Rebecca Hunt (full spectrum doula)

About Me

Hi, my name is Rebecca.  I live in Bishopston, Bristol with my husband, three grown children  and not forgetting Jasper our black lab and Tiggy the cat.  I feel enormously proud to have had three positive homebirths, surrounded by the loving presence of my husband and fantastic midwives.  Each birth was different from the last, but what they all had in common were they left me with a feeling of enormous strength and empowerment, something that I will carry with me throughout my life.

I was born in Somerset and spent much of my early childhood there before moving to South Wales.  For much of that time I lived on small-holdings, surrounded by animals where I regularly observed them being born and coming to the end of their lives.  This led to a deep appreciation of the cycle of life and witnessing birth and death as a completely physiological process. These experiences made a lasting impression and impacted significantly on how I decided to approach my own birth births.

In preparing for my births, I became acutely aware of how important it is to follow your instincts on where you will feel the most safe and birth best, to then access the right information and support to facilitate this.  Knowledge is power!  I felt a strong desire to be at home where I felt safe and secure and to know the caregiver that would support me.  The presence of a midwife that I was familiar with and would be able to offer continuity of care in the early days of parenting was really valuable to me.

My son and eldest daughter were born on land with the support of a fantastic independent midwife, Sue Learner.  My third was born in water, under the gentle supervision of a Bishopston community midwife (another Sue!). I loved being at home raising my children, so once they got a little older and started school, I was keen to pursue a new direction that was rewarding and fulfilling and involved working closely with people. Through my positive and empowering birth experiences, I felt passionate about working with other women to offer support to them and their families in achieving positive experiences of their births and early parenting.

I trained as a Doula with Relaxed Birth and Parenting in 2011. Since qualifying, I have attended births in home, birth centre and hospital settings.   Over the years, I have gained a breadth of experience supporting women wanting;

• a natural birth with little or no intervention
• women that choose a more medicalised route
• mother’s that may have experienced previous interventions and difficult births, resulting in trauma
• those wanting a VBAC or HBAC delivery (Vaginal or Home Birth after Caesarean)
• multiple births – TWINS (vaginal, elective & emergency caesarean)
• mother’s that have gone through fertility treatment (IVF and ICSI), miscarriage and loss.
• elective or emergency caesarean births
• birth following previous trauma, antenatal and postnatal depression

My doula work covers Bristol and all surrounding areas within an hours drive of my home.  I provide antenatal, birth and postnatal support, including birth preparation, establishing birth preferences, comfort measures for pregnancy and birth, on-call and birth attendance, providing tailored postnatal support to suit your changing needs, birth debriefing and ongoing breastfeeding support. I bring a calm, committed and caring approach, working intuitively with women, partners and their families. I’m a good listener and am able to empathise with people, to understand what feels right for them and to support them in following their choices in a relaxed way.

I have close links with both Southmead – NBT and St Michael’s- UHBristol Maternity Services, I’m also involved with Maternity Voices Partnership and Make Birth Better as a Champion.

Other

I currently volunteer for a charity Project MAMA as a Mother Companion, offering emotional and practical support to mamas facing complex vulnerabilities, to help guide them through pregnancy, birth and the immediate weeks after childbirth.  It feels so important to offer solidarity to these mamas, to support them to advocate for their own birth rights and feel confident and well-supported as they begin their parenting journey in the UK.  Previously, I have volunteered in my children’s primary school, supporting a year 2 teacher in the day-to-day learning activities.  I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the school community, providing a nurturing approach to the children’s day.

I have been practising Pilates for over 20 years, having discovered it after childbirth to address abdominal separation. I continued to practice throughout my subsequent pregnancies and decided to train to be a Certified Level 3 Instructor in 2014 with Future Fit training (I am fully insured).   I feel passionate about supporting women to journey through pregnancy as comfortably as possible and weave body & breathwork knowledge into the antenatal support and postnatal recovery sessions.  I’ve completed Molly O’Brien’s foundation and advanced ‘Biomechanics for Birth’ courses (Optimal Birth) in addition to Suzanne Yates’ ‘Shiatsu for Midwives & Doulas’ foundation course (Wellmother),  ‘Postnatal Recovery Massage’  with Sophie Messager and ‘Breastfeeding support’ with April Whincop IBCLC (Believe in Breastfeeding) in previous years, all of which enhance my bodywork background and what I can bring to pregnant mamas.

Health and fitness are really important to my wellbeing.  I regularly take part in a range of activities such as cycling, running, wild cold water swimming, bootcamps for strength training, in addition to my own weekly Pilates & yoga practices.  Over the years I’ve picked up the odd injury along the way, so I understand first-hand how important it is to adapt my wellbeing choices, to maintain good mobility, release work to help the body to recover.  I love the outdoors, getting out with our dog to explore the countryside.  Our weekends are all about being with family and friends and now that two of my children are young adults, my husband and I are starting to experience more time for us, which is wonderful!