Birth Coaching Company News & Birth Stories

Hello Maureen,

Hope you're well? Just thought I'd update you that I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on 2nd January at 9.16pm at home and with only paracetamol!

I was exactly 42 weeks pregnant on 2nd Jan and was due to be induced that day, but after having a scan and finding that everything was fine with baby and I health wise I cancelled it. And I'm so glad I did! I started having mild surges a 4am every 15 minutes but these would stop and start, so we went to Morrisons and stocked up on food during the day, had a sleep and by 4pm the surges had returned. By 5pm they were 10 minutes apart, and by 5.30pm they were 5 minutes apart. Rebecca (our amazing midwife!) arrived sometime around 6 ish and at this time I felt like there was no break in between the surges as they were lasting about 2 minutes. I got into the birthing pool at about 8.30pm and by 9.16pm Euan Patrick Kelly had arrived very alert and very peaceful (and with no stitches required for me!).

The black and white photo is Euan 1 hour old, and he is still a very calm and content little man at 9 days old today. We're both doing well and just wanted to thank you for all your help and advice in the hypnobirthing classes. Chris and my Mum were a massive support throughout labour and without them and the hypnobirthing techniques we learned in class I don't think I'd of managed to have the labour that I wanted - at home, and as natural as possible.

Hope you're well, and hope this is another birth story you can share with future pupils to prove the power of hypnobirthing.

Carla & Chris Kelly

Hi Maureen

How are you hope your well!

Well...we had little baby George Henry last Saturday at 11.46 he weighed 6 pound 2 oz. He is just a dream, such a beautiful boy, we are over the moon and feel so lucky to have him. We cannot believe how alert he came out, the picture I have attached is just minutes after birth!

Birth was lovely. Started getting niggles at 11 am but wasnt sure whether it was anything, so went for a walk and it really kicked in about 4pm when I got home. Breathed through it all, never breathed like it before, had a bath and then got on the bed with a hot water bottle.

We rang the hospital as they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds and they told us to come in at about half 7. They checked me over when we arrived and discovered I was 8 cm dilated! So I was made up. They insisted I went on a monitor as they were concerned baby was small, so no water pool but by that point i was comfy on the bed with my music.

The rest just happened really quickly and he came just before midnight. It was great and couldn't have wished for anything better. I was able to go home the next day and this week we have been enjoying being a little family. He is amazing!

So it really did pay off for us, thankyou so much for all your help as it really was down to you and your knowledge that made us calm and excited for the birth.

Claire xx

Dear Maureen

We're proud parents to Emily Grace Lewis born calmly, and safely on March 21stat 10.14 am! I was 39 weeks and 2 days.

We'd like to thank you for changing our perception of childbirth; without your Hypnobirthing sessions we definitely wouldn't have had the birth we had.

Here's our birth story...

We went to bed as normal without any thoughts that baby could be arriving, then my waters broke at 1am and my surges started at 2am. Nathan and I stayed in bed with the lights off and I had a hot water bottle on my back, and as a treat we brought our little border terrier up to bed for cuddles! All three/ four of us lay in bed feeling calm and relaxed as I practised my sleep breathing and surge breaths . At about 6.30am I went to the bathroom and felt a massive urge to bear down. I had a few more of these feelings, I started to feel confused at this point as I thought it was far too early for this and I hadn't been in enough 'pain' to have reached this stage of labour. I asked Nathan to call my mum and the maternity ward, and then at 8am Nathan and my Mum bundled me into the car to make the 20 minute drive to the hospital!!! I kept my eyes closed for the entire journey and continued to practise my breathing techniques and asked Nathan and my mum not to speak to me! The feeling of wanting to bear down continued while I was in the back of the car, but again I managed to keep quite calm considering the situation! We arrived at the maternity ward where they examined straight away and told me I was 9.5 cm dilated and that I could go for it!!

There was no time to read birth plans, but the midwife asked me what me wishes were and I said that we were practising hypnobirthing methods and that I wanted a natural birth. Our midwife was amazing and respected our wishes. So an hour and half later Emily was born naturally without any medical intervention, and after about four hours of keeping my eyes tightly closed, the first thing I saw was our beautiful daughter! Our midwife was really impressed and said that I could come again! She also said that next time I should have a home birth... And throughout the labour, Emily's heartbeat was strong and steady showing no signs of distress.

Thinking back, and reading the labour chapter of my pregnancy book, maybe I must have been in early labour running up to the 21stbut I just hadn't realised??! During the weeks running up to the birth I'd been listening to the relaxation CDs, practising breathing techniques, saying the birth affirmations which were hung up around the house, drinking Raspberry Leaf tea, taking Evening Primrose capsules and keeping activity- particularly with preparing our 'nest'! The hypnobirth sessions and the birth preparation exercises at home definitely gave us the confidence to stay at home, and I think it was being at home in familiar surroundings which allowed me to progress so quickly and without pain.

So I'm spreading the word about hypnobirthing!!!

Thank you again for all your guidance. Nathan and I really enjoyed our sessions with you, we found them really interesting and informative. Before we started to learn about hypnobirthing, I had been researching how to have a scheduled c-section as I was so pertrified of giving birth. But you opened up my mind to how wonderful childbirth can be, and even if our birth had turned into one with 'special circumstances' ; we still would have considered your course to have been invaluable as hypnobirthing enabled me to enjoy my final weeks of pregnancy free from fear.

Love and best wishes,

Jade & Nathan Lewis

Hi Maureen  - Just wanted to let you all know that señor Kurgan Critchley-Riley was born on Thurs @ 9 mins to 9 pm weighing in in the blue corner at 7lb 9oz!!

Our baby was Hypnobirthed at home in the water as planned, using only the birth ball, all fours and plenty of HB breathing and relaxation; the HB cd was on loop the whole time, except for when Craig was reading the birth companion and visualisations. I really did go completely within myself keeping calm and relaxed throughout, and the birth was completely drug free. The time distortion effect was amazing and it was the fastest day of my life ever, so glad I put the effort in to practice the scripts, the rainbow and the affirmations!

Craig really took control of the environment making sure I took on fluids and tried to eat where possible, always making sure the music was on, the pool was ready, and liaising with the midwife so they only came to me when absolutely necessary. He even did the baby heart monitoring whilst the mw kept in the background voices always low, I hardly even knew they were there. We stayed in the pool for around 1/2 an hr afterward, letting the cord stop pulsating and enjoying skin to skin time, then Craig cut the cord and I naturally birthed the placenta with a little easing from the mw after around a half hour of further birth breathing, as I was getting impatient to get back to my baby.

Hope all goes well for the rest of you

Lots of love

Marie & Craig xx

My waters started to leak in the early hours of Saturday morning just after my husband had gone to work at the bakery.  I dropped him a text to update him and tried to get some more sleep between surges.  He came home later on that morning and we rang my parents to come and collect our older daughter and rang our lovely midwife Kelly to update her.  We prepared our living room and started to blow up the pool, once this was done and in position we decided to go out for a walk and some lunch in the pub. At this point the surges were coming every 10 minutes.

Once home we watched some DVDs and practiced our hypnobirthing techniques for relaxation whilst I sat on my birthing ball.  We set up some relaxing music, candles and fairy lights and shut the blinds. Kelly came round to check on us around tea time then left to refuel.  Shortly after my surges became more intense and we started to fill the pool, at around 7pm I phoned for Kelly.  At this point I was reading my affirmations that I had on the wall and breathing through surges.  I listened to the hypnobirthing CD and lay in the pool whilst my husband sat reading and resting.

When Kelly arrived she did her observations and gave us some privacy, not long after I felt my waters break and I immediately felt that the baby was coming.  I asked my husband to get into the pool and we chatted and breathed together as I breathed the baby down.

As I felt the head emerge we practiced the depthometer and I was laughing as I birthed the body, my husband received the baby and we called Kelly to unwrap the cord from around his neck. I then put him on my chest and we relaxed and fed as my husband and midwives Kelly and Rachael kept the pool warm, It was quite sometime later that I remembered to have a look and realised to my surprise that we had a little boy! Dylan Henry was born at 9.50pm.

When the pool started to get too cold we cut the cord and got out and Kelly assisted me in delivering the placenta which was a little trickier than expected but Kelly was brilliant at reassuring me throughout. I then got a shower whilst dad had cuddles with baby Dylan.  Whilst Kelly and Rachael cleaned up we had sandwiches and tea and updated our families on the new arrival. The service we received from one-to-one was second to none, Kelly was brilliant.  She was allocated to me right at the end of my pregnancy when my previous midwife left and built a rapport with us straight away.  The birth was everything we had hoped it would be, calm, empowering and even romantic! The hypnobirthing techniques helped us to achieve this and we couldn’t thank Maureen Collins enough, so thank you to one-to-one, Kelly Silk and Maureen Collins, and MaMa Kat for all of your support after the birth.