Antenatal Classes, Postnatal Classes and Hypnobirthing in beautiful venues across Buckinghamshire and Berkshire

A relaxed, friendly and supportive antenatal and postnatal course during pregnancy, written and taught by a practising midwife. Join us for a fresh perspective on birth and new parenthood and come away feeling positive and empowered about the journey ahead as well as meeting friends for life!

Email sophie@thevillagemidwife.co.uk
if you have any questions, or find out more about the classes and book below!

About me

I am a registered midwife living and working in Buckinghamshire. I am also trained as a KG Hypnobirthing teacher and I’m a current breastfeeding mother. I’m passionate about providing accessible antenatal education and postnatal support to families in Buckinghamshire based on my knowledge and experience as a midwife and mum, and I am very proud to see our relaxed and friendly Village Midwife community growing and growing!

"Above all Sophie made the course accessible and friendly, she is approachable, extremely knowledgeable and very caring and empowering."

Friendly. Inclusive. Relaxed. Local.

Our approach to antenatal and postnatal courses

Why are we different?

Our antenatal course is written and designed by a midwife, and constantly reviewed to add the latest evidence and statistics which means people benefit from up to date support and knowledge throughout their pregnancy

As well as a friendly and relaxed antenatal course, we provide personalised midwifery support for people through their pregnancy and afterwards by text or phone, from individualised birth plans to questions by text at 11pm, which comes with any course you book onto!

We aim to prepare you for labour and birth as well as life as parents which includes preparation for whatever type of feeding you choose and how to prepare for that postnatal period with your new baby. Our ethos is all about informed choice and is a no judgement zone!

We are the only local midwife run antenatal course to have a postnatal course too! This is because we believe passionately in supporting new parents after their baby has been born.

We have built up a community of parents supporting each other, with The No Sleep Club (a weekly social group for pregnancy and beyond) and whatsapp groups for mums to give advice to each other. As well as a firm group of parent friends from your course, you get a wider support network!

We are fully inclusive which also includes flexible payment plans and a single parent discount.

Where are the courses?

Our courses are set in beautiful locations and taught by a current practising midwife who is very passionate about what she does! (as you might be able to tell!)

Our Prestwood courses are at Nanfans Ballet School in Prestwood near Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. We have pregnant and postnatal clients from Prestwood, Great Missenden, Hazlemere, High Wycombe, Hughenden, Amersham, Chesham, Beaconsfield, Marlow, Berkhamsted and so on!

Our Cookham course is taught at Elizabeth House in Cookham and is for pregnant and postnatal clients from Cookham, Bourne End, Marlow, Maidenhead, Bisham, Flackwell Heath, Taplow and Wooburn Green and so on!

1-1 Hypnobirthing and birth chats are at your home (within Buckinghamshire)

"This course and Sophie really do not stop giving, it has been an invaluable experience to us as first time parents to be and we will be highly recommending The Village Midwife to all our friends. Thank you Sophie"

New mum from Prestwood

The Antenatal Courses and Postnatal Courses

Our antenatal and postnatal courses in beautiful Buckinghamshire guide you through your pregnancy, birth and your journey into motherhood.

A well rounded preparation for pregnancy, birth and new parenthood with a fresh perspective! It includes 1-1 support from a midwife throughout and a goodie bag with birth and postnatal plan templates, plus be part of our growing, supportive community! We prepare you for all types of birth experience and how to create a birth plan that’s flexible and prepared for all eventualities. We also prepare both of you for the postnatal period, feeding your baby and taking care of them!

The postnatal course covers baby massage, how to adapt to your life as a new mum, a check in session with a Women’s Health Physio and a ‘how to’ on slings and carriers – our postnatal course runs over 8 weeks with a group of new mums like yourself! It also involves tea/coffee and biscuits as all good things should, and comes with support from a midwife as well as the support from the new, local mum friends you will meet!

Hypnobirthing is a system of rewiring any negative thoughts you have about giving birth and reframing your mind so that it is relaxed and positive before giving birth to your baby. It teaches relaxation and breathing techniques and takes place at your home whenever suits you and also includes my support!

Time to discuss your birth plan or preparations for labour in a 1-1 setting with a midwife, with support before and after as needed. The Village Midwife birth and postnatal plan templates are also provided.

Find out more on instagram

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This was the week I’d just moved house so I think I was around 37 weeks pregnant? I had pretty big expectations of my birth experience that were based primarily in fear (I hadn’t discovered hypnobirthing!) but in terms of the postnatal period with my baby I had zero expectations.

I really expected to have no sleep for a few months, to not be able to do anything normal for ages and to just be in survival mode because as everyone kept telling me - “god it’s going to be so hard on your own!” Although this doesn’t sound super cheerful, it really helped me in the first few months and has changed my outlook on motherhood today because *everything is a bonus*

Don’t get me wrong, I still find it hard if I’m up all night with Arthur but those super realistic expectations of sleep and also the fact that I had no one else to share the parenting with (so I may as well just get on with it) actually really helped! It meant I HAD to figure out a way to wash even though my child didn’t want to put him down (we bathed together) and I HAD to find a way through having no support at nighttime (biscuits, always biscuits. And my mum popping in before work in the morning to say hello and make me a cuppa!) I HAD to find a way to eat (I hadn’t discovered wonderful people like @fooddoula then so it was all about ready meals and pizza unfortunately)

I didn’t even know I setting the bar so low for my expectations for these few months and don’t get me wrong - lots of moments with Arthur were really wonderful - but it’s definitely helped in the long run! Even now an evening out with friends is a massive bonus not an expectation because of weighing up £60 for a babysitter and finding one! Being able to do a job I enjoy is a bonus (again because of childcare) and the setting up of a business that was purely for our survival when my job couldn’t offer me flexible enough working to return has turned into the best thing I ever did!

Expectations - they’re a funny thing eh?

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I saw this by @morganharpernichols and thought it summed up motherhood quite well! I don’t know about anyone else but this is something that’s really struck me since having Arthur. When I was pregnant I spent time imagining all the big milestones like him crawling, walking, talking, saying his first words... but wasn’t prepared for how magical all the little moments would be too!

If you’re a pregnant or new mum - feel free to join our Facebook group for support, I’ve shared it to my Facebook page for you all!

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This weekend, apart from finishing my tax return and teaching a reflection session for mums this afternoon - I’ll be resting! The rest of my weekends for the next few months are stacked out teaching so if you need me I’ll be playing cars with Arthur and having an early night! I hope you all have restful plans this weekend 😴

Image by @spoonie_village

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Let’s talk about iron.

In pregnancy we offer lots of blood tests and among these is a blood test for iron at your first appointment with a midwife and then again at your 28 week appointment. Like everything else in pregnancy, it’s your choice whether to accept or decline this!

So what is iron and why do we check your iron levels?

Put simply - iron lives in your red blood cells and carries oxygen to your tissues/cells (an important job right?) and in pregnancy as your blood volume increases, sometimes your bodies production of red blood cells can’t keep up. Iron deficiency anaemia is where you have a low amount of iron in your body and symptoms include tiredness, a lack of energy, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and paler skin. If you’re concerned at any other time that you’re anaemic you can also ask your GP/midwife for an extra blood test to check your iron levels!

Why do we worry about it? We worry about it because if you were to lose more than a normal amount of blood after giving birth you need good iron reserves to help your body cope with it.

So what happens if you’re low in iron? You can get iron tablets from your GP or take an oral supplement if you struggle with iron tablets for any reason. You might also be told to have iron supplements after you give birth if you’ve lost a significant amount of blood! You can also increase your iron intake through your diet with lots of dark leafy veg, meat, nuts and dried fruit. You could also have vitamin c rich foods to help you absorb the iron and avoid having a cup of tea around the time you take iron as this can stop you absorbing it well! (It’s the tannins apparently!) What foods do you prefer for increasing your iron levels?

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Parenthood makes you feel a lot of things. Sometimes you need to be able to talk them over with people who *just get it* right?

That’s why an important part of what I do is postnatal peer support. Talking to other mums about your transition to motherhood is a key part of the postnatal course, plus we have The No Sleep Club where mums can support eachother (and even more so through the whatsapp groups!) But what about the dads?!
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Giving both parents time to talk is an important part of the fab event that I’m doing with Charyn from @mbbwycombe on Saturday. While Charyn will be teaching the dads/partners valuable baby massage techniques in some set aside time for bonding with baby (and giving them time to talk too!), I’ll be chatting with the mums about motherhood and how they’re all doing.
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Giving dads this time with baby is so important (especially considering that most partners get just 2 weeks of paternity leave!) and it means they learn baby massage techniques that they can use in the bedtime routine! Plus mums can also meet other mums!

There’s a few spaces left if you want to join us - just drop me a message! ☺️
Image: @fromthepine

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These are the moments I once dreamed of ♥️

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