The odds were against me for a natural birth. At age 48 with an emergency c-section for a breech baby 15 years previously and a long hard road to conception, with New Year’s Eve as my due date – I kept hopeful, negotiated with the obstetrician and persuaded him to let me get to 40
Avni Trivedi is the Osteopath at the Active Birth Centre. Here, we’re excited to share the interview series she runs on her own website. My work is hands on. It quickly builds trust with clients and I often see them starting to open up and talk during the treatment. I am well aware that osteopathy
I gave birth to our daughter Cassandra on a Monday evening at the Whittington Birth Centre in October. Unlike our expectations of a ‘likely’ arrival post-EDD, Cassie arrived in week 39. Three days before Cassie’s birth, on Friday, I had my second reflexology session with Sophia Smith at the Active Birth Centre, which was wonderfully
Throughout the past week there has been a lot of discussion around the wellbeing of new parents; recognition that the early months can be a challenging time which, for many, may begin during pregnancy. As a new mum you may well have found yourself saying “No-one tells you what it’s really like.” I am writing
Essentially labour is a dance between mother and baby aided by the downward force of gravity. Now that we have some understanding of the physiology – lets turn to the protagonists. I believe it is essential that we think of labour starting in the final weeks of pregnancy when baby and mother are preparing, both
The concept of dilation of the cervix from 0-10cms during labour is unphysiological when we understand labour as a series of responses between mother and baby. It starts at the very end of pregnancy, when space in the womb is tight and the baby’s head starts to descend into the brim of the pelvis. Pressure
I have worked with mothers to be in pregnancy for more than 30 years and helped many hundreds of them to successfully access their mammalian instincts and to give birth naturally. As humans we have the disadvantage of our over-active rational brain and cultural conditioning to be afraid of giving birth. We are giving birth
I’d been determined that I would not go overdue and had spent the weeks before my EDD doing lunges, squats, plenty of long walks, eating pineapple & dates, taking raspberry leaf tea and evening primrose oil etc. When I visited my midwife on the Tuesday morning, three days before said due date, and was told
These days the pressure from hospitals for healthy mothers and babies to give birth around the “Due Date”, or not much later than 9 or 10 days “post due” (or else a medical induction will be required) has increased dramatically. Strangely, not so long ago, the patience of obstetric caregivers extended to 14 days, then
