16/05/2026
🌸❤️Our Client Charlotte’s Birth Story ❤️🌸
✨Navigating a complete change in her birth preferences, Charlotte shares her birth story and how our antenatal course helped her✨
“When we found out we were pregnant, we were absolutely over the moon. From the very beginning we were excited to prepare for the birth we had always imagined. Our dream was a home birth, a calm, private, and deeply connected together with each other, but due to external departmental decisions, home births were unavailable to us. After the initial disappointment, we shifted our focus to creating the next best thing: a calm, in‑hospital water birth with a six‑hour discharge.
Working closely with our community midwife, we created holistic midwife led birth preferences centred around peace, relaxation, and informed decision‑making. Naturally, the next step for us was to begin the Hypnobirthing course with May and Jan, something we had talked about long before pregnancy. We also completed the breastfeeding course, which made the idea of feeding feel far less daunting.
We were incredibly lucky that May had just returned to teaching after her own beautiful birth. Her passion, dedication, and depth of knowledge shone through every session. She gave us confidence, clarity, and a sense of control. The course eased our concerns around medical involvement and helped us understand that birth could still be positive, even if the path changed. Most importantly, it taught us how to advocate for ourselves and for our baby.
Although we had accepted that our birth would be in hospital, we were determined to keep the experience as close to our original vision as possible. However, as the pregnancy progressed, we encountered several potential complications that led to increased growth scans in the final weeks.
At 37 weeks, during a routine scan and consultant appointment, we were told that one of Maeve’s measurements suggested she was shunting blood to her brain, a sign of possible stress. Because of the discussions we’d had during our hypnobirthing course, we were prepared for this kind of situation. We asked clear questions, understood the terminology, and made informed decisions rather than feeling overwhelmed or pressured.
Together, we made the decision to induce labour as soon as possible, due to the research showing increased risks of a still born birth. Induction was something we had never wanted, we had read the research, heard the stories, and knew it could shift the experience away from what we had planned. But after speaking with May, we understood that induction could still support our goal of a natural birth, even in the water.
On Friday morning, we arrived at the hospital, were welcomed by the team, and began the induction process at 11am. We expressed our preference for minimal internal examinations, and the midwives were respectful and supportive. Throughout the day, we tried everything we could to encourage labour: fairy lights hanging in the room, movement, raspberry leaf tea, dates, walking, oxytocin‑boosting activities, anything possible within a hospital room. But by the end of the day, my cervix hadn’t changed at all.
On Saturday, our community midwife happened to be on shift, and we were incredibly grateful to have her support. She had been behind our birth preferences from the start and continued to advocate for us. After another 12 hours, there was still no change.
Saturday night was difficult. Nathan had to leave, as partners cannot stay overnight, and with no contractions and no progress for the last 36 hours, it felt like we were simply waiting in limbo. By Sunday morning, it was clear that nothing was was progressing, especially no softening or ripening of the cervix. With the increased risk of stillbirth the longer Maeve remained inside, and with early signs of cystitis, we made the decision to request a category 3 caesarean section.
It was the complete opposite of what we had hoped for, but it was the safest and most informed choice we could make. With no membrane rupture in 48 hours and not wanting the Syntocinon drip due to our research and preferences, this was the path that aligned with both safety and our values.
By 10:00am, we were dressed and ready for theatre, hospital supplied crocs in full eco mode. We had already discussed a gentle caesarean, delayed cord clamping, Nathan cutting the cord, immediate skin‑to‑skin, and Nathan’s wish to see the placenta, all of which the maternity and theatre teams were more than happy to support.
At 10:30, Charlotte was sitting on the theatre bed, surrounded by a team of incredible women, receiving her spinal. By 10:35, the lights were dimmed as much as they could be, our chosen music was playing, and we were laughing and chatting with the anaesthetist.
At 10:50, after a few minutes of Charlotte’s head wobbling and singing our favourite playlist, we heard the first squawk of our daughter, Maeve Nicola Judge. Born on International Women’s Day, delivered by a full team of women. After the delayed cord clamping, Nathan was still able to cut part of the cord, and Maeve was placed straight onto Charlotte’s chest for the beginning of the most magical golden hours of our lives.
By 12:30, we were in recovery, still doing skin‑to‑skin, soaking in every moment of becoming a family.
Because of the caesarean, we couldn’t have the six‑hour discharge we had hoped for. We spent the first hours in a shared room until Charlotte regained movement, and then moved to our own room. Charlotte was incredible, determined, strong, and eager to care for Maeve as soon as she could. We stayed for two nights until it was safe to go home.
Although our birth was far from the home birth we had dreamed of, we know that the hypnobirthing course gave us the tools to stay calm, informed, and empowered. Even without experiencing contractions, we were able to advocate for ourselves, understand our options, and remain active participants in Maeve’s positive but alternative birth.
Thank you, May, for delivering such an incredible course. We would recommend it to every parent. Even though our birth changed direction completely, we felt confident, respected, and involved and that is the true gift of hypnobirthing.”
