Antenatal Courses in Ipswich and Woodbridge
Conscious Preparation for Birth & Beyond, a ten hour in person antenatal course taught by a midwife and an antenatal educator, together.
Alongside my own courses, I co-teach a full antenatal course with Nina Parnham, a registered midwife. It is called Conscious Preparation for Birth & Beyond, and between us we bring the clinical side and the preparation side into the same room, which is rarer than it should be.
The course has grown enough to need a home of its own, so it now lives on its own website.
Everything you need to know, including current dates and booking, is over there. This page is just to tell you it exists and what it covers, because plenty of people find me first.
What the course covers
Ten hours, taught in person, across topics that matter both before and after the birth.
- The physiology of birth, and what your body is actually doing
- Relaxation techniques for pregnancy and for labour
- Pain relief options, explained without an agenda
- Birth place options and how to weigh them up
- Birth plans, and how to make genuinely informed decisions
- Tools for the birth partner, so they have a real job
- Placentas, and the choices you have about them
- Hypnobirthing techniques
- Massage for labour
- The golden hours with your baby
- Baby care, including nappies, bathing, safe sleep and soothing a crying baby
- Fourth trimester recovery and wellbeing
- Course literature, a welcome pack and refreshments are included.
Why two teachers
Nina is a registered midwife, so she brings the clinical reality of what happens on a labour ward and what your options actually look like in practice. I bring the preparation side, the relaxation and the hypnobirthing tools, plus the postnatal picture.
Most antenatal courses give you one or the other. Having both in the room means fewer of those questions that get deferred to someone else.
Where and when
The course runs in person in Ipswich and Woodbridge, serving families across Suffolk. Dates, availability and booking are all on the Conscious Preparation for Birth & Beyond website.
How this fits with my other courses
If you want the full antenatal picture including baby care and the postnatal period, the Conscious Preparation course is the one. If you specifically want birth preparation, breathing and relaxation taught one to one around your own situation, that is hypnobirthing with me.
Some people do both. Some do one. If you are not sure which, ring me and I will tell you honestly, even when the answer is the course that is not mine.