At 5am I realized this was not practice it was the real deal. I crawled back into bed and tossed and turned and started breathing correctly. At 6am I started to think we should head to the hospital - I timed maybe 10 surges and was very surprised that they were all approx 3min apart and lasting about a min. Woke Ryan up and told him we should get ready to go (I had packed our hospital bag the day before). He had a shower and packed the car. We arrived at the hospital around 7 and by this time I was very uncomfortable. Nothing felt comfortable and the time between surges felt barely long enough for me to reestablished calm breathing. When we got up to the ward I was so focused on my body I don't even remember what happened. I know they were going to assess me and I was making some very heavy moaning noises which the nurses thought was just a first time mum being a first time mum and not coping well. I think everyone was surprised, and I was happy, to hear we were at 10cm. At this point the natural expulsive reflex was starting to make itself known at the end of my surges and we were taken to a delivery room. The delivery part was so much easier than the dilating part! I felt like my whole body was in sync. At this point my membranes hadn't released. Our Dr suggested we help this along to release some pressure. She also took the time to explain what could happen if they released the membranes- which was great. The open dialogue was exactly what we wanted- being asked and explained the benefits and risks of each step. Our decision to help release my membranes was a selfish one- I went from feeling like I was birthing a mini watermelon to birthing a grapefruit- and after 30 mins Quinn Maura arrived. She is just perfect. I should also mention that I had a third degree tear - which is pretty much as bad as it gets but I was so focused on working with Quinn and my body that I didn’t notice. Quinn was put directly on my chest immediately after and with some assistance from the nurse we breast fed together very well. The endorphins and adrenalin coursing through me for the next 8 hours were insane! I felt amazing! We are now at home adjusting to life together and I am still in awe that it happened so quickly! Thanks hypnobirthing for getting me through, and making this experience so beautiful.

Kendra, Ryan and Quinn