Maternal Nature

04/11/2026

You can desperately want another baby and still be absolutely terrified of giving birth again.

You can be excited when you see those two lines. You can imagine your family growing. You can love this baby already.

And then reality starts to creep in.

Because you've done this before.

You remember what happened last time. You remember how it felt. You remember the things you wish had gone differently.

And suddenly, being pregnant again brings feelings you weren't quite prepared for.

Perhaps you thought you'd feel differently this time. Perhaps you thought enough time had passed. Perhaps you assumed that because you wanted another baby, you'd feel ready for everything that comes with having one.

But wanting another child doesn't automatically mean feeling ready to face another birth.

And there's something particularly lonely about that when everyone around you is expecting you to be happy and excited.

You might even feel guilty for being frightened when this is something you've wanted.

But you don't have to choose between being grateful for this pregnancy and acknowledging what your previous experience has left you carrying.

You can feel both.

And you deserve support with both.

At Maternal Nature, I work with women who are pregnant again after a difficult birth, helping them make sense of what happened, rebuild trust in themselves and prepare emotionally for the birth ahead.

Because this pregnancy deserves to be about more than just getting through another birth.

If you're pregnant again and recognise yourself in these words, I'd love to hear from you.

What has surprised you most about being pregnant again after your previous birth?

03/11/2026

“See you in the trenches.”

I keep seeing this kind of language used around motherhood and, honestly, it pi**es me off.

Especially when it's aimed at women who are pregnant again and already scared about what lies ahead.

Because what are we actually saying?

Motherhood is brutal. You'll struggle. Get used to it.

And then we congratulate ourselves for being honest.

Yes, motherhood can be fu***ng hard.

I've been there. I've absolutely sat with another mum and said, “Yep. This bit is fu***ng sh*t.”

But there's a difference between acknowledging that something is hard andinviting someone to join you in the trenches.

One says:

“I see you.”

The other says:

“Come and suffer with the rest of us.”

And I see the same thing happening when mums reach out with perfectly reasonable worries and get told they should be grateful because someone else has it worse.

A mum worries about something her mother-in-law is doing and suddenly she's selfish because "at least she has a mother-in-law who helps."

What the f**k are we doing?

She's still worried.

She's just now feeling guilty for saying it.

That isn't support.

That's turning motherhood into a competition over who has suffered the most.

Who had it hardest?

Who had less help?

Who has been struggling longest?

I don't want to play that game.

Because if I see someone waving because they're drowning, I'm not going to shout back:

“We're all drowning! Get over it!”

Or tell them I've been drowning longer, so they've got no right to complain.

Would we actually say that to someone?

No.

I'm getting them out.

I'm looking at what's actually making life hard for them and asking what would help.

And if you're sick of being part of a group where you're scared to say how you REALLY feel, where your worries are dismissed or you're made to feel guilty for having them...

Maybe it's time to find a different kind of support.

Because not every motherhood space operates like this.

You don't have to stay somewhere you feel you need to censor yourself.

You don't have to pretend you're fine.

You don't have to compete over who has it hardest.

And you don't have to be grateful for things that aren't working for you.

You can tell the truth. In a safe place.

Because I'm not going to hand you a shovel and invite you to dig yourself deeper into the trenches.

I'm here to help you find safe harbour.

That's what the HARBOUR Method is all about.

If you'd like to understand more about my approach to maternal wellbeing.
Comment HARBOUR and I'll send you the link to my latest blog.

02/11/2026

One of the things I love about studying early years is how often I find myself looking backwards.

I’ll learn something about pregnancy, infancy, attachment or child development and suddenly think about my own four children.

Four completely different children.

Four completely different pregnancies.

And, if I’m honest, four completely different versions of me as their mum.

I think about what I knew then. What I didn’t know. What I worried about. What I got wrong. What I did differently with each of them.

So much of my learning has been about looking backwards and seeing their childhoods through a different lens.

But recently I’ve found myself thinking about something in the opposite direction.

This week the topic was Theory of Mind.

I’ve known about it for years. I knew, broadly, that it was about developing an understanding that other people have their own thoughts, feelings, knowledge and perspectives.

But I don’t think I’d ever really stopped and thought about it beyond childhood.

Incidentally, after being involved in a debate recently, I found myself wondering about something completely different.

What happens when we take this concept into adulthood?

Because we talk so much about children learning to understand that other people see the world differently from them…

…but adults are still learning to do this.

Or trying to.

Some people seem to find it much harder than others to genuinely step outside their own perspective and consider what something might look like from someone else’s position.

Not necessarily because they’re uncaring.

Not because they’re deliberately being difficult.

Just because seeing the world through someone else’s eyes isn’t necessarily as simple as we sometimes assume it is.

And then my brain did what it always does…

…and brought it straight back to parenting. 😂

Because if we understand when these abilities are developing, we can start noticing the opportunities we have to support them.

Not by sitting a toddler down and giving them a lecture about perspective-taking.

But through ordinary life.

Through play.

Through stories.

Through conversations.

Through helping them notice that you might know something they don’t.

That someone else might feel differently about the same thing.

That another person can want something different from what they want.

And I think that’s one of the reasons I love learning about child development so much.

Because the more I understand about what is happening underneath the behaviour, the more I can see the opportunities in the ordinary moments of parenting.

And that’s exactly the kind of thing I want to keep bringing into my work with parents too.

31/10/2026

You thought this pregnancy would feel different.

You wanted to be excited.

You wanted to enjoy feeling your baby move. To imagine meeting them. To talk about names and tiny clothes and what life might look like with this new baby.

But instead, you're finding yourself thinking about your last birth.

The memories you thought you'd dealt with.

The things you still can't quite explain.

The fear that when the time comes, you're going to be right back there again.

And maybe you're telling yourself:

“I know it happened before. This baby is different.”

“I should be able to move on.”

“I'm lucky to be pregnant again. I shouldn't feel like this.”

But knowing you're safe now doesn't necessarily make your body 'feel' safe.

And you don't have to spend this entire pregnancy waiting for the next birth with your stomach in knots.

There is a way to work through what your previous birth left behind, so you can move into this birth without carrying all of the last one with you.

That's exactly what I help mums do through my TBR 3 Step Rewind: Pregnancy after a difficult birth.
https://maternalnature.life/work-with-me/pregnant-again-after-difficult-birth

If you're pregnant again and your previous birth is still affecting how you feel about this one, send me REWIND and we'll talk.

Pregnant again after a difficult birth? TBR 3 Step Rewind is am 8 week focused 1:1 experience to help you work through the emotional impact of your previous birth and feel more able to move forward.

31/10/2026

Full disclosure: I made this graphic with AI. 😂

Because after seeing an actual advert for a £10 downloadable guide called “What is your baby trying to tell you?” I couldn’t resist.

And actually, underneath the ridiculousness, it got me thinking.

Parents are constantly being sold something that promises to help them understand their baby.

Sleep guides. Feeding guides. Baby cues. Routines. Checklists. Apps. Courses. Downloadable PDFs…

So I want to know:

Have you ever bought or downloaded something like this?

What were you hoping it would solve?

And did it actually help?

Or did you get to the end and think:

“Okay… but what about MY baby?” 😂

I’m genuinely interested in what you’ve tried, what was useful, what wasn’t, and what you wish someone had actually helped you with.

Because maybe the problem isn’t that parents don’t have enough information.

Maybe we’re just giving them more and more information when what they really need is something else.

Tell me. What have you tried?

31/10/2026

I see you. ❤️

The guilt.
The worry about not having enough of yourself to go around.
The excitement and the grief sitting side by side.
The love for the baby growing inside you, alongside the ache of wondering what this change means for the child you already have.

You don’t have to navigate all of that alone.

That’s why I’m here. ❤️

No one talks enough about the guilt of being pregnant while raising a toddler.

The guilt when you’re too tired to play the way you normally do.
When your body hurts and you have to say, “Mommy needs to sit down.”
When they want to be carried, but your belly is getting bigger and your back is already aching.
When you turn on a movie because you genuinely don’t have anything left in you that day.

And then there’s the guilt that comes with knowing their whole world is about to change.

They’ve only ever known you as their mommy.
Your lap has always been theirs. Your arms have always been theirs. Your attention has never had to be divided like this before.

You’re so excited to meet the baby growing inside of you, but at the same time, part of you is grieving the end of the chapter where it was just you and your first baby.

So you hold them a little longer.
You stare at them while they sleep.
You wonder if you’ve given them enough of you before everything changes.

Pregnancy with a toddler is such a strange mix of excitement, exhaustion, love, and guilt.

I know I’m giving my child one of the greatest gifts a sibling to grow up with but some days I still wish I could freeze time and keep my first baby little, with my whole lap and both of my arms still completely hers.

29/10/2026

If you've had a difficult birth, what do you wish someone had told you afterwards?

27/10/2026

If you're pregnant again after a difficult birth:

Your problem isn't an overthinking problem.
It's a “please don't let me feel like that again” problem.

Here's what I mean...

You wanted another baby.

But now you're pregnant again and the memories, the fear and the what ifs are creeping back in.

You're worrying about what might happen this time.

You're putting off thinking about the birth because you're scared of what it might bring up.

You might even feel guilty that you're not enjoying this pregnancy the way you thought you would.

Because you don't just want to know what to do this time.

You want to feel confident and informed going into the birth.

You want to be able to speak up for yourself.

And you don't want to carry the fear and anxiety from your last experience into this one and let it dictate what happens.

You don't need to stop overthinking. You need somewhere for all of this to go.

If this is where you are right now, send me the word AGAIN and Let's talk.

20/10/2026

You thought you'd dealt with it.

The birth is over.

Your baby is here.

Life has moved on.

So why does your body still react as though something bad is about to happen?

Maybe you feel your stomach drop when someone mentions your birth.

Maybe you're pregnant again and the thought of another labour makes you feel sick.

Maybe hospitals, scans, procedures or certain smells bring something back that you weren't expecting.

Maybe you find yourself constantly checking, anticipating, preparing for something to go wrong.

Or maybe you can't even explain what's happening. You just know that you don't feel safe.

And that's the bit I want more women to understand.

You can know you're safe and still not feel safe.

Your body isn't being irrational.

It may be responding to an experience that hasn't fully settled.

I've written about this in my latest blog:

When Your Body Doesn't Feel Safe After Birth

If you've been wondering why am I still affected by this? when everyone else seems to think it's over, this is for you!

👉 Read it here:

Understand why you can know you're safe after a difficult birth but still feel unsafe in your body, and what can help you begin to feel safe again.