Her birth was wild, challenging and emotional...

Dearest Tamara,

We are officially welcoming our beautiful baby girl, Sephy — short for Persephone, named after the Greek Goddess of Spring. Even more wonderfully, Persephone was also the name of one of the incredible midwives who helped deliver her.

Sephy was born on Sunday 19th April at 6:13pm at Homerton Hospital.

The birth was challenging, wild, emotional and very special. There was exhaustion, anxiety, a lack of sleep, and moments where things felt intense and overwhelming — but the Wise Hippo preparation and the techniques you taught us truly got me through.

We played the Wise Hippo relaxation sessions throughout, and the breathing techniques made such a difference. I managed to reach 6cm dilated with no pain relief, and no one on the induction ward realised how far along I was because I was so calm, focused and in control.

When things moved quickly, we were taken from induction to delivery, where I had an epidural, and from there the rest of the birth felt much more straightforward. I was able to birth our baby girl vaginally, something I had once felt too fearful to even imagine.

I feel so grateful for The Wise Hippo materials and for the way they helped take the fear out of birth for me. They gave me tools I could actually use, helped me stay calm when things became challenging, and supported me in moving from wanting a planned caesarean to feeling able to birth my baby through my vagina.

We are now exhausted, home, and completely in love with our beautiful bundle of cuteness.

Sending so much love and gratitude.

Holly xxx