Supporting you
through your
pregnancy, labour and birth
I am an experienced Birth Doula, supporting families since 2013. Additionally, as an IBCLC I can help you get off to the right start with feeding, and be there for you should you hit any challenges along the way.
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I will help you navigate your journey, and to focus on your priorities:
you, your baby, and your family.
I can provide information, guidelines, evidence and nourishment to ease your, and your partner's, path into parenthood.​
My package
Birth Doula services
For my Birth Doula Services I offer:
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Four antenatal consultations of at least 2 hours each, in your home.. Subjects we can discuss are: ​​
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Your birth preferences
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Your expectations
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What labour looks and sounds like
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Coping techniques
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Biomechanics and the physiology of labour
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Working together as a team to keep you feeling safe, grounded, unobserved, and empowered
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Advocacy and communicating
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Setting you up for success for Infant feeding and planning for the fourth trimester​
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And anything else that is important to your unique circumstances
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Ongoing telephone, email and whatsapp support during your pregnancy​
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Support During Your Labour & Birth
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Two postnatal visits in your home, to help with breastfeeding, to have a debrief, or to answer any questions that might have come up
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A Closing the Bones Ceremony
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Ongoing telephone, email and whatsapp support after your baby is born
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Overall, I will strive to be a source of support, information, and advocacy to help you through this amazing experience of giving life.
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I prefer to support families in a Shared Care arrangement with another Birth Doula, and I typically work with Nadia Raafat. We each bring our different gifts and experiences to you. You have us both to access for information and support. We are, "your Dream Team". Nadia has skills that complement my own, therefore the breadth of expertise we bring is increased. When you have both Nadia and me, you also have access to Nadia's beautiful online Yoga and Mindfulness program.
Contact me for questions and to book
Trust
Messages today have set birth up to be a big scary medical event and what has grown is an environment of fear and dis-empowerment. I will offer you the space to "take back" birth and to
trust yourself and your body.​
It is a right of passage that deserves attention, honour, and respect.
​It is your opportunity to learn about yourself, your strengths, courage and inner knowing, on a level so profound you will never, for the rest of your life, forget it. ​
When a baby is born, so is a mother, and a father, roles too often undervalued in our society. We go through Matrescence and Patrescence .
The beauty of giving birth
DEEP
​​When I work with couples to prepare themselves for the awe inspiring event of labour and birthing life into this world, I am guided by them as to their needs. I offer suggestions for preparation, such as what is listed above, as well as more subconscious ways of preparing for Birth:
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Guided meditation
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Birth art
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Drawing the labyrinth
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Drumming
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The reason for also using these methods is to get from left brain to right brain thinking, to get you into your body, to get into your subconscious, working to give you that practice of turning off your thinking brain and allowing your inner knowing to take over. It is the opportunity for you to find the strength that you have within, that may be buried or lost, and for you to trust, or learn to trust yourself.
I’ll give you the opportunity to reframe your thinking about labour and birth so if you’re feeling fearful, anxious, or daunted by what’s to come, I will invite you to think creatively about labour and birth and come up with a different mindset and new vocabulary words to describe what awaits you. We will look at the transcience of thoughts and beliefs, and discuss how to come up with new thoughts which therefore become new beliefs. I encourage parents to create affirmations out of the feelings and descriptions of what comes up, as what makes them even more powerful is that they that come from you.
I will give you the opportunity to reframe the messaging we’ve heard about labour and birth since we young, and to create a new narrative for how your experience could be.
We will explore your internal resources. We will explore your partner’s support for of coping techniques. And together, as a team, we will strive to protect you from distraction so you can stay within, focusing on your body, your spirit, your trust, remaining anchored and connected to that flow state, to bring your baby earthside.
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My practice is informed from my studies with the School of Shamanic Womencraft and Birthing from Within.
Birth
Giving birth is a transformational experience that is a celebration of life and the power of the
female body.
With me, you prepare for a
transformational
event,
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not a medical event.
Birth Client Stories
We will be forever grateful for Erin's help in making the birth such a positive experience! She gave us the confidence and knowledge we needed and she asked the right questions to determine our birth preferences, enabling us to make informed decisions. After her prenatal sessions, we felt empowered and prepared for delivery and the first few days. During the birth, Erin knew how to reassure us and provide a calming and spiritual presence. Having Erin by our side during the birth was invaluable to us. And after we brought our new baby back home, it was wonderful to see a familiar face in the first few days, as Erin continued to provide postnatal support. Erin's knowledge about breastfeeding and the 4th trimester has meant that we have been able to quickly resolve many questions. Thanks, Erin!
MJ and Elena
'We were so lucky to have Erin as our Doula. From the moment we met, her serenity, empathy and warmth instantly put us at ease. She has been an incredible source of support through pregnancy, birth and beyond and we have really benefited from her wisdom and kindness.
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Erin was eager to make sure we could depend on being fully supported in spite of Covid and arranged for us to have a shared care package; she introduced us to Lara, our other wonderful Doula, and the two of them worked beautifully together to guide us on our pregnancy and birthing journey. We had a tough pregnancy, but Erin helped us to find our strength and understood what we needed to prepare us for parenthood. Our baby boy then decided to make an early appearance; Erin provided constant reassurance, made herself available to answer our endless questions, shared useful resources, gave us great advice and was the calming presence we needed. From teaching Danny brilliant massage techniques to help ease labour pains, to offering terrific postnatal breastfeeding support, invaluable tips on raising a newborn, reminding us both to practice crucial self care and bringing us delicious home cooked food, Erin was there to guide us and help us through the third and fourth trimesters.
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We are so grateful to have had such a wonderful Doula in Erin; working with her made our pregnancy and parenting journey even more special and we won't hesitate to call her if more children are in our future!
Cat and Danny
As a 1st time father, I admit to being a little unsure whether we required additional support beyond the midwife team, friends and family. Oh how wrong I was!
We employed Tracy and Erin in the first trimester of our pregnancy. In the following months running up to the main event they provided invaluable support, both remotely and physically, through a dedicated whatsapp channel, sessions in our house practising breathing and support techniques, meditation and sound baths, helpful literature, useful links to interesting pregnancy videos/podcasts, books and generally being on hand to answer any of our questions or concerns at any time.
However, it is the birth where these incredible people come into their own. Our Doula was at our house within 20 mins of water breaking, immediately supporting my wife with calm words and gentle massaging. She helped us reach hospital calmly and in positive spirits which we both really appreciated. During the entire birth and 10 hours of labour through the night our Doula did not leave our sides, and was a great source of comfort and support.
In the days immediately after the birth of our daughter, Erin and Tracy were incredibly supportive with post natal advice and guidance, and visiting us at our house to spend some time with Mum and baby. They brought us some delicious meals and were generally brilliant in settling us in to parenthood. This meant so much to us and we remain so grateful for their support.
Having a Doula for our pregnancy was one of the best decisions I have made. Tracy and Erin were nothing short of incredible throughout our pregnancy and birth.
Mark