Doula Support

“I was so grateful that you helped to give me the childbirth that I always dreamed of.”

I have been accompanying women through pregnancy, birth and the weeks afterwards for more than three decades.

These days I take on a small number of births, in the UK and internationally, which allows me to give each woman and family the time, relationship and continuity this work deserves.

So what do you actually get when you choose me as your doula?

The simplest answer is:

Whatever you need.

Doula support with a traditional flavour

I come to doula work from a traditional midwifery and birthkeeping background.

That means I don’t see birth support as a collection of techniques I arrive with in a bag.

Of course, there are practical things I can do. I can massage you, make food, fill a birth pool, use herbs and oils appropriately, help create warmth and calm, talk through your options, support your partner, sit beside you, advocate with you and help you navigate unfamiliar maternity systems.

But good doula support begins long before any of those things.

It begins with knowing you.

During your pregnancy

We spend time together.

We talk about birth, certainly, but we also talk about you.

Your life. Your family. Your relationships. Your previous experiences. What makes you feel safe. What makes you laugh. What frightens you. What you imagine when you picture giving birth.

Over the years these conversations have wandered everywhere from childhood experiences to relationships, religion, food, trauma, families and Ibiza raving.

All of it matters.

Because when I walk into the room while you’re labouring, I don’t want to be a stranger who has arrived carrying a toolkit.

I want to know something about the woman who is giving birth.

Our antenatal time can also include birth preparation, physiology, exploring your choices, thinking about your birth environment and talking through previous experiences or fears.

I can help you prepare questions for your maternity team, think through birth preferences and decisions, and where practical accompany you to important meetings with healthcare professionals.

If I am travelling to support you, some of this preparation may happen online before we spend time together in person.

When labour begins

You decide when you need me.

Sometimes that is early.

Sometimes a woman is happily labouring with her partner or family and doesn’t need me until much later.

Sometimes I arrive and immediately become very busy.

Sometimes my most useful contribution is making everyone some food, filling the pool, turning the lights down and disappearing into another room.

Birth doesn’t need another person directing it.

My role is to watch, listen and respond.

I may massage you, apply counter-pressure, suggest a change of position, make drinks, prepare food, help with other children, support your partner, create privacy, communicate with staff or help you find the information you need to make a decision.

And sometimes I simply sit quietly.

One of the reasons many families choose a doula is beautifully simple:

you know who is coming.

Whatever happens with shifts, staffing or the place you give birth, there is someone in the room who already knows you.

Someone who remembers the conversations we had months ago.

Someone who knows what mattered to you before labour became intense.

Someone who stays.

Your birth belongs to you

My role is not to tell you how to give birth.

Nor is it to create my idea of a “good birth”.

Birth can unfold in all sorts of ways.

Plans change. Circumstances change. Women change their minds.

A powerful birth isn’t necessarily one that followed the original plan.

What matters to me is that you remain at the centre of your own experience.

I want you to have information.

I want you to be listened to.

I want your consent to matter.

I want the people around you to remember that this is happening to and within your body.

And I want to protect the conditions in which your extraordinary physiology has the best opportunity to do what it knows how to do.

“…makes me appreciate how a good birth can give someone resilience for life. I really feel that she has an inner strength and certainty of herself that will serve her so well. I thank you every day for your part in helping that to happen…”

Partners are part of this too

Having a doula doesn’t mean replacing your partner.

Quite the opposite.

Partners are often able to be much more present when they don’t feel they have to remember everything from the antenatal classes while simultaneously watching somebody they love labour.

I can help with the practical things.

I can reassure.

I can suggest something when you’re both wondering what might help.

I can make sure your partner eats, drinks and rests too.

And I can step away when the two of you are doing beautifully without me.

There is room for all of us.

After your baby arrives

I don’t disappear the moment the baby is born.

The hours and days after birth matter enormously.

We will have time afterwards to talk about what happened, how you feel about your birth and how your body is recovering.

I can support you with feeding, rest, food, recovery and the enormous adjustment of suddenly having this new little person in your life.

Some families only need a little postnatal contact.

Others want me to remain involved for weeks.

That can be arranged separately through my traditional postpartum and Motherwarming support.

Postpartum visits might find me cooking, making remedies, helping with breastfeeding, listening to your birth story, doing belly care, playing with an older child, holding the baby while you sleep, clearing the kitchen…

…and then cooking again.

Food appears rather frequently in my version of doula care.

Working with a second doula

For birth support, I may work alongside an experienced Red Tent doula or senior student.

I feel strongly about passing this work onwards.

Birthkeeping has always been learned partly by being alongside those who have done it before: watching, listening, helping and gradually growing into the work.

It also gives us another important layer of continuity.

Birth can be long. If I need to rest, or circumstances mean another pair of trusted hands would be useful, we already have someone who knows you and understands how I work.

We will talk about this together beforehand. Nobody simply appears at your birth whom you haven’t met or agreed to have there.

UK & international birth support

I support a limited number of births each year across the UK and internationally.

If you live outside the UK, we simply need to plan more carefully.

We will talk about when I should arrive, where I will stay, your estimated due date, local maternity arrangements and what happens if your baby decides to arrive considerably earlier or later than expected.

Where useful, we can also explore working alongside a trusted local doula or birthkeeper.

Every international arrangement is different, so these births are individually planned and quoted.

Is this the right support for you?

Choosing a doula is personal.

Experience and qualifications matter, but so does something much harder to put onto a website.

Do we like one another?

Can we sit together comfortably?

Can you imagine having me around when you’re naked, exhausted, laughing, crying, swearing, frightened, powerful, vulnerable or asking someone to please make you another piece of toast at three in the morning?

You don’t need to impress me.

And I don’t need to persuade you to choose me.

We meet. We talk.

Then we both see how it feels.

If it feels right, we take it from there.

“Thank you again for being our birth doula. It is a very special memory for me.”

Come and have a conversation

If you are considering doula support, tell me:

where in the world you are, when your baby is expected, and a little about the kind of support you’re looking for.

Then let’s talk.

Costs available here

“…..makes me appreciate how a good birth can give someone resilience for life, I really feel that she has an inner strength and certainty of herself that will serve her so well. I thank you every day for your part in helping that to happen….” 

Listen to me here being interviewed for a number of podcasts talking all about what it is to be a doula and how i understand it

Book an interview here

“Thank you again for being our birth doula.  It is a very special memory for me.”