We received a beautiful email from Imogen, just one day after her son’s birth.
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My baby was born at home at 8.10am, weighing 7lbs 9oz. My labour was 4 hours and I practiced my yoga as much as possible, imagining spiralling downwards and using sound work to breathe through the contractions.
Despite having read your water birth book the night before, I didn’t make it into the birth pool (even though it was all set up! My little girl enjoyed it instead!) and gave birth in a standing squat leaning over the bed. I didn’t have any tearing and the placenta was birthed naturally about 20 minutes afterwards.
This was my second pregnancy and although I was low risk and had had a textbook home birth for my first birth, the hospital was concerned about my baby being ‘too small’ and my placenta ‘failing’ throughout this pregnancy.
Once I hit 37 weeks there was a lot of pressure from the foetal medicine unit for me to be induced. The baby’s heart rate and fluid had been fine at every check-up though, and I monitored his movement very closely, which I knew to be good.
It was a very difficult time in the pregnancy for me psychologically but I trusted my instincts, attended regular yoga with Janet and discussed my situation with her, my reflexologist and my hypnobirthing instructor and decided to wait for the baby to come in his own time, unless there was an actual medical reason for me to do otherwise. In the end, he was born at 41 weeks + 2 days and weighed 7lbs 9oz, and my placenta showed no signs of having aged or failed.
I have really loved coming to all the various classes at the ABC throughout both of my pregnancies, and I know in my heart I have you to thank for having two spectacular and easy births. I highly recommend Janet and the centre to every pregnant woman I meet, and I will continue to do so!
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Thank you Imogen for your inspiring words!
Imogen attended pregnancy yoga classes with Janet for both pregnancies.
She and her partner did Janet’s Couples Yoga for Active Birth class, as well as Baby Resuscitation and First Aid. They also did a couples massage course with Lynn.
Imogen came to the Active Birth Centre for reflexology with Sophia during both pregnancies, and attended Mama and Me yoga with Lynn after her first birth.
