Welcome to Friends of the Birth and our friendly, relaxed workshops

• Imagine – having a birth experience that you feel good about!
• Build – your confidence in your innate ability to birth your child, your way.
• Explore – the different options surrounding the process of birth and early bonding.
• Allow – yourself to look forward to meeting with your baby.
• Enjoy – the beautiful English country side in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

As experienced doulas, we have been with many women and their partners in labour and have seen many different ways that birth is experienced. During this time, we realised that pregnant women and their partners were not being given the kind of information they needed to make informed choices about their births.

Women and their partners need tools to use in labour but also the correct information backed up by evidence based research. There are no wrong or right ways of giving birth. It is not something that you "pass" or "fail". Each woman and her partner have the right to choose for themselves and to have those choices supported.

The most important thing is for couples to feel part of the birth process and that everything that happens is explained properly and in detail. Birthing women and their partners need to know what they say "yes" to.

The antenatal workshop we are offering provides a space for exploring your own feelings and emotions as a couple around birth. The focus is on facilitating discussion and learning, with a strong interactive element. You will receive balanced, researched-based and realistic information to enable you to reach informed decisions. We will also provide you with practical "tools" to use during labour and birth. To have a positive birth experience you need to feel confident in your innate ability to birth your baby.