The Durham Mums-To-Be enjoy antenatal education with a difference!

Great to see Vicky, our Durham antenatal teacher, and her mums-to-be enjoying our piriformis and hip flexor bolly wood routine today.  Try it yourself and listen into Daisy Radio and the Bolly segment! 

More Daisy Radio

Our broadcasts are proving so popular and already over 800 mums have tuned into episode 1, to learn breathing and relaxation techniques.

This week however, Daisy Radio takes a slightly different approach as former Daisy mum and resident presenter Sophie has a chat with Penny Alexander (pictured right), a mum and blogger, about her views on birth and motherhood.  This is a lovely episode and has a real feel good factor, as Penny reflects on the strength of bond with her own children (who were born by emergency section).  She finishes the interview with her own family anthem - it's a good one!

Further interviews with Sophie and a variety of mums will be coming this way very soon!

Perhaps we will get to interview Sara Titus, our new trainee for the Farnborough and Camberley area or Karo, who will be leading classes in Rayleigh and Benfleet.  More details about their antenatal sessions coming soon!

A boom of antenatal classes on the South Coast

We are delighted that Spring 2012 has brought a host of antenatal teachers to the South of England, with new antenatal trainees in Portsmouth, Horsham, Lewes, Blandford and Sittingbourne.  What's more many of these new teachers are either mums-to-be themselves and attending Daisy Birthing® classes in the next region, or mums who have already enjoyed our weekly antenatal class programme!

Sarah Lewis, mum of two (Antenatal Teacher in Training Portsmouth)

Sarah will be launching Daisy Birthing antenatal classes (and later couples active birth workshops) in May/June 2012 in the Portsmouth area.  Sarah experienced a hopsital birth with her 1st baby and a home birth with her 2nd.  She says "I'm a bit of a sucker for birth programmes on TV but having watched the new series of One Born Every Minute I was really concerned about how labour and birth were being portrayed. I was shocked at the suggestion that it would always be incredibly painful and that if you've had one traumatic birth then there was no hope for a straightforward second birth. I feel really strongly that women should be taught relaxation techniques for labour, rather than being bombarded with information on pain relief and the insinuation that they have no option but to 'grin and bear it'".  We couldn't agree more Sarah, and are so delighted mums in Portsmouth will soon be able to enjoy our antenatal and active birth programme, simply steeped in relaxation techniques!

Jo Gatford, mum of two (Antenatal Teacher in Training Lewes)

Jo Gatford had her 2nd baby in October 2011 - a Daisy Birthing baby, having attending weekly daisy antenatal classes with local birth mentor Gemma Clifford in Brighton and Hove.  Jo loved her classes and is so keen that mums in her own area of Lewes and surrounding, should be able to benefit from pregnancy sessions without having to travel too far!  Jo trains alongside Sarah this Spring and will be launching sessions in Lewes, Newhaven and Peacehaven in early Summer 2012.  Her own baby will be just 6 months old!

Rebecca Lawson, mum of one (Antenatal Teacher in Training, Horsham)

Rebecca had her little boy in 2010 and lives in Horsham.  This is why our antenatal classes are so close to her heart

"I would like to congratulate you on your article in The Practical Parenting and Pregnancy magazine in the February edition! It was a very interesting read, and wonderful to see Lazy Daisy® educating pregnant women and health professionals about the importance of muscles during pregnancy. I myself suffered from extreme pelvic girdle pain, to the point I was bed ridden and house bound  for the best part of six months. None of the health professionals whose care I was under seemed to have an understanding  of my condition, and eventually when my  baby was 12 weeks old a found a private physiotherapist who taught me about the importance of the psoas and piriformis , and how these muscles where contributing to my PGP. I can now see what all the fuss is about with Lazy Daisy®! I volunteer for the Pelvic Partnership Charity in trying to raise awareness about PGP. I like to help educate people about the condition to prevent them from becoming as severe as I did. I found your article about Birth Muscles really inspiring and close to my heart."  We are so pleased to have a teacher on board who can really empathise with the huge number of mums attending our classes who suffer with SPD.  Whilst we can't cure SPD, we can really help to manage the discomfort and Rebecca is spot on, the psoas muscle is key (tune into our podcast from Feb 2012 to hear more).

Rebecca's Horsham based sessions will begin in Autumn 2012.

Alex Fulton, soon to be mum of two (Antenatal Teacher in Training, Dorset)

Alex Fulton is based in Blandford, North Dorset and is currently expecting her 2nd baby (her first was born in 2009).  She will be launching sessions in the Autumn 2012 too and can't wait to bring our popular weekly birthing programme to mums in her area DT11 and surrounding.  

Alex says "For me the biggest benefit of Daisy Birthing® is the ‘complete package’ approach that the classes offer, all the individual components are available in our local area but individually, as a mum to be I have had to attend separate classes for yoga, active birthing and hypnotherapy and relaxation, I really like the unique approach of offering all these amazing tools as a ready packaged course. I firmly believe there is a massive demand for such a service in our area, the few pregnancy yoga teachers there are have long waiting lists and there is a real interest in natural and active birthing.  Dorset has a level of home births well above the national average, and although Daisy Birthing® isn’t directly aimed at home birth I believe it clearly demonstrates the growing trend for natural birthing techniques."

Lisa Fulton, currently expecting her 2nd baby (Antenatal Teacher in Training, Sittingbourne)

Finally we welcome Lisa Fulton (no relation to Alex).  Lisa is currently attending Daisy Birthing® weekly classes with Carla in Canterbury (Kent) and is in her own words 'loving it'.  Lisa will be training after the birth of her baby, to launch classes in Maidstone and Sittingbourne in the Autumn of 2012.  More details about Lisa will be available on line soon!

Welcome to all of our new South of England recruits!  We are delighted Lazy Daisy® and the Daisy Birthing® antenatal programme will be available to even more mums to be!

Audio Podcasts Just for Mums To Be

It's official - Daisy Radio™ has arrived and if you love the Daisy relaxations in class and on our i-phone app, then you will love these birthing broadcasts!

The first of our pregnancy and birth broadcasts takes you through birth breathing and it's benefits!  Further episodes will take you through a hip rocking bollywood birth segment and of course a lush Daisy relaxation.

About Episode 1: Take a deep breath and listen .... confident birth is closer than you think!

"This is the first in a series of Daisy podcasts designed to help existing Daisy Birthing® class mums practise their newly acquired birthing skills but also to allow mums-to-be who are new to us, to give us a try! In this first episode, we work on the importance of breathing and how to link the breath to a birth visualisation.

Breathing is so key for labour, as really does provide a focus and an anchor - in Daisy Birthing® we refer to it as a life buoy; when the waves of labour get big, and sometimes they will really roll and become very intense even momentarily knocking us under, our breathing helps us get right back to the surface! To stay confident and calm!  Breathing will also ensure your birthing muscles receive vital oxygen, so that the muscle fibres can slide easily against each other, without a build up of sticky lactic acid; Remember if the muscle works more easily, it will be more efficient (and work more comfortably). In addition, good breathing will also help you to release from the navel and the area surrounding the origin of a really important muscle, the psoas - lengthening this muscle will help your pelvic and hip mobility and allow baby to descend more easily ....."

If you are a mum-to-be either attending classes or new to Lazy Daisy antenatal programme and method, this is a great way to enjoy our sessions at home!  Do leave your comments, as if successful our broadcasting and production team will be looking to put a daily and LIVE radio show in place during the Summer months!

You can listen to Daisy Radio by clicking here