I have SPD – can I attend a MummyNatal class?

Posted on November 10, 2017 by Sara

This is a question a lot of expectant mums tend to ask us here at MummyNatal, especially when they inquire about attending a class. Our advice is that as long as you’re comfortable attending a class, you can most definitely attend. It’s important that you make your local MummyNatal teacher aware of your discomfort or pain, so that they can guide you through movements that will support your joints and keep you pain-free, rather than put additional strain on your pelvis.

In case you want to find out more about SPD and how to manage it, here’s some advice that you may find useful.

What is SPD?

SPD stands for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. In essence, the condition causes excessive movement of the pubic symphysis, which is the stiff joint at the front of the pelvis. This causes a misalignment of the pelvis. Continue reading →

A MummyNatal guide to pre-eclampsia

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Sara

One of the questions that our MummyNatal teachers sometimes get asked is whether our weekly classes are safe for mums-to-be who have been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. We would say that as long as you haven’t been hospitalised, our MummyNatal classes are suitable for all expectant mums, at any stage of their pregnancy, and no matter what type of birth they’re planning, as long as you’re comfortable attending a class and that if you are experiencing any medical issues, that you have been given the go ahead by your midwife or GP.

We understand that if you’ve been told that you’re either at risk of pre-eclampsia, or you’ve been diagnosed with the condition, you may feel worried about what this means for you and for your baby. So here is some information that you may find useful.

What is pre-eclampsia?

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can affect a small number of pregnant women, usually during the second half of their pregnancy (from around 20 weeks), or postnatally, i.e. soon after the baby is born. If not diagnosed, treated, and monitored, the condition can lead to serious complications for both mother and baby, so the earliest in the pregnancy it is diagnosed, the better. Continue reading →

Childbirth – what are my options to manage labour sensations?

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Sara

Did you notice how we didn’t refer to ‘pain relief’ in labour? Believe it or not, not all mums will describe their labour as painful, and we talk about that in more detail in our blog post called Is labour painful? So here at MummyNatal, when we talk about what a Mum may experience in labour, we like to use the phrase ‘intense sensations’, as a Mum may or may not feel her labour sensations as ‘pain’. During our weekly MummyNatal classes for expectant mums, we do something that we call ‘intense sensation practice’. This is our way of empowering expectant mums with various tools that they may like to choose from, in order to cope with the sensations they experience in labour. We talk about mindful breathing, movement, doing a body scan, mantras, visualisations, and sounding meditations amongst other things.

Of course, when we talk about the birth environment and birth choices, we may get some questions around the more ‘traditional’ or medical options for pain relief. And we’ll always answer any questions or signpost our mums to different places where they can find out more, to be able to make informed decisions. Seeing that we may not cover these points in such a detailed way in a MummyNatal class, here is some additional information that you may want to read on the topic. Continue reading →

Planning a water birth at home: all you need to know about birth pools

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Sara

Following our recent blog post on the benefits of home births, a lot of expectant parents have been in touch to ask whether you can have a water birth at home. In order to shed some light on the options that are available to families who choose to birth at home and in water, we have collected some information on birth pools that we hope you’ll find useful when making your choices.

I am planning a home birth – can I have a birth pool?

The short answer is YES. But there are a few things that you’ll need to consider before you go ahead and make a decision. Broadly speaking you have two options here – you can either buy or hire your birth pool. Continue reading →

My journey to MummyNatal – Jenni Eade

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Sara

This week we have a fantastic guest post for you, written by one of our MummyNatal teachers, Jenni Eade. Jenni is a mum of 2 and a MummyNatal teacher for Cheshire, Manchester, and Tameside, and in this post, she shared the reasons for training with The Natal Family and becoming a MummyNatal teacher. We hope we enjoy her post as much as we did!

The life changes and decisions I have made all stemmed from a huge life alteration I experienced not so long ago: pregnancy. I found being pregnant very exciting. Worrying sometimes, tiring a lot, but mostly exciting. During both my pregnancies people seemed to be nicer to me. Working life definitely got easier when I told my bosses, as they had to make changes to my duties to lighten my load. My family looked at me like I was the first woman ever to be pregnant, and I felt like I had achieved something magical. Continue reading →

Giving birth? Use your B.R.A.I.N.

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Sara

If you’ve been to a class from The Natal Family before, and especially a MummyNatal one, you may have heard us mention the acronym B.R.A.I.N. But what does B.R.A.I.N. stand for, and why is it useful?

B.R.A.I.N. stands for:

Benefits
Risks
Alternatives
Intuition
Nothing

As you know, acronyms are a good way to help us remember and quickly retrieve a sequence of points or steps when we need them the most. In this case, the acronym B.R.A.I.N. can come in handy during labour and birth. Continue reading →

What are the risks of a hospital birth?

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Sara

You may have seen our recent blog post that talked about the benefits of home births. As promised, this post is a follow-up from our previous one, and this time we’ll be discussing the risks of a hospital birth.

Please remember that the aim of these posts isn’t to encourage or discourage parents from looking at particular options – we are not pushing one choice over the other! As always, our aim is to empower parents and parents-to-be with unbiased information, so they can make the right choices for their circumstances and their families.

As stated in our previous blog post, when it comes to safety considerations, we all tend to think that hospitals are the safest place we could give birth in. While home births continue to have this reputation of not being as safe. So to debunk some myths, we thought we’d flip this argument on its head and have a deep dive into the benefits of a home birth and the risks of a hospital one. Continue reading →

What are the benefits of a home birth?

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Sara

Where will you give birth to your baby? In a hospital, in a birth centre, at home? For many people, this is a straightforward answer, either way. While some women wouldn’t consider giving birth anywhere other than in a hospital, some women wouldn’t give a hospital a second thought.

Why? Isn’t a home birth a lot riskier?

Not inherently, no.

When it comes to safety and the need for life-saving interventions, we are so used to talking about the risks of home births and the benefits of hospital births that the perception that home births are not as safe has become ingrained in people’s minds. Continue reading →

What is perineal massage and how does it help?

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Sara

One of the things that our mums-to-be worry and ask us about in our MummyNatal classes is whether there’s anything they could do during pregnancy or labour to avoid tearing. Whilst every woman, baby and birth are unique, and there is no way of telling whether vaginal tearing will or won’t happen, it is a certainly a possibility. There are however factors that can play a part in helping a woman achieve a positive outcome in this sense (i.e. no vaginal tearing!)

But first of all, let’s take it a step back.

What is vaginal tearing?

A vaginal tear is a spontaneous laceration to the perineum, which is the area between the vagina and the rectum. It can occur towards the final stages of the second phase of labour when the baby is being born. With the head being the biggest part of the baby’s body (and often the first one to come through the birth canal), the vagina has to stretch considerably to allow for the baby’s head to be born. Of course, that’s exactly how a woman’s body has been designed to work, so the tissue can and will stretch, but it is possible that tearing occurs in the process. And this isn’t just a possibility for first-time mothers – the birth of subsequent babies can cause tearing as well. Continue reading →

Did anyone notice there are two parents to this baby?

Posted on June 18, 2017 by Sara

You might have seen the blog post we published a few weeks ago about why we, at The Natal Family, believe that we should stop laughing at the videos of labour simulation for men. Judging by how popular that blog post was, and all the questions people raised on social media, we have decided to dig a little deeper into the implications of how dads are often portrayed in the media.

And if you read our previous post, you won’t be surprised to hear that we think there’s a much deeper message hidden behind their entertaining façade. So why do we think that ridiculing dads all the time is so unhelpful? We asked Steph Beaumont, co-founder of The Natal Family and BabyNatal programme and founder of the mindfulness-inspired MummyNatal programme. Continue reading →