Preparing for a Winter Pregnancy: Nutrition, Body Care & Wellbeing Tips
Winter brings cosy evenings, festive routines, and plenty of nourishing food — but it can also pose unique challenges for pregnant women. Colder temperatures, fewer daylight hours, an increase in seasonal viruses, and drier indoor heating can all impact your comfort, immunity, and overall wellbeing during pregnancy.
This guide brings together nutrition, body care, and wellbeing practices to help you feel supported, energised, and protected throughout the winter months.
Understanding hCG and Progesterone: Your First Pregnancy Hormones
When you first become pregnant, your body undergoes a remarkable hormonal transformation — a delicate, finely tuned process that sustains early pregnancy and supports the development of new life. Two key hormones take the lead in these first crucial weeks: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and progesterone. Understanding their roles helps explain everything from positive pregnancy tests to the early pregnancy symptoms many women experience.
The Truth About Private Pregnancy Scans: What the Latest BBC Report Means for You
A recent BBC News investigation has put private pregnancy scan clinics under the spotlight, revealing serious concerns about unregulated providers giving false reassurance and missing critical issues in pregnancy.
Pregnancy Hormones: What’s Flooding Your Body (and Why)
Pregnancy is a time of astonishing transformation. Physically, emotionally, and mentally, your body becomes the setting for one of life’s greatest feats—creating and nurturing new life. But behind every physical change, every emotional wave, and every flutter of new sensation, there’s a powerful hormonal symphony playing just beneath the surface.
Vitamins & Supplements in Pregnancy: What’s Really Necessary?
Pregnancy comes with a whirlwind of advice – and it’s easy to feel unsure about what’s really essential. When it comes to vitamins and supplements, some are strongly recommended because they directly support your baby’s healthy development and your own wellbeing.
Delayed Cord Clamping: Benefits, 'Wait Until White', and NHS Guidance
Delayed cord clamping (DCC) is an evidence-based birth practice where the umbilical cord is not clamped immediately after delivery. Instead, healthcare professionals wait for at least one minute—or until the cord turns white and stops pulsating—before clamping. Supported by NHS and NICE guidance, DCC is increasingly standard in UK maternity care for its benefits to both term and preterm infants.
Understanding the Physiology of Labour: What to Expect
Pregnancy is a time of change—and with change can come anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty. Whether you're attending antenatal education in Tunbridge Wells or preparing from home with online antenatal classes, incorporating mindful breathing into your daily routine can offer a powerful anchor through it all.
The Benefits of Mindful Breathing in Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a time of change—and with change can come anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty. Whether you're attending antenatal education in Tunbridge Wells or preparing from home with online antenatal classes, incorporating mindful breathing into your daily routine can offer a powerful anchor through it all.
Why Iron Matters in the Third Trimester
As your baby grows rapidly in the final months, your blood volume expands by as much as 50%. This physiological shift helps deliver oxygen and nutrients through the placenta. But it also means your body needs significantly more iron — to produce enough haemoglobin to support both you and your baby.
Your First Antenatal Appointment: What to Expect
The first antenatal appointment—often called the booking appointment—typically happens between 8 and 10 weeks pregnant. It’s your official entry into maternity care and helps build the foundation for a healthy pregnancy.
Nesting Instinct: What Science Says About Pre-Birth Prep
The nesting instinct is a powerful drive that kicks in during pregnancy—usually in the final trimester—urging expectant parents to get their home “baby-ready.” It can feel like an urgent mission: clean every corner, stock every shelf, wash every onesie. It’s part instinct, part anxiety, and often a little bit magica
How Birth Partners Influence Hormones During Labour
The journey of childbirth is not only a physical process but also a deeply emotional and hormonal experience. While medical professionals play a crucial role, the presence of a supportive birth partner can significantly impact the hormonal balance during labour, influencing the overall birthing experience.
Touch & Neural Wiring: Why Early Sensory Contact Matters
From a baby's first moments, touch serves as a fundamental bridge between human connection and brain development. But why does early sensory contact play such a pivotal role in shaping neural pathways?
Let-Down Reflex Explained: How Breast Milk Starts to Flow and What to Expect
The let-down reflex, also called the milk ejection reflex, is a natural process where your body releases stored milk from the alveoli in your breasts through the milk ducts to your baby. It’s triggered by the hormone oxytocin, released in response to nipple stimulation or even baby cues like crying or touch.
Understanding Caesarean Birth: Caeserean Awareness Month
April marks Caesarean Awareness Month — a time to recognise, inform, and empower parents who birth their babies abdominally. At The Bubba & Me Club, we’re committed to inclusive education that supports every kind of birth journey, including Caesarean births, which account for roughly 1 in 4 births in the UK.
Whether planned or performed in an emergency, Caesarean birth is birth — and it deserves to be met with respect, knowledge, and care.