The Birth Nest

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The Birth Nest

No more anxiety and nerves, The Birth Nest supports you to have the right mindset for birth. Hello, I am Abigail and I am creator and owner at The Birth Nest.
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You will feel confident, informed and calm as you create your best pregnancy and birth experience with The Birth Nest. The Birth nest offers answers to the questions you have about pregnancy and birth. In the silence just before sleep, in the car as you drive, as you lay in the bath - belly poking through the bubbles, as you listen to the 'helpful' advice and stories your friends, family and stran

gers offer you on a daily basis. The anxiety creeps in, the doubt takes over and before you realise it you have created fear and tension and talked yourself in to a painful and scary birth scenario. So now its time to make some decisions:

Is this really how you want to remember your pregnancy? Are you actually going to let this be your experience of birth? At what point did you give up on trusting your body? And ask:

Am I ready to change my mindset for the best birth I can achieve for me and my body? Am I ready to learn how to replace the unhelpful reactions in my subconscious with amazing thoughts about how awesome my birth is going to be? Am I committed to trusting my body, which was made to create life and birth babies? Then without pausing for a moment longer, please contact me and find out how The Birth Nest's Services can support you to transform Fear in to Confidence and Doubt in to Trust. The BIrth Nest offers antenatal courses that show you how you can shape and inform your birth choices as well as relaxing therapies and treatments that support a healthy and calm pregnancy and birth. Once baby is here The Birth nest provides Placenta Encapsulation services, postnatal massage and breastfeeding support. There is also a postnatal support group 'The Bump Nest' with an on line community and monthly meet up at Seckford Hall in Woodbridge. STOP thinking that you are the only one that feels like this. You are not. When you work with The Birth Nest you will realise that actually, everything you need is already within you, you just need to change your mindset. The Birth nest, supporting Motherhood, Bump, Birth & Baby

31/08/2024

This is a subject close to my heart as I venture back to the land of the living after the most amazing home birth 🤍

For years I have supported decisions to birth at home and attended so many beautiful couples births. BUT services are in the worst state I have ever known them. Under staffed, over worked, culture of intimidation and coercion - the current maternity system is well and truly broken 💔

It would be wrong of me to support couples planning for a home birth without covering some of the tough topics mentioned in this post.

We know that birthing bodies are best left undisturbed and unobserved, however this rarely happens. A home birth can give you the opportunity to follow your body’s lead and with loving support around you, feel fully supported and nurtured.

With midwives in short supply and labour wards closing due to unsafe staffing levels, you really do need to plan for all eventualities and explore what your options are.

Make a plan, know your rights, understand how your body works through labour, discuss your fears and how to alleviate them, build a supportive birth team around you, educate yourself around dealing with curve balls in labour and learn tools to help you trust your body.

How you feel when you birth your baby will stay with you forever, if you can be clear what support you want and discuss your options in pregnancy you have a better chance of birthing your baby with love, respect and power! 🤍

01/08/2024

The Birth Nest is and will be …very… slow to reply to messages this week 🏄‍♀️ 🌴 ☀️ 🍹

04/07/2024

10 years ago this morning, I birthed my 3rd baby at home. She arrived in a hurry and it was the most powerful labour I’d had.

At 12.30am I rolled over to moan at my husband for coming to bed late and with that the first surge hit me and it was intense. I stood up and felt my waters gently streaming. I ventured downstairs and called to my husband to phone for a midwife.

I’m one of those women that goes from fully lucid and definitely not in labour at all one minute to ‘Leave me alone I’m in the zone’ fully in labour in the next minute. All 3 labours have been the same, spontaneous and powerful. However this 3rd labour arrived with such unstoppable force I literally had to just drop to the floor and allow it to take over me.

When I work with couples and share my knowledge and experiences, I follow my syllabus of learning and dive off on different tangents as discussions flow. However underlying all the tips and tools I speak to the subtle art of surrendering to your body. This body that just grew a human child inside of you, that you can trust now, to open and soften and release your child.

You can learn all the techniques you like and keep all the tools you have nearby BUT it is in the doing of nothing ~ ‘no-thing’ that we witness the power of a body and mind to come together to allow birth to unfold as it should.

When you distract your mind and surrender to the flow, however intense it is, your innate birthing instincts take over, you breathe how you need, move in a way that supports the descent of your baby and find comfort and safety in places that feed the flow of hormones needed to open your cervix and birth your baby!

There was no stopping my daughter that day 10 years ago, she literally flew out of me in 3 hours flat. She took me by storm that night and gave me no choice but to just breathe and succumb to her timetable… and to be quite honest that has not changed! She’s a whirlwind who never stops talking and entertaining us with her wit and comical ways. And the art of surrendering has been useful on my parenting journey too 😂

01/02/2024

Being a doula…

I’ve attended hospital births, home births, VBACs, HVBACs, births before midwives arrive, elective cesareans, birth in an ambulance transfer, twin home birth, covid births behind face masks and via WhatsApp video@and pretty much everything in between!

Regular coercion tactics include - “Your baby is too small, baby is too big, you have gestational diabetes, you ‘need’ an induction, you are high risk, your bmi is too high, you’re too old, you’re over due, you’ve had a cesarean so can’t birth vaginally, we don’t support twin home births, you can’t have a water birth, you have group step B, your baby could die, your uterus could rupture, you must be monitored throughout, you can’t birth at home..” blah- blah etc. etc.

I’ve stood in bedrooms, toilets, corridors, birth pool, gardens, hospital theatres, car parks, birthing suites, ambulances and stairwells - All in the name of holding space for birth to happen and for women and couples to confidently ask for what they want and not be manipulated or pressured.

Now more than ever truths need to be told.

Midwives, birthing people, doulas, birth workers, families need to be heard, supported, and encouraged to speak out and stand up for the need to reclaiming birth, respecting rights in birth and demanding change in a service that is failing its employees, its service users and the next generation.

01/02/2024

This is me, 14 years ago, immediately after the birth of my first child. 10 days over my due date and resigned to an induction the next day, my body went into spontaneous labour 🧡

I laboured for 14 hours in total. I can honestly say my experience was positive. Midwives listened and my husband and mum sat with me the whole time.

I accepted Perhidine at some point as I desperately needed to rest. I dozed for 2-3 hours then tuned back in to my body and my surges.

My waters broken late in the evening. A whole new level of urgency and pressure quickly descended into my lower pelvis.

I didn’t want to be touched. I was silent apart from some low guttural moans and heavy breathing through surges.

I remember a moment of total clarity, I opened my eyes and looked around. I felt a deep serenity wash over me. I surveyed the room, I saw my mum and my heart filled with total surrender and love, “yes, it is safe” I said to myself.

On hands and knees my baby was born. As the head crowned my body slowed to complete stillness, taking a few calm breaths I reached between my legs and touched the head. One final surge and I suddenly realised it was an actual baby! I had birthed an actual human!

My birth story wasn’t one I felt able to share at postnatal baby groups. The other mums were mostly sharing tales of coercion and manhandling. Stolen confidence, mis-information, hurried decision making under pressure, babies extracted by forceps and emergency cesareans. The other narrative was how they were just happy to have a healthy baby, that they were lucky to have had medical interventions offered.

I felt a sense of guilt about my own experience. I’d found pleasure and power in my labour. I felt supported and listened to. My amazing body had birthed a human and I was in on top of the world awe!

From somewhere deep inside my new mother’s body I was enraged, on behalf of these women I was determined to do something.

For this reason, 2 years later, I became a doula.

29/01/2024

After a recent doula enquiry call I can’t shake the feeling my path is shifting.

When people call to ask if you will support their free birth as they don’t want to ‘risk’ going into hospital or expose themselves to “being manipulated to make decisions I don’t want to make”, you have to ask yourself ‘WTF is going on?!’

For 12 years I’ve supported couples to traverse their pregnancy and birth journey. Not one of those journeys has been without some challenge or attempted coercion at some point along the way.

Sometimes it’s during scans, sometimes when talking about midlife led or consultant led care, often when there is strong advice to take tests and additional consultant appointments. And almost always, coercion occurs during labour and birth, when a woman is at her most vulnerable.

Who am I kidding (apart from myself) that this is just the way it is, that somehow it’s what people should accept 🤦🏼‍♀️

I’ve started listening to the Podcast by & Birth Activist, and I feel my doula vibes revving up. I’m feeling angry and inspired all at once.

Please have a listen to the podcast, whether you are a birth worker, midwife or birthing person.

Don’t miss the opportunity to free yourself from the middle lane, from cruising into labour and birth without the understanding of what you might have to face in the NHS in 2024.

23/01/2024

You Are The Expert In Your Birth Story

So many opinions, guidance, suggestions, deadlines, decisions.

So much pressure to attend appointments, agree to tests, listen to professionals

You are expected to understand medical terminology, trust people you’ve just met, wait for hours for a 5 minute appointment, be grateful for important people’s opinions and time, not ask questions or doubt the opinions given and never ever suggest you know best for you and your baby.

REALLY? I mean in what other area of our lives are we led blindly by others without question or answers to our questions. And I mean full answers, based of facts and research - up-to-date research that is.

This is bonkers.

You have RIGHTS

YOU can decide how you want to birth and what if any tests or appointments you attend

You can have a doula

You can have an independent midwife

You can educate yourself and free birth

YOU ARE THE EXPERT

22/01/2024

Around 1/3 of pregnancies underwent Induction Of Labour in the UK in 2021. Some maternity services had rates as high as 50%

Rates for Induction have soared over recent years.

If you reach 39-40 weeks of labour it is likely that your midwife or consultant will offer you an induction. Even if you have had a simple, uncomplicated pregnancy you can expect the induction chat.

Evidence shows that non medical reasons for induction can lead to increased risks of intervention during labour and poor outcomes for both mother and baby.

A client I spoke to recently said that at her 36 week appointment she was asked if she wanted to book an induction for 39 weeks. No medical reason, first birth, heathy pregnancy, no risk factors…

When you are induced your body is not following a hormonal pattern that builds labour slowly.

You are not releasing endorphins to match oxytocin, thus creating a cycle of natural pain relief from the discomfort of your surges.

Your cervix is not gently moving forward, softening, shortening and thinning in its own time. Nor is it dilating at the pace that is right for your baby (Sometimes it’s not dilating at all)

Your microbiome is not responding to the hormones of birth and shifting naturally to match what is required in your cervix.

Occasionally, induction is the right decision but the medical reasons are few and should not include “Our best guess is you have a big/small/overdue baby”

Please read and inform yourselves if induction is offered. Sara Wickham has an amazing book you can read or listen to. There is research a plenty around why induction is linked to an increased risk of instrumental birth and cesarean sections.

Protect your birth and your baby.

Contact me if you would like to book a session to talk about your options.

28/08/2023

Babies are born when they are ready, there is no alarm clock set.

An estimated due date is a best guess, a suggestion, a rough guide.

In the weeks leading up to labour the body and baby take delicate steps and undergo hormonal and bacterial changes to optimise the conditions for the journey of birth and to assist the transition from womb to world.

It has now been normalised to be ‘over due’, to expect to be offered a membrane sweep, an induction, to be routinely scanned, monitored and measured ‘in case your baby is ‘too big’, ‘too small’ ‘distressed’…

At what point did women’s bodies stop being capable of birthing babies? At what point did women become convinced or coerced into believing what ‘experts’ tell them?

When did the professionals forget that ‘informed’ means you tell people everything, all the outcomes and how their suggested intervention increases risk that didn’t exist before they got involved?

We should realise that most maternity services are understaffed, under pressure, have guidelines that need refreshing with up to date research and demoralised exhausted staff that wish they could deliver more person centred care. ~ Care Quality Commission Maternity Survey 2022.

There is enough information available now for women to be able to understand every aspect of pregnancy and birth, to inform themselves and feel confident asking questions and declining interventions when they feel it is not in their or the baby’s best interest.

But still it is sometimes not enough when faced with decisions and pressure in the birth room.

Please prepare as much as you can and remember birthing at home can be as safe and for many safer than going to hospital.

🤍 Get in touch if you want to talk honest pregnancy and birth planning 🤍

28/04/2023

“We have a voice, we have a choice”.

My client gave me permissions to share her beautiful birth affirmations 💛🧡 and this one stood out to me, especially on the journey she has been on.

You most certainly do have a voice and a choice!

In fact, every single decision belongs to you and every discussion should have your voice at the heart and soul of it.

You can and should question everything. Read your own research and understand what exactly you are consenting to. And recognise coercion in all its forms, the kindly voices as well as the direct ones.

#

27/04/2023

Just beautiful 💙🩵🤍

24/04/2023

The modern medical approach to pregnancy and birth focusses on our body’s risk of malfunction, that it cannot be trusted to do what it was designed to do.

Trying to fix problems that are not likely to happen.

Offering interventions that increase risk of complications.

Using language that describes women’s bodies in terms of ‘failing’, ‘inadequate’ and ‘incompetent’

It’s time to snap out of the trap of believing everything we are told and start listening to, reading about and trusting the physiological functioning of our powerful bodies.

23/04/2023

I love sharing my passion for birth with couples ❤️

Having a powerful and fun way to teach the physiology of labour and use of breath and movement is so important ❤️

Thank you for a fantastic course and the autonomy you give to instructors to share the love ❤️

20/04/2023

I’m currently listening to the audio book ‘Reclaiming Birth as a Rite of Passage’ by Rachel Reed.

I am a self confessed birth nerd, doula and placenta whisperer and I have consumed much tea and cake whilst reading shed loads of birth books.

But THIS book, this amazing piece of wisdom has become an addiction. I keep scrolling back and listening to excerpts again and again in the hope I can breath in every ounce of knowledge and power, remember every word.

I want to be able to quote and recite these truths to pregnant people, to my daughters, to consultants and midwives and birth partners, school mum friends, people in supermarkets… I mean basically everyone I meet or know!

It’s made me re-think my approach to supporting doula clients, it’s challenged my assumptions and given me new passion for the work ahead.

Thank you .meets.motherhood for recommending and for this hugely inspiring and much needed game changer of a book 🙏🏻

20/04/2023

The amazing placenta! Supporting your body to heal and recover after pregnancy and birth. ❤️

29/07/2022

Shingle street ❤️☀️

19/07/2022

With the months of planning and waiting finally over, labour begins…

But not in the dreamlike way anticipated, the birth pool is empty and inflated, warming in the sun of the conservatory at home.

But the clinical hospital birthing suite is awash with the scent of clary sage, lavender and massage oil. A drape disguises the equipment trolley, transforming it into a temporary alter to the goddess of birthing. LED candles flickering their reassuring light and various potions for creating calm and focus are lined up, ready to serve.

The birthing woman is nurtured and loved through her surges and resting periods. Flannels, remedies and oils at hand to bring comfort and ease.

An epidural is providing much needed relief from the powerful surging produced by a combination of mothers hormones and the IV drip by her bed.

Waters breaking 30 hours previously, sporadic surges, reading and research, conversations with midwives and consultants have evolved into an informed decision to induce labour.

And after 12 hours of rhythmic surging, more informed choices being respected, vaginal examination’s declined and some beautiful support in the room… that moment arrived ✨

The gradual emergence of baby’s head

The opening of a woman’s body to allow her child to be born

This ultimate surrender is rewarded by a slippery warm body being placed on mothers chest

Eyes lock on to the perfect form before them and parents take in, for the first time, the little human they will adore and protect for the rest of their lives

And I had the honour to be on this journey and in the room when that all happened. The reset button is truly pushed, I am on cloud 9 and my faith is restored in the potential to birth gently and powerfully with respect and love ❤️

Birth is primal, sacred and transformational. However you chose to do it - be empowered and informed, ask questions and protect your birth space either with your birth partner or a doula.

20/04/2022

Take charge of your postnatal recovery ❤️‍🩹

Your placenta is jam packed with everything your body needs to heal and balance after labour and birth ❤️

Contact me if you have any questions 😊

**Link to book in the bio**

13/04/2022

It’s so easy to get caught up with pinning everything on your due date but it’s an estimated due date for a reason… your baby will be ready at just the right time for you and them…

For some it might feel like you are waiting forever and for others baby arrives before you were ready - and by the way, I’ve never met anyone who’s ever ready.

The real problem though is not what you think about your due date but what your care giver thinks about it.

With induction rates higher than ever before it’s so important to understand that babies arrive when they are ready and that’s usually between 38 - 42 weeks and many of those come in those last two weeks.

It states in NHS guidance, for couples, that induction will be offered if a pregnancy goes beyond 42 weeks, however many people I come into contact with are offered an indication waaaay before that.

Most commonly, induction seems to be offered and a date booked at the 39 week appointment for on, or shortly after the 40 week mark.

Whilst higher risk pregnancies may require intervention, being over 40 weeks is not a reason, on its own, to be induced.

Be informed and understand that your baby and body generally knows what it’s doing. Often if things aren’t right you will intuitively know that too! You are basically the expert here!

25/12/2021

Puppy’s 1st Christmas 🎄 🐶

29/10/2021

Today I met my doula, hypnobirthing and placenta Buddy for the first time. 2 years we’ve been chatting, voicenoting and WhatsApping. 2 years of holding each other and sharing laughter and tears about our shared passion for birthing people and their unique journeys. It felt so good to hug, to see real smiles, to drink and eat together and feel the emotions of our own stories as we blurted out as much of ourselves as we could fit into 2 1/2 hours. Huddled on comfy chairs dipping bread into soup and feeling so at home with this friendship, forged during difficult times, sometimes with aching hearts but often with soaring joy! This evening I am still smiling, feeling uplifted and carried , knowing this amazing human is in my life and also out there working to make the world of pregnancy and birth a more navigable and easy place to be. You ROCK 🤘🏻

17/10/2021

In the excitement, in the hurry of everyday life, with all the things to organise for labour and birth.. Please don’t forget about yourself.

The body needs to slow down, to relax and release tension. Your body needs you to connect, to listen, to notice subtle changes and to slowly surrender…

My pregnancy massage sessions are your opportunity to draw a line in the sand, to chose to stop and totally relax…

We can chat birth plans and labour questions or you can close your eyes and sink into the beanbag bed and drift off to sleep.

Either way, by the end of the session you will feel totally chillled and nurtured.

I come to you with all my equipment so no need to even put your shoes on!

Click on the WhatsApp button to get in touch and book your appointment 😊

26/06/2021

And I’m IN! Already learning so much from these folks! Change is coming and all for the better. -Better Informed -Better Prepared = Better Outcomes

30/03/2021

When the chatter around you is fearful and heavy and full of risks

When there is no silence from the 'what ifs' and 'maybes', not even in your own head

Take a breath, let your shoulders drop down, unclench your teeth, soften your jaw and stop frowning

You are a powerful woman with the unstoppable energy of 'mother' building up inside your very belly

Step aside and let that energy come forth, let it be your guide, your inspiration and your constant place of fuel and rest

No medical advise, 12th growth scan, best friends birth story or strangers wise words is going to deliver the all important piece of information that helps you decide

Your body is built for this birth, that sparkle behind your eyes, those beautiful dreams you have about travelling the world with your baby and of snuggling up on the sofa together feeding and dozing...

They, my lovely, are the places I wish for you to dwell, they are the emotions I long for you to anchor to, to lounge around in for these last few weeks

Put on your Cloak and swish it round until it drowns out the flapping and chattering of those around you.

Let them wave their important sticks and say long words, let them reduce your pregnancy down to short nonsensical abbreviations and withhold permissions

You need only to listen to the birthing tune that resides within you, it has the power to guide you through this and through labour and birth

Above all else..."Make choices that reflect your hopes not your fears" 💗 ~ Nelson Mandela

12/03/2021

.
So easy to relax as I burn this ylang-ylang, patchouli and neroli scented treat.

Handmade locally in Suffolk by a socially conscious company, this, all natural, eco friendly and vegan candle is simply gorgeous!

Thank you and for this lovely gift ❤️

13/02/2021

❤️ L O V E is what travels through your umbilical cord for 9+ months

Nutrients, Hormones, Oxygen, blood supply. All of the life giving ingredients that grow your beautiful baby

Which is why I L O V E receiving a placenta with a long cord, so that I can turn it into a keepsake!

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

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http://www.thebirthnest.co.uk/

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Videos

It’s so easy to get caught up with pinning everything on your due date but it’s an estimated due date for a reason… your baby will be ready at just the right time for you and them… For some it might feel like you are waiting forever and for others baby arrives before you were ready - and by the way, I’ve never met anyone who’s ever ready. The real problem though is not what you think about your due date but what your care giver thinks about it. With induction rates higher than ever before it’s so important to understand that babies arrive when they are ready and that’s usually between 38 - 42 weeks and many of those come in those last two weeks. It states in NHS guidance, for couples, that induction will be offered if a pregnancy goes beyond 42 weeks, however many people I come into contact with are offered an indication waaaay before that. Most commonly, induction seems to be offered and a date booked at the 39 week appointment for on, or shortly after the 40 week mark. Whilst higher risk pregnancies may require intervention, being over 40 weeks is not a reason, on its own, to be induced. Be informed and understand that your baby and body generally knows what it’s doing. Often if things aren’t right you will intuitively know that too! You are basically the expert here!

Tonight's Topic: Induction for being over your Estimated Due Date... Babies come when babies are ready don't they? What are the risks associated with being over your due date and do they apply to everyone? 🔹We're you offered an induction? 🔹Did this discussion take place before or after your 40 week appointment? 🔹How did you feel about induction? 🔹Did you say no thanks? How was that received? 🔹If you were induced did you feel in control of that decision? Please comment and let me know about your experience.

You are only ever 1 conversation away from an amazing heart centred pregnancy and birth. Seek out the people that make you smile, that listen to your ideas and share the passion of your pregnancy and birth plans. Changing the feeling from fear to love... is all you need ♥️

OK.. So the video is 15 minutes, what can I say.. I'm a birth geek 😉 It's difficult to 'sell yourself' when women don't really know the impact you can have and the difference it can make to have someone support them so passionately and completely. I wanted to share about the feeling of having someone support you through pregnancy and birth. Most women know what they can do practically to support their birth plans but in my experience it's all about the feeling...

Placenta Encapsulation - Capsules, Tinctures and Essence. So many of my clients have wanted to share their story with me about how encapsulation helped them during their postnatal recovery. Please add your own comment below and tell other women why you would recommend it :-)

The Bump Nest November Meet Up Thursday 23rd November 6pm - 8pm At Seckford Hall, Woodbridge.

Finally feeling like Autumn today after a week of warm weather. Here are my Special Offers from The Birth Nest this season, be quick as spaces and appointments are limited. Don't miss out, book today! Message me or visit the website. https://www.thebirthnest.co.uk/contact/

Pre Meet video! Who spotted my children chatting in the background ha ha!

*WARNING* Lots of 'Amazing' & 'Wonderful' expressions in this vlog. Contact me on [email protected] to start your own Hypnobirthing Journey!

Book your Luxury Pregnancy Massage today... Dear current/previous clients, please leave your feedback in the comments - let women know how you felt about this massage experience!