This is a guest post by my lovely friend Izzy. I was honoured and grateful to be one of her doulas, alongside my wonderful friend Becky Talbot. This is long for a blog post, but if you are a doula, midwife or parent preparing for birth, I urge you to read it all. Izzy leaves nothing out, so her Continue Reading
Birth In the Year 2073
These snippets of fiction are written to help spread the word about our campaign #MarchWithMidwives 2022. I hope to paint a picture of how the absence of maternity care universally available, free at the point of contact, is so important. I hope to show how crucial midwives who are truly autonomous, Continue Reading
Shame and Blame in the Birth Game: Part 2
'I have failed.' I hear it almost every day. It's women who whisper this. Men don't. Men say, 'I was robbed', 'It wasn't fair', 'There wasn't enough time', 'Ah well, that's just the way it is.' Our bodies are branded. Labelled and judged: “Failure to progress” "Incompetent" "Lack of Continue Reading
Mindful Walking
What do I take from this place, this time? A pebble, a snail shell, a flower, a fern. A catharsis, an unravelling, A peeling, an untying of knots. I leave my mark: a footstep on the hill, On the path to the lake, All fear floating, trembling and tumbling Over the watery rocks. Each step Continue Reading
Parents or Judges, Juries and Jailers?
Would you order your life partner to stop swearing? Or manhandle them onto the naughty step? How about sending your girlfriend to her bedroom? Would you consider it appropriate if your husband sent you to bed or dictated what you wore? The chances are, if one adult acted towards another Continue Reading
Breathe, They Said
Breathe, they said, as I was born. Lungs inflating, first rush streaming in, stinging my insides. Cough, splutter, wail in fury, as I struggle to catch my first breath. Breathe, they said, as I am rubbed dry, every nerve ending screaming, eyes screwed shut, Fists tight, I am fighting. A familiar 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
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
The debilitating symptoms of PTSD are often mistaken for postnatal depression. Milli Hill investigates the causes of this trauma and what needs to be done to raise awareness and provide support for the parents Continue Reading
Books, Links and Resources
Reading, researching, learning and sharing.... I'll be adding in titles of books that may be useful here and links to their websites, if possible. The Food of Love' and 'Bump', by Kate Evans http://www.thefoodoflove.org/ Weblinks Breastfeeding Links Coping with Continue Reading
The Taste of Breastmilk
It has been thought that the taste of our breastmilk can change after exercise, due to a raise in lactic acid levels. This theory appears to have been debunked in this study: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/89/6/1245.short There is evidence, however, that what we eat can affect the Continue Reading