There is something deeply missing in the way we prepare women for birth.
So much attention is placed on the baby; the clothes, the nursery, the endless lists and yet the woman herself is often left to quietly navigate one of the biggest transitions of her life.
Becoming a mother is not just an event. It is an initiation. A profound crossing from one version of yourself into another. And traditionally, this kind of transition was never meant to be done alone. Women gathered. Women held one another. There was space to be seen, to be honoured, to be prepared, not just practically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
This is the essence of a Blessingway ceremony.
In its more modern form, Blessingway ceremonies began to re-emerge in the 1970s, when two midwives in America recognised something important, that women needed more than baby showers and gifts for the baby. They needed connection, to be surrounded by women they loved and trusted, to be acknowledged as they prepared to step into motherhood, whether for the first time or again in a new way.
A Blessingway is not about what you receive in your hands. It is about what you receive in your heart. It creates space for a woman to soften, to be witnessed, and to truly feel the depth of what she is stepping into.
I experienced this in my own pregnancy.
I was deeply blessed to have my friend, Sharon Plaskit, gather the women who had been walking alongside me. She created the most beautiful Blessingway ceremony, one that held me in ways I didn’t even know I needed at the time.
There was a gentleness in that space. A sense of being surrounded, supported, and deeply seen.
I could exhale.
I could feel.
I could begin to understand, in a very real way, that I was not alone in what I was about to experience.
That moment stayed with me.
It shaped the way I support women today.
Since then, I have created and held many personalised Blessingway ceremonies for women who want to be honoured in this way, women who feel the call for something deeper, more meaningful, more connected.
But over time, I began to notice something else. Not every woman has a circle around her that can hold this kind of space. Not every woman knows how to ask for it. And not every woman even realises that she is allowed to want this.
And so, seven years ago, I created something that felt like a natural extension of this work.
The Pregnancy Retreat Day.
A full day where women can come together, just as we would have done centuries ago, to prepare for birth and motherhood in a way that feels nurturing, spacious, and deeply supportive.
A day to step away from the noise, the expectations, and the constant doing.
A day to simply be.
At the Full Circle Pregnancy Retreat Day, something shifts.
Women arrive carrying their own thoughts, questions, and emotions and slowly, gently, they begin to open. There is space to talk honestly about birth, about fears, about hopes, about the unknown, to move and stretch the body, to reconnect with it, to trust it, to create, to reflect, to turn inward.
There is space to be held not just by me, but by the collective energy of other women walking a similar path.
There are moments of laughter.
Moments of tears.
Moments of quiet understanding.
And again and again, what I witness is this: a softening.
A remembering.
A woman realising that she does not have to carry this alone.
This day is not about adding more to your list before the baby arrives. It is about taking a moment to honour yourself, to acknowledge the magnitude of what you are stepping into, to receive the kind of care and presence that so often gets overlooked. Because how you feel going into birth matters. The way you are held now shapes how you will hold yourself, your baby, and your experience.
If you are pregnant and feeling the need to slow down, to connect, to be supported in a deeper way, this space was created for you.
Our next Pregnancy Retreat Day is happening next Saturday, 9th May.
A full day for you to be nurtured, supported, and gently prepared for the journey into motherhood.
A space where you are not just preparing for your baby but being prepared, held, and honoured as a mother.