Why asking questions of your health care professionals could be the most important thing you do…
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Why decision making in pregnancy and labour is NOT all about statistics and research - so says a maths professor! This is so interesting and SO important for all pregnant folk and their partners to know.
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Approaching the end of the third trimester? Waiting for your baby to arrive? Worried about induction of labour? Want to feel more positive and have some techniques to try? Then this post is for you…
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Health professionals often talk to pregnant folk about BMI being a risk factor for birth. For women with a higher BMI than average there can feel like a lot of pressure is put on them to make certain choices (and a lot of blame and shame too sadly). But a very recently published book has looked at the research and evidence around BMI in pregnancy and birth. It’s rather a revelation.
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Did you know that it’s standard practice to give babies a dose of vitamin K just after birth? Do you know why it’s offered? Do you know why you might accept or decline vitamin K for your baby? Well here’s some info all about it.
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When your baby is born, around a third of babys volume blood is still in the placenta and umbilical cord. But it will quickly make it's way to baby via the umbilical cord. Unless of course the cord is cut before the transfer is complete. So delaying the clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord is so important.
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Lets talk about something that everyone wants to know - but often does not actually get spoken about even by midwives. The taboo of poo in labour.
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Did you know that the cervix can also close down (recoil) , as well as open (dilate) in labour? Well it can, and this article is all about why it may do that and also how you can help it move in the right direction.
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A fascinating look at how the baby moves down through the pelvis in labour, through what’s called the ‘cardinal movements’. It’s not all about downward movement - there’s so much more of a dance that baby does than that! Take a look here.
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Lets talk about water births. Why you might choose to birth in water, some of the benefits, the research and lots of your questions answered too..
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It is SO important to know your rights, your choices and the law relating to your body in pregnancy and childbirth.
Here's some things that you should know, that are the law in this country but so many couples I teach on my course’s are often not aware of...
Another short video to help you expand your birth knowledge, and the process of actually what's going on in your amazing body during labour and birth. Because as I always say on my courses and programs - knowledge about labour and birth really is power. This one follows on from my 'latent stage' video, and I’ll be doing another video on 'transition' and on the 'birthing' stage and also on the placenta too soon.
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In all my years of teaching pregnant women and couples, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that knowledge is power. If you are pregnant, you ARE going to give birth. There’s no getting out of it. So learn all you can, not just about the physical and mental experience of pregnancy and labour (because it's as much a mind game as a body one - due to your birth hormones which control everything in labour), but also about your choices, options and rights in the birth room. Here are my five top tips to maximise your chances of a positive birth
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After baby is born we might think of the placenta and umbilical cord as now defunct. Of course they were part of the amazing life support system that grew and nourished your baby for all these months, but that is now no longer needed. But hang on a minute, the reality is that the umbilical cord has one last job to do - and it’s an important one.
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Your placenta is a pretty damn amazing thing. A whole new organ that grows to support your baby through pregnancy providing the nourishment and oxygen for your baby to grow. Without the placenta there would be no baby. In itself it’s pretty WOW. But once baby arrives earthside, the placentas job is done. So what happen to your placenta, should you keep it, and if you do what can you do with it now? Eight things (including eating it) you can do with this unique pregnancy organ.
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At some point in your pregnancy you start to think of the inevitability of the baby coming out, and how that might feel. To many women that causes a little worry, or maybe quite a lot of worry, and often some fear, or a lot of fear. I get it. There are many things that can make labour feel more intense, more uncomfortable, more painful. And I don’t know anyone who wants a more painful labour! So learning what those things are, and how you can avoid them is so valuable in pregnancy - and that’s what this blog post is all about. 7 things I would really recommend you AVOID to help you have a more comfortable labour and birth:
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I wrote a blog post last month all about the Fear-Tension-Pain cycle in labour, and how it’s really important not to fear birth - as that can make your labour more painful and potentially longer too. So I wanted to do a short blog post to follow up to that, and to explain how ‘pain’ in labour is completely different than other types of pain. And how if you can think about it in a different way this can really help you to manage the sensations of labour and birth. So read on:
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I wanted to chat to you today about something that most women (if not ALL women) fear and worry about in pregnancy. And that is tearing in birth. So anything that you can do to reduce the risk of having a tear, is surely good to know yes? And there are things you CAN do in pregnancy and in labour too, to help to minimize this happening.
So read on to reduce this fear and feel more calm and confident through your pregnancy and in your labour and birth.
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In labour there is a phrase that is often not so kindly used to describe a woman who’s labour is not moving fast enough - according to folk who decide on the appropriate the speed of the average uterus! I kid you not! Such women, and you might be one of them, will be ‘delighted’ to learn the term ‘Failure To Progress’ will be written on your notes and perhaps bandied around. Fricking great! Just what you want to hear. So here’s some tips for getting a slowed labour moving again.
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Welcome to today blog post, where I wanted to talk a little about home birth. Those two little words 'home' and 'birth' when put together can cause even mild mannered folk to suddenly become highly opinionated and start to either evangelize about it, or to shriek with fear that your baby's life may be in danger. I think we need to all calm down, and separate fact from fiction. Because I imagine that you want to make all your decisions about your pregnancy, baby and child from a place of knowledge and information, not myths and hearsay.
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