BIRTH PACKAGES
The support you need for the birth you want
WHAT IS A DOULA ?
A doula’s role is to care for the parents, first and foremost. While the medical team is rightly focused on the baby before, during and after birth, the doula is there for the parents to inform and guide them; providing physical and emotional support for the biggest transition of their lives. All ancient societies had their version of a doula. Women, usually those who had already had children, would support other women in labour. The village was involved as babies were born and families grew - and the doula seeks to replace that in our busy modern lives.
BESPOKE SERVICE
Your birth, like your growing family, is absolutely unique, which means that each birth package is crafted individually. Below are some elements of the services I offer and an outline of the most popular package as a guide: a starting point so you can find the level of support you need. Any of the additional services can be added, plus other support if needed.
“One cannot actively help a woman to give birth - the goal is to avoid disturbing her unnecessarily.”
— Michel Odent, obstetrician and childbirth specialist
BIRTH PACKAGE
We will have an initial meeting, free of charge, to assess our suitability to each other and to answer any initial questions you may have.
After signing the contract I will be available to you every day during office hours (9am to 7pm) to answer any questions you have by text or phone.
We will set up 2 x 4 hour pre-birth preparation sessions, likely to take place around week 30 and 34.
I will help you to craft your birth preferences to share with your care provider and communicate your wishes ahead of the birth.
I will be on call for you from 10 days before your estimated due date until your baby’s birth, whenever that may happen - day or night.
We will be in phone contact as soon as labour begins and I will arrive when you feel you need me.
I will attend your birth to support you in any way I can, and remind you of all you have learned.
I will stay with you until your baby is born and for the first few hours after birth, to help you get comfortable and establish feeding and help you maintain those first precious golden hours.
We will then have a postnatal visit to discuss the birth and to help you prepare for the coming weeks with your baby.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
Postpartum Planning
A half or full-day session to help you prepare all the practicalities for your baby’s arrival, including: what to buy, what to cook and freeze, your store and medicine cupboard list, need-to-know numbers and local groups, organising clothes, the nursery, and yours and baby’s hospital bag, and preparing for the emotional changes too.
Breastfeeding 101
Following on from the pre-birth preparation sessions, we can schedule an extra meeting to cover breastfeeding in more detail: your worries and concerns, the first 3 days, practical holds and techniques, troubleshooting if issues occur, and signposting help. I’ll also help prepare you for how you might feel and who can support you.
Your Birth Story
As a journalist and story-teller, I am in the unique position to be able to witness your birth and then record it for you. Together we can create a beautiful keepsake that can be retold each year to your baby on its birthday, to help you all remember the wonderful day that you entered each other’s lives.
The 3-Step Rewind
Based on the theories that underpin NLP, this technique of guided meditation helps parents who have experienced a traumatic previous birth or other event. Also used to treat phobias and PTSD symptons, it helps release feelings of fear and anxiety that parents may be carrying to help them heal and look forward to their forthcoming birth.
Welcome Home
Arriving home for the first time with you baby, whether on the day of the birth or several days later, should be the most special moment possible. I will be on hand to help prepare your home for your arrival with baby and to make sure everything is as you want it to be - from the practical necessities to the little finishing touches.
VBAC & Breech
I have experience of both breech babies and VBAC birth and can help you gather all the information to assess all your options. Methods to help baby to turn, ECV and complementary suggestions, options for birth if baby is breech, and planning for the VBAC you really want, I can support and signpost to help your unique create birth preferences.
