Fact file:
Name: Tracy McGinn
Job: Daisy Birthing teacher
Born: Liverpool
Lives: Ellesmere Port
Education: Wirral Grammar School for Girls, University of Leeds - BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
Family: Married to Mal with two daughters aged 13 and nine and a son aged three
Mornings in our house are pretty chaotic as I need to get a teenager out of the door in time to catch a bus to school and then get the younger two to their respective school and preschool!
Peace descends at 9am and I am then able to tackle the house – sorting out the mess created at breakfast and cleaning up after our two kittens Ziggy and Caspar. Once the house is back into some sort of order it’s time to turn my attention to The Daisy Foundation - Ellesmere Port, Eastham, Port Sunlight. First job of the day is to check and respond to emails as there are often queries and questions from potential new clients in relation to the classes and what they cover. I then spend some time on the accounts – paying and logging invoices to ensure that everything is up to date and organised. Then adverts need to be checked and updated as does the Facebook page as I try to share useful updates and information on the page for expectant mums. 12 o’clock soon arrives and it’s time to collect my three-year-old and bring him home for some lunch – a ham and cheese toastie is his current favourite! We then try to get out and about in the afternoon – the Blue Planet Aquarium and Whitby Park are particular favourites of his.
At 3.15pm it’s time to collect my younger daughter, before then collecting the eldest from the bus stop at 4.30pm. Tea time soon follows with everyone chipping in to help with the clear up.
As the evening approaches it’s time to get ready for my favourite part of the day – delivering a Daisy Birthing class. I arrive in plenty of time to set the room up with yoga mats, cushions and blankets as well as dimmed lighting, (battery) candles and some relaxing lavender. When the mums arrive they make themselves a cuppa and then we have a chat about their week and how their pregnancies are progressing. We then begin a series of yoga based movements designed to ease common pregnancy ailments and prepare their bodies for labour by building muscle memory through repeated movement.
We then move on to the educational theme for that week where we discuss a particular aspect of labour, aiming to empower the mums so that they can then make informed decisions.
The final part of the session is a lovely relaxation with positive visualisations to banish any negative feelings they may have about birth. We all finish the session feeling lovely and relaxed and I can head home ready to go to bed, so that I can do it all again the next day.
What do you wear to do your job? Daisy Foundation T-shirt, comfortable black yoga pants.
What is the favourite part of your job? Seeing the ladies grow in confidence as the six week term progresses, and again as they come back for further six week terms. Hearing about their positive birth stories is the icing on the cake.
What is the least favourite part of your job? Accounts! Logging expenditure is tedious but has to be done and makes things much easier when it’s tax time.
What would be your dream job if you weren’t doing what you do now? Acting in a good Northern soap like Coronation Street - living other people’s dramas and then coming home to a nice peaceful life!
How do you relax when you are not working? Meals with friends – either at each other’s houses or eating out. Mal and I are big foodies.
What is your favourite film? Dirty Dancing
What is your favourite book? Goodnight Mr Tom (embarrassingly, a children’s book but beautifully written!)
What is your favourite song? Viva La Vida by Coldplay
If a film was made of your life, who would you like to play you? Jennifer Aniston
Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet? Not as far as I know! Working together with my fellow teacher Jane Butcher, who delivers classes in Chester, I hope that we can empower and inform pregnant women across Chester and Ellesmere Port!
We want to hear from people from all walks of life – to take part, email jo.henwood@trinitymirror.com or fill out the form below
