babyworld’s Antenatal Clubs welcome
Mrs Thatcher!

Where
could you make 20 friends in less than a year, trade notes on the most
intimate pregnancy aches and pains, talk babytalk endlessly without the
risk of boring the other person AND get quick, personal, totally free
expert advice on everything to do with pregnancy, labour and birth?

The answer is the babyworld Antenatal clubs! Since 1999 thousands and
thousands of women have had the opportunity of sharing their pregnancies
on-line with others who are at the same stage of pregnancy as they are
through babyworld antenatal clubs.

This month the baton of managing our highly successful antenatal
clubs has passed to midwife Amber Thatcher, who with Grania Foster, a
highly experienced NCT trained teacher will be shaping the clubs for the
future.

Amber is a young, friendly midwife who passed her midwifery exams with
flying colours! She has spent the last 2 years practising as an independent
midwife and joins the team with the latest ideas in midwifery practice
under her belt. She will be available on the antenatal club forums ready
to help with any of your pregnancy, birth or labour queries.

We asked Amber to divulge a bit about herself
and her life as a midwife!

Who’s your birth guru? Mary Cronk, a very experienced independent
midwife, well known for her support of natural birthing practices. She
is full of knowledge and fantastic stories and is always happy to help
if you have any questions. Since becoming an independent midwife I have
had the honor of getting to know her and have found her a real inspiration.

Funniest moment as a midwife? Whilst carrying out an antenatal
appointment with my midwifery partner, I managed to spill a urine sample
all over her lunch which she had just got out! Needless to say I had to
share my lunch that day.

Home or hospital – best place to give birth? Wherever a woman
feels most relaxed. Being stressed whilst in labour can interfere with
the delicate hormonal balance within the body, interrupting the natural
birthing process. Therefore, to be in a relaxed state of mind when giving
birth is really important.

We hear your cooking skills are nearly as good as your midwifery skills,
do you offer tea and cakes to your clients? Funnily enough it’s the
other way round – most of my visits are carried out in my clients’ homes,
so I get offered lots of yummy things to eat by them! I once had a client
who had a long early labour, so to keep herself busy; she baked a birthday
cake for her baby. When she had given birth, we all sat down to a nice
slab of Victoria sponge and a cup of tea; it was lovely.

How do clients feel about Mrs Thatcher being their midwife? Not
much really, I think there would have been more jokes made maybe ten or
so years ago when Margaret was better known amongst the general British
population, but it turns out that famous politicians seem to be forgotten
relatively quickly once a replacement comes along! Thank goodness my surname
isn’t Blair or (more recently) Brown!

What’s life like for an Independent midwife? Busy but very rewarding,
which is just how I like it. It’s a really fulfilling job. You get to
build fantastic relationships with your clients and their families, and
it is so lovely to be part of such an amazing process. It’s also never
boring as each journey is so different from the last.

Favourite piece of advice for mums nervous about the birth? I
think every woman is worried about birth to a certain extent, something
that is totally normal. Getting things into perspective helps a lot. You
just have to remember that every single person in the world has a mum,
so it’s a universal phenomenon that we are all part of. Talking through
your concerns with someone you trust can really help, and that’s where
babyworld’s antenatal clubs can really help!

Amber adds” Babyworld’s antenatal clubs provide a special opportunity
for women and their partners to be in touch with others who are expecting
babies at the same time, so that they can go through the experience together,
regardless of place or time. The clubs also offer on-line antenatal classes,
taking away the restrictions of availability, time, and sometimes cost
as well, that can make it difficult for people to get to classes, and
making classes more widely accessible.

“It’s exciting for me to be joining babyworld.co.uk and having the opportunity
to offer help and support to a far greater number of pregnant women and
their partners than it’s been possible to do before. The journey to parenthood
is one of life’s most special events and it’s a privilege for me to be
part of all this.”

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To join
a babyworld antenatal club all you have to do is register on babyworld,
enter your due date details and you will automatically be assigned
to a club with other members who are at the same stage of pregnancy as
you.