BIRTH AND POST NATAL DOULA WORK; HYPNOSIS FOR BIRTH:

Marie-Yianna writes:

Hi Lucy,

Catherine Writes:  Hi Lucy, Thanks so much for all your advice, it was very kind of you to help me out. And just in the nick of time - as my waters broke the following evening in an antenatal class! Then an uneventful 24 hours - other than a distressing trip into hospital where a (junior) doctor told me that I'd have to be induced with prostaglandin - contradicting all my research and everything I'd been told!

I refused to go back in that night but said I would return in the morning and fortunately contractions started around midnight. Then all very very rapid - Charlie was amazing fitting Tens machine, cajoling me into clothes, into the car, and driving through thickest fog - something from your birth recording had me chanting "I can do this, I can do this" in the back seat!

Got to hospital 2.45am, used Tens until full blast was ineffective, into the pool for 45mins but (after all my demands wanting the water) I couldn't get comfortable and everything slowed down so I got out - and Stella Mary Sefi was eventually born at 5.15am - 9 days early - the perfect Valentine's Day surprise!

Anyway, I just wanted you to know it was an incredible experience and most amazing achievement of my whole life. We're feeling rather pleased with ourselves!

Stella's doing really well, she's already put on a whole pound in a week, so clearly thriving! And Ned's taken brilliantly to her, less fond of me today now that Charlie's back at work, but he's very gentle and sweet with his baby sister so far.

Thank you again for my birth recording and for all your advice.

Catherine

 Alan Writes:  

Hi Lucy, I hope this finds you happy and healthy.  I’ve been meaning to write to you since the day Connor was born, but needless to say many things got in the way and here we are almost six months later and I’m just now doing it. Having said that, I think there is no time limit on delivering a message of heartfelt thanks.

Both you and Maggie were phenomenal, but perhaps for selfish reasons I have a particular appreciation for all you did during labour and delivery. It was an incredibly intense experience and an anxious one too. Christi may have forgotten most of it, courtesy of that magical memory erasing hormone women are blessed with, but I remember it vividly and it’s incomprehensible to me how we would have managed without you. I recall you saying in one of our first meetings that your role is to help dad as much as mum. To be honest, at the time I didn’t give that much thought and throughout the pregnancy I probably considered you and Maggie to be Christi’s support team rather than mine or even ‘ours’. That all changed the minute she went into labour (as I suspect you knew from experience it would) and in the end I think I needed just as much attention as she did, maybe more. Without overstatement it is fair to say that deciding to retain your services was the smartest single decision we made during this whole experience. Thank you both!

Christi, Connor and I are slowly settling back into NYC. We miss some of the relative tranquillity of our life in Putney, but overall it suits us well here. The transition period was hard, including multiple flights to visit family in Ireland and the mid-West of America. The nomadic lifestyle made any kind of routine impossible and Connor made his displeasure known, but things are finally settling down. We have a new apartment on Lexington Avenue with a view of the Empire State building. Connor likes to sit in his chair in the window and watch the people, traffic and mayhem on the avenue below. He finds all that much more interesting than gazing up at some silly building, no matter how chuffed dad might be with the view. He loves to be out in the Manhattan streets and we joke that he puts his ‘street face’ on – expressionless, but alert, watching and taking it all in. He happily sleeps 10-12 hours a night now, although still has a tendency to fight back on the daytime naps. I can accept that compromise. Everyday is a joy and seeing the world through his eyes helps to put all the other stresses and hassles of daily life in perspective.

Best Regards, Alan

Kendra writes:  During our first meeting, I liked Lucy immediately - I felt I was in safe, experienced and very knowledgeable hands. She made some really interesting suggestions, for example that a homebirth could be an option, and I liked her down-to-earth approach. After lots of research my husband Richard and I decided to go for the homebirth and asked Lucy if she would be there as my doula.

I had planned to have a homebirth in water, but after many hours at home having contractions but making no progress it became clear that little Harry had different ideas. So we made our way to the hospital in a cloud of panic and pain. Lucy had been out to my home a few times during the day, each time with little progress made, so when Richard called her to say we were on the way to the hospital it was clear that something was wrong. She was there really quickly, which was great. After an hour or so my homebirth midwife (who was fantastic) left me in the hands of the hospital team and having Lucy stay with me was such a relief. Both Richard and I were tired, anxious and having never done this before a bit out of our depth. Having Lucy there to liaise with the incredible staff, work the system where she could and be informative at such a frantic time was invaluable. We've both said that there were many times when we were asked a question that we would look to her with blank faces and she would give us great advice.

In the end the birth took 36 hours, because Harry was in distress - his heart stopped several times - after an hour of serious pushing the decision was made to intervene and I was rushed to theatre. I was adamant I didn't want a c-section and kept pushing the whole time with all my might, as the forms were being filled out for the c-section another examination was carried out and at the last minute I was told I could push him out with the help of forceps and an episiotomy. All the time Lucy was there to hold my hand and keep me calm. Eventually Harry arrived, perfect, a little blue, but completely beautiful and we all cried!

There were times when I questioned if having Lucy there was a luxury that we could have done without, but it made such a huge difference to have her there, Richard and I have already asked her to be there at any future births, hopefully next time it will be a little easier going.

Hayley writes:  "Thank-you for guiding us through our first birth experience. We believe your presence was instrumental in achieving the calm, drug-free birth of our daughter Hannah in the comfort of our own home. The event was a beautiful bonding experience for the whole family and we will treasure it for the rest of our lives."

Kate Writes: "Hi Lucy, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to send you a note, as you can imagine life has been totally mental and the list of things to do and people to email/call/write to has been getting out of control! But Felix is just about to reach 3 months and things have really turned a corner, so I'm finally getting round to attacking that list!

I wanted to say thank you so much for everything you did in the preparation for Felix's birth,  I wanted to say that it was the most amazing experience of my life... it all went exactly as it should have done I think, and I feel like a big part of that was because I felt very calm and determined about it, helped in no small part by you. I have to say I was a bit disappointed when I first went into labour that it wasn't you on call... I felt that I needed someone with quite a strong personality to boss me about a bit and give me lots of direction, but Jerusha [who I share care with - Lucy] was lovely, very supportive and thoughtful, and in the end the midwife who came was not my named midwife but was an older woman with a bit more bossiness in her than my named midwife had been, so it was a perfect combination in the end!

Felix has been an absolute dream, totally contented little boy, very easy going, only cries for a good reason and then stops as soon as you sort him out! Will and I keep looking at eachother and wondering if this really counts as parenting, it's been so easy compared to Harry! And he's really getting out of the newborn stage right now, absolutely loves looking at faces and having gurgle exchanges, it's so sweet. Even Harry has adjusted very quickly and well and has been (amazingly) really gentle with him... which has proved to me that he can be very controlled and gentle when he wants to be.

So thank you once again for everything you did, I can't rave enough about how worthwhile it was to have that extra doula support both before and during the birth, and if anyone asks me for a recommendation I will definitely give your name!

Best wishes and lots of love,

Kate, Will, Harry and Felix xx"

Stephen writes:  "Hi Lucy,

I'm not sure if you'll be altogether surprised at our silence, but we've been mad busy with childcare, loft extensions, running businesses etc, and we feel very guilty that we've not been in contact to say hi and update you on how Hermione is getting on. We're so sorry, especially after all the great work you did!

So, 8 weeks in and she's growing fast. We're actually up at Lucy's parents now, and have been so intermittently for the past few weeks while the building work in our loft progresses. She loves it here, so many sparkly things to look at and amuse her! And fresh air and sunshine aplenty!

Our Maternity Nurse, Susan, finished last weekend and so the reality has hit home. We're letting her cry a bit more now so that she can learn those vital lessons, and it seems to be working. She sleeps well at night, from 11/12 through to 4, sometimes 5am, then on to 10am. She's feeding well also, and is now on one bottle feed a day, the dream feed as they call it.

All in all though, she's gorgeous. Very head strong - who'd have thought! - and a tall, blue-eyed, copper-haired beauty!

We've advocated hypno-birthing to so many people now, hopefully you'll get a call or two over time. It was such an amazing experience, and so easy in relative terms. We can't thank you enough, it has made Hermione's first few weeks and months that much more enjoyable.

We'll try and keep in touch, and if we're ever near you, we'll give you some warning and drop by to say hello. Vice versa, if ever you're near our neighbourhood.

I hope you're enjoying the summer.

See you soon.

Stephen"

Serena Writes: "For the birth of our second child I really wanted to have a home birth, and after thinking about the options I decided I wanted a doula. My mother was unable to fly over from New Zealand (and it was very unlikely that I would get a midwife who I had met during one of my checkups) so I wanted a familiar face to support me through labour – someone I knew who could reassure me/keep me going and focus solely on me and the labour. My husband was going to be there but he would need to deal with our daughter if she woke up. We also wanted our doula to come and help us after the birth while we learnt to cope with 2 little ones!

I started searching the internet and when I saw Lucy’s gorgeous picture and read her website I thought she would be great. We spoke over the phone and Lucy explained how she had a shared arrangement with Maggie, then we set up a time for us all to meet. I felt comfortable straight away with both Lucy and Maggie and I talked about the kind of birth that I wanted. We met another time before the birth to go through some birth positions and they were really helpful with lots of suggestions for books, websites and even a home birth support meeting that my husband and I went to. Two weeks before I was due we had a breech scare and Lucy and Maggie were wonderfully supportive – and they were right! – the baby turned when he was ready.

When I started labour my contractions were very strong and close together so we rang Lucy and she was there straight away. My contractions were very intense and she was this wonderful, calming, reassuring voice in my ear. She rubbed by back and did everything to make me as comfortable as possible. When the midwives arrived, they were two strangers who I didn’t really need or want near me, so my husband made them cups of tea downstairs, and they only came up when they needed to check me. I remember it felt so good to have someone on ‘my side’ – supporting me in what I wanted to do. Things didn’t progress as we hoped so the midwives suggested we go to hospital, so off we went in the ambulance. Lucy was great – handing me homeopathic remedies as needed – and I am convinced it was this that helped to deliver our baby. Because not long after we arrived at hospital I was able to push out a very big 9lbs 8oz baby completely naturally! As soon as Gabriel was born we wanted to leave the hospital straight away and get back home. Lucy zipped back to our house and picked up the baby car seat then back to the hospital to pick us up – then home. She was an absolute star.

She was even better over the next two weeks! She absolutely spoiled us rotten with her wonderful cooking. I would come down to the kitchen to find she had whipped up banana muffins and fresh fruit salad. Incredible lunches and extra meals that she prepared for us to heat up for dinner (my husband thought he was in heaven!). She even managed to whiz around the house and tidy up each room, put on loads of washing and play with our 2 year old. She was very sadly missed when she left…..

I think the world would be a much better place if every baby came with a fantastic doula like Lucy – she was the best!


Serena, Andrea, Jaya and Gabriel"


Jenny writes:
"When I first met you, I knew instantly that we would get along and that you were just the right kind of person to be my doula – down to earth, great sense of humour and NO nonsense. ☺ At first I hadn’t even considered having a birth doula and Ed kept asking “what do they DO”?  Well, everything, as we found out! We are so lucky that you were willing and able to be with us on the day.

Although there wasn’t much about my labour and delivery that I expected or would have chosen, the experience was the best it could have been because you were there. From the minute you arrived at our house, Ed and I were able to calm down and focus our energy. Having you at the hospital made the arrival there smooth and again, calm. I wasn’t scared or worried, and I really put that down to you. And more importantly, I knew that Ed would be taken care of!

As I had to make some tough decisions from the very beginning, I am so glad you were there to help make sure I got the answers I needed. I felt confident that I was going to have as much control as possible. And although the ultimate decision of the c-section was out of my hands, I don’t feel like I was ever pushed into anything or made a decision I wasn’t happy with.

Basically, what could have been a very scary, traumatic event was actually quite calm, considered and positive. I think both Ed and I feel that so much of that is down to your presence and support.

When you came to our home that Monday, I saw through very blurry eyes a loaf of freshly baked bread. I knew at that instant that I wasn’t going to want you to ever leave. You buzzed around the house doing every scrap of laundry, holding Griffin whilst baking cakes and generally kept us alive for a week. I think you lulled us into a false sense of security – it didn’t feel so hard when you were here. And that is just what we needed, someone to take the “edge” off the new baby chaos. And when I broke down on day 5 and needed someone to bra shop with on day 6, you were just the right person to be there. New meaning to the word “support”! ☺

I could write a novel about all the wonderful things you did for us during the birth and afterwards, but I’m sure I’d never be able to articulate just how much we appreciate everything. Ed now recommends a doula to everyone! We are so thankful. Lucy, you’re my hero!

Love,
Jenny, Ed and Griffin"

(Jenny had a placental abruption - a really serious and quite rare condition in labour.  It is not an exaggeration to say the good people of C&W saved her life and possibly her baby's as well.  That she experienced a positive birth is a testament to their skill and professionalism and her husband's incredible stoic calm.)

Persis writes:  "Dear Lucy,

I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for me at the birth of my daughter, Esther. I only wish you could have been there when Reuben was born, as I think we could have avoided the caesarean if you had been there.

So, after letting you know I had started contractions about 8am, I had to call back at 10:30 and ask you to head over, as they were getting fairly strong. But nothing I couldn’t handle standing in the shower and using the techniques you had taught me in my hypnotherapy session.  By the time you arrived at 11:30 I was in a bit of pain, but the contractions didn’t seem to regular, so you suggested we wait before heading to the hospital, as they would attach me to monitors as soon as we arrived, and I wanted to avoid that. At 12:30 I said we needed to go to the hospital, and the contractions were getting quite painful. My waters broke in the car, and poor Pete was driving rather quickly as I was screaming in the back seat. The contractions got much stronger after my waters broke, but I could feel that they were accomplishing something, and just tried to ignore the other cars on the road (which was not too hard as I was leaning over the back seat – I’m so glad you suggested that. Sitting down would have been so painful!). Pete dropped us off at the front of the hospital, while he went to park the car, and we were making very slow and loud progress by that point. I found that screaming loudly helped with the pain almost as much as the relaxation techniques.

By the time we got to the labour ward, and I did think that lift was NEVER going to arrive, I was certain that I needed an epidural. I thought I had done quite well with the pain, but that was enough, and I needed a break. I was so glad you were there, as I would never have managed to deal with the midwives without your help. It’s all a bit hazy for me, but I remember them asking for a urine sample, and then realizing that, as my contractions were almost continuous, they had best take me to a delivery suite. And I remember one of the midwives getting cross with me because I wasn’t using the gas and air correctly. She was trying to get sense from me in the middle of a very strong contraction, and you were there to step in and explain that perhaps she might want to wait a moment. And then go over her instructions with me as soon as the contraction had finished. It was also wonderful to be able to completely ignore the officious, bossy, annoying midwife trainee, and just wait for you to tell me what to do.

I was really annoyed with you and everyone else who said I couldn’t have an epidural, as I really wanted one by that point. But you told me the baby was crowning, and I needed to push. With my first baby, I had pushed for an hour and a half to no avail. I thought I wasn’t very good at that part, and dreaded going through it again. You told me to put my chin down and push, and my first thought was ‘I can’t do this. It hurts too much.’ Then I thought, ‘Lucy is here; it can’t be that bad.’ So I pushed. And Pete arrived after parking the car. And I pushed again. And I had a baby on my tummy, rather than in it, and you were asking me if I wanted tea and toast.

I still can’t believe she was born 15 minutes after we reached the labour ward, and that the third stage was only seven minutes.  She was feeding before they finished sewing me up (although I don’t think seven stitches is bad going at all!) and Esther went on to gain 50 grams by the time she was three days old.

Your advice on introducing Reuben to his new sister was invaluable, and made the transition much easier. We have since found that a scaled down version of this is useful as a morning ritual, to keep him sweet.

Even though Ester was my second child, I was so happy to have you at the end of the phone to pat my hand and offer advice, both during the pregnancy and after the birth. You certainly helped me get through establishing breastfeeding and learn to handle the sleep deprivation in the first few weeks.  The hypnotherapy session was so helpful I've been giving them as presents to pregnant friends!"

Helen writes:  "We first heard about Doulas through the our class, and to be honest we did not think it was a service that we would require. However, after my husband’s paternity leave drew to a close at week 3, and not having family in the country to draw upon, I suddenly found motherhood at this early stage quite overwhelming. Luckily my husband recognised how challenging I was finding caring for our newborn on my own was, and suggested we explore employing a doula.

We found Lucy through the Doula UK website, and one thing that initially attracted me specifically to Lucy was that she had 2 children of her own. From the minute that Lucy came through the door on the first day, she seemed to instinctively know what I needed, from making me a cup of tea, to talking about the challenges of breast feeding and admitting that it isn’t an easy task, and even caring for our daughter Bella during my post-natal check up.

    I certainly feel that having Lucy as a Doula has helped in the development of my relationship with Bella, and in turn has led to a more relaxed home environment. My stoic husband even comments that he looks forward to ‘Lucy Days’ as he can anticipate coming home to a relaxed and happy wife and daughter.

    On the final note, Lucy has such a calming influence and supportive nature and I feel as though our happy household, contented baby and relaxed mother is a testament to her work."

Serena Writes: “Dear Lucy, thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!! Words cannot express how grateful we are to have had you in our lives at this time and how wonderful you have been!! I hope (and am sure) that you will still be a part of our lives and remain a very dear friend. All our love and huge gratefulness! Serena”

Rebecca Writes: “Dear Lucy, we have so enjoyed and appreciated having you these past few weeks. Our home and life have moved from a point of essentially non-functioning to actually being able to manage… I hope! I have so desperately needed the support and company. Thank you for your great ability to multi task, cook, be a source of endless tips and always… always, your sunny disposition. Much love and thanks, Rebecca and Juliet.”

Lisa writes: To the gorgeous, talented, witty, inspiring Lucy, Thank you for the laughs, friendship, food advice and for helping me make my journey as wonderful as it was, Love and laughter, Lisa.”

Jo writes: “Dear Lucy, thank you so much for all your invaluable help and support over the past few weeks. We will really miss you – especially me! Hopefully we will have cause to have you again (although not immediately – I need to get some sleep!) Seriously, if we do go for number 3, I will be calling! Take care and thank you so much, you are such a special person. With all our love, Jo.”

HYPNOSIS

Just to let you know.... 

A client writes: "We had been trying to conceive our second child for a while but kept being stopped by gynaecological problems (first a cervical cancer scare, then an endometrial cancer one). I got pregnant in November 2008 when I was about to have investigations for a suspected polyp, and miscarried very early on. Once I had the hysteroscopy and D&C my doctor realised that it was not a polyp but a potentially cancerous growth, for which the recommended course of action should be 6 months on progesterone. As I was 41 already and my doctor knew I really wanted another child, he gave me 6 months to try and conceive (no pressure then!). After a few months of unsuccessful attempts, I contacted Lucy to see if she could help (she had helped a lot with the anxiety I experienced before giving birth to our first child). Lucy helped me relax and see my then-infertility in a different light, and within a few weeks of seeing her I got pregnant! But I was still spotting and very worried that I would miscarry again, so I went back to see Lucy. The relaxation script she prepared for me helped me allow the pregnancy to continue and I carried our second son to term. Finally, she helped me prepare for the birth itself by teaching me self-hypnosis amongst other things. Thanks to her help I managed to have a water birth again (when doctors had been threatening to induce me) with only a TENS machine and gas & air for pain relief. I really don't think I would now be holding that second baby in my arms if it wasn't for Lucy's help."

Dear Lucy - 

Thank you so much for the CD. WOW. It's incredible. I had a cassette someone loaned me, but the woman was so annoying and it was like relaxation in acting 101 classes. Not awful, but didn't really hit me. Yours is wonderful. Not only am I getting more relaxed but I feel so wonderful and positive about the birth. 

It also makes me feel wonderful in general. This month I have gotten quite large, which intellectually I expected, but I didn't expect how slowly I would move and how hard it would be, and how I would feel sort of disgusting. When I do the hypnosis for birth, I am able to let go of all of that and feel natural and wonderful even though I don't look like a Hollywood mother. 

I have several pregnant friends, and would love to recommend your CDs to people if you are interested in doing them long distance. Let me know and I will put these people in touch with you. You can let me know what you would charge or I could just have them email you. 

I just think you do such a wonderful job. And your voice is fantastic. (i have spent the year listening to fertility meditations by several people, and no one has the ability to really relax a person with their voice like you do.)

Thank you again I am so very grateful to you. If you would like me to get you some business stateside, I can. I'm one of those people that knows a ton of people and loves to connect people. 

Stefanie

Lucy,

I just wanted to let you know that the CD arrived last week - sorry that it's taken me a few days to tell you but thanks very much.  I listened to it over the weekend and I was amazed at how much there was on the recording that I had been too deeply relaxed to hear the first time!

Thank you for a great hypnosis session.  I really enjoyed it and I can't tell you how blissfully relaxed I felt for the rest of the day.  I'm going to love spending time listening to it daily now that I'm on maternity leave.  I also passed on the details of your website to my friend who was diagnosed with Group B Strep and she has found the information very helpful.

Have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

Take care,

Helen xx      

                                                                                        
Rachel writes:  "Orla Hope Farrelly was born on 9th Sept. 8 lb 4 oz and 22 inches long.
 
Emergency section after a rather long (37 hours) labour but despite not quite following my birth plan (!) a very positive experience.
 
Now loving life as a mother and breast feeding going very well.
 
Thank you so much for the support from the hypnobirthing CD - it was so useful especially the concept of the decisions that I made during labour being those right for me at the time. It has really helped me be positive throughout.
 
Love,
 
Rachel x"

 Alastair writes:

"Hello Lucy,

My partner, Emma, and I came to see you before Christmas for a 
hypnobirthing session at which you recorded a script, and gave us a 
CD of it.  This has been one of the most useful things we have done, 
as both of us have been getting very good sleep and relaxation from 
listening to the CD every day.
I wonder if you offer hypnosis for anything other than pregnancy and 
birth?
Best,
Alastair"

Emily Writes: "Dear Lucy, Thanks for all your help. I had another little boy on Wednesday, Benedict George. Delivery was a whole 14 hours faster, and I used the hypnosis a lot, which helped with the very intense pushing sensations. So I am very glad that I did see you. Wiliam seems to be happy with his little brother, so thanks for the tips on introducing them too. Hope you are well, Emily"

Veronique writes: "Dear Lucy, I wanted to thank you for your help. Of course it is difficult to say exactly what part the hypnosis played, but listening to your recording certainly helped to build my confidence and allowed me to have a wonderful birth experience in water and without an epidural which I never thought I would be capable of! Henry is the most adorable baby in the world (No bias there!) with very best wishes and thanks again, Veronique”

Alison Writes: “Dear Lucy, I just wanted to drop you a line to say how useful I found my hypnosis recording – it really helped me to focus amid rushing about organising last minute things, cleaning every single cupboard in the house (I thought I might escape that this time, but no – I was up one Saturday night cleaning like mad – my husband saw the look in my eye and left me to it – strange how they don’t get the same nesting urge!) Anyway our son, Oscar, was born at home as planned and it was perfect. My waters broke and before we started to panic I suggested to Dave that we both listen to my session, and it calmed us down and made it possible for us to focus on the baby rather than the labour. In fact, the labour was even faster than last time, with Oscar being born within three hours. I used the ball, slef relaxation and the visualisation but realised that I didn’t want the music, candles or oils – and no time to fill a bath! Alexander woke up just after the birth, knocked on the bathroom door and was introduced to his brother – he’s been lovely with him ever since. And Oscar is very calm. So a great home birth all around! Thanks again, best wishes, Alison.”

Maria Writes: “Dear Lucy, You worked wonders! I was able to have baby Thomas at home using just a birth pool, breathing and visualisation. I heard phrases from our recording in my mind and they really helped. Best wishes, Maria”

Virginia writes: “Dear Lucy, I came to see you in the summer for a hypnosis session for birth and I’m glad to say that I managed to get through a very long labour to deliver a 7lb 9 baby girl. I found the recording we made at our session very helpful and I enjoyed the experience very much. Kind regards, Virginia”

Samantha writes: “Dear Lucy, you took me through a fabulous hypnosis session just before my baby was due and I wanted to let you know that I have now had my baby, a boy called Angelo. He is beautiful and life has changed forever! Hope you are well, best wishes, Samantha.”

Marie-Lise writes: “Dear Lucy, just anted to thank you again for our session and the recording. It is such a relief to have (re)discovered that calm place I can access. I listened to your voice last night when I went to bed and had the best nights sleep I can remember in the last few months, sleeping through until 10am.

(incidentally, Steve noticed I seemed much more “laid back” after seeing you and asked me if I could play our session just loudly enough for him to hear it and he was snoring gently by the end of your counting down from 10-1…) many thanks and best wishes, Marie-Lise

Charlie writes: “Hi Lucy, Just thought I’d drop you a line to let you know that I had a gorgeous little girl called Maya. Your recording was very helpful both in the run up to the labour and during the actual labour itself – which lasted 22 hours!!! Actually it was quite straightforward and I managed to resist having an epidural. Went for gas and air so no tearing and she came out in three pushes which was quite a relief. I found your hospital tips particularly useful so thank you very much. I am loving motherhood even the night time feeds (when the milkman is doing his rounds) I never knew there were so many owls in London.

So thanks again, and good luck with your interesting job., all the very best, Charlie”

Morag writes: “Lucy, just to let you know that Theo was born safely at home 6 days late. The birth was amazing: mild contractions started at about 2pm and I was at the playground with Beth at about 5pm when I realised that they were about every five minutes and fairly full on so I had better get home. Theo was born in the pool, in his membranes at 8:16 with my husband and mother and midwife all present. It was wonderful being at home and an altogether great experience.

I had listened to my recording loads in the few months before hand and I was more focussed on my breathing and I’m sure it really helped. Even if it hadn’t helped me in labour, using the recording helped me get loads of great daytime sleeps and meant I slept well right up until the end so one way or another it was a great benefit.

Theo is a very settled baby and Beth has taken well to being a big sister.

Thank you very much and much love to you, Morag”
Gemma Writes: Just thought I'd let you know that Jasmine arrived at 37 weeks and 5 days at 3:53pm! Our birth story is pretty incredible because having listened to my recording for the third time that morning, I was so relaxed that when I started to feel those twinges at about 10am, I dismissed them as Braxton Hicks and went about my work as usual. It took a work colleague that afternoon to say that she thought I was actually in labour before I realised that maybe I should phone the hospital. Tom got me there at 2:53pm, we got to the birth centre and they didn't really take me seriously at first because I was so relaxed, but after a bit of assertiveness on our part, they admitted me and discovered that I was already 9cm dilated and Jasmine fairly bungee jumped in to the world about 20 minutes later.

Since then we have been on cloud nine. I have been singing your praises to anyone who will listen and so far Jasmine proves to be a very chilled baby which I am sure is in part due to the smooth and relaxed delivery.

Anyway thought you would like to hear how much help you were. I will definitely come back for number two!

With all best wishes and many thanks again, Gemma and Tom.

Zoe writes: Hi Lucy

I just wanted to let you know I found Tuesday's hypnobirthing session very useful. I came out feeling I can do this (natural birth)! Also, I have slept extremely well the last two nights and think maybe it's because I feel more relaxed and less worried.

I'll let you know how it all goes in 3 months' time.

Regards
Zoe

Vicky writes:  Hi Lucy
Just wanted to let you know that I've passed my driving test! I'm certain the self-hypnosis helped: I've been listening to the CD every day and had a fantastic night's sleep last night. The examiner even commented on how calm I seemed (though I was quaking on the inside!)

It was lovely meeting you the other day - I'm already seeing the benefits of the hypnotherapy and will let you know how the birth of my baby goes. Thanks for sending the CD so quickly and hope you've recovered fully from your cold.

Vicky x