thebirthedit, Cirencester (2026)

27/06/2023

Hi! I’m a local doula & antenatal teacher and am currently offering birth pool hire with free local delivery (Fairford & surrounding villages) - please tag people / pass my details onto any pregnant people you may know who might be interested in my services ❤️ I’ve just come back from maternity leave myself, so help with spreading the word of my small business would be greatly appreciated! 🥰

11/06/2022

Hello to all of you from Blossom Daisy 🥰 she arrived on 6th April and we are (very) tired still but over the MOON that she’s here. I know all of you will be interested in my birth story so I will be posting more about that here - it was SUCH an empowering journey supported by the lovely - lots to learn from so I’m excited to share all, I’ve been spending the first 8 weeks trying to navigate 3 under 3 life and get back on my feet but I’m feeling more ready now to put some energy back into birth 💫 if someone could tell the sun to come out and stay out though I’d appreciate it?!? IT’S JUNE. Lots of love 💕

15/02/2022

A little hello & a little goodbye! I realised the other day I’d been inadvertently hiding my pregnancy from this account (whoops), unintentional but perhaps a reflection of how busy life has become! I’m 30 weeks now and wow, time has flown, I’m exhausted (having a 1 & 2 year old full time whilst being pregnant and doing a full house renovation whilst trying to build a business is a LOT), I’m also full of love and excitement, but I’m also ready to take a bit of a break, and give this babe and it’s birth the attention it deserves wholeheartedly ❤️ so, it’s goodbye for now, not sure for how long because I may not be able to resist popping my head above the parapet before this baby makes an appearance, but we will see! 😂 I’m still teaching Hypnobirthing for existing clients so if you’re booked in don’t panic 🥰 ttfn my darlings & see you on the flip side ❤️🤩

30/10/2021

This is me at 40 weeks with my last pregnancy. I remember feeling so proud of what my body had achieved - how much it stretched and changed to give room and life to my growing baby. I was so confident that it was able to birth with the same competence, despite what I’d been through with my first birth, and I was right.

Fear of birth is installed right from the start in this modern world, and the message that we NEED medical interventions as a matter of course is ingrained in our culture. The uncomfortable truth is that so often this, coupled with the very presence of the ‘care’ often is a cause of the problem.

We really are built to birth. Built to birth on our own, or with people we feel safe with. Built to birth in the way we feel most comfortable. Built to feed and care for our babies. Built to nurture. Built to thrive, if given the chance.

Give yourself the chance by choosing information over protocol driven choices - you can birth exactly how you want to, medical facts and statistics are available if you seek them out - they aren’t always given to you by your care providers and if they are, it’s likely they are going to be delivered in a way that makes you choose the option they would prefer, whether that’s safest for you or not. 💔

29/10/2021

“What had been stolen from me was a rite of passage” is such a strong sentence - so many birthing people (including me, after my first birth) believe that “rite of passage” is a traumatic, scary, horrible birth experience that you just have to go through.

Swipe to see this incredible woman just after giving birth at home, a successful, healing, powerful VBAC.

She researched, she sought support, she soaked in all of ‘s incredible information and inspiration and (crucially) brought a doula into her birth to help and guide her.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this birth had been the experience she’d had first time round? THIS is why we do what we do. It’s a vendetta. We can birth our babies, really, really well - if we’re given the space.

And so we beat on ✌🏼DM me if you want to talk, my inbox is always open 💞

Reposted from the magical

23/10/2021

This is what I was told when I asked to keep my baby on my chest to warm it up, rather than take my baby out into a blizzard and travel with it in a cold carseat at 2am to a hospital 20 minutes away.

We are living in scary times for maternity, where fear of litigation clouds logic. I’m not saying this happens every time, but it’s scary how often protocol gets in the way of common sense. We HAVE to educate ourselves, we HAVE to make informed decisions. It’s no longer a ‘nice to have’ it’s a necessity for the health of your baby and yourself. If I hadn’t known what I’d known, I wonder what repercussions going against my gut would have had for me and my baby. I dead to think how many people have been let down by this type of fearmongering and institutionalisation.

I wish it didn’t have to be like this, but the harsh reality is that no matter how hard you want to trust in your medical care providers, the processes they are bound to do not always look after you first. This is why Doula’s are so, so important, and why educating yourself through courses like my own is so critical. We need to look after ourselves.

22/10/2021

Let’s be clear: Using an ultrasound to estimate a babies weight is INACCURATE.

So many birthing people are ushered into having an induction because their baby is measuring ‘too big’ or ‘too small’

a) official guidelines don’t recommend this route
b) induction increases the risk of further interventions and complications (when having one may not have even been necessary)
c) this means people have increased negative birth experiences and babies are born BEFORE THEY ARE READY TO BE.

The latest studies show that measuring and palpating bump sizes is wrong more than 50% of the time (yet this is why people are sent in for scans) AND ultrasound scans can only predict babies size within 15-20% of their actual weight. This means that the measurement could be out by over a lb either way - which is a LOT when you are talking the difference between a 5lb or 6lb baby.

The ledgend Dr Rachel Reed has a brilliant blog post about this (“Big Babies: the risk of care provider fear) where you can read more about this subject in detail - it’s so important you are informed in the choices you are making rather than just being informally coerced down a route you didn’t want to go down, when there isn’t any evidence to suggest the route is even helpful.

21/08/2021

Now, more than ever, birthing people NEED to take charge of their knowledge. You may not know it, but we’re living in worrying times for maternity 😞

The draft 2021 NICE guidelines on Inducing Labour are likely to be published in October and harbour some terrifying changes, including the removal of a KEY line from the old ones:

“𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳.” (𝘕𝘐𝘊𝘌 2008).

The recommended increase in interference with uncomplicated pregnancies is rife. For example, the recommendation that Membrane Sweeping (‘Stretch & Sweep’) should be offered from 39 weeks. This is WITHOUT enough discussion about the disadvantages of this approach.

In some cases, statements about “the evidence” are not even supported with a reference, when you look it up, the recommendation turns out to be based on the “knowledge and experience” of ‘the panel’. Which is very different from robust evidence.

I’ll be posting a roundup of the key concerns, but in the mean time - take a look at the changes if you are ‘due’ after October and make sure you are fully informed about induction.

My two go to references are:
‘Inducing Labour - Making Informed Decisions’ and
‘Guide to Induction of Labour’ (2020)

I’m ALWAYS around to talk too 😘❤️

20/08/2021

We just went to our first baby class together courtesy of and it felt SO good to be spending one on one time with this little cherub. (If you haven’t been to one of Sophie’s classes, get yourself booked on ASAP)

Can’t believe 8 months has slipped by and we’ve not even been to ONE class just us two. The guilt is real knowing how many I took my first baby to in those early months, but we’ve got to be kind to ourselves and take these moments and hold them close to our chest!

Someone once told me ‘if your not sure how your going to keep giving this much of yourself day after day, you’re probably a good parent’ - so I’m passing it on to anyone who feels like this week has been a hard old slog. You’re doing the best you can ❤️

(also, just look at his little face. Have you EVER seen anything so sweet in your life)

14/08/2021

Thank you for sharing this - we’ve all felt judged at some point being a parent, whether it’s that ONE time you sat down at the park and dared to try to respond to a text before you were interrupted again and it was left read and forgotten about, or whether it’s when your child is throwing a tantrum in the supermarket and you cave and give them that snack bar they’ve been screaming for before you’ve paid for it because you just can’t deal with getting to the other side of Tesco with your ears ringing and already heavy trolley moving side to side with the weight of them throwing said tantrum (we all know the other side is the side with the wine, too. Essential you get there).

You do you mama, never let someone else who sees only a snapshot of your life be your measure of success ✋❤️

thebirthedit

27/06/2023

11/06/2022

15/02/2022

30/10/2021

29/10/2021

23/10/2021

22/10/2021

21/08/2021

20/08/2021

14/08/2021

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