Aligned and Thriving
The Birth + Parenting Preparation Journey: a two-part, retreat-style experience for couples who want to get on the same page as they prepare for parenthood!
Do you want a natural birth — one that you feel calm, connected, and prepared for?
This is prenatal education for couples who want to move beyond hospital classes and into a deeper, embodied experience of birth and postpartum.
Whether you’re planning a home birth, hospital birth, or birth centre experience, you’ll learn how to make informed choices and work together with confidence
If you’re like me, then you want to understand what happens to your body during birth from all angles - physically, mentally, and emotionally and most importantly, how to work with it instead of against it.
You also want your partner to know how to help, not just to be there, but to play an active role in supporting, protecting, and grounding you.
You want to feel like a team.
Because birth shouldn’t just happen to you, it should be something you are both fully present for.
That’s why I created Aligned and Thriving, a two-part, retreat-style experience in Peterborough, Ontario for couples who want to prepare together — for birth, and for everything that comes after as parents.
In our retreat, you’ll learn how physiological birth unfolds, how to protect your space, your hormones, and your rhythm, what to do if plans change, and how to stay connected no matter what happens.
Then you’ll carry that preparation forward into the fourth trimester — those first raw, beautiful, challenging weeks of newborn life — with real tools, honest insight, and a plan that keeps you both steady.
This is prenatal and postpartum education that goes beyond theory and having someone blah blah blah at you.
It’s about turning knowledge into practice, fear into confidence, and two people into a unified team — ready for birth and a beautiful, thriving parenthood.
Aligned and Thriving is your invitation to trust your body, connect with your baby, and co-create your birth experience with your partner. Think women’s wisdom meets modern practice, meets energy work. You step full into your power as a birthing parent and your partner steps fully into theirs.
Are you ready to journey through the birth portal together?
This is your story.
Your birth.
Your becoming.
Aligned & Thriving is a two-part, retreat-style workshop series for couples who want to feel confident, connected, and deeply grounded as they move through the birth and postpartum journey.
You can take each on its own — or step fully in with the full journey:
Aligned + Ready (Birth Preparation – November 30, 2025)
The Fourth Trimester (Postpartum Preparation – December 14, 2025)
Together, they offer the kind of preparation that doesn’t just fill your head with facts — it strengthens your relationship, steadies your body, and deepens your trust in what you already know.
This journey is for couples who are:
Whether you’re preparing for your first baby or your next birth in Peterborough or across Ontario, this class helps you and your partner reconnect, get aligned, and feel confident in your plan.
Ready to fully show up for the birth experience - start to finish.
You’re not looking to hand your power over to a system. You want to understand what’s happening in your body, recognize what’s normal, and make informed choices with confidence.
Committed to preparing your body, mind, and energy together.
You’re ready to learn practical comfort measures, hands-on techniques, and breathing practices while deepening your emotional and energetic connection as a couple.Open to embracing discomfort, intensity, and transformation.
You know birth and postpartum will stretch you, and you want real tools for grounding, regulating, and finding your rhythm through it.Ready to work as a team.
You want your partner to know exactly what to do: how to support you physically, how to advocate when you can’t speak, and how to protect the calm and safety of your space.Done with the system’s one-size-fits-all approach.
You want to feel clear on when intervention is necessary, and when to trust your body. You want to leave knowing how to navigate the system without losing your center.Craving guidance that’s both practical and deeply human.
You’re looking for something that helps you prepare for both the logistics and the feeling of it all, how to stay connected through the intensity, how to recover, and how to meet parenthood as a grounded team.Not for those looking to skip ahead or check a box.
This isn’t a PowerPoint or a hospital class. It’s for couples who want to be transformed by this season, who are ready to prepare consciously, together.
Dads,
You matter here, too.
This is your becoming — into fatherhood, protector, and anchor.
You’ll leave knowing how to support her body, guard her hormones, and hold your family’s rhythm steady when everything else feels new.
No more feeling helpless or unsure.
You’ll learn what to do, when to do it, and how to stay connected through every contraction and every late-night feed.
LEARN MORE
Explore the Retreat
Our Classes
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Aligned and Ready
Learn how natural birth unfolds and how you and your partner can protect and navigate it together.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30TH
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The Fourth Trimester
Gain practical, hands-on guidance to thrive in the first 90 days of parenthood with your partner by your side.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14th
Each session runs from 10–4 at our beautiful Peterborough studio, blending movement, conversation, hands-on practice, and information based learning.
You’ll experience a full day of prenatal and postpartum preparation, complete with guided exercises, reflective writing, and partner-based learning.
In the journey, you will learn:
Everything you need to know about birth physiology — how your body and hormones guide labour, how to recognize when intervention may or may not be necessary, and how to support the natural process of birth safely.
How to intentionally set the goal of and achieve a natural, vaginal birth
How you and your partner can protect your hormones, your energy, and your flow
How to stay in the portal, leaning fully into the sensations of birth
Ways to connect deeply with your baby and your partner
How to cope with contractions from start to finish - including pushing positions
You’ll learn partner support techniques, comfort measures, pain-coping tools, and strategies to navigate the medical system if hospital care becomes part of your story.
How to immediately care for your newborn and yourself post-birth.
Real life ways to prepare your body, mind, and spirit to give birth and parent on your own terms
Introducing Chef Maggie O’Rourke
Retreat lunches are lovingly catered by Chef Maggie, founder of Wild Woman, whose vibrant, Ayurvedic-inspired cooking celebrates ancestral roots and the art of nourishment. Maggie’s food is a reflection of her generous spirit—colorful, soulful, and deeply intentional. Each meal she creates invites us to slow down, connect, and be nourished as a community.
Your Investment
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A complete, two-part retreat experience for couples who want to feel prepared, connected, and confident — for birth and parenthood.
Aligned + Thriving brings you and your partner together to learn how natural birth unfolds, how to protect it, and how to navigate the early months of parenting as a team. This immersive experience blends education, embodiment, and connection, giving you the tools and understanding to step into birth and early parenthood with clarity and confidence.
Includes a beautiful family-style catered lunch.
Investment $650 per couple (both classes)
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Learn how birth actually works — and how to protect what you want.
This one-day retreat combines informative birth education with emotional and energetic awareness. You’ll explore labour physiology, comfort measures, positioning, and the role of your partner in supporting your body and your birth plan.
Includes a beautiful family-style catered lunch.
Investment $400 per couple
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Birth is just the beginning — what comes after matters just as much.
This workshop equips you with practical knowledge for the first 90 days of parenthood, helping you navigate newborn care, postpartum recovery, and partnership alignment with grounded, hands-on guidance.
Includes a beautiful family-style catered lunch.
Investment $350 per couple
A sneak peak at the topics we cover…
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Explore the cornerstones of radical mother wellness—how to approach birth and parenthood with informed consent, risk-based decision-making, and critical thinking. You’ll learn my framework while also applying your own lens to make choices that fit your family.Explore the cornerstones of radical mother wellness—how to approach birth and parenthood with informed consent, risk-based decision-making, and critical thinking. You’ll learn my framework while also applying your own lens to make choices that fit your family.
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Develop your voice and confidence so you can make decisions for yourself and your baby, rather than relying solely on a doula, partner, or medical team. We’ll walk through key scenarios so you can practice speaking up and being present before the intensity of labor begins.
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Learn the strategies and routines that set the stage for a smoother birth and postpartum experience, from physical preparation to emotional and energetic alignment.
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Understand birth as a transformative portal—an experience that shifts you in body, mind, and spirit—and learn how to step into it intentionally.
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Your partner’s presence and understanding are essential. This module teaches them their role in supporting you fully—emotionally, physically, and mentally—so they can be confident and effective rather than feeling helpless.
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We’ll cover the mechanics of birth, positions, and techniques for a safe, empowered vaginal birth. This module also includes emergency red flags and how to respond if unexpected situations arise.
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Learn how to care for yourself and your baby immediately after birth, including skin-to-skin, newborn cues, and building a strong bond from the very start.
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Prepare for postpartum healing, vaginal repair if necessary, and strategies to manage recovery in the first three months. We’ll also discuss backup plans for when things don’t go as expected.
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Each module concludes with guided reflection and integration exercises so you can consolidate your learning, apply it to your unique situation, and plan for your journey as parents beyond birth.
Class Location
Imagine Dance Studios
1135 Landsdowne St. Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7M2
FAQs
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The best time to join is midway through pregnancy, roughly 16 weeks onward. By this point, most people have passed that morning sickness phases, adding a child to your family feels more real, and you’ve started to think about birth intentionally.
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Yes! The retreat is focused on couples. Your birth partner should attend so you can practice together, align your expectations, and understanding each other’s roles. Your partner can be anyone committed to supporting you through birth.
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No, not at all. Whether you’re planning a hospital birth, home birth, or something in between, the cornerstones, strategies, and practices in this course apply. We’ll take time at the beginning to understand where everyone is planning to give birth so we can tailor content for the group. While we don’t specifically review all hospital birth procedures in detail, we do cover the basics.
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When we talk about natural birth, we’re referring to a birth process that unfolds with as little intervention as possible—supported by your body’s innate wisdom, movement, breath, and connection. Our goal is to help you prepare for a vaginal birth, because physiologically, this is the safest option for mothers, babies, and families overall.
That said, natural birth doesn’t mean rigid ideals or “doing it right.” It’s about understanding what’s possible when you’re supported, informed, and fully present—so that if your path looks different, you’re still at centre of your own experience.
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Yes. In this course, we focus on natural ways to cope with labor—through movement, sound, visualization, breath, and the support of your partner. You’ll learn tools that help you stay grounded and confident without relying on pharmaceuticals.
However, if you know that you’d like to discuss medical pain management options, or if you simply want to understand them, please indicate that on your intake form so that we can include that conversation in class. There’s a time and a place for everything, and being informed about all your options is part of being empowered in birth.
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Nessa Hayes is a birth keeper, clinical herbalist, medicine woman, energy healer, and mother, bringing over 10 years of experience in the birth community. She combines natural health, herbal wisdom, and embodiment practices with real-world birth experience to support couples in alignment, confidence, and connection.
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Comfortable and weather appropriate clothing
Water bottle
Extra snacks if you tend to get hangry
Pillow
Yoga Mat
*we will have some yoga mats for the class but if you can bring your own that would be lovely
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We need at least three couples per class to run our retreat and workshops. If you have friends who are expecting, it would be really fun to sign up as a group! The more the merrier!
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In The Fourth Trimester, we focus primarily on breastfeeding while exploring safe ways to introduce formula if absolutely needed. You’ll learn to:
Support milk production naturally
Set realistic goals for breastfeeding
Know when switching to formula may make sense for health or mental wellness
Make feeding decisions confidently and intentionally
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You can take the workshops individually if that feels right for your family. That said, we highly recommend the full journey for first-time parents, or for second time parents in new partnerships. Booking the Full Journey Aligned and Thriving also saves you money!
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Nessa will cover herbal remedies safe during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum — for both parents and baby — to support recovery, bonding, and overall well-being.
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These workshops are comprehensive yet practical — designed to help you integrate, practice, and experience what you’re learning together as a couple.
We cover all the essentials — birth stages, emergency planning, partner support, immediate postpartum, and the fourth trimester — with hands-on practice, reflection, and integration exercises. While this course is practical and actionable, it isn’t a deep theoretical dive; that’s what the optional online course is for.
For those interested in a deeper dive into birth physiology, philosophy, exercises, and scenarios, the online Radical Birth course can be added to your package for $350 ($50 off if booked with the workshops). Indicate your interest on your intake form.
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Each workshop of the retreat includes a nourishing Ayurvedic-inspired lunch from Chef Maggie O’Rourke of Wild Woman. Please let us know n your intake form about any allergies.
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Payment options: full or up to three installments — please indicate your preference on the intake form. Payments must be completed before attendance. We prefer e-transfer to RadicalMotherWellness@gmail.com, or credit card through our system.
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We hold a spot specifically for you — with materials prepared and meals planned. If you cancel:
More than 48 hours before class: 40% refund
Within 48 hours: non-refundable
Investing in this experience is once-in-a-lifetime. We encourage everyone to show up fully committed — for themselves and for their fellow participants.