Ok so in my spare time, I have another passion, yep birth will always be my number 1, apart from the family obviously but another love in my life is blooms, flowers, plants, basically anything growing.

I can’t bear to have a house with no flowers in it, and always make sure when I buy the weekly bunch that the majority are still in bud, I excitedly bring home a bunch of new flowers, get out my jar, fill it up with water and plunge the beautiful and expectant blooms into it.

And then. I sit and watch that bud. I observe it. I don’t take my eyes off it. I talk to it encouraging it to open, ‘come on bud you can do it, bloom bloom’.

And really importantly every 4 hours I get out my tape measure and see how its doing, 1cm dilated! Ah how disappointing! MMM I think this might be a case for the Baby Bio, come on flower OPEN and Release!

Nothing! Ok I am going to have to call in an expert and in the absence of Monty Don or Titchmarsh I give my Mum a ring. Give it some food and water and check it again in 4hrs. Great advice Mum.

Ok so maybe this is a bit far fetched a bit ridiculous maybe?

Because of course in reality I have no doubt that when it is ready and at its own pace that flower will start to bloom and it will open to its full beautiful potential when its is good and ready. I would NEVER ever question the capability of that flower to bloom open and I would never try to hurry it up. I trust that nature has done an incredible job at creating that flower and not for a moment do I doubt its true potential and ability to bloom.

In our Hypnobirthing classes we often refer to the blooming open of a flower to a woman’s vagina ‘blooming open’ during birth. It provides a great visualisation which can be so powerful and useful during birth. Ok so some people may think this is a bit far fetched, a vagina opening in birth compared to a blooming flower. Personally I love the comparison and it definitely helped me when I was birthing my son all 10lb 7oz of him comfortably at home in water, breathing through each surge and visualising opening up to let him move down and release.

But maybe this is all a bit woo for you, maybe imaging your vagina as peony in full bloom is just a tad ‘woo’ too far.

In that case I will just impress that it would be wise and helpful to give as much respect to your birthing vagina as we do to a bud about to bloom.

Don’t over observe … a watched flower never blooms, water and feed your body (not with baby bio), give it time, don’t feel that you must measure it, TRUST.

Trust that your body will open, its just grown a human, it knows what it’s doing.