Alexandra Sophia Jones was born at 6:24am on Sunday 31 July, weighing 4.08kg (8lb 15½oz). 10 days overdue! I still didn’t manage to get my water birth! I woke up at 4am feeling a bit uncomfortable then had a contraction.

We had planned to have our baby as naturally as possible using water and active birthing principles. However, when he was still breech at 37 weeks, I was booked in for an ECV to try to turn him. Clair helped by discussing this in class as well as other options. The breathing techniques learned at LushTums came in use

Writing a couple of paragraphs on my birth experience has proved to be quite tricky. Not least because I have a wriggling 11 week old in my arms who is happily feeding (I send out apologies for "bremailing"…

So, are your bags packed?

Forget what your due date is, a baby is considered full term at 37 weeks and so midwives recommend you have….

During the school holidays my usual Mum & Baby Yoga courses are suspended so that I can spend time with my own children. I wanted to do a one off session in the park to bring as many mums together as possible and…

LushTums Ipswich is branching out! We have had such a fantastically positive response to what we do in Ipswich, so we are so excited to announce we will soon be bringing our happy, healthy and informative approach to pregnancy and birth to mamas-to-be and their birth partners from all around Suffolk!

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.

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.

Home From Home - Normalising Birth

A while ago I was invited to give a short talk to around 40 midwives from the Haywards Heath Princess Royal Hospital and also from the Royal Sussex in Brighton. They were keen to hear about what it is we are teaching our pregnant mamas-to-be and learn about the benefits of yoga breathing and why it can be so helpful for women in labour.

I was delighted to be asked and so enjoyed being there amongst such a lovely group of women who are all experienced and passionate about birth - my perfect day out!

When I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter the fear I have lived with for years about giving birth raised its head again. I have no idea where this fear stems from, I haven’t been exposed directly to any difficult births, or heard that many 'bad' birth stories. Perhaps it was from looking at some hippy birth books of my Mum's with some rather graphic pictures when I was only very young...maybe that didn't help, ha ha! But honestly, I was simply terrified. How on earth would I get a baby out of there!