We have an addition! Carter David Corby was born on 4th June, weighing 7lbs 2oz.


I had a very mild tummy ache about 6.30pm, nothing atrocious, so I didn't really think much of it. Whilst I was cooking tea about an hour later, I got a tummy ache that literally floored me! It took my breath away - still just assumed it was nothing but a braxton.

 Between then and about 9pm, the surges came thick and fast - we put the Steve Halpern music on, but didn't do the scripts as it took all of my concentration just to breath (.. Terry did try though!). I was lying on the sofa when my waters broke - heard (and felt) an enormous pop - what a weird sensation that was, like someone bursting a balloon inside me. Was told by Penrice not to come in until the surges were lasting 1 minute, but we decided to go as they were coming every 3 minutes or so, as I saw a little blood when I went to the toilet. We arrived at Penrice not long after 9.30pm and the told me I was 5cm dilated (I'm fairly proud of that!). They got me into a delivery suite at about 10pm. I'm afraid I did ask for gas & air (although, it's by far the most disgusting thing I've ever had - made me feel really sick). Terry was amazing, he tried so hard to use the techniques, but I felt so queer that I told him to stop the light touch massage after about 10 seconds! All I could do was focus on the breathing. Got to be honest, the next couple of hours flew by, it didn't feel like more than 20 minutes. I'm not sure where my head was - I certainly wasn't panicked, or frightened - just felt very insular, if that makes sense.

At about midnight, my midwife suggested that I may be ready to push (I think I was making some pretty odd groans during the surges - I guess I knew if I was making noise I wasn't holding my breath!). She checked me over and said I was 10cm and could starting pushing. Terry was brilliant - kept me on track with the breathing down in that last bit. Carter was born at 12.38am. I did tear, and lost an awful lot of blood, so unfortunately the cord was cut almost immediately and he was handed straight to Terry whilst they sorted me out.

He's such a gorgeous little thing (not that I'm biased at all!), generally very calm (unless he's hungry) and sleeping reasonably well. I was quite disappointed in myself that the hypnobirthing and birth plan went completely out the window on the day. With hindsight, the techniques you taught us helped enormously. I never felt panicked or frightened. I stayed very calm through the whole thing and the breathing kept me incredibly focused. The surges were incredibly overwhelming (uncomfortable, not painful) and the labouring was very fast.

-we both know HypnoBirthing helped enormously, If we were ever lucky enough to have another, I would DEFINITELY aim for another hypnobirth.