Birth Preparation

had the pleasure of teaching Pregnancy Yoga at the beautiful Yoga Room recently. It always feels like an honour to be a tiny part of women's lives during their pregnancy. I am enormously grateful to be able to support women at this time, which is beautiful, often physically uncomfortable and almost always (particularly for first time mums) vulnerable.

The final class that I taught there for now focused on birth preparation. It would take a lot longer than one class to share all the tips and supports that were shared with me by my teachers but I hope that I planted a few seeds for some of the students and affirmed the confidence of others.

We focused on three main ideas during class:

1. If at all possible get off your back and move around during birth - be upright
2. Use positions and movement that will make space in your pelvis for your baby to rotate down
3. Notice what sensory stimuli or people make you feel most calm - can you bring some of those things or people into your birth experience at home and/or in hospital? What smells make you feel calm? Or music? Which person makes your feel supported, calm and confident?

I also promised to share a link to the labour and birth information provided by the Community Midwives Clinic at The National Maternity Hospital and you'll find that here.

This booklet is jam-packed with useful information including tips on what you can do during pregnancy to prepare for birth, what to prepare in advance to manage the early stage of birth at home, positions for the various stages of labour and even tips for partners, plus information on breastfeeding, what to pack in your hospital bag and what to plan now for bringing your baby home.

My personal experience with consultant-led care during my first pregnancy was that although my consultant was personable, extremely competent and very helpful, I was given little information about what I could do to influence birth. It was a joy to have midwife led care during my second pregnancy, when I felt much more empowered to positively influence my birth experience. No matter what type of care is the best option for you, I hope that you'll find this booklet as helpful as I did!

It was a pleasure to meet all of the pregnancy yoga students at The Yoga Room and I hope to meet some of you in the future with your babies.

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