Your complete guide to birth & baby

These resources have been designed to provide you with a range of practical information and resources to help you prepare well for labour, birth and life with your new baby.

Labour and birth can be simple and straight-forward, but it can also be complicated, overwhelming and scary. Labour, birth and becoming parents can be an incredibly emotional experience and it is these emotions that you can’t prepare for. However you can be equipped with effective knowledge and skills so you know more about the childbirth process; about new babies; about what helps and what might not; and how to use practical skills to focus on being comfortable and staying calm.

I passionately believe that when labour is straight-forward and well supported, the contractions are do-able, and when underpinned by a positive mindset, good strategies, skills and ongoing reassurance, there is nothing to fear. But there are many factors that can impact contractions and how well a woman can work with them – a long labour, a back-to-back baby, being induced, anxiety and fear and lack of support and consistency can all make labour and birth tougher than expected.

I also believe that one type of birth is not better than another: my role is to help you gather the knowledge, skills and confidence to make decisions, to have robust coping strategies and to do what works best for you.

I feel that it is important to keep birth strategies as simple as possible with movement, gravity, breathing, doing what feels right, taking it one contraction at a time and saying what you need to be comfortable and safe are essential.

Add to this the ability to ask questions so you know more about your options, and you are then better equipped to manage any changes and complications. It’s about putting yourself at the centre of your care – so you can say what you need, so you are communicated with, so you can work with your midwife.

The postnatal module aims to give you a foundation of information so you can feel better prepared for life with a new baby, with more realistic expectations. It’s about knowing what new babies can be like, knowing what life can be like as a new parent and finding what works for you as a family.

And you can also arrange a conversation with me in pregnancy and when your baby is here to ask questions and to feel more reassured.

---

As you go through each module:

• read through the information and resources
• make notes & answer questions
• write down your personal strategies for labour, birth and the early days with your baby so you can think about what you might need

You can arrange an online appointment to talk through
your birth and baby preparation.

Copyright: Janine Smith