"I always knew I wanted a baby but ever since I can remember I had always been totally petrified about the idea of giving birth. I had been brainwashed by popular culture, films and tv which portrays birth as a painful, traumatic, medical emergency. So when I fell pregnant last year I knew I needed some help to ensure I could get through the birth.

I took part in Jennie’s group hypnobirthing course and learned everything from the science of giving birth, the different methods of pain relief available to me and a variety of techniques to use in labour. I practised these at home in the weeks and months leading up the birth with my husband.

One of the biggest things I learned during the course was the importance of staying calm and relaxed during labour to allow things to progress quickly and naturally. Therefore when my contractions (surges) started at about 7am on the day of my birth I just carried on as normal and went to work. I even ran a training session! I then went for lunch with my friend and by the time I left the restaurant my surges were around 4 mins apart.

I called Blackburn Birth Centre and my husband and by the time I got there my surges were 2 mins apart. The midwife didn’t have time to examine me as I was fully dilated and my baby was born at 5.35pm.... 50 mins after arriving at the birth centre! I didn’t use any pain relief, just the breathing techniques I learned in hypnobirthing.

In contrast to my initial fear of labour it was the most powerful and one of the most positive experiences of my life. Thank you Jennie for giving me to tools to have the birth I had wished for!"