Chiara and Luke had an incredible, undisturbed home birth, with me there as their Doula, two home birth midwives and their daughter fast asleep in the room next door…”That was one of the most magical things - about an hour after he was born, my daughter woke up and joined us in bed for a cuddle to meet her little brother” Chiara.

Rosie and Alex had their first baby at home in a birthing pool using hypnobirthing techniques…”It was the most euphoric and wonderful moment of my whole life. The feeling of joy is one I could never put into words. The whole birth was so beautiful and empowering.” Rosie.

My baby ended up being 3 weeks past my due date and during that time Yvette was my rock in helping me to navigate the healthcare system who were pushing me to get induced which I really didn’t want.

For my part, I had gone from apprehension about my ability to get through the birthing experience at all, to excited anticipation and being enthusiastic to try the techniques I'd learned. I had already used them successfully during blood tests, as until this point I had a fear of needles that had been with me since childhood, and was impressed with how effective the breathing had been in helping me deal with that fear.

I was pregnant and lost in a pandemic until I found Yvette, I was an anxious wreck about birth after hearing loads of horror stories. I started my classes and instantly felt calmer about what I was to expect, we covered so many aspects it was easy to take it all in.

I had a midwife appointment on a Friday and that week I’d been in hospital again for reduced movement and they said if I was 39 weeks they would induce me which I really didn’t want, so I asked my midwife about a sweep and she said yes and when she has done the sweep we found out I was 2cms dilated and said this could either help or might not do anything.

I started to be in labour on Monday morning. Gradually throughout the day, my surges became regular and stronger. Even though I started being in labour, I was still encouraged to have a chat about induction with the medical staff as I was 41+5 weeks then. But I kept on declining.