HOPE -Pregnancy After A Loss NOTTS

26/03/2023

Our monthly support session is this Tuesday evening 7-9pm at By Our Hands workshop in Sneinton Market. Feel free to drop by or send us a message if you need any further information.

13/09/2022

04/09/2022

Too beautiful for earth... 18mm freestanding Angels in any colours of your choice. Seen here in white with blue but I have done many other colours too, pale pink, light blue, pale green, lilac, green, cream, Lemon so please ask if theres something you'd like. These are £6 each + £3.50 delivery

02/09/2022

Yoga Nidra is a relaxing and gentle guided meditation; it forms part of the session that Hannah, from The Yoga Village, offers during our Zephyr's Yoga Circle.

The morning Hannah runs for bereaved mums, and gives plenty of space for comfort, connection, relaxation and calmness...

You are welcome to join us to take part, 10am-12.30 on Sunday 18th September. Please get in touch so we can hold a place for you, contact@zephyrsnottingham.org.uk

22/08/2022

A child born after loss is often referred to as a “Rainbow Baby” (not a phrase that's everyone's 'cup of tea' but it's one you may hear or notice online today, as it's “Rainbow Baby Day!”
And its' also the day that we happen to be hosting this month's HOPE group, in person, tonight.

For those for whom reading about pregnancy feels a little too much right now, we understand, perhaps skip this post, or come back to it some other time x

Pregnancy after loss is often likened to a roller coaster; riding the highs and lows can certainly feel a tremendous and tumultuous journey. Hope, excitement and joy, can so easily mix with fear, guilt and worry. With naivety often lost, and a swirl of guilt and other emotions, it can be a heavy weight to get through each day - let alone nine months! But at the end of it all, so long as all is well, to hold a child in your arms is a feeling that can't be beaten...

So how can you get through your pregnancy after loss? Or how can you support someone you know?... Four top tips compiled by Carly (our Founder) and Katie (HOPE volunteer and Trustee)

* Take each day one at a time.
"Today I am pregnant" - this was a mantra that we both said aloud when pregnant with our babies after loss. It might sound an obvious one, but it can really help to have a daily mantra to focus on holding onto what you have each day. (please feel free to share others)

* Find ways to share how you feel.
Whether you're someone who likes to keep busy and distracted, or someone who prefers to explore and express all the ways you're feeling, try to find ways that suit you, to share how you're feeling throughout your pregnancy. This might be walks and chats with friends, quietly confiding in family members, or telling everyone you meet! Whatever is right for you. Remember that it's normal and natural to feel anxious, our HOPE private facebook group offers a safe space to share how you feel.

*Reach out for support
There are so many great organisations that offer support.
Folks such as at and those at are celebrating this day, and have on-going support available.

It might be that a pregnancy yoga class is your thing. It might be that you don't feel up to being with others who are pregnant, and that's ok too.

And of course there's our HOPE group.
Our online private page is full of supportive people who've been or who are, pregnant after loss; it's somewhere where it's ok to say exactly how you're feeling, and to chat through any worries or hopes. HOPE also meets once a month too, alternating between an online and an in-person get together in the evening times, and often with a hosted activity or session such as mindfulness, yoga, hypnobirthing...

Tonight in fact, Kerry from Barefaced Birth is joining us in person, 7-9pm.

* Lastly, you might want to keep a diary or journal. It can act not only as a record or your pregnancy, but can help you to look back on, and see how far you come with coping with your emotions.

20/08/2022

Meet Emma, Rainbow Clinic Specialist Midwife at our Stillbirth Research Centre.

In 2013, Prof Alex Heazell and his midwifery colleagues at our Manchester Research Centre set up the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic. Since then, the team has delivered a specialist service to help families who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal loss through future pregnancies. Their expert care and treatments have been developed through research studies made possible by funding from Tommy’s.

Emma joined the Manchester team in November 2019 and took over as Rainbow Clinic Specialist Midwife last year. She splits her time between research and clinical care, supporting families at the Rainbow Clinic through pregnancy after loss whilst also helping roll out this model of care to other NHS Trusts through the Rainbow Clinc Roll-Out Study.

Emma first became passionate about the work of the Rainbow Clinic when the team supported her own family. After her sister-in-law and brother-in-law sadly lost their daughter Grace, they welcomed her little sister, Niamh, under the team's care in 2017. Having seen the impact of the clinic first-hand, Emma now supports other families through the anxieties of pregnancy after loss:

“The most rewarding part of my job is building a relationship with families and supporting them during their pregnancy after loss. Some families have sadly experienced multiple losses, which can mean they’re often very anxious and need extra reassurance visits in between scheduled appointments.

“Being a part of the journey and often being present for the birth of their much-wanted baby is the most amazing experience. I'm so lucky to still receive updates from families who had their rainbow baby when I first started at the clinic almost 3 years ago.”

Emma and the team are working hard to roll out the Rainbow Clinic model of care across the UK, so as many parents as possible can get specialist care after a late-term or neonatal loss – no matter where they live.

Read the full Q&A with Emma here: https://bit.ly/3pyu4os

16/08/2022

Group B Streptococcus (Group B Strep, Strep B, Beta Strep, or GBS) is a type of bacteria which lives in the intestines, re**um and va**na of around 2-4 in every 10 women in the UK (20-40%). This is often referred to as ‘carrying’ or being ‘colonised with’ GBS. Group B Strep is not a sexually...

04/08/2022

We're thinking ahead and planning in the next few months of HOPE sessions for you...
As well as Hypnobirthing later this month in person with Kerry from Barefaced Birth, at By Our Hands space in Sneinton Market, we have online sessions with some other lovely folk coming up too - Christa, local bereavement midwife will be joining HOPE online in September, and Manisha of Nurturing Mama - Hypnobirthing & Perinatal Emotional Wellbeing joining in online later in the year also.

All of our HOPE sessions are here for you to join in if you wish.
If we can support you to take the step to join us for the first time, just let us know... we all appreciate and understand that stepping into pregnancy after loss can bring lots of mixed emotions. x

25/07/2022

Thank you MamaBabyBliss for guiding our pregnant after loss ladies through a lovely yoga session tonight on zoom.

Feeling zen.

Next month Barefaced Birth join us in person in Sneinton for a Hypnobirthing session. Join our private group for more info and see event