Lots of women go on to have a vaginal birth after having a caesarean. Here’s some information to help you make that decision between a VBAC and another c-section.

Can toddlers sense pregnancy hormones? If mine can, he’s pretty darn pissed about it. This is my irrational “mumsnet” thought of the day as I collapse in a nauseous, exhausted, emotional heap after a fairly horrific few hours of parenting.

With my first pregnancy I avoided alcohol, blue cheese and unpasteurised cheese, pâté, cured meat, runny eggs, rare steak and caffeine — all the really good stuff. Oh and ibuprofen, which I think also counts as the good stuff now I’m in my thirties and don’t get out as much as I used to.

“Please attend with a moderately full bladder for this examination.” As a reasonably intelligent adult who pees several times a day and who has attended two previous pregnancy scans and a routine ultrasound, you would think I’d know how to do that by now, but no. What is moderately full? How much water is too much? What if I don’t drink enough? How long does it take to go through, anyway? What if I’m called early? But what if I’m called late? Oh, God.

It has happened. Whilst getting changed for bed last night, I leant forwards without the support of my trusty maternity bra and my boobs met my belly. I was greeted by that warm and slightly clammy feeling of soft flesh on flesh, which as someone with a slightly less than well stocked rack, I don’t usually get.

I would like to start with a very warm hello to everyone in the LushTums community! My name is Kim and for several years I've been working as a LushTums pregnancy yoga teacher and a doula in Brighton and Hove, as well as looking after my two daughters. I am very excited to announce that I am now also teaching Postnatal Yoga!

Ok, so you may have heard the term ‘placenta encapsulation’, but still be confused about how it works, what the benefits are and what it costs (or even what it ACTUALLY is). Well, you’ve come to the right place! Our Lushtums Bristol teacher Nicole has specialised in the preparation of placenta remedies for over 7 years, and is here to explain....

The Immune System - Why Zinc is important to you and your baby

Zinc is important for growth. It helps to support your baby’s body and brain to grow. Zinc also plays a big part in keeping your immune system healthy.

What to look out for when you, as a mum, are low in zinc:

‘I can do this’ I thought, ‘I look after babies for a living! How hard can it be?? I got this!’

How naïve, unprepared and surprised I was.

When I found out I was pregnant with my first baby I had been working full time as a Neonatal nurse for just over 3 years. I loved my job- and still very much do, but it is a rollercoaster of a ride. 13 hour shifts caring for the sick, premature, surgical, and sometimes even dying, babies. Every shift I would walk onto the unit and do my utmost to keep the babies safe and comfortable and provide their parents and family with a friendly, caring and supportive space amid the monitors, lines, equipment and chaos that is a Neonatal unit.

SLOW down, Mama!

Are you always rushing from pillar to post? Is your schedule packed? Are you working full time and then desperately squeezing all the fun, family time and social stuff in at the weekend, meaning that you’re hitting burn out, literally burning the candle at both ends?

Last night I taught my second class since qualifying as a LushTums teacher. Looking around at my students’ faces as they opened their eyes, I felt a little bit elated. Happy, relaxed faces looked back at me- women who felt good, and I was able to help them reach that place. It was an amazing feeling. So, how did I get here?

Cot built. Check. Car seat installed. Check. Baby clothes washed and folded away. Check.
LushTums Prepare for Birth course completed. Check.
We have just spent the afternoon taking part in this fabulous birth preparation course, led by
Sarah from LushTums Mid-Sussex team. Already I am feeling a lot more calm and positive
about what's to come. As second time parents to be, the course has helped us to make time
to focus on the birth, remind ourselves of some long forgotten essential information, as well
as teaching us a number of new and very useful things.

What they won’t tell you.

I’ll start off by saying that I absolutely love being a mum. Despite the broken sleep, the dirty nappies, the tea-time battles over the kitchen table, the sometimes mind-numbing monotony of being stuck at home on a rainy day with small children-not to mention the complete emotional rollercoaster these little people put you through (such highs! such lows!), I am incredibly aware of just how lucky I am to be a mum to two gorgeous children. I’ll stop short of using #blessed, but you get the picture; they are everything to me and I am very, very grateful.

But a snapshot of my early days of parenthood still sticks with me...

Have baby, will travel.
The first thing that hit us was the smell of the pine trees and the sound of the waves,
transporting us to a world away from our home in south London. It was late at night when
my family and I reached our destination and ‘home from home’ in Spain for the next
month. We had rented an apartment on La Fosca beach, outside the larger town of
Palamós, 120km north of Barcelona in Catalonia. We’d taken the decision to come away
with our 8 month-old son, as part of a mini sabbatical on my husband’s part and an excuse
to get away for some valuable family time while I was still on maternity leave. Our deliberations
when we first started planning this trip away ranged from travelling around New Zealand
in a camper van, to backpacking around Argentina…but

So, you've had, or are going to have, a Caesarian section. It may not be what you'd hoped or planned for, but the reality is that around a quarter of births in the UK today are by section – and there's surprisingly little advice and information out there for women about what to expect afterwards. I've had three – 2 emergency sections and an elective (planned) section. Here are my top tips:

1) Having a section, especially an emergency section, can be a big shock to the system – physically but, even more, psychologically.