Hello there and congratulations on your pregnancy!
My name is Jil. I have worked both within the NHS in Maternity support and privately as a doula for the past decade, and have supported oodles of new mums, parents and babies to begin breastfeeding and navigate the post natal days and weeks. This experience shows me that:
1. Women and parents have everything they need within themselves to birth and parent their babies, however…
2. There is a cultural and medical narrative of outdated misinformation which disturbs and detracts from the confidence and excitement of the life-changing transformation into parenthood. Unravelling this and looking at the latest research evidence blows away all that stuff and empowers you to take the lead in choice and decision-making.
3. Face-to-face friendly, knowlegable support through this time, sharing information and shaking up all the fears and discovering the facts is absolutely invaluable for new parents-to-be.
4. That just so happens to be my pleasure and purpose here on this planet!
I’m also a mum to five people. Those five births, all different, all with their own challenges, taught me:
1. The value of a knowlegable and confident partner as a ‘gatekeeper’ for my birthing experience.
2.The fewer interventions, less pharmaceutical pain relief and more empowered I felt during the birth, the easier it was to enjoy my baby straightaway and luxuriate in the bonding with them.
3. Our maternity system is wonderful in parts, and has some very lovely people working in it, but it is a system. It works to it’s own agenda, and you have to be proactive in educating yourself and choosing the experience you want to have.
4. I’m a grandmother now, but my birth experiences have stayed with me. It’s important that you feel you’ve done all you can to make this rite of passage your own. To be enriched by it, to feel fulfilled, and to enjoy looking back on it.
I am so excited to spend time with you exploring your vision for your birth, acknowledging and letting go of the fears, and getting excited for this wonderful new chapter in your life!