prenatal education & Birth Preparation

Congratulations on your pregnancy! This is a time to be truly celebrated and it is also a time to invest in. Pregnancy is an intimate journey of navigating new experiences and integrating a world of life changing knowledge.

Developing a reliable, comfortable relationship with your chosen health care provider is critical for you to be able to effectively communicate your feelings and preferences, and for your choices to be respected in your birthing space. Educational preparation for your pregnancy and birth is fundamental but most importantly, the confidence to speak up and voice concerns or curiosities is essential.​

I work to ensure you feel connected to your intuitive self, supported in your knowledge and resourced to make the right decisions for you and your baby, throughout your pregnancy, during your birth and onward into motherhood. 

I want to inspire you to be excited and confident and to help nurture and peak your curiosity of all things pregnancy and birth. By providing a foundation of unbiased pregnancy and birth education, it is my priority to:

  • Help you to make informed decisions and to gain clarity around your prenatal/postpartum care and birth options.

  • Listen to your needs to ensure you have a consistent form of support according to your wishes. 

  • Provide referrals and information on supportive therapies you can include to ensure optimal health during your pregnancy and preparing you for the safe arrival of your baby (physiotherapy, acupuncture, chiropractic care etc).

  • Normalise birth as a biological process and a healthy, normal state of our reproductive cycle by introducing basic understanding around how pregnancy and birth unfold so you can develop the confidence in your body and its capabilities of birth.

  • To help you feel confident to ask the questions that are right for you around routine medical procedures and requests in individualised care.

Session Content can include
(but is not limited to):​

  • Nutritional suggestions to support a healthy, full term pregnancy and restorative fourth trimester. 

  • Restorative approach to building your physical and mental strength through breathwork and nervous system regulation.

  • Referrals and information on the benefits of supportive therapies: Chiropractor, Naturopath etc. according to your needs. 

  • Postpartum support explored, referrals provided: Lactation Consultant etc. according to your needs and preferences.

  • Education of the physiology of pregnancy and birth (birth stages).

  • Exploring and feeling confident in your birth values.

  • Compassionate discussion of past pregnancies and birth experiences.

  • Birth plan discussion and creation.

  • Discussion of maternity care provider and birth location options.

  • Informed consent and intervention awareness.

  • Comfort measures for labour and birth. 

  • Pregnancy test and scan options.

  • Foetal development throughout each trimester.

  • Expressing colostrum in the 3rd trimester.

  • Breastfeeding/bottle feeding preparation.

  • Environment preparation and the essentials (creating baby's space, creating mama's sanctuary, birthing space and set up (home birth).

  • I lost the feelings of joy and excitement during my pregnancy due to all of the information that came my way from friends, family and my pregnancy care team. It was a lot and I very quickly felt overwhelmed and could feel myself shutting down entirely. During my sessions with Vanessa, I was able to talk through what pregnancy and birth meant to me and how I felt in my body about decisions that needed to be made. Vanessa helped me to create and follow a path forward that I felt comfortable with. I felt so prepared and resourced that my excitement returned and I was ready to meet the experience of birth as I wanted to.

    Claire

  • So glad to have met you and for you to be apart of my journey. You’ve truly changed my life, something I haven’t told you enough about but I want you to know how impactful you’ve been to me and our whole community.

    Meaghan

  • Thank you for helping me to find my voice. After finding out I was pregnant, I had so many dreams of how I wanted to experience pregnancy and birth. Knowing what I wanted was one thing, voicing it to my care providers was another thing (!) and I often found myself in conversations I felt so uncomfortable with as I was made to feel as though an expert knew better. Vanessa, you helped me to build confidence in my instincts and I was able to commit to and voice my decisions with a newfound clarity and strength which ultimately led me to having the birth I knew I was capable of having.

    Steph B