Redefining the basics of birth preparation

Childbirth preparation without overwhelm

Birth Basics gives you a broad understanding of the journey from late pregnancy through labour, birth and the first days afterwards. We focus on what is useful to understand, where you have choices, and what can help you navigate different situations as they arise.

Preparing for birth

• Mindset and the importance of childbirth education

• Physiology of pregnancy and preparation for labour

• Birth preferences and creating a useful birth plan

• Informed decision-making and communicating with your care team

Understanding labour and birth

• How labour begins and progresses

• The physiology and hormones of labour and birth

• The landscape of labour and the different directions birth can take

• Creating conditions that support labour

• Induction and common interventions

Working with labour

• Understanding pain in labour

• Pain management and medical pain relief

• Movement and positions for labour and birth

• Breathing, relaxation and comfort measures

• Practical and physical ways your partner can support you

Preparing together

• The role of the birth partner during pregnancy, labour and birth

• Staying involved when circumstances or plans change

After the birth

• The golden hour

• The beginning of breastfeeding and feeding

• Recovery after birth

• Understanding the fourth trimester

Rather than teaching you a sequence to follow, we use these topics to build a framework. You leave understanding more about how birth works, what your options may be and which tools you can draw on depending on the birth you actually have.

Birth Basics

There has never been more information available about pregnancy and birth. Research, recommendations, professional opinions, birth stories and an endless stream of social media content can make it difficult to know what is important, what is relevant to you, and what you can simply let go.

Birth Basics is designed to give you a broad, solid understanding of birth without asking you to become an expert in it.

We look at how your body works during labour and birth, what you may encounter along the way, how you and your partner can work with labour, and how to approach choices and decisions with a clearer understanding of what they mean.

The course is holistic and science-based, bringing together physiology and evidence with the emotional and mental experience of becoming parents. The aim is not to give you more information to carry, but to help you make sense of it — so that you can approach birth informed, prepared and still able to listen to yourself.

Awaken Your Inner Wisdom

I called this course Birth Basics because I wanted to reconsider what the basics of childbirth education actually are.

For me, the basics are not knowing every possible intervention, memorising the stages of labour or trying to prepare for every scenario that might occur. Information matters, but more information does not necessarily mean feeling more prepared.

I wanted to go back to the foundations: understanding your body and your options, learning to trust your own judgement, knowing how to work with your body and mind during labour, and preparing for birth together with your birth partner.

These became the four pillars of Birth Basics:

Know your body. Know your options.

Own Your Body

Trust your Intuition

Understanding what is happening in your body changes the way you can participate in your care. We look at the physiology of birth alongside your choices, so that you can ask questions, understand what is being offered and make informed decisions about your own body.

Calm Body, Confident Mind

Breathe. Release. Surrender.

Good preparation is not only about gathering information from outside yourself. It is also about recognising what you already know about your body, your needs, what makes you feel safe and what matters to you. Evidence and professional guidance are important, but so is your own voice within the decisions you make.

Prepare Together, Birth Together

A well-supported birth is a successful birth

Body and mind are not separate during birth. We explore the relationship between the nervous system, hormones, tension and the experience of labour, alongside practical ways to create comfort, release tension and work with your body rather than against it.

Birth preparation is not only for the person giving birth. Your partner prepares too: understanding what is happening, learning practical ways to support you and knowing how to remain involved when circumstances change.

We'll Cover:

These are the basics I want you to carry into birth. Not a script for how birth should happen, but a foundation that remains useful whichever direction your birth takes.

Birth Basics within the Juno Way

Birth Basics can also become part of the prenatal preparation we do together through The Juno Way.

Rather than being a standalone course, we can use what we learn and discuss during Birth Basics as part of the relationship we carry forward into birth support, the kraamweek, or both.

Preparing the birth partner too

Birth preparation shouldn't leave one person knowing everything and the other wondering what they're supposed to do when labour starts.

Your partner prepares too. We look at what support can actually mean during labour: how to recognise what you might need, protect the environment around you, offer physical comfort, communicate with your care team and stay involved when circumstances change.

They don't need to become your doula or remember an entire course while you are in labour. The aim is for them to understand birth well enough to be present and confident in their own role — so that you can work as a team rather than trying to figure it all out on the day.

Practical Information

Format: Private, online or in person
Duration: 4–5 hours, usually divided over two sessions or taught in one afternoon
Languages: English or Italian
Location: Online via Zoom, or in person in Hilversum and surrounding areas
Investment: €295
Includes: Digital course materials and a copy of my book, The Last-Minute Guide to Labour and Childbirth

Birth Basics is taught privately, so there is room to spend more time on the subjects that are particularly relevant to you and your birth.