what are echos of birth?
As a baby you were much more aware than you might realise. As you were developing in your mother’s womb you were learning about the environment that you would be born into through the experiences of your mother. When your mother felt stressed, or angry, or scared, or joyful or excited, you experienced the same emotions through the cocktail of hormones that passed through the placenta.
When you were born you experienced the physical pressures of birth, but without the cognitive ability to process what you were experiencing. And what happened to you in the minutes, hours, days and weeks after you were born continued to influence how your brain and nervous system developed.
Although you couldn’t form cognitive memories of these earliest in-utero and birthing experiences, they create what are called implicit memories that are stored in your body. This is an essential part of how you prepared for life on the outside and they directly influence the way that you experience the world and how you interact with the people around you for the rest of your life.
These implicit memories influence how you feel about yourself, your relationships, your health and wellbeing, and can have a profound influence on how you went on to conceive, carry your own baby, your experience of giving birth and how you parent.
Your own experiences of being conceived and being born can resurface when you are becoming a parent, just as the birth experiences of your grandparents resurfaced when your parents were born. The powerful implicit memories echo throughout your life and reverberate generationally in the birthing environment
we call these "echos of birth"
what are echos of birth?
As a baby you were much more aware than you might realise. As you were developing in your mother’s womb you were learning about the environment that you would be born into through the experiences of your mother. When your mother felt stressed, or angry, or scared, or joyful or excited, you experienced the same emotions through the cocktail of hormones that passed through the placenta.
When you were born you experienced the physical pressures of birth, but without the cognitive ability to process what you were experiencing. And what happened to you in the minutes, hours, days and weeks after you were born continued to influence how your brain and nervous system developed.
Although you couldn’t form cognitive memories of these earliest in-utero and birthing experiences, they create what are called implicit memories that are stored in your body. This is an essential part of how you prepared for life on the outside and they directly influence the way that you experience the world and how you interact with the people around you for the rest of your life.
These implicit memories influence how you feel about yourself, your relationships, your health and wellbeing, and can have a profound influence on how you went on to conceive, carry your own baby, your experience of giving birth and how you parent.
Your own experiences of being conceived and being born can resurface when you are becoming a parent, just as the birth experiences of your grandparents resurfaced when your parents were born. The powerful implicit memories echo throughout your life and reverberate generationally in the birthing environment.
we call these "echos of birth"
Implicit memories during pregnancy and birth
The closest you will ever be to when your own implicit memories were created, is when you are in the pregnancy, birth and post-natal environment again. During pregnancy and birth you, your partner and the birth professionals supporting you can be triggered in ways that profoundly impact your experience of giving birth.
If you are able to better understand your implicit memories then you can be better prepared for how they might surface during this critical time in your life. You can reduce the negative impacts on you and your baby, and break intergenerational patterns so that the next generation can experience more empowering and joyful birth and parenting. You can better connect with your baby during those critical but often challenging early days, weeks and months. You can heal past traumas and discover a self-awareness that empowers you for the rest of your life.
Implicit memories during pregnancy and birth
The closest you will ever be to when your own implicit memories were created, is when you are in the pregnancy, birth and post-natal environment again. During pregnancy and birth you, your partner and the birth professionals supporting you can be triggered in ways that profoundly impact your experience of giving birth.
If you are able to better understand your implicit memories then you can be better prepared for how they might surface during this critical time in your life. You can reduce the negative impacts on you and your baby, and break intergenerational patterns so that the next generation can experience more empowering and joyful birth and parenting. You can better connect with your baby during those critical but often challenging early days, weeks and months. You can heal past traumas and discover a self-awareness that empowers you for the rest of your life.
we are all about creating positive change
we are all about creating positive change
We all know someone that has been left damaged by birth in ways that are not visible, we all know someone that has found early parenting exhausting and emotionally draining. We all know of babies that can’t settle, frequently cry for no apparent reason, babies that have problems feeding. These experiences can profoundly impact the critical early bonding between baby and parent, robbing them of a precious time that will never be recovered. Indeed, you may have experienced this first hand.
about the echos of birth community
about the echos of birth community
Two years ago we created the echos of birth community with the aim of educating people about the enormous influence that our own birth imprints have on us when we are on the journey to parenthood. How it profoundly affects conception, pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.
Since we established the community we’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with some of the world’s leading therapists, researchers and practitioners, and we’ve supported many hundreds of birthing professionals from all over the world, helping them to become Imprint Informed.
We are proud to be an affiliate partner of the Association of Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) and the Prenatal Alliance.
meet the founders
meet the founders
We’re Jo and Martin—a couple who met as teenagers and have been walking through life side by side ever since. We are building something deeply personal and urgently needed: a new way to understand and transform the experience of birth by reframing birth trauma.
Echos of Birth was born out of our own journey through pregnancy, birth, and parenting. As we raised our three children, we experienced firsthand how complex, emotional, and deeply formative the path to becoming parents can be.
This community brings together Jo’s 20+ years of experience supporting women through fertility, pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal period, with Martin’s background in innovation, research, and strategy. It’s where nervous system science meets embodied care—where deep listening and practical tools come together to offer a new perspective on birth trauma.
Most of all, it’s an expression of our shared commitment to helping parents make sense of their stories, reconnect with their bodies, and prepare for birth again—this time with clarity, confidence, and compassion.