I share my beautiful birth story and the hypnobirthing techniques I used with my second baby.

Indie’s birth began as a soft, sweet slow dance. I’d had lots of promising pre-labour signs and intuitively knew I would be meeting her soon. We had been living in this sacred in-between. I could feel her arrival was imminent. My body was ready, it was just waiting on the perfect, divine timing. It was already written in the stars, I just needed to surrender. We had just put Beau to bed for the night when labour began.

I slowly swayed to my birth playlist, holding my swollen belly in my arms for the last time as each surge washed over me, soft and slow. I was using my breathing techniques, light touch massage, movement, essential oils and birth playlist and felt so calm, but also so excited. I was willing each contraction on and encouraging my body to keep going deeper into labour.

When each wave came crashing closer and started to swell in intensity, we made our way in to the birth centre where we were greeted by soft candlelight, the soothing scent of essential oils and a beautiful space to continue our slow dance together. If you're in MGP and would like to consider birthing in the birth centre, I highly recommend it. It was so beautiful and exactly how I wanted my birth space to feel.

The hours passed and we were still swaying, soft and slow, calm and controlled. I couldn’t sit or lay down, I just wanted to move the whole time. I had expected this early stage of labour to be much quicker, but I just had to surrender to the process.

​While I was in the shower, Indie's heart rate rose and we made the informed decision to release my membranes and check for meconium. The water was clear and her heart rate returned to a normal range, but she was making her way to us quickly now as I began to transition. I had to surrender to the intensity and trust my body to do what it needed to do to bring her earthside. My breathing changed and it felt instinctual to vocalise through these intense waves until I felt the urge to bear down. Again, my body led the way. She knew what to do.

With the gentle encouragement and guidance from my midwife in those very final stages of bearing down, Indie arrived into this world: 3.34kgs of pure sweetness. I scooped her up and held her close, skin to skin: soaking her up and soaking it all in. We delayed cord clamping and allowed Indie the space and time to find her way to the breast for her first feed. Her birth was all the things I had hoped for, I felt so empowered and endlessly in love. We stayed in the hospital for the minimum four hours before heading home so Beau could meet his little sister for the first time. It was wild to think he had gone to bed that night, I'd gone into labour, gone to the hospital and had Indie all before he woke up that morning.