My Expert Midwife
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4-8 weeks – from pregnancy hormones and symptoms to baby’s early developments
Read more →Welcome to the second instalment of our week-by-week pregnancy guide. Here we explore what happens during weeks 4-8 of pregnancy: Week 4 Although there are no outward, physical signs yet that you are pregnant, many changes are taking place within your body during this time. Your hormones are changing as your body starts to nurture and support your baby by providing an optimal environment for the next nine months. These hormonal changes can cause heightened emotions, tiredness and sickness. You probably won’t suspect that you are pregnant until you miss your usual period at 4-6 weeks. A pregnancy test can...
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How To Do Perineal Massage
Read more →Why do perineal massage? Your perineum is the patch of skin between your vagina and anus and it's this part that's most likely to tear when you give birth. Most women will suffer from some type of childbirth tearing (around 9 out of 10 women with their first baby and around 7 out of 10 with subsequent births). The risks of having tears to your birth canal and the perineum during the birth of your baby are mostly predestined by genetics and the position that your baby was in during birth, but there are some things that you can do...
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Valentines day when you’re pregnant
Read more →Valentine’s day celebrates love, romance and is a day for pampering and appreciating each other. It is the perfect opportunity to take time out for you and your partner to indulge in some self-care and to celebrate the new person that is growing inside you. Feeling loved and cared for helps to create oxytocin, often called “the hormone of love”, and who doesn’t want a bit of that?! Think you are too busy, stressed or it will cost too much? Here are some things you could plan to do together which suit different lifestyles and budgets when you are pregnant...
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0 - 4 weeks - From Period to Pregnant
Read more →In this new blog series we’ll be taking you week-by-week through each stage of pregnancy, from conception to birth. Read below for the first instalment on getting pregnant: Getting Pregnant The first day of your period will be the date that everything began! The average menstrual cycle below may help to explain the timeline from your last period to your positive pregnancy test, but not everyone has a 28-day cycle: Day 1: First day of your period Day 7 – 15: Intercourse Day 14: Ovulation Day 14-15:...
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How can I relieve pain when breastfeeding?
Read more →When My Expert Midwife were developing the product range, we knew that developing a nipple balm which dealt with the problems that breastfeeding mums face was a must, as one of the most common questions we were asked was "how to relieve breastfeeding pain?" We were delighted that our hard work paid off and our No Harm Nipple Balm was awarded a Bronze in the ‘Best Product for Breastfeeding’ by Mother and Baby magazine, reviewed by real-life mums. What causes nipple soreness when breastfeeding? At the start of the feed, when baby is latched-on there’s something called the ‘let down’ which for some...
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How to relieve constipation in pregnancy?
Read more →Along with all the delights that pregnancy can throw at you; sickness, swollen feet, and heartburn, to name but a few, over half of pregnant women will experience constipation at some point during their pregnancy and it’s certainly nothing to feel embarrassed about. There is a perfectly simple explanation for it. Hormones play a key role in creating constipation while pregnant, by simply causing the muscles in your bowel to relax. In doing so, these muscles become sluggish which means that food hangs around for longer in the digestive tract and this causes bloating, gassing, irregular bowel movements and understandably...
