T H E B A R N E S D O U L A

Hello, my name is Lauren Milligan - and I’m a journalist turned birth doula. I’m Scottish, originally from just outside of Glasgow, but I’ve spent the last decade living in Barnes SW13, south west London, with my husband and four children.

In the past 15 years, I’ve had four very different babies in four very different ways and the more time passed the more I realised how important that birth experience is to what kind of parents and family you become. Having a birth that you feel informed and in control of helps you begin parenthood from a positive position - stronger physically, mentally and emotionally and ready to make decisions for you and your baby. Looking back, I realised that having a doula would have better prepared me not only for birth but for motherhood - and could help each birth story have a much happier ending.

As well as having gained my doula certification with Kicki Hansard - award-winning author and founder of the Birth Bliss Academy and The Doula Directory - I have completed training in aromatherapy, acupressure and massage for birth; and The Three-Step Rewind - an NLP-based technique to help expectant parents work through previous trauma ahead of the birth. My aim is to support, and help the birth partner support, the mother using these techniques before and during labour.

I am a practical doula and clients who are drawn to me are generally similar to me: people who want to have a calm, happy birth experience and who want to find straightforward ways to manage the pregnancy, birth, and postnatal period. I know from personal experience that pregnancy and birth can turn a woman who is confident and assertive in all other areas of her life into someone who is plagued with indecision about the best course of action for herself and her child. My aim is to support and advise without judgement or prejudice to allow every family to advocate for the birth they want - whatever that looks like for them - and to be by their side every step of the way as they grow their family.

For parents who are embarking on birth alone, I can provide the support of a birthing partner, giving physical and emotional support throughout pregnancy, the birth itself and those crucial first few hours and subsequent days as a new family. For those who plan to birth with your partner or another close friend or relative, my role is to support that birth partner just as much as the labouring parent. I help take the pressure off of them, give suggestions when they may have run out of ideas, and allow them to just be there for their partner while I take care of making them both comfortable.

Before becoming a doula, I was a journalist specialising in interviews. Talking to people and getting to know them is my greatest joy, and something that I continue to do every day as a doula. In almost a decade as news editor of British Vogue I met hundreds of incredible people - from models and designers to actresses and musicians - and told countless fascinating stories, but nothing mesmerises me like the story of someone’s - anyone’s - birth.

To expectant parents, the task of beginning the next chapter of life as a family may seem daunting - with so much unknown and unknowable. A doula is there to make your job as easy as turning the first page.