About Rebecca Rees

My ‘why’.

I’d said to myself that the first 6 weeks – no expectations – expect it to be difficult – it can’t be THAT bad!

What I hadn’t prepared for is that abdominal surgery is f’n major and add in a newborn/ minimal sleep & not being able to feed – you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Looking back I should have realised that the Virgo in me likes things to be the way I envision/ I don’t like changes and I like & need my sleep.

I was underprepared  and unsupported by a plethora of professionals all of them advising different advice and solutions but the one constant was the un-relentless pressure of getting the weight on baby and daily weigh-ins and opinions meant that I was spiralling. It became very clear to me around then that actua;;y what I really needed was to be around a group of other mums with babies of a similar age who like me were riding the rollercoaster of real highs but massive lows too.

Being able to just chat through the norms of fourth trimester realities/ seek justification on things like using a bottle/ formula-feeding and trying out groups which I wasn’t confident enough to go to on my own would all have been a god-send. The narrative of plenty of coffee and cake dates with local mamas didn’t materialise and it was actually a lot harder to build relationships as I wearily greeted others out strolling with their buggies looking as equally shell-shocked as I felt.
 
This was when the idea started bubbling of what I could do to not only help myself but others. Brainstorming ideas when up in the lonely early hours/ online searches and conversations with practioners and finally having the belief that I could design something worthwhile I was ready to start what I called 6 Week social.
 
Six weeks of socials where mums could get to know each other gradually over a period of time in the hope of building strong friendships, each session hosted by a local expert. I had, had enough of being bombarded with too many varying opinions on what I should be doing and instead wanted up-to-date/ easy to understand (baby brain is a thing!!) information where instead of feeling judged and inadequate, I was empowered and enthused to try out some suggestions being offered.

I created this unique course back in 2013  and for more than a decade this has grown from strength to strength.
What started out as a passion project to improve my (and my baby’s) journey flourished into a business. Not without sacrifice too, I ended up missing out on many socials with all my new found mum mates as I developed my offerings, ensuring I had curated a panel of specialists and learning marketing/ social media/ admin and finances skills along the way.
 
Having experienced an introduction into hypnobirthing back in 2012 and hearing first-hand accounts of how much it helped so many of the mums I was meeting in Hertford, I was lucky enough to meet and build a friendship with Tamara (Founder of the Wise Hippo Hypnobirthing Program).  I attended a lot of her workshops/ bumped into her at numerous events and was my first point of reference when I was pregnant with my second.
 
After a couple of really sad miscarriages whilst trying to conceive and having spent a demanding few years juggling working in Montessori schools in Cambridge and Welwyn Garden City so that Elliott (my first-born) could be immersed into the prepared Montessori environments. I made the decision to really focus on preparing for the birth of my second and alongside acupuncture I dragged my other half along to our local Wise hippo Hypnobirthing course.

I knew another c-section needed to be avoided due to needing to be able to drive Elliott to his local village school in the September of that year and after spending so many years being around some of the best ‘in-the-birth-bizz’ pioneers I had total faith and commitment to the hypnobirthing cause. I got the V-Bac and can honestly say, I wouldn’t have got through that labour without all the tools and techniques I had learnt (especially as both of mine were in breech positions) so can certainly impart personal experience of that when I now teach my classes.
 
Being a Devon girl, I always craved living back by the coast and that chance eventually came in 2020.
Talk about timing though, the first week of the first lockdown was far from ideal and with the stress of trying to sell my business (with it being stolen in the process – that’s a story for another blog post) and needing to move everything online, we somehow muddled through as a family and took comfort in those sunny days of the first few months by being able to walk to the beach.
 
Demand for my hypnobirthing courses grew during the lockdowns and I also knew that I wanted to continue my postnatal plight expanding on a new offering in East Devon. Starting a new business during covid times was almost impossible but never one to give up, I explored what was missing in the area and discovered that there was a gap in the market for something I had really benefitted and enjoyed in the final weeks of my first pregnancy – aqua natal.
 
Needing to go back to college to study/ passing really hard Anatomy & Physiology tests and aqua practical’s I then headed up to Leeds to do further training in Aqua Natal, receiving my qualification in 2021.