‘The pool was amazing and allowed me to get on my hands and knees during contractions. I was sick at one point but I remember telling Jenna I felt like I was at the spa with the water and my twinkly lights and affirmations everywhere!’
Read More
‘Birth is a physiological AND emotional process. Simply put when your oxytocin levels (the love hormone - think how you feel when you’re really happy - that’s oxytocin) are high enough that your contractions can start... your baby will begin making their journey earth side. So how do oxytocin levels get high? You need to feel joy and lots of it.’
Read More
‘...we can plan and plan and plan but we just can't know... and not knowing needs to be part of the plan too. Finding a way to be ok with that is important. Antenatal prep should be more about finding your voice to speak up when your intuition is giving off warning signals, helping you let go so you can ride the waves of motherhood and grounding yourself into a calm space so you can handle the overwhelm.’
Read More
‘Accepting that, while there might be magical moments, birth may also be surprising and, at times, even mundane, we can begin to have a more realistic view of what is ahead of us. In fact, it’s pretty good practice for parenthood! Having some plans in mind but accepting that there will be much we can’t control sets us up brilliantly for our mothering journeys too.’
Read More
‘So slowly over time I have practiced this feeling of FOMO, this shift to not being where I thought I wanted to be, often staying home with the kids while I live vicariously through my friends and their cool insta stories. And it has faded, dimmed, that feeling that I'm missing out. I started to focus simply on what I was doing and all the loveliness in that.’
Read More
‘Imagine what it would feel like to totally and utterly believe in yourself? Imagine how you would behave in the world? Confident, beautiful, strong, powerful, decisive, life grabbing, fearless.’
Read More
'Pregnancy hormones soften the brain and body and allow right-brain activity to dominate. If a woman is nurtured during her pregnancy and allowed to surrender to this state, her whole body will act better during labour. Although medicine can help some women, it also hinders this particular opportunity; because of it's risk-reductive approach to childbirth it keeps women in a left-brain state of mind.'
Read More
‘There has been a noticeable shift in birth preparation. Women seem to think that they have to do something to give birth. Get informed, get aligned, breathe in a certain way, like they're taking a test they need to pass. Everyone seems to have forgotten that birth is a natural process, an absolute right of passage, as natural for the body as going to the loo, it is a bodily urge to release your baby and bring them into the world. You don't have to do anything.’
Read More
‘I can't beat myself up forever but I can make sure I never feel like that again and so that's what I did. I became a doula and had an amazingly healing second birth. I'm not saying everyone should run out and train as a doula, although the experience has been life changing for me, but I would say, forgive yourself, go gently and get the right support for next time.’
Read More
‘Her ‘surge’ passes and she eventually calms down and returns to her Zen-like state. Maybe it was just a tough one. In my relief I briefly think about offering paracetamol as a joke but don’t take the risk. She pads back to the bedroom and I return to Bourne.’
Read More