Hi, I’m Holly. Think of me like your bestie in the group chat who happens to know A LOT about birth
I’m a Mental Health Therapist, Birth Educator, hypnobirthing teacher and mum of two, based up in the North East of England, helping women everywhere navigate pregnancy and birth with a whole lot less “but how am I just supposed to KNOW all of this?”
Think of me as the person you can bring the questions to. The sensible ones, the slightly panicked ones, the ones you’ve already Googled six times and the ones you’re convinced everyone else somehow knows the answer to.
I’ll help you understand what’s happening, make sense of your options and give you practical tools for when your brain inevitably decides it has a few “okay, but WHAT IF...” questions of its own.
No judgement. No perfect-birth agenda. No expecting you to become an expert in obstetrics overnight.
Just really good birth prep, from someone firmly in your corner.
Truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing in my first pregnancy either
I went into my first pregnancy assuming I’d get a general idea of what birth involved and figure out the rest when I got there.
Which is quite funny looking back, because I was overthinking absolutely EVERYTHING else.
What was the safest car seat? Had I bought the right bibs? Was I eating the right things? Was I making the right decisions for breastfeeding? I could turn what should have been a fairly straightforward purchase into a full-blown research project.
And underneath all of that overthinking was this enormous feeling of responsibility.
There was a little human growing inside me, and suddenly even the smallest decisions felt like they had huge consequences. I wanted so badly to get everything right.
But when it came to the actual birth - I read a bit, listened to other people's stories, picked things up along the way and assumed my midwife would tell me anything really important.
And whenever anyone asked what I was planning?
“Oh, I’m just going to go with the flow.”
Lovely. Relaxed. Very laid-back of me. Apparently only when it came to giving birth.
In hindsight? 10/10 would not recommend as your entire birth preparation strategy.
Because what I hadn’t considered was the difference between reading about birth when you’re sitting comfortably on your sofa and actually being in it.
When things get intense, something unexpected happens or somebody is asking you to make a decision, your brain doesn’t politely go, “hang on a sec, I’m sure I saved an Instagram post about this.”
You need to know what matters, understand the choices in front of you and have tools you’ve practised enough that you can reach for them without having to think too hard about it.
Looking back, I wish I'd understood that all that overthinking wasn't something I just had to put up with until the baby arrived.
I could have had support with the decisions I was second-guessing, the responsibility I was feeling and the constant need to know I'd got everything right.
And when it came to birth, I could have prepared for the moments when things felt uncertain, rather than assuming I'd somehow figure it all out on the day.
That's a huge part of why I do what I do now.
Turns out, my two worlds belong together
Long before birth education became part of my work, there was mental health.
For more than a decade, I’ve supported people through anxiety, overwhelm and uncertainty.
So I know a fair bit about what happens when the rational part of your brain is saying “we’re okay” while another part is busy producing seventeen increasingly alarming scenarios before breakfast.
Then along comes pregnancy and gives that part of your brain an absolute FIELD DAY.
There are symptoms to Google, appointments to think about, decisions you didn’t know existed, birth stories people insist on telling you and approximately 847 opinions about what you should be eating, buying, doing and definitely-not-doing.
And that’s why my approach to birth preparation looks a little different.
Knowling something logically and feeling able to handle it, are two very different things.
I don’t just want you to know how birth works. I want you to understand what happens when anxiety gets involved too.
Because if you've spent years telling yourself, “I'm just an overthinker, that's how my brain works,” you might already have decided that breathing exercises, relaxation techniques and all that lovely-sounding stuff simply won't work for you.
But you don't have to be naturally calm to learn how to support yourself when you're not feeling calm.
That's the bit I'm really interested in teaching you.
What to do when your thoughts start spiralling after an appointment. How to recognise when you're getting overwhelmed. How to practise tools that might actually be useful when you're in the middle of labour, rather than just when you're sitting comfortably on your sofa.
Because you don’t need to walk into birth knowing everything.
You need to know enough to feel like you’re still in the room when it matters.
There are no gold stars for giving birth a certain way around here
I should probably make that clear.
Home birth with fairy lights and a pool? Come on in.
Would quite like the epidural like five minutes ago? Pull up a chair.
Planning a caesarean? There’s plenty we can do to prepare for that too.
Haven’t got a clue what you want yet and wish everyone would stop asking? You are very welcome here.
You're allowed to want things.
Having preferences doesn't mean you're being unrealistic. And if birth unfolds differently, it doesn't mean you were silly for hoping.
We'll talk about what matters to you, what your options are and how to prepare for changes without feeling like you have to pretend you don't care either way.
The Confident Birth Club isn’t a club for one particular kind of birth, and I’m not going to spend our time together trying to convince you that my idea of a “good birth” should become yours.
What matters to me is that you understand your options and feel part of the decisions being made about you and your baby. Sometimes that means Plan A happens exactly as you imagined. Sometimes Plan A lasts approximately eleven minutes before moving to Plan B.
Both are birth.
And being prepared isn’t about controlling which one you get. It’s knowing you’ve got somewhere to go from there.
Right, back to birth...
Here's what being in my corner looks like
You're not going to get an enormous information dump and be sent home to work out which bits matter. I'm not training you to become a midwife before your due date, and there will be no exam at the end. I pinky promise.
Because I know how easy it is to nod along in an appointment, then get home and realise you didn't understand half of what was said.
Or spend three days researching a decision, only to feel less sure about it than when you started.
Or sit in a room full of other pregnant women wondering if you're the only one who hasn't got a clue what half the terminology means, but feeling too embarrassed to ask.
We'll work through what your options mean in practice, the questions you might want to ask and how to make decisions without feeling like you need to research every possible outcome first.
Whether it's your first baby and you're wondering how on earth you're supposed to know what to do, or you've given birth before and the thought of doing it again is bringing up some feelings you'd rather not revisit, there's room for you here.
Basically, I want this to feel like the birth prep group chat where you can bring the questions and know you'll get an answer you can trust.
Because pregnancy comes with enough unknowns already. Getting good support shouldn't be one of them.
Your birth partner is invited to the group chat too!
Part of feeling supported during birth is knowing that the person beside you understands what’s happening too. So we’ll talk about what they can actually do, how they can support you when things get intense and how you can work together when there are questions or decisions to navigate.
The goal is for you to feel like a team.
Not for them to stand beside the bed wondering whether now is a good time to ask if you want a snack.
So, what kind of club member are you?
You do not need to have your birth plan beautifully typed up before you’re allowed in.
Come with the questions. Come with the worries. Come knowing exactly what you want or with absolutely no bloody clue yet.
We’ll take it from there.
WANT TO PREP TOGETHER?
ANTENATAL + HYPNOBIRTHING COURSES
Private or small-group birth preparation with me across the North East + online. Come with your birth partner, bring your questions and we’ll work through it together.
WANT THE GROUP CHAT IN YOUR POCKET?
THE CONFIDENT BIRTH CLUB
For the overthinkers who want to spend less time worrying about birth and more time enjoying being pregnant.
Work through practical birth prep at your own pace, with tools to help when your brain gets loud, a whole hub of useful resources and a better understanding of your options when decisions come up.
And if you want somewhere to take those “Holly, quick question...” moments? You can add the monthly membership, submit your questions anonymously each week and get my answers by voice note.
Before you go...
You do not have to become fearless before you give birth.
You can be excited and nervous, informed and unsure. You can know exactly what you’d like and still change your mind halfway through. None of that means you’re doing pregnancy wrong.
The point of preparing isn’t to eliminate every possible worry before your due date. We’d be here forever.
It’s about understanding what’s happening, knowing where you have choices and having people, information and tools you can come back to when your brain gets loud.
And if you’d quite like me to be one of those people, you’re already very welcome in the club
Join me on Instagram
