INTUITION-LED BIRTH SUPPORT

emotional support from pregnancy through to the postnatal period, intuitively-guided by a birth worker and perinatal mental health professional bringing a psychological therapy toolkit. Gentle Foundations is based in Fareham on the south coast of Hampshire.

Meet Alex

I believe that birth is a physiologically normal event, the vast majority of the time. I also believe in a woman’s innate ability to know what is right for her and her baby, whatever that looks like.

I offer intuitively guided doula care and therapy that supports both the mother’s emotional wellbeing and the baby’s birth experience.

If you'd like to find out more, please get in touch by completing the form below, or reaching out via my social media pages (links below); I can’t wait to meet you and start supporting you on this extraordinary journey.

Services

Why work with a doula?

Both anecdotal and research evidence tells us that continuous birth support from someone like a doula helps in a number of ways including: increased production of oxytocin, the natural biproduct of feeling safe, comfortable and relaxed in the supportive presence of someone familiar, increased self-esteem and increased satisfaction with the birth experience.

I am a birth and postnatal doula, and mental health professional offering cognitive behavioural therapy across the perinatal period, serving Hampshire and parts of Dorset, Sussex, Surrey, Wiltshire and Berkshire.

Find out more

Services

01 BIRTH SUPPORT

02 POSTNATAL SUPPORT

03 BIRTH PLANNING

04 BIRTH REFLECTIONS

💜 Prioritise your emotional safety in labour and birth, not just in your main birth partner, but in the environment you're in, as well as the other people in your birth space.

🩵 If it doesn't feel right, listen to that. If you're drawn to a particular birthing environment, comfort measure, whatever it may be, lean into that.

💚 Choose the people who will be in this space wisely - the extent of their belief in birth, and you, could become your benchmark. If they can't see the possibility, how can they guide you? Feeling safe and supported in relationship with those around you means you can tune in to your intuition. And when you can listen to and trust yourself, you are empowered to stop looking outside of yourself for safety.

💛 Investing in additional birth support is not just about the birth but an investment in future you and your baby, the impact of which can often still be felt years later.

🩷 If you can't guarantee every person who will be there, get informed antenatally on what you do and don't want, and have a forcefield of advocacy who understand physiological birth around you, should you need it.

🧡 Seek out and tip the balance in favour of positive birth stories that reflect what you're hoping for in your own birth, they will be available in abundance.

🤍 Find friends who encourage 'bump' photos and make gorgeous brides for you to treasure memories during pregnancy with forever @sparkingcommunity @jess_franzi

✨ You are growing and soon to be birthing a human - whatever happens, you are already amazing. You're a powerhouse and a goddess. It's not cheesey or hyperbole, it's fact ✨
.
.
.
#birthchoices #birthrights #birthsupport #birthadvocacy #positivebirth

My first encounter with Human Design was a year ago, and not long after this I introduced it to this mama-to-be. I think the words speak for themselves.

Whether you're feeling stuck, unsure on an important decision to make, wondering what are your desires and what are the wants of those around you that you're absorbing as your own, this framework, system, practice, whatever you want to call it, offers clarity, reminds you of the individuality you bring and the importance of honouring that towards more easeful, aligned living, and a bit of a roadmap to get there.

Given my passion for honouring birth and supporting women in their own journey, I see the value in bringing this to my work, and my interest and knowledge is naturally woven through the support I offer you antenatally if we work together, as well as a therapeutic style that views birth through the lens of both mothers' and babies' experiences.

If you'd like to know more please get in touch 🧡
.
.
.
#birthpreparation #intuitivebirth #intuition #humandesign #humandesignreader #birth #birthsupport #birthdoula

Pregnancy and postnatal support drop-in is moving!

Starting on Tuesday 16th September, 10am - 12pm, we'll be at Make & Brew in Shirley every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. It's a lovely, homely setting with delicious food and drinks and space and consideration for parents bringing prams and things to keep older small children occupied while you come and chat, offload, share, whatever you need.

Wherever you are at in your journey around pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum life, please come and join us 🧡

Intuition. The ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts.

In a world increasingly reliant on technology to help us make decisions, we are not feeling connected with our inner sense of knowing.

And the connection to birth? It's an inherently intuitive process, guided by physiological mechanisms that do not involve conscious thought, knowledge or decision-making.

The labouring body, undisturbed, intuitively knows what to do, from contracting, to cervical changes, to baby's descent, and the labouring woman's position, movement and sounds.

Yet a worry for many is getting in touch with this inner knowing - "but HOW will I know (what to do/if me and my baby are OK)?"

We're still trying to make sense of this on a mental, intellectual level. And of course we are, in a world that places the mind on a pedestal, merely seeing the body as a passive carrier.

You can develop your connection to your intuition by cultivating self-awareness, paying attention to subtle cues and feelings, spending time alone with it; reflect on the accuracy of your intuitive judgments over time.

It's about learning to listen to your inner voice while maintaining the wisdom to know when it needs to be balanced with analysis and outside information.

When all the noise is blocked out, do you know when your intuition is guiding you in the right direction for you? Do you know what you want without the needs and opinions of others veering you off-course? 🧡
.
.
.
#intuitivebirth #birthpreparation #birthsupport #birthplanning #doulasupport #birthdoula

Birth Imprints 🗾

We were going through the usual bedtime hurdles of playing and fiddling with things, asking for milk/water/anything, until I realised this was all preventing sleep.

It takes a bit of time before I clock it, and often there'll be a little protest and then my daughter settles down and falls asleep after a short time. Tonight there were obviously some big feelings to let go of though and she became quite angry, thrashing around a bit and generally feeling very upset.

Then she said something that made no sense given all the bed she was taking up, with me on the edge, and something I then realised I'd heard before out of context but didn't register at the time:

THERE'S NO SPACE FOR ME.

I realised she was talking about birth, her body was remembering. Of getting stuck, and no doubt feeling in her body at the time, there's no space to move!

---

In the hours before my daughter was born, roughly 20hrs into labour and not long before the 'active' phase began, I had a strong urge to push at home. With hindsight I see and believe this was 'early' and a sign of her malposition that became very apparent over the course of the next few hours.

What occurred over this time were largely normal active labour contractions for the most part, but with roughly 1 in 4 of these being felt very intensely, very much not normally, in my right hip. These were not normal sensations, this was pain.

She was not in a good position, but I did not understand this, nor did I have skilled eyes, ears and hands around me to support movement and positional changes to allow her to find a better position. She was literally stuck, with nowhere to go. She was later born in theatre by forceps.

---

I do not share this to worry anyone, either about birth (LOTS can be done to support optimal positioning, and also, some babies just are in different positions, variations of normal you might hear, and this may be appropriate for them/mum's anatomy, being born without help) or babies born by assisted delivery (lots of help here too for mum and baby postnatally from bodywork to psychological therapy - yes it works for babies too!).

Continued in comments
.
.
.
#birthimprints

Birth Preparation with Therapeutic Support and Intuitive Practice ✨

Join an intimate group of women in a safe, therapeutic space where you can be vulnerable about your deepest worries around birth and motherhood.

Led by a psychological therapist (mental health nurse trained) and doula, this program uniquely bridges emotional wellbeing with intuitive practice.

You will be supported to:
- share your fears and concerns in a safe, non-judgemental space with a small group of women
- trust your intuition completely when making birth decisions
- understand physiological birth and your body's innate design
- recognise your unique blueprint and understand how your baby will have their own
- build nervous system resilience for a calm, peaceful birth experience
- establish strong foundations for your baby's wellbeing from the very start.

Your baby comes with their own experiences and path. When you honour both yours and theirs, you create space for the birth experience that's truly right for you both.

If you're ready to move beyond the noise and trust yourself completely, I would love to hear from you. Comment BIRTH below 👇🏼 or send me a message 🧡

I've been supporting a family whose child is waiting for a hospital appointment. When they rang up to find out where they are on the waiting list, they were told it was a 52 week wait. I'm not asleep to the problems with NHS wait times but I was shocked! The parents however laughed and said, 'at least we know'.

Their response drew huge parallels with women navigating maternity care at the moment, and what a difference having the right information makes, however hard it is to hear. At a time when they are often 'protected' from difficult news, only to then be expected to know what procedure to choose in an impossible situation, sometimes having this choice then questioned, it was such an important reminder of the need for hard conversations, and every person having the right to necessary information.

Let's stop treating women like wounded birds, as one person described their experiences recently, neglecting important information to make informed decisions about their bodies, and trust that they will cope. No question is too much. No request is too big. If this feels uncomfortable for you in day to day life, how can you start practicing in pregnancy, or before if you're thinking about conceiving? 🧡
.
.
.
#birthrights #birthchoices #birthadvocacy #doulasupport

If you're debating whether to hire birth support and wonder what the value is, one aspect you might not be aware of is all the people behind that person you'll be building a relationship with.

When you choose to work with me, you're also getting a part of those who support and lift me up, who inspire and have educated me along the way. Many of them directly support me in the birth space today through mentoring, guidance, reflection, and being an encouraging friend. Some have taught me, sharing their knowledge from years of experience working in and protecting the birth space, and showing me what it is to respect and witness the transition of new life coming into the world. And others have nurtured and held space for me while I made sense of my own birth and found my feet in becoming the mother I am today.

This is both a post of enormous appreciation for all these souls, without whose paths I have crossed I wonder how less colourful life would be, and a note to anyone considering birth support, that you're not just getting one doula, you're getting the love and wisdom of lots of incredible women who bring passion, 'positive birthing vibes' and belief in you.

This work might be independent, and flying solo in the world of employment, but it's rarely done alone 🧡
.
.
.
#doulasupport #birthsupport #birthadvocate #birthimprints #birthdoula

Postpartum conversation and company at the doula drop-in today ✨

A time to chat with someone who isn't your partner, to share the exhaustion and mad moments of juggling two under 2, to reflect on the interactions that didn't sit right in pregnancy, and the midwife diamonds who supported you in bringing your baby into the world whose names and care you'll remember for the rest of your life. To ponder the 'due date' debacle, to sense check your thoughts around your baby's needs and how you can support them.

Somewhere to share and be heard and we hope, to walk away feeling lighter, knowing you're doing everything you need to right now, that often it feels like barely surviving, but that the storm will pass, and this support is here to help you not weather it alone ☔

What support do you wish you had? When did you feel most, or least empowered in your birth experience? How would life be different if you hadn't had that experience, and what would be the value to you in being supported around birth in the future? If you haven't given birth before, what concerns you most? What would help you feel more informed and confident?

Please drop a comment below or send me a message where we can arrange a confidential chat around your experiences and what would help you feel more supported and confident going forwards as you prepare to grow your family 🧡
.
.
.
#birthtraumaawarenessweek #birthtrauma #maternalmentalhealth #birthempowerment #intuitivebirth #mentalhealthsupport #birthexperience #birthsupport #maternalwellbeing #traumainformed #birthadvocacy

Why hire a doula? If people are feeling more satisfied, heard and listened to, imagine what a difference this makes to how they feel when they're meeting their baby, when they're entering the precious postpartum period of healing and bonding, the way they handle the rite-of-passage challenges that come with caring for a newborn (sleep, feeding, sleep..sleep), the way they reflect on birth and experience the milestone of the first birthday and birthing day for mum.

Every person giving birth deserves the support of a doula or someone like this at their birth, a form of support that proves time and time again to be beneficial to the mother and baby, having positive ripple effects into family life.

Repost @melaniethemidwife

#birthdoula #birthsupport #birthadvocate #doula #doulasupport

Beyond the hours spent with you imagining, dreaming, planning, practising, holding, talking, listening, there is a hard-to-quantify-amount-of-time spent listening, reading, writing, speaking, reassuring, encouraging, validating, hearing, holding, that goes on virtually.

Any time after 37 weeks this could be at 3 o clock in the morning, what feels like contractions may have started and you need to talk through what's happening - 'is it now? Is baby's arrival imminent? Do I have more time, is this the warm-up and I need to prioritise rest?' Or it might be at 7am after another night of contractions that tail off as the sun rises - 'what's going on? I'm not sure I can keep going like this'. Whatever the time of day, wherever you are at, I am there at the end of the phone, and in person when you need it.

In this case I was supporting a postnatal client, though we didn't know it at the time, the day before her baby came. When she had space to share what was on her mind, her worry, her discomfort in the unknown, the certainty she craved but that through the conversation she knew was a sign she was close and that a surrender to birth was what was needed for the next step to happen, when space for all this was made, her body relaxed, her baby knew she was ready, and their journey to their meeting began ✨
.
.
.
#doulasupport #postnatalsupport #birthplanning #doula #hampshiredoulas

The emporer's new clothes of our healthcare system : rather than calling out the obvious narrative that is supporting an exponential rise in birth intervention, let's instead perpetuate the message that women's bodies, and capacity for birthing a human, as we have done forever, are broken and are the cause of the high levels of physical and psychological harm we are seeing today.

Love, care, compassion, words of encouragement and belief in a person and their body's ability to give birth. These are the things that are so desperately needed and are so simple to give.

If a woman's self trust in the birthing process, and the trust of everyone around them, is eroded, if their ability to connect with other new parents in their community is removed through ideological division, if a mother and her baby's first moments, weeks and months of life are tarred by the consequences of medical 'saviour' off the back of "what ifs" that are rooted in mistrust and fear, what are we doing on a societal level, what harm are we causing the next generation?

If you have questions about the recommendations that have been made to you during your pregnancy, it is not my place to offer advice, least of all medical, but I can offer a sound board of listening, non-judgement and questions, if necessary, to help you explore the best path for you.

And sending a big thank you to the mother who shared this experience and took the time to generously share her own birth story with me 🧡

A woman will remember for the rest of her life how she was treated when she was in labour, who was by her side, believing in her when she gave birth, how she felt when she met her baby.

(Self-)advocacy does not (arguably, should not) need to be argumentative or confrontational. It is being gently assertive, peacefully active and intentional in ensuring yours, or the person's you are supporting, wishes and needs are heard and respected.

By front-loading the advocacy in pregnancy, familiarity with this way of communicating will grow, bringing confidence and empowerment to your decision-making, as well as making your birth support team aware well ahead of time of your wishes. This may mitigate unnecessary hurdles in the road later on. What might this look like?

❓ Asking questions and making your preferences known in midwife/medical appointments.

📄 Birth planning - writing these things down and being really intentional about planning your birth, creating a personal document to be shared with your birth team.

🗨️ Practising self-advocacy with your birth partner/support people.

📧 Sharing preferences and plan in writing in communication with your birth team.
.
.
.
#birthplanning #birthsupport #birthadvocate #birthrights #birthchoices #antenataleducation

Have you had an unexpected curveball in your third trimester or are you meeting barriers when it comes to your wishes being heard? Is your due period imminent and you would value last minute support at your birth?

We know that sometimes pregnancy and birth planning does not go as expected, and we also know that relationship is fundamental to us providing good quality support. If you have worked with or been supported by one of us antenatally, and you feel this speaks to you, please reach out to Tamsin, Lucy or Alex and arrange a chat to see how we can help and hold space for you at this time ✨
.
.
.
#birthsupport #birthdoula #sharedcare #birthchoices

Advocacy from a doula, birthworker, independent birth support person, whatever you want to call us (the same also goes for independent midwives), is very unique, as is any advocacy role of someone who is completely independent of the service that is delivering your care. This is arguably the most valuable asset of a doula. This and the fact that they KNOW you through their continuous support of, and relationship they have built with you, over the preceding months before your birth.

The issue with the repeated offers of interventions you have already made clear you are declining, is the way this could interfere with your mindset around a vulnerable time. 'they keep offering x/y/z, should I be accepting this? I've thought so long about not wanting X/Y/Z but they must know best/there must be a good reason for my wellbeing that this keeps being offered'. Any health professional worth their salt is telling you exactly why they are offering something, either because of good and strong evidence, or it is their policy to offer, or some other reason. If they are not, or you are unsure, ask, or have someone with you who can ask. Often, not always, it is a policy-driven offer, not based on how you, the individual are presenting.

A side note on refusal vs decline: it is unlikely that you are 'refusing' anything, but rather, exercising your right to say 'no'; you are declining. 'Refuse' is a heavily loaded term that puts the care provider in the driving seat, the one carrying all the power. Thankfully during my time in the NHS there was a noticeable shift away from this language however it will still show up and is really important to pay attention to. Maybe old habits just die hard, or maybe it speaks to the person's perspective on you as their 'patient'.

This area opens up a big discussion around the regulation of doulas, should they be? Shouldn't they be? If doulas become answerable to a governing body, are they still doulas? Do women need another authority 'saving' them from their own capable decision-making?

What do you think? What's your experience with anything around the topic of advocacy?
.
.
.
#advocacy #birthrights #birthchoicesmatter #birthsupport

A whistlestop tour of some of the issues behind language and specifically language attached to medical interventions including membrane sweeps in labour and birth. Very hard to capture it all in a 3 minute reel so I have skimmed the edges and spoken about some common themes:

- infantalising language that minimises harm, risks and likelihood of deviation from expected path of labour and birth. Harder to spot language for example 'just a little', 'just pop up here', 'ping it out the way' should all be paid attention to for how this likely points to the wider practice of the individual care provider and their care.
- consent: you may have agreed to a vaginal examination, has consent also been sought from you for a sweep to be carried out at the same time?

Other themes not discussed but relevant:

- a sweep is a method to induce labour before it has started spontaneously. Although this is made clear in the NICE guidelines for induction, it is alluded to being a pre-induction method on the NHS website. This is important because the way your care provider talks about the process and what it is and is not speaks to their practice beyond the sweep, which again is important if you are looking to have a particular type of birth where this person is likely to be present, or at least is playing a significant role in carrying out a procedure that may influence the next and/or later stages of labour.
- depending on the stage in pregnancy (eg 38 weeks or 42 weeks) that conversations around sweeps are happening, the practitioner's understanding, belief in and support of birth may be revealing itself.

I wonder if these themes came up in the 2024 birth trauma enquiry and informed recommendations and maternity care guideline changes, how different things might look for people giving birth in 2025.

I can support you with these things ahead of time through birth planning during pregnancy, giving thought to what you want and what you don't want to happen, alongside solid advocacy in line with your preferences during your labour and birth 🧡
.
.
.
#membranesweep #sweep #birthrights #birthchoices #birthchoicesmatter #antenataleducation #birthplanning #birthsupport #birthadvocate

Pregnant and new parent drop-in tomorrow, Monday 16th June, 1-2.30pm at Trago Lounge in Portswood, please come along for support, signposting, soundboarding, tea and cake, whatever you need 🫶🏼

I've given a lot of thought since my daughter's birth to why I decided not to hire a doula, not least because I now am one, but also because I had the opportunity, the support was offered from a trusted friend already involved with birth work, so why didn't I take it?

The reason, or so I thought until the real penny dropped recently, was that it seemed unnecessary. I wasn't afraid, I was excited, & my mum had had two straightforward births, why wouldn't I? Yes I was surrounded by sad stories of experiences I was hoping to avoid, but why would it happen to me? Isn't it interesting how we pick & choose the information that suits us & fail to see the dissonance staring us in the face?

A topic needing a post of its own is the significant obstacle I failed to appreciate at the time in all of this: the role of the NHS institution & the strength of its power over our choices and decision-making when we walk into a hospital without at least awareness of it, if not strong advocacy; when we become 'patient', despite our best intentioned research.

But the penny drop moment & real reason I came to realise: it came from a place of not valuing myself enough. And honestly? I was comfortable there, until I wasn't, until the repercussions shook me awake. It wasn't conscious but I see it now: I didn't see my worth in paying for support that would put me front and centre of the birth of my child. What did I think was going to happen, I'd somehow watch the whole thing from the sidelines? It's a mad thought I'm still making sense of now.

Many talk of the cost of birth support as a barrier, see it as indulgent even, 'well if you can afford it, how nice!'. But while spending thousands (tens of, even) on a wedding, regular holidays, nice things and experiences is almost a cultural expectation, why is it considered such an indulgence to pay to put ourselves (and our families) first, to value our health? Perhaps when we give more thought to the lack of money there is to be made from healthy, informed humans taking action from a place of worthiness, we will start to see a shift.

What is your experience with self-worth? At any time of self-investment, does this resonate at all? 🧡

Yesterday was International Homebirth Day, and today I'm celebrating my sister on the anniversary of the birth of her first baby, at home 💕

She heard the hospital odds and decided it wasn't for her. She learned about labour pain and how it was nothing like the pain and shock you experience when you stub your toe (a real worry of hers before!). And the ripple effects into the people around her and the confidence this has built in their own bodies is incredible to see, so inspiring and hopeful.

Homebirth is safe. It is safe for first time mums. It is often safe even in the face of information being put to you about various 'risk' categories you fall into. Depending on your definition of safety, many say it is the safer option.

Where you choose to birth is up to you, but with the rate of unnecessary interventions and harm coming at women and babies today, birthing at home needs to be normalised now more than ever. Families deserve better, and the existing resources to be diverted and made available to support this choice that optimises physiological birth and a healthy start to life.

Happy 1st Birthday baby boy, and Happy Birthing Day to you @nswainey 🩵❤️🩵

Shared with permission, these were some of the first words spoken by an inspiring woman with renewed strength and confidence that I supported postnatally, after the birth of her second baby.

They were the difference between feeling informed and sure in her decision-making, and missing these things during her first birth. The difference between feeling emotionally held by health professionals, and feeling alone and not having her basic needs for comfort and care met. Of feeling empowered and safe in her body, rather than apprehensive and afraid in the uncertainty of birth.

Some might say it is normal or expected that a second or subsequent birth will be experienced more positively, or felt with more confidence than a first. I would say it is common, and owing to the birthing body having 'warmed up' from the first birth, depending on the nature of the previous birth the mind feeling safe in the familiarity of it, yes the experience will be different. But we shouldn't be normalising the expectation of a first birth being dissatisfying, or disappointing, and certainly not traumatic.

When the right support is in place, when the education and information gathered in pregnancy is accurate, up-to-date and shared from a place of believing in birth and women's birthing bodies, positive experiences and excited expressions of 'WOW! Let me do that again!' are happening for many first births too. It is certainly true that, depending on the environment in which you birth and the care providers that are present, more advocacy will be required to ensure patience and a calm environment are maintained, but it is possible.

Every person giving birth deserves to experience this magic, and the power that resides with them, to have people around them that trust in them and the process, and to become transformed through its life-giving, life-altering potential. If you are curious about how working with me could support you on your journey towards meeting your baby, I would love to chat ✨

And if birth has not been as you expected, I am sending you a hug and a tonne of love, and am available for support, listening and sense-making if this is what you need 🧡

😨 The Fear-Tension-Pain Cycle 🤕

You're feeling afraid, anxious or apprehensive about something, what happens in your body?

Your fight-or-flight response is activated, adrenaline and cortisol are released; depending on the intensity of the emotion, on some level you have entered into a state of survival.

Because of this your muscles tense. I don't know about you but my jaw tightens, I clench my teeth without realising (especially important to be aware of in labour). You're ready for action.

If you are in labour, this also happens to the pelvic floor and your uterus, the place where relaxation and opening are needed.

The tension leads to more intensity in the muscle contractions, they are less efficient and productivity reduces. Fear is reinforced as the intensity of the pain does not subside, and so the cycle continues.

While all this is happening, oxytocin, the love hormone and orchestrator of labour, is inhibited. Labour cannot (easily) progress.

The answer? Gaining an understanding about the role of pain in labour and how it differs to other types of pain you will have experienced before (if this is your first time), maintaining emotional safety through connection with support around you, from people who believe in you (and birth), and a calm environment.

This might be enough for you to keep anxiety or fear at bay, or you might have a more complex relationship with anxiety and/or pain. Whatever your experience, there are ways we can explore your mindset around this, hold space for beliefs that may be making a smoother time with anxiety or pain challenging, and gently find ways to reframe them, to give you a positive experience of labour and birth that not only you and your baby deserve, but is possible 🧡
.
.
.
#birthplanning #birthpreparation #birthsupport #antenataleducation #birthpsychology #perinatalmentalhealth #perinatalsupport

There is sometimes a misconception that unless you are planning a vaginal birth or one without any other intervention (because although generally positive, hiring independent support is still an intervention), you don't need the support or advocacy of an independent person. But what happens when physiology creates an unexpected, sometimes devastating fork in the road, or when for medical or personal reasons surgery is the best option for you and/or your baby? Your needs don't disappear, if anything your situation becomes more nuanced, your needs more delicate, the care needed more tender.

Having continuous support, independent from family and the care system, can mean crucial advocacy at a time when your choices might feel limited, a reassuring and familiar presence when you feel lost as the path starts to move away from that which was expected and hoped for, space held for you as you navigate decisions when your needs step outside of the 'norm' (however you view this).

Pregnancy and birth don't always take a smooth or linear path, as in life there is uncertainty and unpredictability, but no matter what your circumstances, however unique, however difficult, there will always be choices available to you about how you meet your baby.

If you are looking for support that promotes a gentle transition however it is going to look for you, your baby and your family, please reach out to hear more about how I can support you 🧡
.
.
.
#doulasupport #birthsupport #birthpartner #hampshiredoulas #birthadvocacy #birthrights

You may be wondering how this is all going to work, how am I going to get my baby out of THERE!?

Maybe you've been told your baby is looking on the larger side on the (wildly open to error) scans. What sorts of things are running through your mind. Are there thoughts about your strength and capability despite the information that's been shared, or are they associated with worry and anxiety?

Swathes of unnecessary intervention and harm is not occurring in birth because our bodies stopped working. We are seeing a successful campaign to disempower women. This started a long time ago with the way birth was portrayed in stories and media (Phoebe and Rachel giving birth in 'Friends' anyone? One Born Every Minute?), and continues into the perinatal period with dates, timeframes, examinations, instruments (and the rest) that often lack good evidence for their practice and are used from a place of not trusting birth, and not trusting women. I'm sure we've heard this before somewhere 🤔

Or maybe you believe in your body and trust it knows what it's doing, but you're not sure how to optimise the chances of having the best experience possible for you and your baby. You know what you want but you're feeling lost in all the noise. I can help you by:

🤰🏼 sharing my knowledge about birth, how it unfolds physiologically, how the hormones dance, what the primal parts of you need to allow birth to flow organically, how with instinctive movement and positioning your pelvis moves as your baby navigates their descent.

✨ supporting you towards decisions that are right for YOU, following your intuition however this speaks. Do you have a strong gut? Maybe you have sudden instinctive thoughts and ideas that guide your choices that you can't explain but you know lead you in the right direction. Or maybe you need to sound-board, hearing your own thoughts out loud. Whatever language it speaks in, let's nurture it.

🧠 tapping in to your deep-seated beliefs about worth and self-belief, that left unchecked can present unexpected obstacles in environments where adrenaline is stealing the show and oxytocin can't be seen for dust.

If any of this is resonating, I would love to chat 🧡

I heard these words in a talk recently, about living a life aligned with one's values and the core essence of what makes us unique, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them.

We all know we are deeply individual, bringing different quirks and oddities to our time here on earth, some that bring similarities and kinship, others that make our differences shine, and that when combined make us, us. We are all here with a different purpose, different journey, different lessons to learn, and yet we live in a world that tries to fit us into uniform boxes.

What has all this got to do with birth? Well, this 'boxing' could not be more obvious than around childbirth within the healthcare system. We have been conditioned to fear birth, and told that by following a set path with specific intervention options at various intervals, the whole process will be a lot easier.

But the truth? Birth is a portal of transformation. A life-changing moment of stepping into your power and experiencing the reverence and capability of your birthing body that brings life. We only get one life, and only one birth to arrive here, why are we all building bird houses when birth has the capacity of cathedrals?

OK enough of the analogies, what does all this actually mean, in real terms? Well, maybe you are..

~ dreaming of a birth at a midwife-led unit but because you have had a previous caesarean birth there are a lot of conversations about the 'risks' of birthing outside the labour ward

~ preparing for a caesarean birth and would like this to be a slow, gentle process where attention is paid to baby's experience of being born but feel like your wishes are not being listened to

~ someone who feels the environment of a birth without healthcare professionals in attendance would be most conducive to a calm, undisturbed experience for you and your baby, but fear about events after the birth is stopping you actualise the birth that is aligned with you.

Let's talk, because I'm here to help you prepare for the birth you dream of ✨

✨Birth support services website update✨

I have made a temporary update to my website about the support services I offer around birth, with more details to follow about how I can support you in preparation for birth.

If you are interested in birth and/or postnatal support, antenatal birth planning or debriefing your birth, or know someone who is, please have a look at my website to learn more about what brings me to this work and what I'm all about to see if we'd be a good match, and please reach out to have a chat 😊

If having the support of two doulas could be what you need, take a look at my Collective page and see how I can support you alongside wonderful humans @super.doula and @lucyrosedoula

🧡
.
.
.
#birthdoula #birthplanning #birthsupport #birthpreparation #postnatalsupport #doulasupport #hampshiredoulas #birthdebrief #antenataleducation

I believe they do, often not in the way we experience memory in a general sense as non-baby humans, but in an implicit way, stored in the body (although non-baby humans very much do this too). And I believe it matters, and here's why.

Tonight we had what I can only describe as a massive wobbler. I knew instinctively that it was not about the baby monitor screen my daughter was asking for. Nor the mummy milk. Nor the blanket on the bed that was not properly wrapping around her body. It was about something deeper, and it came with a particular type of cry I know well since I started sussing them out from when she was around 6 months. These are stress release cries, and ones that are important for her to see through, to allow her to let go of pent up uncomfortable feelings, suppressed through the day/s with various comforts, until they can't be masked any more.

One day around 8 months of age we had a particularly bad morning where there was lots of writhing and body jerking too (also common then). After 30 minutes of being present, verbally validating what felt possible and made sense to me, again intuitively, offering touch (mostly rejected), literally holding the space for her to kick, scream, thrash around, get it all out of her system, there was calm, and a noticeable shift in her eyes. I took a photo and the difference is still astonishing to me. You could see a lightness and relief, a glisten that wasn't there before the episode. Other times (like I hope for tonight), there would be a really deep relaxed sleep after a big cry, and what I can only describe as a little development leap when she woke up.

To me these are like triggers we speak about as adults, or maybe even flashbacks at times (this is how I view the night terrors that thankfully have mostly passed). And I sense in myself that the root of these are from both her birth, and also from before that, growing inside her mother at a time when stress was experienced and feelings went unsaid.

I talk about this a lot to anyone that will listen, not because my daughter is special or unique in these experiences, but exactly because she is not, CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

It's been a while (again!) but today is my birthday so I think a nice time to say Hello! and I'm still here! I've been thinking about my mum being in labour with me 37 years ago, and wondering what that was like for a first-time mum then, how was she feeling? Was she supported to trust what her body was telling her, and was that respected, was she listened to? I wish for this to be true for all people welcoming their babies into the world.

Here's an old photo of me and my sister that I love, and that today I see how much of our own babies there are in our faces 🧡 the second photo is me IRL, still here despite the radio silence (still working on how to manage life and social media-ing), still obsessed about birth and its reverence, supporting women to be heard and respected in their choices, and especially obsessed with the importance of birth being gentle and peaceful, whatever the circumstances.

Here's how you can work with me, and my availability over the next few months:

~ antenatal, birth and postnatal support - all or some of it, whichever you need;
~ a therapeutic approach is inherent in how I work as a doula but if you need time set aside specifically for therapy, from pre-conception through to postpartum, I am an accredited CBT therapist (I also offer therapy that is not birth related);
~ a birth reflection, either as a one-off or over a couple of sessions, and whether birth has been challenging, unexpected or you just have questions;
~ birth planning that is congruent with you, no template birth plans here, just an up-front and honest conversation about who you really are with the layers of the onion peeled back, who you are when no-one's watching and there are no other needs to meet, to help you plan birth that suits the very essence of you. More to come on this on my website but please reach out if you're interested.
~ free monthly drop-in in Portswood, Southampton! See my pinned post 🙂

~ I am full up with lovely life things and a special birth in July but have capacity for birth support from mid-August and postnatal support between now and then.

For now, bone broth is calling me, for a gorgeous soon-to-be-postpartum, second-time mum ✨

Movement and biomechanics of birth

I knew having freedom to move during labour and birth was important, but I didn't really get why.

I knew that the birthing body favoured fluid movements, not being static for too long, having the space to instinctively find the best position.

But not until I learned about the biomechanics of birth, and even then, not truly until I observed it in action in an undisturbed birth, did I actually understand.

The way a person naturally finds themselves in a forward leaning position (perhaps, but not necessarily, an inversion) to create space in the pelvis for the baby to rotate. Or an symmetrical stance to open up the mid-pelvis to support baby's journey at the tightest point. Pulling on a wrap (safely!) secured over a door to open up the outlet.

Positions that support women and birthing people in labour, but also during pregnancy that bring balance to the body in preparation for the task ahead, are often fluid movements that the child in us would naturally be drawn to. Remember sitting on something high up and swinging your legs? Lying back on a swing and closing your eyes and the relaxed state this brought about? Labour and birth isn't so different.

Practising and relaxing into different positions that support the biomechanics of birth, during pregnancy, can be a game changer. You are informing your thinking brain that this is important and here's why (the physical relief you feel from doing them) and getting your body into the practice of what will become invaluable in labour.

For much much more on this, I recommend following @theserenitydoula

🧡

This came up during some antenatal care recently so I decided to dive into the topic. I refreshed on Sara Wickham's 'In Your Own Time' and listened to the Midwives Cauldron and Birthing instincts (#315) podcast episodes.

Advanced maternal age in maternity care is generally considered to be 35 and over. Since in 2025 this is a growing number of birthing women and people, it seemed like an important topic to highlight.

The bottom line is that with advancing age, yes, there come more health problems. But the problem is, as yet, no data exists to determine whether it is older age exclusively that is responsible for the increased risk, or other health problems (co-morbidities) that may be more likely with increasing age, but that can occur at any age.

Until there is more research that explores this gap in understanding, it seems immaterial to keep going back and forth. And yet since it IS a frequently occurring factor for decision-making in labour, it remains an important one to keep on the table.

If this topic is of interest or feels relevant to your situation, before I continue trying to reinvent the wheel, I recommend starting here
https://www.sarawickham.com/research-updates/induction-for-advanced-maternal-age/

And if all this feels like too much information to take in, if you're 39 weeks pregnant and already in the full swing of conversations like this, take a moment to pause, get some fresh air, and breathe. Ask yourself, how am I feeling right now? What do I need? Have I got time to think on this?

Without obligation for on-going support, my inbox is always open if you just need 30 minutes to sound out what's going on for you, to help you on your way to choosing the path that is best for you and your baby 🧡
.

.
.
#birthsupport #birthplanning #birthpreparation #inductionoflabour #evidencebased #evidencebasedpractice

I don't know who needs to hear this today but after some time with a particularly special kind of warrior mother, seeing her smiling, singing to her favourite music while she showered, applying a bit of make-up, doing the things that make her feel 'me', I was reminded that even after the toughest of starts, whether it's your first or your fifth, even only two weeks postpartum when your baby has barely stopped feeding all night long and will not sleep anywhere but on your chest (all completely normal and appropriate by the way, though will feel anything BUT when you're in the thick of it), there is always hope, and there will be moments of joy where you start to feel like yourself again. And these moments will only become more as you continue to find your feet in this new version of you 🪻

Find your people who can nurture and support you on this journey 🧡
.
.
.
#postnatalsupport #postpartummentalhealth #fourthtrimester #internationalwomensday #postnatalplan

I came across this incredible tonic during birth planning with an expectant mum. Nutrition to maintain her strength and stamina through labour was a top priority and this alongside bone broth, cacao and teaspoons of honey were what saw her and her body through the marathon of bringing her baby into the world. The light but nourishing drink really packs a punch and small regular sips are all that's needed for the natural ingredients to provide the energy to keep going ⚡

Coconut water - a natural electrolyte, highly beneficial for labour, that contains minerals including potassium, sodium, and magnesium, helping remove toxins from the body and provide energy and hydration.

Citrus fruits - a natural sugar providing energy, citric acid also soothes digestion and helps with flushing out toxins.

Sea or himalayan salt - these contain trace minerals that help muscle function, supporting the uterus to contract effectively through labour.

Honey - a natural sugar to sustain energy. In ayurvedic practice honey is also used for mental balance and is found to help relieve anxiety and lower cortisol.

Recipe
2 cups coconut water
1 cup water
1 tbsp honey
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime (or any of your preferred citrus fruits)
1/4 tsp sea or himalayan salt

I have also seen variations of which include raspberry leaf tea and rescue remedy drops, so experiment with flavours you like that will fuel you on this journey, and hit save for when you need this later!
.
.
.
#birthplanning
#birthpreparation
#birthsupport

Interview with a doula, with Hampshire Doulas.

I answered some questions about why I chose to train as a doula and my favourite ways to support women and their birth partners antenatally and in labour. Check out the link in @hampshiredoulas bio and follow the links to blogs and interview with a doula to find out more about how I work 🧡
.
.
.
#hampshiredoulas
#doula
#doulasupport
#birthplanning
#birthsupport
#postnatalsupport
#traumainformed

✨ Birth support ✨

I realise this post is a little late. It occurred to me during a conversation with a friend recently that I have been guilty of speaking as if into an echo chamber of birth lovers, not covering the basics of what it is I do.

These are fairly universally accepted aspects of what a doula is/does, with my own spin /take on what my priorities are. For more on where I focus my support see my next post...

A sidenote on 'being' rather than 'doing' (worthy of an entire post another day). There is a joke amongst critics that doulas merely sit in a corner and mop the person's brow as they focus on bringing their baby into the world. This is what is often called 'holding space', and my goodness what a difference might we see in rates of depression, anxiety and trauma after birth if there was a little more presence, and a little less action. If this sounds hard to believe, check out these accounts of birth workers that I (and many others) hold in high esteem for their patience and respect for birth, and the differences they see when this is happening:

@kemibirthjoyjohnson
@theserenitydoula
@the_original_birth_connection
.
.
.
#doulasupport
#birthsupport
#birthplanning
#postnatalsupport
#hampshiredoulas
#duein2025
#traumainformedbirth

✨ Doula drop-in for pregnant and postpartum mums and families ✨

~ Are you pregnant or in the early stage of newborn life and looking for community?

~ Are you looking for information about birth and planning and preparing around this?

~ Has something come up in an antenatal appointment that has left you with more questions than answers and you'd value an independent sounding board?

~ Are you the loved one of or supporting someone in this phase of life?

Whatever your need, we are here for all of this and more to support and chat to you from pregnancy through to birth and the fourth trimester.

As mothers of young children ourselves, we are all too aware of the noise across the perinatal period and we want to be a part of the solution. We hope to offer a space that is free from judgement, respectful, and that offers curiosity, questions and vast amounts of listening to help you navigate this journey to find the solutions that work for you and your family.

Come and join Mads and Alex for a drink and a chat at Trago Lounge, Portswood on Monday 17th February, 1-3pm. This will be running every 3rd Monday of the month.

* Trago Lounge are kindly offering a free hot drink to every newcomer at their first drop-in.

I attended some training recently and was reminded of this simple message. As adults working through trauma we often come to learn that the foundations of this were set in the absence of empathy. Whether through wilful neglect or as a result of one's own unresolved trauma and resulting difficulty in being present in the emotional expression of others, not being seen/heard/understood is often at the root of emotional distress. In the presence of empathy and compassion, healing can start.

It is widely acknowledged that this is a fundamental aspect of a nurturing and successful relationship between a person and their therapist, that they feel validated, understood, and regarded positively, unconditionally.

But this is not a skill limited to the therapy room, this is true for any interpersonal relationship, and true too between a parent and their baby. William Emerson talks about the power of love in healing the relational field around the baby and that when there is love in the family, trauma is eased. Better still, what if trauma can be prevented?

Prenatal bonding can really support this, and it can be as organic or pre-planned as you like, from talking to your unborn baby, playing them your favourite music, or meditating while holding your pregnant belly. I love the concept of a natural ultrasound where baby is palpated (felt) and beautifully drawn on to the mother's stomach.

Did you do prenatal bonding with your baby? What did this look like?

🧡

... If you learned that, like clockwork, every month your cycle starts afresh in the waning moon, within a few days of it being full. Your child was born two days after the full moon. And you discovered that you too were born in a waning moon. (This is me).

What would you think? Would you think it's just coincidence, or are our bodies perfectly designed and in tune with mother nature? We already know how it affects 70% of the Earth's surface, is the 60% (av.) we carry that different? If pregnant, would you be inclined to look up the full moon dates in your due 'window'?

If more people had this information as standard in their birth preparation toolkit, how might it foster self trust, that all the information needed is within us, for the time when vulnerability to outside pressure and noise about 'due' dates increases?

My suggestion to anyone thinking about trying to conceive would be to start familiarising themselves with their cycle, to notice the patterns, if there are times when they're feeling more introspective (commonly when bleeding) or more energised and interested in engaging with others (possibly around ovulation). Whatever is the pattern, harness and embrace it. My belief is that when the time comes, this will be far more valuable than a computer generated due date.

And if we work together, my promise to you is to prioritise your intuition: listening in, and ultimately nurturing trust in it. There will be less space and less of a need for outsourcing a search for the answers, leaving you feeling empowered in the decisions you make. 🎑🧡

Expectant Parent Hub

Are you pregnant and planning your birth? Supporting someone as birth partner and wondering how to help them, and you, prepare for birth? Have suggestions or recommendations been made by health professionals and you're left with questions?

Are you wondering what postpartum life might look like? Wondering how to best prepare for you and your baby to have the most nurturing fourth trimester? Are you feeling dizzy listening to newborn advice and wondering what actually is 'normal'?

Whether it's a sounding board to help you lean in to what feels right for you, guidance on where up-to-date information can be found, or just a natter about birth with some tea and cake, I'm here for it!

I will be here @maplemaplestrawberry every Monday between 10.30 and 12.30 with Rach @creativebirthdoula. Come and join us, we would love to see you!

Expectant parent hub @maplemaplestrawberry !

Come and join Rach @creativebirthdoula and I this coming Monday, 10.30-12.30 to chat all things pregnancy, birth and postpartum and meet other expectant families! This is a free ticketed event so please follow the link to the events calendar in @maplemaplestrawberry bio to book.

Please pass on to anyone who would find this space useful, whether already expecting, pre-conception, supporting a family member on this journey, all are warmly welcome 🧡

Have you recently given birth and are left with questions about what happened? Do you have conflicting feelings around it? Maybe it was several years or even decades ago and questions remain about the way things went, the things that were said, the decisions that were made.

It is hard to find the words to describe the despair of the devastating reality that many many people today are experiencing the birth of their child as, at best dissatisfying, and at worst traumatic, with increasing cases of PTSD. This is not something that they should be having to seek recovery from, yet feelings left unprocessed or trauma unresolved can have a lasting impact on mothers and their relationship with their babies. Fortunately for many, often all it takes to start this healing is an opportunity to be heard, to tell their story.

I'm extending my birth support services and starting this with a FREE birth reflection offering to 5 mothers, to talk and share unapologetically, to feel validated, and to process what has happened.

It will not be a time to fix, but a judgement-free space to be heard and emotionally held, whatever feelings come up. This is not a therapy offering, although the time together may highlight a role/benefit to this, and I can support with signposting or discuss other ways I can help.

I offer this as someone with personal experience and understanding of what it is to have complicated feelings around birth, and as a professional in my capacity as a doula with knowledge of this physiological wonder, and a psychological therapist with many years spent supporting change and growth through compassionate listening.

If you would like to share your birth story, I would feel honoured to listen. Please drop REFLECTION in the comments or reach out privately 🧡

Hello friends, family and followers of instagram ! Happy 2025, and introducing to you my first reel (no small feat 😅) 🥳

This time last year I was two months in to my six month-long training as a doula with @the_original_birth_connection and two months away from the in-person skills weekend with this brilliant group of humans. Embarking on this training has been one of the best decisions I've ever made, not only professionally but also on a personal level; as in preparation for birth, embracing more independent, informed decision making has been nothing short of life-changing.

I can't speak highly enough of the programme so carefully put together by Alex, and the mentoring and education also provided by Michelle @the_kiwi_doula. With advocacy, intersectionality and a trauma-informed approach at its heart, and additional training from perinatal experts @kemibirthjoyjohnson, @mixing.up.motherhood, @thetonguetiecentre and @mother.of.pearl_doula, clients can feel confident in my appreciation of the challenges that women face when engaging with national maternity services today, and a respect and understanding for the (extra)ordinary event that is birth.

What would you like to know had been covered in your doula's training? Please share in the comments or reach out if you'd like to know more 🧡

Hello! I am overdue an intro 🙂

I'm Alex, the face behind Gentle Foundations. These words formed around the time I reflected on my own experience of birth. The absence of this that was felt. I kept wondering, what was that like for my baby? The strength of these words grew in my mind the more I channelled my energy into learning about birth + training as a doula.

As humans we are all sensitive beings, yet never more so than in our earliest moments. We experience things more deeply than we have been led to believe, and the start of our journey, I believe, is profoundly important in our experience of the rest of our time here on earth. We all deserve to have a peaceful, respectful + gentle start to life, whatever the mode of birth. It is my mission to support mothers, babies + their families I am lucky enough to walk alongside, start life from this gentle foundation.

We talk about birth trauma, but in the main this is usually (always?) said with the mother in mind, oftentimes the birth partner, or occasionally professionals supporting the birthing person (secondary/vicarious trauma). But what about the baby's experience? Even when a birth has been objectively straightforward, they too have been pushed to the limit of what it is to be human.

I have a special interest in trauma + psychological wellbeing, coming into the birth world with over 10 years experience working with mental health. Yet what I have learned in my own journey is how early trauma can leave an imprint on the soul. But not only this: positively + wonderfully, how early it can start to heal when understanding, and compassion + empathy for these early experiences are present. I have seen the change with my own eyes.

I offer:
- antenatal, birth + postnatal support - the whole package or whichever elements suit you best;
- talking therapy across the perinatal period, from pre-conception to postpartum (indefinite) including CBT trauma-focused therapy. This may include a birth reflection.
- I hope to one day have the skills to offer baby therapy, but in the meantime these accounts are a great place to learn more: @kt_baby_therapy @theholdingmother @birthimprints

🧡

Doulas.

You've heard of them and you like the idea, but you're not sure if continuous support through your pregnancy and birth is worth the investment, or you still need to convince a partner. You've also heard the stories: earlier this year the birth trauma enquiry was inundated with personal accounts of experiences of system failures, whether it was a failure to listen, failure to provide adequate information for fully informed consent (i.e. people often didn't really know what they were agreeing to), or incomprehensibly, a lack of kindness. The system is not about to change.

But this is where independent support can be the difference between a positive and a negative experience. Did you know that a review in 2017 of all the available evidence on the effects on women and babies of continuous support, found that these women were:
🤸‍♀️ more likely to have increased mobility
🤱 leading to more spontaneous vaginal births
🧪 less likely to need pain medication
😍 and more likely to feel satisfied with their experience?

Let me know your thoughts 🧡

Birth.

What do you imagine the environment that you birth in to be like? Who is with you? What can you see? Smell? Taste? How does all this make you feel?

Birth is universal, transcending barriers across culture, race, life landscape, yet is at the same time deeply personal. Whether it's at home or in hospital or somewhere else entirely, having the personal touches around that fuel your oxytocin is not only doable but vital, and tuning in to this vision during those precious 9 months of growing your baby can be very powerful in working towards achieving that.

This is the environment of a birth I recently supported of an incredible mother who envisaged her birth in this space for months. The consideration to low lighting, a canopy for privacy (ultimately not used during the birth but just having it there I believe gave her comfort, and was a perfect spot for bonding and feeding baby after birth), and a place for spiritual guidance that was important to her, all provided the strength, determination and trust that birth requires.

What an honour it was to support this inspiring woman at such a pivotal moment of her life ✨

What would be your top priority in your birth space?

It is so important to consider the energy of the people in your birth space.

Think about the last time you were embarking on something important and everything in your being was shouting 'YES! I can do this!', but for whatever reason those around you had their doubts.

What did this do to your mindset? Did it change? Did you do the thing?

I had experience with this recently. I knew the thing was the right choice for me, but I also knew that doubts from others could get in to my head. So I shut out the noise, and I did the thing. It was epic! And an important lesson in believing in myself and following my gut.

Get people on board who believe in you, because you have got this!

#doula #doulasupport #birthpreparation #birthplan #hampshiredoulas #dorsetdoula #pregnancy

The fourth trimester: mothering the mother.

When babies are born, family and friends usually visit with baby being the focus: for a cuddle, to share gifts and generally welcome them into the world. Of course they do, the baby has just been on the most amazing journey! And these excited visits can be lovely and I'm not suggesting we forego them, but what can be missed is the holding of the mother following this transformational shift in her life. A time of great physical and emotional healing. A time when all a baby needs is its mother, and all she really needs is to be supported to do that, however that looks for the family.

For some this might involve preparing a nourishing meal, for others it might be folding laundry, or taking the dog for a walk. Or it might indeed involve some holding of the baby, to give mum space to recharge for a couple of hours - for me, it was taking my daughter for a walk while I slept on a day I had nothing left in the tank. This, along with delicious cakes and hearty soups, is how I was supported by Marion, the amazing hands behind this beautiful knitwear that our resident doll found herself returning home in this week, much to our daughter's excited surprise 😍 I wish for every new mum to feel as supported as I did, in a way that makes her feel held, nurtured, and available for her baby.

What did support in your fourth trimester look like? 🧡

The Birth Partner.

I've been burrowed away reading, listening and learning as I get prepped as birth partner for a wonderful new mama next month and this gem by Penny Simkin, kindly shared by my lovely friend and fellow doula @jess_franzi has been a brilliant companion and resource - from the detailed but simply written stages and phases of labour, to comfort measure (aka pain relief) support through movement, touch, rhythm and ritual, this book is a must for all birth partners whether romantic, family or professional 📖 (2nd photo to demonstrate its value from all the folded pages, before I got my hands on it!)

I've been very quiet on here trying to find a balance between different life hats 🎩 but plan to share more content about the whos, whys and whats of me 😉 please check out my website linked in the bio in the meantime 🧡

How different might the health of our world be if peace was the priority in birth? Whether a planned caesarean, spontaneous vaginal, or an emergency caesarean birth when physiology has thrown a curveball, what might we gain if a gentle, peaceful start to life was the focus?

I loved the sentiment behind these simple words. For a wonderful lesson in the beauty of birth, the full conversation with traditional midwife, Ina May Gaskin, can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMDbLy6EqLs

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

INTUITION-LED BIRTH SUPPORT

emotional support from pregnancy through to the postnatal period, intuitively-guided by a birth worker and perinatal mental health professional bringing a psychological therapy toolkit. Gentle Foundations is based in Fareham on the south coast of Hampshire.

Meet Alex

Services

01

BIRTH SUPPORT

02

POSTNATAL SUPPORT

03

BIRTH PLANNING

04

BIRTH REFLECTIONS

Follow me on Instagram for all things birth
and baby's experiences

Photography by https://www.elawopatphotography.com/

INTUITION-LED BIRTH SUPPORT

emotional support from pregnancy through to the postnatal period, intuitively-guided by a birth worker and perinatal mental health professional bringing a psychological therapy toolkit. Gentle Foundations is based in Fareham on the south coast of Hampshire.

Meet Alex

Services

01

BIRTH SUPPORT

02

POSTNATAL SUPPORT

03

BIRTH PLANNING

04

BIRTH REFLECTIONS

​

Follow me on Instagram for all things birth and baby's experiences

Photography by https://www.elawopatphotography.com/

Follow me on Instagram for all things birth
and baby's experiences