I am blessed with two beautiful boys, Billy and Rocco. Their births couldn’t have been more different.

With Billy, we planned a water birth at home. Unfortunately, Billy’s head wasn’t tucked and was therefore obstructed in my pelvis, meaning he was unable to be born naturally. We transferred to the hospital where I had to have an epidural so that I wouldn’t feel any contractions and therefore not push. We hoped this would give Billy time to move his head to a more favourable position. This ultimately proved to be unsuccessful and I was told I needed to have a caesarean, which I found difficult to accept because I had my heart set on a natural home birth and I desperately wanted to push him out. So much attachment I had and so much pressure I placed on myself! The caesarean was a success and beautiful in every way and I can still today recall the overwhelming joy that my husband and I felt when we welcomed Billy into the world. He was able to be placed directly on my chest and did not leave my skin apart from when I was stitched up.

Throughout the entire birthing process our doula, Svenja Petry was incredible. She offered constant emotional and physical support not only to me but to my husband as well. She was able to answer his questions and alleviate any concerns he had so that I could focus my energy on giving birth. Having recently qualified as a Doula myself before Billy was born, his birth empowered me even more to support women throughout their pregnancy, birth and beyond.

Whilst Billy’s birth didn’t happen as we’d ‘planned’, it was nonetheless a valuable learning experience and one I am grateful.

For the birth of our second son, Rocco, my husband and I planned for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) water birth; like we’d hoped for with Billy. This time around we got lucky, as Rocco was born quickly and naturally at the hospital’s birth centre.

Rocco’s birth was incredibly healing for me, as it helped me to heal the emotions I was still carrying from Billy’s birth. It has been these experiences that has lead me to want to support other women and their partners in their birthing journeys and ensure they feel supported during the postnatal period.

Billy’s birth was an empowering and incredible caesarean, however the recovery impacted how I embraced the start of my motherhood journey. Recovering from a C-section after labouring all day takes an incredible amount of energy out of your body, which hugely inhibited my milk supply. Billy was starving, unsettled and our sleep deprived and exhausted path to PND began there.

The weeks and months after he was born was a blur with just trying to get through the day, get him to feed, get him to sleep, get myself fed and showered and if there was any energy left, an activity outside. At the end of the day I felt full of guilt that I was not enjoying my everyday with him and experienced a lack of confidence in my mothering. Why did it have to be this hard? Am I not enough?

I have heard a similar story from my clients all too often and I am here my darlings, to support you through your pregnancy, birth and post-natal journey so that you can EMBRACE your transition to parenthood, thrive in your everyday, feeling full of self-worth, self-love and confidence in your motherhood journey.