Antenatal courses - the NHS, the NCT, Bump and Baby Club, Happy Parents Happy Baby - they all serve a purpose. But at the end of their pregnancy, after birth and throughout the postnatal period, every woman says the same thing:
Why didn't they teach me THAT?
'That' - is what happens when your pregnancy becomes unexpectedly high-risk, and all the goalposts change.
'That' - is when the birth-plan and the playlist go out of the window; and
'That' - is when the postnatal period poses challenges you'd never imagined were a thing.
Theo Clarke was the MP for Stafford in the UK when she gave birth to her daughter Arabella in 2022. She experienced a third-degree tear, and underwent surgery to save her life. Now a campaigner for improvements in maternity care, one thing both Theo and her co-author Dr Kim Thomas hear from women again and again is 'they didn't teach me that in my antenatal class'.
The Honest Guide to Pregnancy and Birth is written to lift the veil on the sanitised version of pregnancy and birth that women encounter, in a book designed to empower and inform women at every stage. Informed by medical expertise, real-life case studies and the growing momentum to break the silence around difficult births, it is an essential guide to what you can do when pregnancy, labour or birth don't go to plan.
Covering pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period, each chapter in this powerful, essential book combines clear medical explanation with legal context, personal stories and expert insight. It gives practical advice on how to cope with, or mitigate, the challenges of every situation you might encounter pre-, during and post-birth.
Yes, pregnancy and birth can be scary. It's time we faced the truth that knowledge is power, and you deserve the best tools available to face birth with clarity and confidence.
