Spiritual Midwifery – The birth ‘bible’ you absolutely should read
I’ve been hanging around for a number of years now on various birth-related forums and facebook groups, and every now and then someone poses the question “What is your favourite birth book, ever?” Over...
View ArticleWhy is Spain so down on doulas?
This week a report came out in Spain that has drawn some rather fantastic conclusions about doulas. According to the report, which was devised by a group of midwives, doulas in Spain are a dangerous...
View ArticleGo With The Flow Doula’s Guide to a gentle birth in hospital
I know I write a lot about homebirth and it’s certainly easier to achieve a peaceful birth when you have more control over the environment. This guide will show you, that whilst it is perhaps harder to...
View ArticleGet a Caesarean You Don’t Really Need – in 10 Easy Steps!
Caesareans are becoming really popular, since people get tricked into them quite a lot. So I’ve made an easy-peasy 10-step guide to help you join the swelling numbers (way over the WHO recommended...
View ArticleIs One Born Every Minute making birth uglier and messier and harder than...
“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong” - Laura Stavoe Harm I watched One Born Every Minute today. I know I shouldn’t – it always makes me...
View ArticleGive that woman a break! Why babymoons and support are ESSENTIAL to a new...
The post-partum period generally gets a bad rap in the press. New babies are seen as a bit of a nuisance – inconveniencing parents the world over with their refusal to sleep, their bawling and their...
View ArticleWhen fear can be a gift and when we should leave it at the birth room door
Women instinctively know that extreme fear in the birth room can be counter productive. But if fears are addressed ahead of birth they can be a powerful tool for showing us many things that can help us...
View ArticleHomebirth – is it really that dangerous in 2015?
There’s a gameshow here in the UK called QI (which stands for Quite Interesting). When a contestant says a wrong answer, gigantic screens behind the contestant flash on and off whilst very loud alarm...
View ArticleWhy do so many women think their baby would’ve died if they hadn’t been in...
“My baby would’ve died if I wasn’t in hospital!” Do you know how often I hear that? It is said utterly sincerely. I want to believe them, but often, I just hear this and feel sad. We all want to...
View ArticleHow society tells women to be aspirational… just not in their birth choices
I’ve been thinking today about the slightly bonkers world we women live in, and the mixed messages we receive about how and when we are encouraged to be aspirational, and by contrast, when we’re told...
View ArticleDear Healthcare provider….
Dear healthcare provider, Please think very carefully before you say the words you are about to speak. Before you laugh at my birth plan, snigger at my choices, try to bully or trick me (for the safety...
View ArticleAre you juggling too many things?
I don’t know about you, but do you ever feel like the Cat in the Hat, when he is trying to keep all those things in the air? Circus jugglers aint got nothing on us mamas – we RULE at juggling. We are...
View ArticleWhy every woman needs to educate herself about birth
I’ve been thinking about how criminal it is that we women are taught so little at school that is really that useful when it comes to our bodies, sex, sexuality, pregnancy and birth. We teach just...
View ArticleWhy Sheila Kitzinger made me cry
It has been a long time since I bought myself a brand new book to read, but Sheila Kitzinger’s autobiography has been tugging at my heartstrings for a while. I thought about putting it on my christmas...
View ArticleDignity Matters
I can’t believe it has been two full weeks since the release of the latest document in our campaign to help restore homebirth in Norfolk! Each time I compile the opinions of others on the subject I am...
View ArticleBirthworkers and the Power of Mothers
Ever heard the phrase “You don’t know what you don’t know”? I’ve been pondering on this a lot lately. There are often many stages a person goes through on their own personal journey of enlightenment,...
View ArticleDo you love your old wardrobe more than you love yourself?
I had a bit of a revalation this morning. I was looking through my drawers for something to wear, just like I do every morning, rifling through clothes that haven’t fitted me for…. months… or if I am...
View ArticleNatural Birth is for wimps
Do I have your attention? Yes, I did just say, natural birth is for wimps. But maybe not in the way you imagine. There’s an idea about homebirthers that just will not go away, judging by some of the...
View ArticleWhy giving birth is a bit like jumping out of a plane
Birth preparation in this country is a very strange thing. If you think about it, women are on the whole, woefully unprepared. Compared to how many hours will be spent on driving lessons, or studying...
View ArticleIf in doubt… Zoom out
Feeling backed into a corner, with no options but the ones your caregivers are suggesting? I speak to far too many mothers who feel pressured and coerced by their local team of midwives or health...
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