In an age when many mothers-to-be have never even held a baby, Midwife Wisdom, Mother Love provides an understanding and practical guide. It is an authoritative, candid and often fun account of child birth - from pregnancy through to labour (and what to expect afterwards), which unlocks the mystery surrounding birth and provides answers for the most concerned parent-to-be.

The idea behind Midwife Wisdom - Mother Love

When I started teaching antenatal classes a lot of the soon to be mums and dads I was teaching had no idea of how their lives were about to change… more The closest most of them had come to seeing a baby born was a distant memory from their early teenage years when they had watched a birth video at school through the cracks in their fingers that covered their eyes. These women who were having their first babies were older, most were in their early thirties. It was a long time since their own mothers had been in labour with them. Memories of birth and babies for these soon to be grandmothers were distant, and birth and hospitals seemed to have changed. An idea for a book started to grow in my mind, a book that would fill the gap in information that women would have naturally got in the past. I wanted women to know what birth and pregnancy was really like. To know that their pregnant body was their own and that they could make choices about their pregnancy care and how they laboured. And so I started on the journey of writing Midwife wisdom, mother love.

Small digestible chunks

Having had four babies of my own I know how difficult it can be to find time to sit down and read, to find the brain space to let new information sink in. I wanted my book to be set out in small chunks of information… more so that a busy pregnant woman who was trying to fit her life in around how much sleep she needed could read a section of the book, put it down and come back latter. The last thing I wanted a pregnant woman to face was a heavy text book jam packed with information. Sure I wanted the information in their, but it had to be inviting, I wanted my reader to feel comfortable and relaxed, like they were sitting down with a good friend to have a chat over coffee.

Sharing experiences

There is nothing worse than hearing only about the cold hard facts. Without the human face behind the facts pregnancy and birth can seem rather daunting, perhaps even scary. It helps to know that… more other people have been through what you are going through and have survived, and in many cases have been enriched by their pregnancy and birth experience. To hear about how pregnancy and birth felt for them, what sounds they heard or made (did they really scream like they show in the movies) and maybe, if youÕre game you even want to know what smells there were. When I teach my antenatal classes I use a lot of stories. I tell about women I have looked after during their pregnancy and labour. Stories about friends and the births they have had. And I talk about what it was like for me when I was pregnant and when I was in labour. The couples in the class are fascinated to hear that even though I am a midwife I did not always have the perfect labour, I sometimes regretted decisions I made, and at times I was in the extreme emotion zone and like all other mothers in the world, I thought there could be no more perfect baby than mine, (even if his head was squashed into a funny shape). To share with you what pregnancy and birth are about I have told the stories of women I have looked after, friends who have had babies and the stories of my own pregnancies and births.

There’s never just one way

There is not a right way to be pregnant or have a baby. Midwife wisdom, mother love does not say ‘You must, you should, you will’. The aim of any pregnancy and labour is for a healthy baby and a healthy mum. more There are many different paths you can travel to reach that end result. Midwife wisdom, mother love gives you some insight into how other women have traveled through their pregnancies and labours, but most of all it gives you the power and strength to be able to listen to your heart and trust in the choices you make.