The birth of our son Louis was very positive and aligned with my birth intentions, I’d go a step further to say it was an incredible and empowering experience. It was medical intervention free, drug-free, I gave birth in an active position and I was able to pull him out and bring him directly to my chest. I laboured 8 hours at home with the support of my husband Matthieu and my doula Jade. I used water immersion and a TENS machine to assist with the pain of the contractions.

My partner and I attended one of your weekend classes back in June 2018 at the Southern Highlands. We went on to have a very successful and enjoyable birthing experience at Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick (a water birth with just gas and air). Consequently, I’ve been an advocate of Calmbirth ever since.

During our routine OB check up at 39+2, the ultrasound showed I had low amniotic fluid. We had been avoiding ultrasounds other than the compulsory ones but so close to term, and with the fundal height measuring small, we agreed to a last minute ultrasound. I wonder if my labour experience would have been different if we opted to not get one as per our usual routine. Our OB sent us immediately to do a CTG and a proper ultrasound at a specialist to double check and we had been booked to go back to the OB a few hours that same day to review the results. Our CTG was ok but it turned out we had an AFI of 5 (instead of 8 recommended).

Welcoming our little Luka Fox to the world . Born right on 41 weeks on Thursday 23/2 at home after a 12 hour labour. Wow! Women are amazing. The hardest most rewarding thing I have ever done!!! I underestimated how hard the pushing phase could be.