The Team

Sarah Cossey is co Founder of Birth and Baby Reality. She is an experienced Antenatal Teacher and has supported over 1700 couples. Her passion is in being able to offer parents honest, open and realistic information to support them through pregnancy, birth and the early days of parenting. Sarah wanted to ensure that parents would receive a consistent quality of education from a carefully selected team of local teachers, and so Birth and Baby Reality was born!!

Having worked as part of a Teaching Group in Birmingham Women’s Hospital, Sarah has been welcomed onto the labour ward to shadow midwives and support women during labour, and has now been present at over 60 births. She has gone on to complete the first ever university accredited Birth Companions training Course, and is able to offer her services as a Doula.

Sarah has worked closely with Midwives and Consultant Obstetricians for the past five years, as a member of the Maternity Services Liaison Committee, and also as a user representative on the Labour Ward Forum. In recent years she has worked alongside the Local Supervisory Authority Midwifery Officer, attending Hospital Audits and sitting on selection panels for future Supervisors of Midwives.

Her highest accolade is having recently been described as “inspirational” by a much respected local midwife, for her efforts in trying to improve women’s birth experiences. It is this passion which drives her to genuinely care about each of her clients.

Sarah is renowned for her unique style of teaching, and brings humour into all of her sessions. She likes to tell people that she offers antenatal classes “with a twist!”. The vast majority of Sarah’s clients keep in touch long after their labours, and she enjoys seeing many of them on a regular basis at the coffee mornings that she hosts.

In her spare time Sarah is a mother of four, and lives with her long suffering and very supportive husband Simon in a small market town near Stratford!!

To contact Sarah please email: sarah.cossey@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

Co Founder of Birth and Baby Reality Helen is an experienced antenatal educator and holds the Diploma in Antenatal Education.

Helen has a general nursing background and brings a wealth of NHS experience to the team and a real drive to deliver the goals and aspirations of Birth and Baby Reality. She attends South Warwickshire Maternity and Labour ward forums, as well as assisting in Group Guideline meetings and reviews as a user representative. This enables her to keep the team up to date with local practises, and deliver information to clients that help them make informed decisions about their maternity care.

Helens further training includes;

•  Active Birth with Janet Balaska
• Active Birth with Andrea Robertson
• Diversity training
• Breast feeding peer supporter
• Midwifery and Obstetric Update days
• Teaching Physical Skills for Labour
• Natal hypnotherapy for birth professionals
• Antenatal course Solihull Approach

Helen’s background is in acute nursing having worked as an RGN for 16 years both within clinical and managerial settings. She worked at Warwick Hospital for 8 years as a senior nurse in the operating theatre and within trust management holding positions of project manager and later a trust quality coordinator.  Helen has also worked as a project nurse for Bedford NHS Trust and Bedford NHS direct. Her final nursing position was as a nurse advisor for an international loss adjuster company.

Helen is married with two fantastic, fun children and another long suffering husband!!

To contact Helen please email: helen.keast@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

Marie is currently working as a Health Visitor in Warwickshire and for many years cared for women and their families as a midwife. 

Through her work Marie has developed the skills and knowledge to support women in breast and bottle feeding.  Marie has joined the Birth and Baby Reality team to teach the infant feeding module for our full antenatal course.

Marie also teaches pregnancy yoga and enables women to have more comfortable births through Hypnobirthing.

To contact Marie please email: info@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

Andrea has a diploma in Antenatal Education and has over nine years of teaching experience.

Andreas past experience includes being a member of the first teachers group in the country to deliver parent education courses at a NHS maternity hospital.

Prior to having children herself Andrea spent nearly ten years working and living in Australia experiencing a huge diversity in cultures and approaches to pregnancy and childbirth. It was during her time in Australia that she qualified and practiced as a registered midwife 1995 - 2000. During her last three years in the country she held a prestigious position with the Royal Flying Doctors service in Australia (RFDS) working as Flight Nurse Specialist.

Andrea returned to the UK in 1999 and now lives in Warwick with hubby and their two gorgeous boys.

To contact Andrea please email: info@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

"I may have a surprise for you ... There are two - it's twins". The 12 week scan was a real surprise for Jude and her husband Tim, with no twins in the family, in either side, it hadn't really crossed their minds.

Jude had twins Evelyn and Matthew in January 2013. She doesn't pretend to be an expert but is enjoying the challenge of having two. As Twins Link Mum for BBR she is hoping to bring an additional support element for twins mums and mums to be - the chance to ask those burning questions which might feel daft, but aren't - like how do you feed two?, do they share a cot? Having a twins mum to ask these questions to was really valuable for Jude and she wants to offer this to other mums and over time create an informal support network of twins mums, so there is always someone to ask who may have faced the same challenge as you are now.

To contact Jude please email info@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

Philippa recently joined the Birth and Baby Reality team every Wednesday for coffee mornings at Leek Wootton Hall. Phillipa is our valuable pair of hands ensuring all our mums can sit, relax and chat whilst enjoying drinks and biscuits. Since joining the team she is enjoying meeting expectant and new parents and cuddling their gorgeous babies.

Philippa has worked extensively with young children; she qualified as a Nursery Nurse (NNEB) gaining broad experience in hospital environments, nurseries, schools and special needs. After qualifying she worked as a private nanny for 7 years before having her own children. As a nanny she mostly supported parents and their babies/children with special needs.

Philippa has a loving husband and two wonderful children, although the children are no longer babies; one is now at university and fingers crossed the other one will follow later this year! Oh and two cute guinea pigs! Pregnancy for Philippa was not so straight forward, suffering from acute sickness during pregnancy and then post-natal depression. However having received great help and support she felt stronger as a person and can really relate to how others feel.

Philippa has always enjoyed meeting and working with people, feels she is a good listener, is patient and understanding and loves to help others. In her spare time she is heavily involved with her tennis at the Kenilworth club where she captains one of the teams.

Glynis Fletcher – A lady of many hats!!

Glynis runs music groups for parents and preschool children 0-3ish. A relaxed introduction to music and rhythm with the emphasis on fun. She started the groups 16 years ago as a result of running Bumps and Babes meetings, and the rest is history.

As a trained counsellor, Glynis is able to offer emotional support, working on birth debriefing and the transition into parenthood. She can work with individuals or with couples, and some of our clients have found this service to be invaluable.

As a parenting skills facilitator Glynis runs group parenting courses and can also offer 1:1 sessions about aspects of being a parent, from toddlers to teens. She was trained by Parent Network which is now Parentline Plus.

Glynis is a speech and language therapist, and you can ask her if you have any concerns about your child's speech.

As a Person-Centred counsellor, specialising in bereavement and emotional issues, Glynis can support both adults and children. She offers the all important listening ear that most of us need at some point in our lives.

In her spare time, Glynis is about to start an acapella community choir. No experience is necessary, and you don’t need to read music. She will be teaching all songs by ear. She will introduce fabulous harmony singing with songs from around the world, including African, Pop, Gospel and Jazz. If you fancy joining her then give her a ring.

Glynis can be contacted on 01789 267574 or by emailing info@birthandbabyreality.co.uk

Laura is the woman behind the scenes at Birth and Baby Reality, maintaining our website, Facebook and on-line presence. Laura has many skills and previous experience.

She is Operations Director at a local IT company, Alliance Technical Support Services, owner of a web-based soft furnishings company and also finds time to design and build websites.

She is also the proud mother of 18-month-old Robbie and so has recent, first-hand knowledge of both antenatal concerns and the ups and downs of looking after a new baby. She shares our passion for making information available and accessible to our BBR couples during pregnancy and the postnatal period. Laura attended one of our first antenatal classes as a client and was so impressed, she is still with us!

Laura is straightforward and direct but still manages to retain her sense of humour and has a great sense of fun.

To contact Laura please email: info@birthandbabyreality.co.uk