You know when you get into a nice, warm bathtub and you instantly sigh your tensions away? Your muscles relax, your body is soothed and you mind drifts off. Your worries melt into the water that surrounds you and you feel cocooned in warmth and relaxation. So how are birth pools so beneficial for labour then? It was Michel Odent (one of the most famous obstetricians ever!) who said “Birth is first a hormonal process.” Your hormones are strongly linked to your emotions, and wh

My Nan gave birth to 5 children. The first 4 at home at her 5th in hospital where she was strongly advised that home birth would not be safe for her. She didn't like the hospital experience at all. She felt out of control, poked and prodded, not at all relaxed or in tune with her body. She regrets this decision. This was 1970. My own mum has given birth twice. First in hospital, where an epidural was advised. She didn't understand the reasons why, she couldn't feel anything a

This is a very real experience for many people and the topic needs to be raised and validated. GREIF: is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died to which a bond or affection was formed. TRAUMA: severe emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience When a mother stops breastfeeding prematurely (before she wishes to stop) this can have devastating consequences on the Mother’s emotional wellbeing and bonding betw

**Re-posting for all of you gorgeous expectant parents to help you feel excited about your upcoming hypnobirths.** I cannot believe it has taken me almost two months to sit down at my laptop and write our little boys birth story, but what can I say? That’s how demanding new-borns are, needing your attention, love and nourishment every moment of the day. I love it! I relish in it! So, Christmas has passed, New Year has been and gone, the toddler is back to nursery this morning

I mean…WOW…what a book!! This is written from the perspective of an NHS midwife (previously a Doula) who highlights the extreme pressures that face maternity care here in the U.K. It is full of passion, heroism, joy, love, trepidation, confrontation, a love for her work and then a hate for her work. So many parts of this book scream out for help and urgent help at that, but no one is listening. She writes her blueprint for a better maternity system within the NHS (which sound