Antenatal & Hypnobirthing Course
Pregnancy changes everything, your body, your mind, and how you see the world. My antenatal course, with hypnobirthing woven throughout, is designed to help you feel genuinely prepared rather than just informed.
What makes this different is who's teaching it. As an independent midwife with NHS experience, I know how the system works and I'll make sure you do too. Understanding your options, your rights, and how to advocate for yourself and your baby is just as much a part of this course as the breathing techniques.
We'll cover the practical and the emotional: how birth actually works, what your body is doing and why, how to use breathing, relaxation and mindset tools to move through labour with more calm and less fear. You'll leave knowing how to ask the right questions, how to be heard, and how to make choices that are right for you, whatever kind of birth you're planning.
But we don't stop at birth. We'll also talk honestly about those first days at home with your baby: what's normal, what to watch for, feeding, recovery, and how to look after yourself when the midwives have gone and it's just you and this tiny new person. Because feeling prepared for after birth matters just as much as feeling prepared for the birth itself.
Partners are very much part of this too. Whether they want to feel useful in the room, understand what's happening to your body, or simply know how to support you in those early weeks, there's a place for them here.
Available as a small group course or one-to-one. Whether you want the shared experience of meeting other expectant parents, or a fully tailored session that goes at your pace and focuses on exactly what you need.
Group Courses
There's something really special about going through this with other couples who are at a similar stage as you. My group courses run across two half days at a local venue - relaxed, unhurried, with good coffee and the kind of honest conversations you won't always find in a bigger class.
With just 3–4 couples per course, you'll get real attention rather than feeling like a face in a crowd. You'll leave with not just the knowledge and tools, but often a little group of people who just get it, which matters more than you might expect in those early weeks after birth. You'll also have the option of joining my new facebook group and receive a 'workbook' with lots of further information and reminders in there. Gift bag and refreshments included.
Course outline:
Session one:
- Late Pregnancy and Labour Signs
What's actually happening in your body in the third trimester, how to tune into your baby's movements, and how to tell the difference between practice contractions and the real thing.
- Stages of Labour
What early, active, and transition labour actually look and feel like, and how to know when it's time to call your Midwife, doula and/or hospital
- Working With Your Body in Labour
Breathing, movement, active birth positions, and massage to help you work with your body rather than against it. We'll also cover how to make the most of wherever you're birthing, including practical ways to adapt a hospital bed, using tools such as a birth ball or 'peanut' so you're never limited by the room you're in. Tools and techniques for home and of course, an honest look at the medical pain relief options too (gas and air, epidural), so you know what's there if and when you want it.
- Navigating Changes to Your Birth Journey
Sometimes birth takes a different path than the one you planned for, and that's okay. We'll talk honestly about induction, assisted birth (forceps or ventouse), and caesarean birth, both planned and unplanned, so if your journey takes an unexpected turn, you feel informed and prepared rather than caught off guard.
- Birth Partner Role
Your birth partner isn't just there to hold your hand (though that matters too). We'll cover practical ways they can support you physically and emotionally, plus how to put your birth preferences into words together.
This is also where I bring in the nervous system. Your birth partner's own state matters here. A calm, grounded partner helps you stay regulated, and that has a real, physiological effect on how labour progresses. Fear and tension in the room don't stay contained to one person. We'll talk about how partners can regulate themselves so they can actually help you do the same.
Session two:
- The Golden Hour and Recovery
Skin to skin, what happens physically in the first hours after birth, how your body starts to heal, and understanding the baby blues as they show up in the days that follow.
- Infant Feeding
How breastfeeding actually works, getting a good latch, positions that work for different bodies, reading your baby's hunger cues, mixed feeding, and safe formula preparation if that's part of your feeding journey.
- Practical Newborn Care
The everyday stuff. Handling your baby with confidence, nappy changes, dressing, safe bathing, and settling a crying baby.
- Newborn Health and Safety
Safer sleep guidance to reduce the risk of SIDS, how to take your baby's temperature, and the basics of infant first aid.
I've also added something here that doesn't usually make it into antenatal courses: your baby is born with an immature nervous system, and yours is what helps regulate theirs. When you're calm, your baby's body picks up on that. When you're overwhelmed, they feel that too. This isn't about being perfect. It's about understanding that your own regulation, your breathing, your voice, your touch, is one of the most powerful tools you have for soothing your baby in those early weeks. I think every new parent deserves to know that.
Investment: Introductory offer (for Aug and Oct courses) £325 per couple (normally £349)
Venue: Reigate park church, Park lane east, Reigate RH2 8BD
Group Antenatal course Dates 2026:
Sat 29th August and Sat 12th September 1.30-5.30pm
Sat 3rd October and Sat 17th October 1.30-5.30pm
Sat November 7th and Sat 21st November 1.30-5.30pm
Sat 5th December and Sat 19th December 1.30-5.30pm
One to one
If you'd rather learn in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace and entirely on your terms, this is for you. One-to-one sessions are completely flexible, either two longer sessions or four shorter ones of around two hours each, fitted around your schedule.
Because it's just the two of you, we can go deeper into whatever matters most, whether that's a previous difficult birth, a specific concern, your birth preferences, or simply more time with the breathing and relaxation techniques. Nothing gets glossed over.
Available across Surrey, Sussex and surrounding areas within approximately one hour of Reigate.
£525 per couple