I started the year with twins. Sitting in the quiet, dark hours with a mother as she feeds one, and then the other. I hold a baby, pat and settle them both. Whisper reassurance into the gloaming. Christmas lights still twinkle outside the window. I doze on the sofa til daybreak. Next Continue Reading
My Doula Year: banging the drum for justice
It's been quite a year. Not just for me, but for the wider birth world. This year heralded the beginnings of the implementation of the Better Births report. Continuity of Carer is really on the horizon - for those not in the know, that means the prospect of all women being able to get to know a Continue Reading
Five Days in the Dunkirk Camp: Doula Linda’s Account
This is a guest post by my friend and fellow doula, Linda Robinson, who spent five days in the Dunkirk camp. I am honoured to host her account on my blog and urge you to read and share to raise awareness. Winter is drawing in and as temperatures dip, conditions worsen. Thank you for joining us in Continue Reading
A Day in The Life of A Doula
A discordant beeping jolts me out of sleep. I roll over and grope for my phone. It is 6.30. Yawning, I look at the text. It is my postnatal client. Awake feeding baby, she has the opportunity to ask me to come a little earlier - her husband is away and and she’s feeling overwhelmed. She mentions Continue Reading
Gentle Birth Companions, 2nd Edition: A Review
I am ashamed at how long it's taken me to start writing this review. My head space and time has been taken up with the publication of my own book on doulas, so I come to this later than I wanted. I have to start by being transparent. This probably won't be the most objective review you ever read. Continue Reading
Breathing Out!
That's what I seem to be doing at the moment. With all the whirlwind around publication of the book, family stuff, teaching new doulas and, somewhere in the mix, planning (probably stupidly) to embark on a house extension, I kind of forgot to breathe there, for a while! So this is me, breathing Continue Reading
Doula-Sherpas: Finding Your Way through the Maternity Maze
Sometimes it seems to me that much of the world has firmly grasped the wrong end of the stick about doulas. I suppose us humans have quite a propensity to over-complicate and over-think things but in reality, this doula thing isn't so weird when you look at us in the same light as you Continue Reading
Why Doulas Matter: the book is born! (well, nearly)
So, some of you will know I've been writing a little book. It'll be little in size and word count - just 40,000-odd rambling words about what it has meant to me to be doula and what I have learned about how doulas make a difference. It's a little peek behind the scenes of our rather obsessive, crazy Continue Reading
What is an ‘IBCLC’ and Why I’ll Probably Never Be One
OK, before we start, here's a disclaimer: this is a rant. A rather personal one - although there are many people in the same situation and it does have ramifications for breastfeeding support in this country (UK). I'll do my best not to come across as a moaning minny and to find the positives as I Continue Reading
The Politics of Breastfeeding: Partnerships, Parameters, Taboos and Pecadillos
The following was, more or less, a speech I gave at the 2014 Doula UK conference. I am passionate about breastfeeding and the ways in which doulas fit into the breastfeeding support landscape. I'd like to take you on a little tour of some of the social attitudes to breastfeeding that interest me Continue Reading