In today’s episode, I speak with Lauren, an NHS worker and meditation and breathwork teacher, about her experience of having a planned NHS home water birth with her first baby.
Lauren shares her journey to conception, including the emotional pressure of trying for nearly a year, working in the NHS during COVID, and how stress shaped her experience of fertility. She reflects on how taking the pressure off trying to conceive ultimately led to pregnancy and changed how she viewed the connection between the mind and body.
She talks through how her understanding of breathwork and hypnobirthing influenced her birth choices, leading her to plan a home birth despite it being her first baby. Lauren describes labour beginning quietly at home, moving into the birth pool, and the powerful moment her body began pushing instinctively, experiencing the fetal ejection reflex.
Lauren also shares honestly about the realities of the postnatal period, including breastfeeding challenges, reflux, hormone crashes, and the emotional intensity of early motherhood, both for her and her partner.
This episode offers a calm, honest account of a first-time NHS home birth, alongside reflections on preparation, breathwork, and navigating the postpartum period.
This episode is shared for storytelling purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice.
","author_name":"Georgia McGivern"}