Courageous Births and Beyond

Courageous Births and Beyond Birth Prep for ALL births: Vaginal, C-Section and VBAC

Mum of 3 helping you feel calm, confident & ready. Book Pregnancy Relaxation & 1-1 Support.

23/07/2026

I don’t think we’re very good at recognising our own strength.

We tend to reserve that word for extraordinary moments and extraordinary people.

But I’ve been wondering whether strength is usually much quieter than that.

Perhaps it looks like asking another question when you’re feeling uncertain.

Perhaps it looks like changing your mind when something no longer feels right.

Perhaps it looks like accepting support when you’ve always been the one giving it.

Perhaps it looks like taking the next step before you feel completely ready.

I wonder how many moments of quiet courage we overlook because they don’t look the way we expected them to.

We are so often our own harshest critics.

And yet, if I asked you to describe another woman navigating pregnancy, birth or motherhood, I suspect words like strong, resilient and courageous would come much more easily.

Maybe it’s time we learnt to extend some of that same compassion to ourselves.

17/07/2026

I wonder if we’re all waiting to feel something we’re never meant to feel.

Waiting to feel ready.

Ready for birth.
Ready for motherhood.
Ready for change.

I’ve never met anyone who has felt completely ready for a new chapter of their life. They are more likely apprehensive and unsure.

Yet we grow into them.

Slowly.

So perhaps why we put too much pressure on ourselves during pregnancy. We think we should arrive at the end of it feeling certain and unshakeably confident.

I don’t think that’s the goal.

I think courage looks much quieter than that.

It looks like saying, “I don’t know yet, and that’s okay.”
It looks like asking for support when you need it.
It looks like letting go of perfect plans.

13/07/2026

When I became a mum, I realised something I hadn’t expected.

There are so many beautiful groups and classes that help us connect with our babies.

Spaces that support their development.
Encourage their learning.
Help us bond with them.

And that is wonderful.

But sometimes I wondered...

Who was creating space for the woman holding them?

Because being surrounded by other mothers doesn’t always mean feeling connected.

Sometimes we need someone to gently open the conversation.
Someone to ask the question we haven’t found the words for.
Someone to make it feel safe to say, “Actually... I’m finding this harder than I expected.”

I know how hard it can be to say “I need support” when you’re in the middle of it.

Often, by the time we admit we need help, we’ve been carrying so much for a long time.

Held was created because I believe mothers deserve support before they reach breaking point.

A space where your baby is welcome, but you matter too.

What helped you feel most supported in those early months of motherhood?

10/07/2026

There’s a moment in every session that stays with me afterwards.

It’s not the things I’ve taught.

It’s the moment someone shares something they didn’t expect to say out loud.

Something they’ve been carrying quietly.

And then someone else nods.

Because maybe they’ve felt it too.

That’s the moment the room changes.

When people realise they’re not the only one.

And I think that’s where confidence starts to grow.

Not from having every answer.

But from feeling safe enough to share, ask questions and prepare in your own way.

09/07/2026

We are so bad at talking about how much we struggle in motherhood. It’s almost as if we don’t want to admit defeat, show weakness, admit that we are not perfect.

But when we do, when we are brave enough to say ‘I love motherhood but this is so hard‘. Or even just ‘I’m not coping’. We soon find we are not alone. There are so many other mothers quietly struggling, just like you.

But when you do feel supported to speak out, it somehow deepens our connections, it makes us more compassionate with ourselves and we can let go of an unobtainable myth of the perfect mum.

I created ‘Held’ because I went to many baby groups or sensory classes for the benefit of my baby when really I needed a space I would feel held and not judged through early motherhood.

Classes coming soon to Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Comment ‘Held’ if you want more details.

06/07/2026

We spend so much of pregnancy trying to prepare for the “right” birth.

The home birth.
The water birth.
The straightforward birth.

And those hopes matter.
But if your confidence depends on one specific outcome, what happens when birth takes a different path?

That’s why, in the Radiant Birth Club, we don’t just prepare for one type of birth. We prepare for you.

So that wherever your baby is born, you know your options, you trust your instincts, and you feel able to find your voice.

Because confidence isn’t the absence of change.

It’s knowing you can meet change without losing yourself.

I’d love to know, what does feeling confident in birth mean to you?

03/07/2026

We spend so much time preparing people for the arrival of a baby.

We don’t spend nearly as much time talking about the arrival of a mother.

Not just the sleepless nights or the feeding or the nappies.

The quieter shift.

The one where you wake up and realise you don’t quite recognise yourself anymore, but you haven’t quite figured out who you’re becoming either.

It’s hard to explain if you’ve never experienced it.

And it’s even harder when everyone around you assumes you’re doing fine because that’s all they ever get to see.

Maybe that’s why hearing another mum say, “Me too,” can feel so powerful.
It doesn’t take the uncertainty away.
But it reminds you that becoming isn’t something you have to do alone.

If this resonates, I’d love to hear from you. What was one thing nobody warned you about becoming a mum?

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Bladon
Woodstock

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