All posts filed under: Birth Debrief

a baby in white knitted shirt

Birth debrief: this is how the birth of my baby made me feel

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A birth debrief can make a difference because your labour and birth is totally unique to you. While birth experiences may be similar, yours belongs to you: you own it, you feel it. Birth can be really positive with good communication and care, leaving parents feeling safe, informed and supported. But it can also leave parents with a range of feelings as they try to process what they have experienced and how it makes them feel about themselves. How we feel during labour and birth can stay with us, which is why it can be helpful to talk it through and make sense of it, to deal with some of the emotions and to make space for it rather than just leaving it tumbling about in your head. Talking to and listening to expectant and new parents is a huge part of my work and birth features a lot. The thing about birth is, even when it is positive and straight-forward, it might not look like what you expected it to be. Birth Debrief: here …

birth preparation

3 ways to make peace with your birth experience

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Being able to make peace with your birth experience can be really beneficial. Labour and birth is such a unique experience and we do need more honest conversations in pregnancy, as well as after birth, to talk through expectations, what went well and how new parents are feeling. And this doesn’t have to be about birth being traumatic, it can be straightforward but still leave you feeling shocked and needing to talk it through. I have spoken to so many women postnatally who say birth was all fine, they are fine but then talk about how different it was, how they wish they’d known something, how they might do it differently next time, how disappointed they might feel, how let down they might feel. Yes it might all be fine but it can also help to talk it through and voice what you are feeling. – high expectations – There can be such high expectations when it comes to birth – of doing it naturally, of waterbirth, of hypnobirthing. This can be important because belief …