Doula, Antenatal and Postnatal Educator, Babywearing Instructor and Reiki Healer.
Workshops to help birth workers unleash their inner power through a unique blend of science and traditions.
Latest reads from my blog
Tend to your roots
I’ve just had a lovely catchup with fellow doula Hazel Acland Tree with whom I have fortnightly accountability calls (I can’t recommend doing this enough by the way). During our call I expressed how frustrated I am with my desire to go forward and make plans now that we’re at the beginning of the year,…
Reflections on 2018
At the end of 2017 I wrote a review of my year. I found this a very useful exercise, because as I wrote telling a story, I gained a lot more insight into what I had done during the year than when I bullet point it like I used to do. So I am doing…
The Myth of the Ageing Placenta
I am a doula and birth educator. I also have a PhD in physiology of reproduction, and 20 years of research experience and I have a confession to make: I get REALLY irate when women get given poor quality evidence (or no evidence at all) in support of a recommendation for inducing labour. Whether…
The amazing effects of wild swimming
I’ve been a swimmer for most of my life. I’ve always loved water. I started regular swimming as a teen as I never really stopped except for the early years when my children were tiny (I’m an early morning person so I like my swimming first thing, something that was kind of difficult with tiny…
The lost art of postnatal wrapping
Years ago, before I started working as a doula, I taught antenatal classes. When I was asked about using a girdle after the postpartum I told women I thought this wasn’t a good idea. You see my grandmother wore a corset most of her life. Due to this she had her stomach or back muscles…
Postnatal Recovery Massage, a new kind of postnatal massage inspired by closing the bones.
I’ve been offering and teaching a postnatal massage called closing the bones since 2014 with Maddie McMahon. Maddie and I never intended to teach this technique, we just wanted to share it with our community as we had been urged to do. But then women started to ask us to show them. So we put…
Rebozos, shawls and scarves : the lost art of supporting women through the childbearing years
I was introduced to the art of using a traditional Mexican shawl called a rebozo to comfort birthing women at my doula course by Maddie McMahon in 2008. Whilst I developed my antenatal and doula career, in my usual, knowledge junkie style, whislst I learn to use the tool for myself, I decided to learn…
rebozo master class
I did a 45 min rebozo master class on facebook yesterday and I have uploaded it so you can watch it here
What do you get when you hire a doula, or why she’s totally worth the money
This week I saw this meme. It made me want to write about what you get when you hire a doula. The birth/wedding spending is a very well known analogy in the birth world. Most people spend A LOT more time and money planning for their wedding day than they do for their birth. I’ve…