The Mamau Collective was created by four Mother focused businesses to support Mothers through every step of the way. This is why we dreamt and finally hosted our first ever Pregnancy Retreat in South Wales. A day dedicated to helping expectant Mothers navigate this path, embrace the excitement, nature wellness, foster connections and preparing for their incredible transition. Read on to relive this day full of enchanting and empowering moments.
We all know that staying active in pregnancy has a whole list of benefits. We also know that it can feel a little intimidating knowing what you can and cannot do during pregnancy. Thankfully we have Alecs of Sweaty Mama Abergavenny, our pre and post natal fitness expert. She took the lead during our pregnancy retreat to guide our Mums through a gentle routine which left our Mums feeling relaxed and ready for the day. Alecs is also passionate about educating women on their pelvic floor health so our lucky Mums to be had access to her invaluable knowledge. It’s safe to say that lots of us Mums feel like we are not given anywhere near enough information on how we can strengthen our pelvic floor after baby. But that won’t be the case for these Mums!
Our lovely Ceri of Sunflower Birth, Baby and Wellbeing guided our Mums to be through an incredible guided meditation. She lead the women through a beautiful birth visualisation, which she had specially crafted to suit the needs of all of our Mothers and their choices. As I photographed the pregnancy retreat I was lucky enough to observe the Mothers throughout. Their eyes closed, the let Ceri every word wash over them. There was a beautiful moment when Ceri asked everyone to visualise the moment they met their baby for the first time. A wave of soft smiles swept through the room as they all imagined that life changing moment. Ceris meditation was so amazing that more than one Mum actually slipped into a comfy slumber!
Our pregnancy retreat was made all the more special by Kate of The Pep Midwives. With a mix of her brilliant sense of humour and years of midwifery experience she was able to lead a discussion in over coming fear in birth. She answered so many questions from our Mums, answers which were often met with the Mums asking, “why did nobody else tell me that?!” I’m glad to say that thanks to Kate our Mums had a lot of their anxieties eased!
Then it was my turn to support and celebrate the Mothers of our pregnancy retreat. One by one I took each Mum away to a private spot to capture images that captured the incredible transformation they were experiencing. We got to chat about how pregnancy had had the most wonderful impact on their relationships with their bodies and all the emotions they were experiencing about becoming Mums. I’m so happy to say that each Mum truly embraced their mini photoshoot, feeling completely at ease with me capturing timeless maternity portraits.
These are just some of the pregnancy retreat highlights but honestly I could talk about it forever! We had lots more going on throughout the day but I will simply finish by sharing what really made the whole day so special, the Mothers themselves. These walked into the retreat as strangers but within minuets they became friends. Each sharing their excitement and joy for pregnancy. We know how vital having a support system or ‘Mum village’ is. But so often we don’t know where to find it….now you do.
We have more retreats planned throughout 2024, more pregnancy retreats, post natal retreats and a few other ideas up ourselves. All designed to help you embrace this wonderful whirlwind that is Motherhood. Please join our mailing list to become a part of this glorious community!
You can also find us over on Instagram where we are sharing all of our wisdom for every stage of Motherhood. Come say hi.
If you would like to get in touch with me to talk about anything mentioned in this blog post please reach out and I’d be happy to help.