I wanted to reach out and share with you that I had my little baby girl last Wednesday evening!
If you can remember I was paranoid about going into labour too early (e.g. wk 30-36) but no! After talking to this baby and visualising what I wanted she arrived a day after her due date!
 

I wanted to tell you a little bit about my birthing experience as I owe so much of it to you and the course that I did with you helped me enormously. 
 

I had my hind waters break early Tuesday morning (5-6am) - however I didn't fully recognise it as my waters breaking as there was only about half a cup of water - not as much as everyone seemed to talk about! 

I went about my day as normal as possible although was feeling strong cramps and having some bleeding (show) - the blood worried me a bit however and I ended up calling the hospital who asked me to come in for a check. At the hospital the dr stated my waters had broken (that morning) and as it was now over 12hours after they wanted to induce me (initially with a membrane sweep and then following this the hormonal drip the next day if active labour had still not started). Because we had covered some of this in the course I was strong enough to hold my own and decline both of these options and requested to go into natural labour on my own. 
I left the hospital at this point it was about 3am - I stayed up the rest of the night as the pain of contractions had now intensified and stopped me from sleeping (although if I busied myself they weren't too bad). I spent the Wednesday at home keeping busy as much as possible and using breathing techniques to move through the pain of contractions - the hospital had asked me to come back for fetal monitoring at some point this day - I was trying to hold out until I thought active labour had begun but after another phone-call to the hospital - I felt guilted into coming back in. 

When we got to the hospital it was 9pm Wed evening - after another check they informed me only my hind waters had previously broken and I was still only slightly dilated (3cm). This showed me my body was working but slowly. I requested to still decline intervention and wait another 24hours to see if my body would actively continue - however the Dr informed me if I went over 48hours since initial waters breaking ( we were now at about 40/41hrs) I would no longer be eligible to give birth in the birthing suite like I wanted. This was a big decision for me and I requested time to talk it over with my mum and husband - I weighed up the pro's and cons and eventually decided birthing suite was my higher preference - so I agreed to have the rest of my waters broken in the birthing suite that evening. The midwife did this and this then started active labour. 

I laboured for abour 3hours in the birthing pool listening to the visualisation and relaxation audios - and I know when I did the course with you my husband was not going to be present at the birth but this changed! He came in with me and was by my side the entire time (along with my mum) and both of them were incredible at helping me with my breathing, keeping calm and relaxed.
After 3hours I had made progress but still had a way to go and the pain had got really intense and I could feel it blocking my progress. It was at this point I agreed to gas and air. 

This transformed things for me as I was able to move past the pain and could feel my body relaxing deeper and deeper with each outbreath and moving my baby down! Within 20minutes I was ready to push. 

There had been some minor flickers in my baby's heart-rate throughout this all which the midwife was pretty sure was just in response to the baby-moving down but even so we made the decision not to do the final pushing in the pool just in-case. 
The next stage was incredibly intense but very quick! With the guidance of the midwife and my mum and my partner by my side holding my hand I pushed our baby out quickly but gently and our little girl was born 3am Thursday morning. 
(I even managed to avoid tearing). And my husband even cut the chord and told me the gender as he lay our baby on my chest for the first time.
 

Overall I love my birthing experience - it was hard! And the pain was more intense then I could ever have anticipated - initially I felt gas&air was a slight cop out but honestly it aided me to have the smooth and safe birth I had envisioned and for this I am so grateful. 
 

Sorry for the huge email! But wanted to share all the details!
I honestly can not thank you enough for all your support and guidance!