DD Kathryn Hassell blogs for Birth Trauma Aaweness Week about her own struggle with birth trauma. 14 years ago I gave birth to my first baby, aged 21, married and mortgaged and ever so grown up. Sadly I wasn’t as grown up as I expected and I was almost playing house. I wanted a baby. … Read more
I hadn’t been a doula very long when I fell pregnant with my third baby. This pregnancy was to be my first since leaving the world of teaching and becoming a fully immersed birth keeper. I knew it was going to be a different experience. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was the effect that witnessing … Read more
I come from a childhood of looking silly; tut, eyeroll, “why are you doing it like that?!”. I come from 16 years in an education system that taught me to follow the rules (even if you’re not sure what they are, definitely when you are not sure why they are). I was taught to always … Read more
PART ONEAre you? It’s ok to admit it. We’re all human and we all just love to be able to help; to have the key that unlocks a problem or be the bearer of good news. Most of us would admit to liking it just a little bit when a client says: If it weren’t for … Read more
Have you heard the old story about the origins of doulas in the British Isles? We were once the ‘Sisters-in-God’; the village women who bustled around when a new baby was on the way. We would arrive, nattering in a good-natured way, shooing the menfolk out of the house as we tidied, organised, washed, cooked … Read more
Why would birthworkers need to write, I hear you ask? Or possibly, you’re already a few steps ahead of me and have already learned of the many and varied reasons doulas and midwives may need to put pen to paper. From articles in academic journals, memos to colleagues, website copy to emails to clients, the … Read more
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