Reflecting on my birth experience fills me with joy, strength and wonder. I love sharing my story, and I hope it gives confidence and encouragement to women who are in search of this. So, buckle in and here we go...!

It all started on the morning of February 10th, 2025, when I went to attend my acupuncture appointment. My 'due date' was the following day, so my acupuncturist offered one more pressure point to my treatment. I thought, 'Why not give it a try?'. The moment the needle pressed into my baby toe, I felt my little one move inside! He would often move around during my treatments, but this time it felt different, like something woke up within me. This feeling of awakening and energy in my womb space stayed with me throughout the day. I continued to feel good though, so I went about my day as planned- I cycled to my prenatal yoga class, met up with some mamas-to-be for an afternoon catch up, then headed home around 5pm. Once I was home I had this feeling that I should stay home for the evening - something just felt different about this day.

I’m a proud mama of two beautiful and healthy daughters. My first, Mila, she was born in a hospital here in Portugal, and my second daughter, Lou, was born at home. A dream I carried with me since my own birth was at home in the Netherlands, where home birth is such a natural part of life.

Early on in my pregnancy with my first, Mila, we discovered that there was compressed blood flow from my arteries to the umbilical cord, which made the pregnancy slightly higher risk. While the idea of a home birth did cross my mind a lot, being a first-time mama, coupled with the risks and the fact that home births are very rare here and looked at as dangerous, I followed the path to a hospital birth.

At 38 weeks, I had a bit of an headache and a change in my blood pressure, we went to the hospital for an extra check. Because of a slow-down in Mila’s growth and a small leak in my bag of waters which left her with very little water, I was induced with inserted Pitocin gel

Every birth story is unique, powerful, and deeply meaningful. Whether your journey was at home, in a hospital, in water, through cesarean, or something else entirely — your story matters.

I’d love to invite you to share your birth story with our community. You can email me yours if you’d like.