Throughout the majority of my second pregnancy I had planned for a home birth, I had the birthing pool and the Midwives Box tucked away in the corner of the room ready. Prior to 32 weeks it looked like my home birth was going to happen this time as I had not tested positive for GBS.

From 32 weeks my blood pressure began to rise and compared to my previous pregnancy I lacked energy, was still being sick regularly and felt generally unwell.

At 34 weeks I had to visit Anti-Natal Triage as they were now monitoring me for Pre-Eclampsia, I continued to be excited about the birth and was still planning for the home birth.

At 38 weeks I had a routine visit with the Communality Midwife, my blood pressure had peaked, and I was feeling more unwell. I was advised to go immediately to the Hospital and was told to be prepared for an early induction. My first thoughts were, I am not ready, the nursery is still not finished, and my hospital bag contents were still in several piles around the house. I reflected to my hypnobirthing knowledge, took a deep breath, and took myself to my calm place.

Two hours later I arrived at anti-natal Triage and it was confirmed I had pre-eclampsia as my blood pressure was high and I had extremely high levels of Protein in my urine. The plan was to start an Induction the following morning. I did not feel anxious as my thoughts were, I’ve been induced before, I can do it again. No problem.

As I was moved onto the anti-natal ward, I handed my birthing plan to the Midwife and told her I was Hypnobirthing and was likely to appear very calm. She kindly read it but explained that I was to keep hold of it as they will not need it on the anti-natal ward, but the delivery ward will.

At 3pm the midwife inserted the Pessary. I explained that I was Hypnobirthing and like my previous birth when I was also induced, things started to work very quickly. The midwife was quite certain that nothing would really happen for 24 hours and I would probably need another pessary. I was encouraged to go for a walk, to get things moving.

My husband and I went for a lovely walk in the woods, next to the hospital and ate an ice cream on the bench. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon. As we walked back towards the hospital, I could feel my body had responded well to the pessary.

As I was still on the anti-natal ward, I made myself as comfortable as possible, closed my eyes and pictured my safe place. I had a few drops of Lavender oil on a tissue by my pillow, whilst I focused on my breathing and listened to my hypnosis tracks.

By 10pm, the midwives decided to send my husband home and as I was so calm, they were convinced not much was happening. They did not examine me to see how far dilated I was.

I continued to remain relaxed and tried to get some sleep.

At 1:30am my waters had broken, more of a trickle and I could feel the surges.  I felt excited that I was soon going to meet my baby.

At 2:30am my waters gushed all over the bed and from this point, the contractions were much stronger and regular. The midwives changed my sheets and at this point I did not realise they had moved my bed buzzer.

I wasn’t counting the timings of the contractions as I was focusing on my Hypnobirthing and I remembered from when I was induced when my first baby was born, the contractions were deceiving as I had been contracting and not dilatating.

The Midwives told me to get back into bed and go to sleep.

As the time was passing, I was starting to feel uncomfortable and I wanted my husband with me. I had no signal on my phone so I could not call him.

I looked for my bed buzzer, it was nowhere to be seen. It had been moved from when the sheets were changed. I tried to peer behind the bed to look for it, I could not see it.

I walked out into the corridor to the Midwives station and asked for pain relief, suggesting gas & air. I said that the contractions were becoming more and more regular and stronger. I suggested whether my husband should be called back in. I felt very calm.

Suddenly I became more aware of the contractions and I felt dizzy, so the midwives wheeled round a chair for me from behind the desk. As I sat down, I could feel the baby crowing, so I stood back up immediately and all of I sudden I had the urge to push.

My body took over and I knelt on the floor. Two involuntary pushes later the head was out. I am not sure who was more surprised, me or the midwives! The head was out and on the 3^rd push Harrison was born. Harrison was born at 3:30am.

My husband shortly joined us after.

I am so grateful for my knowledge of Hypnobirthing as it kept me so calm and in control. Afterwards, the midwives explained that I had a precipitous labour.