She said I was so calm and composed during my surges that she had no idea I was so far along.

Dear Melissa,

I purchased your program two and a half years ago from the US when I was 3 months pregnant with my first boy, and I later gave birth to my sweet 8 lbs 1 oz hypnobub. I had an amazing experience with a natural hospital birth, but I knew that there were things I would do differently the second time around.

On December 11th 2020, now in England and pregnant with my second, I woke up around 8:30 am and started to feel surges. We had decided on a home birth since Covid regulations would not have allowed my husband to be present in the hospital delivery room. The atmosphere in the room was amazing: we diffused essential oils, played Christmas music, along with my hypnobirthing tracks, and my two year old sat close by, somewhat aware of what was going on.

I breathed through my surges and did my visualisations, confident that my body was progressing well with the labour.

My midwife arrived with a student midwife around 1 pm and after checking my vitals and baby vitals, she told me she didn’t think I was very far along and that they would come back in a couple of hours. I asked her to perform a cervical check just in case, since I had felt that my surges had in fact been effective. She performed a check and was astonished when she found out that I was 5 cm dilated and that my membranes were moments away from rupturing. She said I was so calm and composed during my surges that she had no idea I was so far along.

She called a second qualified midwife to come assist with the birth, and instructed my husband to fill up the pool. I distinctly remember reaching the “rest and be thankful” phase. Everything stood still, I felt calm and relieved, and I knew my son would be here soon. I told my husband there was no need to fill up the pool anymore because I knew I wouldn’t have time to get in it. Minutes later, and a little over an hour after my midwife checked my dilation, our 9 lbs 1 oz bub was born. The bearing down breathing allowed for smooth pushes, and he came out quickly without causing any tears. The student midwife helped me onto the sofa, told me this was the first birth she had attended, that the atmosphere of the birth was so peaceful and that she was grateful this could have been the first experience of her career.

Thank you so much for this course! It has given me two wonderful birthing experiences, and I look forward to repeating the affirmations, exercises, and tracks when our next child is born.

Dom DeMass