4 November 2021

Discover ways to connect with your baby Prenatal Yoga Class

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Key topicsPartners need more than reassurance in the birth roomCouples often assume a partner's job is encouragement from the sidelines, but birth needs a teammate. What would shift during labour if a partner knew how to help with breath and comfort? Partners can learn comfort measures; encouragement alone rarely helps when pain takes over. Nadine has taught partners as a childbirth educator that skill beats encouragement. Ask your partner to practise breathing and advocacy with you before the due date. Picture a dad who stands at the bed and says it will be fine, while the mother needs one clear instruction. A prepared partner gives the birth room a real teammate who knows what to do.Labour of Love: Why Postpartum Recovery Needs the Same Preparation as BirthParents often spend months preparing for labour, with almost no plan for the recovery that follows. Who helps a new mother plan for the nights, feeding, healing and changed relationship after birth? A couple can finish the birth class ready for contractions, then come home unready for recovery. Drawing on birth rooms and a childbirth education program with British Medical Journal trial results taught Nadine that families need plans for after birth too. Give recovery, broken sleep and feeding the same preparation usually saved for labour. Prepare for recovery, and early parenthood feels more like love.Parents are prepared for birth but not recoveryExpectant parents often know a lot about labour, but the weeks after birth catch them unready. Why do so many families study birth in depth and still meet recovery with no plan? Labour gets a checklist; recovery gets silence; the first weeks need a plan too. Nadine has taught that families need a plan for the first weeks at home. Plan your first two weeks at home, with meals, sleep help and who to call. Picture a new parent who has packed the hospital bag perfectly but has no idea how to get through the nights. Preparing for recovery as carefully as for birth helps the first weeks feel steady.View all topics →

About Nadine Richardson

Nadine Richardson, podcast guest

Childbirth Educator, Author & Founder of She Births®

She Births® Founder & CEOShe Births Published author20+ years Doula & birth educator15,000+ Parents taught since 2008

Nadine Richardson is changing the conversation around birth - from something women are expected to simply get through, to an experience they can prepare for, understand and actively participate in.

Nadine Richardson is the CEO and Founder of She Births®, and author of the new book She Births. Her work sits at the intersection of science, childbirth education and the lived experience of becoming a parent. Nadine thinks we've been asking the wrong questions about birth. It's not about “natural or medical?” but rather “prepared or not?” A beautiful birth is about values, goals and safety with respect. All three are critical to every family having a beautiful birth, wherever they are in the world.

At the heart of Nadine’s approach is the belief that birth is about more than meeting a baby - it is also about meeting a new version of ourselves. Birth can be an opportunity to discover our authenticity, our strengths and our “superpowers”. For Nadine, this idea reaches far beyond childbirth itself. Whether we're birthing a baby or an idea, mothering another person or ourselves, we are all continually becoming more of who we truly are. Life unfolds along a continuum that carries us towards our wiser selves.

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