I had to be induced as my waters had broken on Thursday morning but I was not showing any sign of going into labour so the birth plan of staying at home as long as possible and having minimal intervention needed a bit of a rethink! I was on a drip and monitor throughout the labour which restricted my mobility however I was able to sit on the birth ball early on and when the contractions became stronger I used a forward virasana pose supported by pillows. The induction was quite slow to get going and I only manged 1cm in the first 4 hours up to 11pm but after this things speeded up a lot and I was in full labour for only 3 hours. I found the tens machine to be really helpful and also for each contraction dropping my shoulders and relaxing all my muscles to let the contractions work. I used ujjayi breath and ratio breathing during contractions, lots of "opening" visualisations and then used gas & air to get through the end of the first stage of labour.

The midwife commented that the relaxation, posture and breathing were the key to getting the labour going after the slow start and helping me to cope with the induction, so all thanks to the yoga!

Many thanks to you for the pregnancy yoga classes - I really enjoyed them. Best wishes to you and all the girls in class. I hope all goes well for everyone."