guide the baby down.Naturally being into my meditation and relaxation anyway, this was a must for me to book onto. Myself and my husband booked onto a course straight away.We began the training and I have to say it was amazing and made so much sense. It also gave my birth partner (my husband) a role too which was amazing as typically you hear stories of how women do not want their husband around.We completed the course together and enjoyed it thoroughly we practiced our techniques and listened to the podcasts anytime we could.Sadly, however our journey took a change in direction, we were told that five months into our pregnancy, our daughter Ellie would not survive after the birth due to her heart and that we would have to say goodbye.

Obviously, we were devastated, we could not believe our whole world had been turned upside down.As we were so far into the pregnancy we were told that we would have to go through labour as normal.We decided that we still wanted to follow the hypnobirth principles as planned as we wanted to give our daughter the birth we had planned and practiced for.After I was induced, the labour started, throughout labour we utilised the hypnobirthing techniques, I chose to use the scent of lavender as this has a very calming effect on me and we used the relaxing tracks we had been training to.I gave birth to our beautiful daughter and it was the most magical and beautiful experience.I would describe my birth as relaxing, not painful but slightly uncomfortable, most of all manageable.Although our little girl Ellie is not with us now, I can honestly say that we gave her such a beautiful experience upon entering the world and I could not have done that without hypnobirthing.Now a Hypnobirthing Instructor and Hypnobirthing mum, I just want everybody to try it, as if I can hypnobirth under those circumstances then anyone can. It’s such a powerful technique and what’s great is that with a little guidance, the skills are readily available to each and everyone of us.If you’re interested in having a calm and relaxed birth or you know someone who may benefit then click here to enquire.