Throughout her first pregnancy, Bec maintained an active lifestyle, managing her mild scoliosis through clinical Pilates and running until 22-23 weeks. “I actually have just mild scoliosis, so I have to do lots of Pilates, so that definitely helps throughout my pregnancy, just with back pain,” she explains. She threw herself into birth preparation, completing an intensive six-week hypnobirthing course. “It was like a six-week course every Sunday for like a whole day,” she remembers. “I just think with your first time round, it’s all very kind of overwhelming and there’s a lot to take in.”

Her first birth took an unexpected turn when her waters broke at 38 weeks. “The rule then was to be induced if you hadn’t gone into spontaneous labor 24 hours after. I think the rule now it’s like 48 hours. So it’s changed,” Bec explains. “It would have been amazing if I stayed at home because I was doing so well at home. And then when I went into the hospital, they induced me and it was just a lot.” After 16 hours of active labor, she opted for an epidural: “I was just so exhausted like having no sleep the first night that my waters broke and then having to go in hospital… I was just on my feet and I couldn’t like sit down throughout the contraction.”

When her second pregnancy came along, it happened immediately, leading to an amusing situation at her sister-in-law’s hen’s party. “I just tested just before, you know, going out and having some cocktails. And then, yeah, it was positive. And I was just, my head was spinning. I’m like, oh my God, I’ve got this hens.” She managed the situation with grace: “I said I just had gastro, which was right, which is funny. It’s like, sometimes say that as a lie if you kind of, you know, but it was the truth.”

For her second birth, Bec chose to return to Sandringham Hospital despite moving further away. “At this point we were in Scoresby, so it was still 40 minutes away. But yeah, they were happy to have me back. And I just, I just liked when you’d already been there, you just feel comfortable going to the same place.” She prepared differently this time, immersing herself in birth education through podcasts and learning the horse breath technique, which would prove invaluable.

Her second labor began naturally at 40 weeks following a beautiful family day. “The day my contractions started we had like a really beautiful family day in the backyard we were just like collecting flowers and singing and it was just like really kind of hippie like it was a bit funny and I think like that positivity kind of made it all happen.”

The birth suite became a sanctuary for her second birth. “It was like this dark room with fairy lights around the bath… it was just the most amazing space, like for a hospital.” She found her rhythm in the shower: “I was just like attached to the shower. I was just like, yes, this is helping so much doing my horse’s breath in the shower.”

The moment of birth was powerful and intimate: “I kind of pushed, it felt really natural. I was just kind of pushing through each contraction… And then the midwife caught her and passed her like through to me, which was just incredible. And I was just holding her like in this dark room while water was on me.”

The introduction between sisters the next day was particularly emotional: “When she ran into the room, she like looked like six… she was just so excited. She was like, ‘this is my fair.’ And then she was like, ‘oh, you’re so cute.'” Bec reflects honestly on the early days with two children: “At the start, it’s really hard because you’re kind of like, you know, it’s your little bestie, it’s your little baby and you’re suddenly just feeding a lot… you just feel like you’re just feeding and you just feel a little bit separated at that point.”

Now at four months postpartum, with both births behind her, Bec looks back with gratitude: “Both positive, and just, yeah, so grateful. I kind of got almost like my dream birth for Imogen.” Her story beautifully illustrates how subsequent births can offer opportunities to achieve different but equally positive experiences, especially with the confidence gained from previous birth experience and targeted education.