Birth With April, Milton Keynes (2025)

19/06/2025

If you’ve landed here looking for birth support that feels grounded, personal, and emotionally held, here’s a little glimpse of what I offer.

🌙 Birth Doula Support
In person, continuous care through your pregnancy, birth, and early postpartum. We spend time getting to know each other before birth, so when the time comes, you feel safe, steady, and seen. I’m in your corner, holding space while you do the big work.

🌙 Virtual Doula Support
Personalised doula care wherever you are, birth planning, decision making, debriefing past experiences, and remote support during birth if needed. Sometimes it’s simply about having someone who can steady your nervous system and hold space, even from afar.

🌙 Antenatal Education
1:1 sessions where we talk through how birth actually works, your body, your hormones, your nervous system, your options. Evidence based, emotionally attuned, and led by what matters most to you.

🌙 Birth Planning Sessions
Helping you map out your options, clarify your values, and feel equipped to advocate for the birth you want.

🌙 Postnatal Support
In the raw, early days after birth, feeding, processing your experience, adjusting to the huge shifts. Quiet, non judgemental support while you find your feet.

✨ Full details of all my services are on my website www.birthwithapril.com, or you can always message me if you want to chat through what you need 💜

28/05/2025

🤍 Doula Support Availability – 2025
If you're due later this year and thinking about having a doula by your side, here's where I currently have space:

✨ September – available
✨ November – available
✨ December – available

I offer full spectrum doula support in and around Milton Keynes, warm, grounded, evidence based care from pregnancy through to those early newborn days. We meet a few times before birth to get to know one another, plan support, and build a relationship rooted in trust.

This is relational care with someone walking with you through one of the biggest transformations of your life.

📍 Milton Keynes + surrounding areas
💛 Payment plans available
📩 Message me to have a chat and see if we’re a good fit

https://www.birthwithapril.com/contact

02/05/2025

Induction is something more and more people are being offered towards the end of pregnancy, sometimes with very good reason, and sometimes... just because the clock is ticking, or the hospital’s policies say so, or the culture of care leans towards “just in case” rather than true informed choice.

It’s not that induction is inherently wrong. For some, it’s absolutely the right call. For others, it might not be. But what matters most is how that conversation happens, and whether you’re given enough space, time, and space to actually make a decision, rather than feeling like one’s already been made for you.

Too often, I see people backed into choices that don’t feel like choices at all. Told about one risk, usually the scariest possible outcome, but not told about the full picture. Not told what induction actually involves. Not told about alternatives. Not supported to weigh up what’s right for you, your body, your baby, your circumstances.

And here’s the thing: you're not just “allowed” to ask for that information, you're legally entitled to it.

In 2015, the Montgomery ruling changed the legal standard around consent in the UK. It confirmed that patients, including people giving birth, must be given individualised information about the risks and benefits of any proposed treatment, as well as any reasonable alternatives. That includes induction, waiting, or whatever else might make sense in your situation.

This ruling was a big deal. It recognised that decisions about our bodies shouldn't be made for us, they should be made with us. Based on what matters most to us.

So if you’re being offered an induction and you’re feeling unsure, it’s okay to pause and ask, “What are the alternatives?” It’s okay to say, “I need time to think.” It’s okay to take a moment, step back, and come back when you feel more ready.

You’re allowed to ask for more information. You’re allowed to wait. You’re allowed to make the choice that feels right for you.

These are the kinds of conversations we have in my antenatal classes, honest, evidence based, and full of practical tools to help you navigate the system with confidence.

✨ My next 5 week course starts 20th May at Bow Brickhill Community Hall.
✨ Further spaces available for July and September.
✨ LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and single parent friendly.

If you’re looking for something deeper than the usual "just breathe" stuff, come and join us.
You’re so welcome here. xx

www.birthwithapril.com/antenatal-courses

25/04/2025

“Is this a hypnobirthing course?”
Yes and no.

I’m a trained hypnobirthing practitioner, so yes, you’ll find familiar elements in my classes:
✨ Breathing techniques
✨ Mind-body awareness
✨ Understanding how fear and safety affect birth

But I’ve also seen how limited traditional hypnobirthing can be, especially for people like me, who are neurodivergent. Being encouraged to listen to daily relaxation scripts or light touch massage wasn’t calming, it was sensory overload.

So I began teaching in a different way: using sound, movement, and tactile tools like birth combs and acupressure instead. Something more flexible, responsive, and rooted in real life.

Over time, I also came to question the roots of hypnobirthing itself. Many people don’t know that both hypnobirthing and the NCT were originally shaped by the work of Grantley Dick Read. A man whose ideas were steeped in racism, classism, and misogyny. He believed that birth should be pain-free, and that fear alone was to blame if it wasn’t.

That doesn’t reflect what we now understand about physiology, pain, and the wider context of birth. And it’s certainly not the foundation I want my teaching to stand on.

While many modern hypnobirthing practitioners have moved well beyond those early ideals, I’ve added so much more to my teaching that I no longer feel the label ‘hypnobirthing’ fits.

My classes support you to build your own toolkit, shaped by your instincts, your needs, and your way of processing. We talk about birth, but also feeding, recovery, and the fourth trimester. We talk about body image, identity, and how your relationships might shift.
We talk about how the system works, and how to find your way through it.

Because there’s no one way to give birth, and your antenatal education should reflect that.

💛 In person antenatal classes in Milton Keynes
🌈 LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and single parent friendly
📍 Bow Brickhill Community Hall
🗓 Next course starts 20th May 2025
🔗 All details and booking: birthwithapril.com/antenatal-courses

22/04/2025

✨How birth works (and why your environment matters)✨

Birth is driven by hormones, especially oxytocin, the one we make when we feel safe, connected, and undisturbed.

But hospital environments aren’t always set up for physiological birth. Bright lights, constant interruptions, unfamiliar faces… it all sends your body the signal that it’s not safe to relax. And that can make labour harder than it needs to be.

You can make your birth space work for you, wherever you're planning to be. It doesn’t need to be expensive or Pinterest perfect. Just thoughtful, personal, and supportive of how your body actually works.

This is one of the things we explore in my antenatal classes in Milton Keynes, along with decision making, feeding, recovery, and all the parts of birth that don’t get explained in 15 minute appointments.

💬 Got questions? Come ask. 📅 Next course starts 20th May 📍 Bow Brickhill Community Hall

Full details & booking: www.birthwithapril.com/antenatal-courses

17/04/2025

I stand with the trans and non-binary community🏳️‍⚧️

After yesterday's ruling, we've seen calls to remove inclusive terms like “women and birthing people” from birth related spaces. But I want to be clear, inclusive language isn’t about erasing the word woman. It’s about adding language, so no one is left out of care that should belong to all of us.

I use the word woman. And I also use pregnant people, birthing parent, and birthing people, because trans men, non binary, and gender diverse people give birth too. They deserve to be included. They deserve to feel safe.

Language matters. And when we widen our words, we make more room for respectful, personalised care, the kind every person giving birth deserves.

Birth is for everyone with the capacity to experience it. And I won’t be part of any conversation that tries to shut people out!

15/04/2025

✨What if we stopped preparing for birth by watching One Born Every Minute?✨

Here’s why I gently suggest skipping One Born Every Minute when getting ready for birth.

It’s a dramatised show, edited for entertainment, not support.
What you see is a narrow, medicalised version of birth, full of bright lights, rushed decisions, and very little time for explanation or consent.

There’s barely a whisper of midwifery led care or home birth options. And no space for understanding what birth can be, or what it might look like when you feel informed and supported.

We’ve lost so much passed down wisdom, and it’s no wonder people turn to TV to try and make sense of something this huge.

But there’s another way...

✨I teach antenatal classes in Milton Keynes, grounded, inclusive, and led by what you need✨

Birth isn’t something to fear... it’s something to understand. Let’s bring it back to nuance, evidence, and support that actually makes space for you.

📍 Next course starts 20th May at Bow Brickhill Community Hall.
📩 All the info and booking is at birthwithapril.com/antenatal-courses

14/04/2025

✨ Expecting a baby in Milton Keynes?

My next antenatal course is now open for bookings, starting 20th May 2025 at Bow Brickhill Community Centre.

A 5-week course to help you feel informed, supported, and a little more ready for whatever birth and early parenthood might bring.

We’ll cover birth, feeding, recovery, and everything in between. With space for questions, conversation, and figuring out what’s right for you.

Sessions run Tuesday evenings, 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

⭐ £250 per course
⭐ WhatsApp group support included
⭐ Beautiful goodie bag to take home

Find all the details & booking info here: http://www.birthwithapril.com

And if you’ve got any questions or just want to chat it through, feel free to message me, I’d love to hear from you 🥰

11/04/2025

3 things I think everyone needs to know when preparing for birth…

(and no, you probably didn’t hear this in your last appointment!)

1. We often overestimate what the system can provide us.

Most people expect their antenatal appointments to prepare them for birth, but rushed care and short appointments often leave big gaps.

2. That means we have to take ownership of our own birth prep.

Not because you should have to, but because understanding your options before labour makes all the difference.

3. Good birth education doesn’t stop at labour.

It’s about learning how your body works and how the system works, and preparing for feeding, recovery, and life on the other side of birth.

That’s what I offer inside my antenatal classes in Milton Keynes.

The support you hoped your appointments would offer… plus everything they didn’t have time for.

✨ Classes start May 2025! Come join my free WhatsApp group to stay in the loop https://chat.whatsapp.com/CYFVFh8B1Q1LpKVc9jqfk1

09/04/2025

I’m April 👋 a doula, antenatal teacher, neurodivergent human, and a bit of a birth nerd.

I offer:
📚 Antenatal Classes in Milton Keynes
🫶 Full spectrum Doula Support
💬 A free local WhatsApp group to connect, ask questions, or just read along

This is the care I wish I’d had.
The support you hoped your appointments would offer...
Plus everything they didn’t have time for.

✨ Curious about working together?
DM me, visit birthwithapril.com, or join the WhatsApp group: bit.ly/4cnW2uZ

08/04/2025

You left your appointment with more questions than answers. Again.

Not because you weren’t listening.
Not because you’re overthinking it.
But because your midwife didn’t even have time to ask how you were.

When appointments feel rushed, when no one explains your options, when you walk out more confused than when you walked in... it’s hard to believe the system will really support you.

You’re not imagining it.
You’re paying attention, and that matters.

This isn’t how it has to be.

I’m April 👋 doula, antenatal teacher, neurodivergent mum of three, and a bit of a birth nerd.

I offer birth support in and around Milton Keynes that actually makes space for you:

📚 Antenatal classes
☕ Full spectrum doula support
💬 A free WhatsApp group for local parents to be: https://bit.ly/4cnW2uZ

The support you hoped your appointments would offer...
Plus everything they didn’t have time for.

Any questions, message me. You don’t have to figure it all out alone.

Birth With April

19/06/2025

28/05/2025

02/05/2025

25/04/2025

22/04/2025

17/04/2025

15/04/2025

14/04/2025

11/04/2025

09/04/2025

08/04/2025

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