10/06/2026
📚 Story time!
This woman was in transition.
The most intense, vulnerable, all-consuming part of labour, when doubts can creep in and you can get swallowed up by the hugeness of it all.
And she was smashing it.
Riding those waves as they crashed over her, flowing with her body, her birth visibly unfolding just as she'd hoped.
This was after weeks of being told she'd probably need a C-section because the baby was lying sideways. But he had turned breech during labour and was literally moments away from being born! ✨
The obstetrician looked at her and said:
"I bet that C-section doesn't sound so bad now, does it?"
As if what she was feeling meant she was doing it wrong.
As if she would suddenly 'opt out' of the birth she'd worked SO HARD to achieve.
In that moment, she didn't need to step away, she needed someone steady with her.
I turned to her and said:
"This is what you wanted, it's exactly what you hoped for, and you are DOING THIS!"
Because you don't need undermining when labour gets hard.
You need presence and reassurance.
You need people around who understand that intensity isn't something to avoid or escape.
Birth isn't always calm and serene. That's not the goal.
Sometimes it's unbelievably hard.
Noisy, sweary, stroppy, fast and furious, it's all welcome!
And you need someone who can hold space for all of it, because words and actions matter.
You will remember how the people around you made you feel in labour.
✨ You don't need rescuing, you need reminding of your strength.
