To paraphrase (or perhaps, with apologies, to butcher) Jane Austin, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman or person who is pregnant, must be in want of antenatal education”. Antenatal education in one form or another is part of almost every pregnant woman or person’s pregnancy journey, together with their partner if [...]
Baby hats: Wasted wool? For years, requests have popped up on social media, on posters in antenatal waiting rooms and via the Knitting Networks. “Volunteers needed to knit baby hats for newborns in the maternity unit”. Such requests are a godsend for folks like me – yarn lovers [...]
Vaginal examinations, information about choices and rights. When we hear women and people discussing their births, there are two sets of numbers we tend to hear about: Dilation* - as in how many centimetres open their cervix was at different times in their labour, and the baby’s weight. “I was 6cm at 4.30, then two [...]
Benefits of Antenatal Education There is a failing in our school system, and it is that despite all of the sex education and reproductive biology that we may have all had to giggle through, there is nothing – and I mean nothing – on birth itself, beyond the fact that the baby comes out [...]
On the 16th March 2020 the UK’s Chief Medical Officer placed pregnant women in the vulnerable group, why did he take this decision as the evidence so far indicates pregnant women are no more likely to contract coronavirus than anyone else? The answer is pre-caution. What is already known is that pregnancy can alter [...]
On the 16th March 2020 the UK’s Chief Medical Officer placed pregnant women in the vulnerable group, why did he take this decision as the evidence so far indicates pregnant women are no more likely to contract coronavirus than anyone else?
Early Pregnancy can be an exciting yet daunting time. With an abundance of information out there and advice from various people, what information can you trust? Who should you listen to? At the Real Birth Studio, we try to cut through the mountain of information and provide you with a session that will help pull [...]
An expecting mother has a lot on her mind, and one of those things is pain. It is normal to wonder how much it will hurt, if it’s like what you see in the films, how long it will last? For some, these questions become fear of birth, and something that is thought lots about [...]
This September, our friends at Orphans Publishing are excited to be releasing respected maternity nurse Fiona Cooke's guide to the early days with a newborn baby: A Helpful Guide to a Happy Baby: Practical Wisdom from a Maternity Nurse for 0-3 months. The good news is if you can’t make the launch in London (Waterstones Kings [...]
Pregnancy sometimes comes with a long list of associated negative complaints. Anything from a headache, nausea, backache and swelling can occur, and it is something that a lot of women feel they have to resign themselves to. There’s nothing we can do about it, right? Wrong. Granted, there are some things we can’t overcome – [...]
