Hey,
I'm Amy and I'm a birth doula and freebirth supported in Gwynedd, North Wales.
Since my initial journey into motherhood and all of the healing and growth that it brought me, I’ve felt a strong desire to support women throughout their own transitions. Birth has always been a very spiritual and inward journey for me, with my second, third and fourth births changing me in profound ways just as my first did. I really believe that huge life lessons can be found in each of my unique birth experiences and that postpartum, with it's intense hormonal shifts, is an opportunity for deep reflection on those lessons (whilst also enjoying the magic of the baby bubble, of course).
Sometimes, the way I was treated by consultants or midwives during these journeys left me feeling like some of the precious moments had been tarnished. Whilst society has normalised the behaviours I and many women I know have experienced, I felt deep in my soul that it wasn’t normal and both women and their babies deserve far better.
After my second birth within the NHS, I realised that I couldn't be a part of the UK maternity system if I wanted to support women in the way I wanted to. I knew I was drawn to birth work itself but in a way that protected the birth space on a spiritual level, so the role of a birth doula felt right for me.
I then embarked on a deep, inward journey towards healing. After therapy to address my birth traumas, taking time to work through bonding issues with my second-born and continuing to do extensive research and reading on all things pregnancy, birth and postpartum, I started planning for my third pregnancy and birth. I saw the value in hiring a birth doula that pregnancy and in March 2023, I had the blissful, truly undisturbed, beautiful, physiological birth and uninterrupted postpartum that I’d always yearned for with just my partner, firstborn and doula by my side. It was magic.
This motivated me to begin my trauma informed doula training with Kate Woods of Conscious Birthing. Whilst I expected to learn a lot from Kate's 20+ years of doula wisdom, I didn't anticipate the sheer amount of inner work that would be involved and spent the next four months digesting, reflecting and integrating before attending my first birth. The time I spent with Kate, along with her continued mentorship has been invaluable for me.
