Birth Prep With Joy

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✨ Birth prep that leaves you feeling calm, confident & in control
⭐️ 5★ antenatal courses | Perinatal hypnotherapy
💛 Pregnancy anxiety & birth trauma support
📍 Linlithgow & Online

01/11/2026

You might have a list of questions already, or you might be at the stage of wondering what you’re supposed to ask. Both are good reasons to come along to an antenatal class.

My January course in Linlithgow brings together a small group of parents to explore birth, feeding and early parenthood in a relaxed, welcoming space. Together we talk through the options you may be offered, practise ways to manage labour and look at how birth partners can help.

We also make time for what comes afterwards, including your recovery and the realities of caring for a newborn. With over 20 years of supporting families, I know how useful it can be to have an honest conversation before you’re at home wondering, “Is this normal?”

You’re welcome with a partner, friend or family member, or on your own.

To find out more, feel free to send me a message or visit birthprepwithjoy.com/antenatal-courses

31/10/2026

🎃🎃 This photo (minus pumpkins) was taken during an antenatal class a couple of years ago. I’d love to tell you I was explaining something very important about birth here, but I honestly have no idea what I was doing.

Trying to summon another bag of Fruitella seems entirely possible!

If you’ve been to my antenatal classes, you’ll know the Fruitella are an important part of proceedings. I like to think people remember the practical tips and useful conversations too, but I know the sweets have their own reputation.

Happy trick or treating if you are heading out and enjoy your sweets.

Happy Halloween 👻👻

29/10/2026

We spend a lot of pregnancy thinking about the birth, but considerably less time talking about what your body actually does afterwards.

One of those things is bleeding.

Postnatal bleeding is called lochia, and it isn’t simply a very long period. It’s a mixture of blood, mucus and tissue from inside the uterus as your body sheds what it no longer needs after pregnancy and the area where the placenta was attached heals.
...and yes, you get lochia after a caesarean birth too.

At first it is usually red and fairly heavy. Over the following days and weeks it should gradually become lighter and change colour, often becoming pink or brown and then much paler. It can continue for several weeks.

You might also notice it becomes a little redder or heavier when you breastfeed. That’s because the oxytocin released during feeding makes your uterus contract and you may notice some cramping at the same time too.

Blood clots can be part of it as well.

Small clots can happen, particularly in those early days. But larger or repeated clots, or bleeding that is becoming heavier rather than gradually settling, are things to mention to your midwife.

So maternity pads are definitely worth putting on the pre-baby shopping list especially as tampons are not recommended.

If the bleeding becomes heavier, smells unusual, you develop a temperature or worsening abdominal pain, get advice. Sudden very heavy bleeding, particularly if you feel faint, dizzy or unwell, needs urgent medical help.

It isn’t exactly the glamorous part of preparing for a baby, but I’d much rather you knew what to expect before you’re standing in the bathroom a few days after giving birth wondering whether any of it is normal.

27/10/2026

Someone asked me in class recently whether they needed to include anything about the placenta in their birth plan, and the answer is yes, it’s definitely worth thinking about.

Once your baby is born, labour isn’t actually finished. There is still the third stage of labour, which is the time between your baby being born and the placenta being born.

Broadly, there are two ways this stage can be managed.

With an active third stage, you’re given a uterotonic medicine to help the uterus contract, and once the placenta has separated, the midwife uses controlled cord traction to help deliver it.

With a physiological third stage, there is no routine medication. You wait for your own hormones and contractions to separate the placenta, and you usually push it out yourself.

There are pros and cons to both.

Active management tends to be quicker and reduces the risk of heavy bleeding after birth. Physiological management avoids routine medication and lets the process happen without intervention, but it can take longer.

Thiis is why I think it belongs in birth planning. Not because you need to decide something at 34 weeks and then stick rigidly to it no matter what happens, but because it is much easier to make a decision during labour if you have already thought about the options, understood the benefits and drawbacks, and know what might make you change your mind.

You might plan a physiological third stage and then decide you want active management. Or your midwife or doctor may recommend active management if your risk of bleeding is higher, if you start bleeding heavily, or if the placenta is taking longer to come away.

So when you’re writing your birth preferences, don’t stop at “then my baby is born.” Think about what you’d like to happen with the placenta too.

Birth planning isn’t about predicting exactly what will happen. It’s about knowing your options before you need them.

25/10/2026

I don’t talk about this side of my life very often, mostly because it’s just… normal to me.

I’ve lived with chronic pain and unpredictable joints for such a long time that a lot of the adapting, pacing and rearranging happens almost automatically now.

However, if you only ever see me teaching, chatting, demonstrating positions or generally getting on with things, you probably wouldn’t have any idea what sometimes sits behind that and I think that is one of the strange things about conditions that can be largely invisible.

People see the version of you that made it out that day. They don’t necessarily see the day spent sleeping beforehand. The plans you changed. The walking stick that sometimes comes out. The medication. The injection. Or the bit where you have to decide whether something is worth the energy it is going to cost you.

Being self-employed has helped because I have more control over how I pace my week, but it has also made me much more aware that energy is something I have to budget.

I can still do a lot. I just can’t always do everything, whenever I want to and I think that has probably made me a little better at remembering that you never really know what somebody else is managing behind the scenes.

22/10/2026

Of course I want people to leave my antenatal classes understanding labour, birth, pain relief, feeding, baby care and all the practical things we cover - but what I really want is for that information to still be useful when you’re actually in labour and everything suddenly feels very real.

Rhanna left this lovely review after attending my classes:
“From the first class Joy explained everything we needed to know about giving birth in an informative but extremely gentle way. This made me feel so much more at ease about giving birth. Her tips and tricks allowed me to stay calm during labour in a way I never thought I’d be able to.”

That is exactly what I hope good antenatal preparation can do.
Not promise you a particular kind of birth, not tell you there is one “right” way to do it - but help you understand what is happening, know what your options are, practise things that might help, and feel more able to deal with whatever comes your way.

My November course is now fully booked, and the next Linlithgow course starts in January. For more information, send me a message or check out: https://www.birthprepwithjoy.com/antenatal-courses

20/10/2026

Nobody really prepares you for how noisy a sleeping newborn can be.

You imagine finally getting them settled, putting them down, and enjoying a bit of peace. Instead, you get snorting, squeaking, gurgling, wriggling, little grunts, funny faces and the occasional noise that makes you immediately lean over the cot to check what on earth they’re doing.

A lot of this happens during periods of active sleep.

Newborn sleep isn’t all deep, completely still sleep. During active or light sleep, a baby’s brain is busy and their body can look surprisingly active too. Their eyelids may flutter, their eyes can move underneath their closed lids, their face might change expression, they may twitch or move their arms and legs, make brief little cries or noises, and their breathing can be less regular than it is during deep sleep.

They can be doing all of that while still being asleep which is why it is can be worth waiting for a moment before immediately picking them up. They may simply settle back into another phase of sleep.

Deep or quiet sleep looks very different - babies tend to lie much more still and their breathing is generally steadier and more regular.

If you’re ever genuinely worried about your baby’s breathing or something doesn’t seem right, always seek medical advice, but normal newborn sleep can be surprisingly noisy - like you are sleeping next door to a farmyard!

18/10/2026

What if the memory could still be there, but it didn’t have quite the same hold over you?

That is really the idea behind Three Step Rewind.

Sometimes after a difficult or frightening pregnancy, birth or postnatal experience, you can know perfectly well that it is over but certain memories, conversations, appointments or reminders can still bring back a really strong emotional or physical response.

Three Step Rewind is a structured three-session process that I use with some clients to work with that response.

We start with how things are affecting you now, and how you would like to feel instead. You learn deep relaxation and have a recording to practise between sessions.

Then comes the Rewind itself. While deeply relaxed, you mentally revisit the experience from a distance, rather like watching it on a screen rather than putting yourself straight back inside it.

The aim isn’t to delete the memory or pretend the experience didn’t matter. It is to work with the reaction attached to remembering it, so that something which happened then may begin to feel more like something that is actually in the past.

Then we look forward, imagining yourself in situations that may currently feel difficult, but experiencing them with more calm and a greater sense of safety.

One thing people are often relieved to hear is that you do not have to tell me every detail of what happened. You decide what you want to share.

I also won’t promise that Three Step Rewind will magically change everything. Everyone is different, and it isn’t the right approach for everybody, but for some people, it may help a difficult pregnancy, birth or postnatal experience take up less space now.

I offer Three Step Rewind online over three 1:1 sessions.
If you’re wondering whether it might be appropriate for you drop me a message or read more at: https://www.birthprepwithjoy.com/emotional-support

15/10/2026

Tonight at 7pm, I’m lighting a candle for the Wave of Light as Baby Loss Awareness Week comes to a close.

For all the babies who are loved, remembered and missed and for every family whose story includes pregnancy or baby loss.

However recent your loss, or however many years have passed, you and your baby are remembered tonight. 🕯️

13/10/2026

Buying formula can be overwhelming.

Different brands, different prices, “advanced” versions, follow-on milk, ready-to-feed cartons… it can very quickly start to feel as though there must be a right one to buy.

So here are three things I think are genuinely useful to know before your baby arrives.

First, more expensive doesn’t automatically mean nutritionally better. Recent First Steps Nutrition price monitoring has found first infant formulas ranging from roughly £7 to £18 a tin, but all first infant formulas sold in the UK have to meet strict legal nutritional composition standards.

They aren’t all identical, but the expensive tin isn’t automatically giving your baby “better” nutrition because it costs more.

Second, powdered formula isn’t sterile. That doesn’t mean it’s unsafe to use, it means the way you prepare it matters.

The safest recommended method is to make one feed at a time, when your baby needs it, using fresh cold tap water boiled in a kettle and left to cool for no more than 30 minutes, so it is still at least 70°C when it meets the powder. The bottle can then be cooled to feeding temperature.

Ready-to-feed liquid formula is different because it is sterile until it is opened.

Third, despite what the supermarket shelves might suggest, you don’t need to switch to follow-on formula at 6 months. First infant formula can remain your baby’s main formula drink until 12 months.

I think this is exactly the sort of feeding information that is useful to know antenatally before you’re standing in front of an entire aisle of formula with a hungry baby and very little sleep.

Feeding preparation isn’t about telling you what you should choose. It’s about making sure you have good information so you can make the choices that work for you and your baby.

Sources: First Steps Nutrition Trust and NHS guidance.

Address

Linlithgow

Website

http://www.birthprepwithjoy.com/

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