Birth Doula Services
As your Birth Doula I’m here to offer guidance and become your trusted confidante, someone you can share your hopes and fears with and help you to connect with and enjoy the changes surrounding you, while also giving you the space you need to make your own decisions. I’m here to share the highs and lows with you, providing a safe space where you can get in-depth information into the choices available to you, keep you grounded when you’re having a birth-plan panic and to hold your hand whenever you need me. I’m a great believer in the innate ability of our body to control the birthing process, and will encourage you to trust it to do its thing! I’m also here to help you see that while a natural birth may be your end goal, if intervention is required, that does not devalue the experience or the bond you’ll develop with your new baby.
I’m also a firm advocate of respecting the varied cultural, spiritual and personal beliefs that can impact on pregnancy, birth and parenthood. Fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi, my intercultural approach ensures that we work according to your own beliefs and values.
Unconditionally honouring and assisting your journey from pregnancy to parenthood is both a pleasure and a truly humbling experience for me. As your doula I’ll nurture your self-confidence, help you to trust in yourself and your body, and offer all the information, support and care you need through your baby’s birth and beyond.
In terms of decreasing rates of medical intervention, the presence of a birth doula:
… and generally reduces the length of time spent in labour.
%
reduces needs for caesareans
%
reduces need for forceps or vacuum extraction
%
reduces use of pain medication
%
reduces dissatisfaction with birth
How I will be supporting you
As your birth doula I offer support for a wide range of birth options and settings, including home and hospital births, families planning a natural birth or medication for pain management, hypnobirthing, cesarean births, vaginal births after cesarean (VBAC), and cultural birth rituals (Asian). My role is shaped by your birth environment and unique needs, but most births include a blend of the following:
DURING PREGNANCY
- Exploring and understanding your birth options
- Debrief any previous births
- Information on birthing positions
- Information on pain relief options
- Preparing your body for the birth journey ahead
- Advice on alternative therapies
- Help making your birth plan
- Information and guidance on all birth-related matters
DURING BIRTH
- Making sure you and your family have a clam environment during labour
- Supporting your partner/husband/family member
- I offer Hypnobirthing techniques/scripts/guidance
- Physical and emotional support throughout labour and birth (Encouragment, Light massage, hands on, relaxation techniques)
- Looking after you when you are in labour; eating, drinking, resting
- Being an advocate, giving you choices and supporting you through them calmly and positively during labour
- Empathetic. Listening and understanding you (I am qualified counsellor)
ONCE BABY ARRIVES
- Getting your little bub settled when they arrive
- Breastfeeding/Formula feeding advice and support
- A shoulder to cry on or a giggle if it helps to relieve some stress!
- Postnatal support / 4th Trimester
Antenatal Sessions
- Two personalised, in-depth antenatal sessions. In the sessions we will cover previous births and debrief, in depth discussion about any fears about labour, preparing your body for birth, the birth journey, comfort measures, relaxation/hypnbirthing techniques/methods, your birthing environment, practical plan, birthing positions and your partner/husband/family member role. You can lead these sessions so you are empowered and informed. You can talk about any birth related matters.
- Supporting you to create your birth plan and hospital bag preparation
- As soon as our birth doula relationship starts you have unlimited support by phone, text, whatsapp, email, messenger with me. I will always get back to you within one day. This includes weekend support.
- Our time together during your pregnancy will help you to prepare for your birth. This will include mentally, physically, emotionally, practically and I will give you links, resources, research and informative support. You are able to discuss any pregnancy and birth topic with me at any time during your pregnancy. I will also sign post you to any relevant places/groups.
- I will provide you with information so you can weigh things up and make informed decisions.
Seema provided both physical and emotional support to me and my husband during my labour. She focused on things she knew were important to me such as maintaining adequate hydration, staying relaxed and the importance of that on my progress and pain. She talked me through each contraction and used massage when I requested it. Her presence made it easier for my husband to get on and do the practical things such as loading the car without having to leave me on my own. Seema was very helpful following the birth without being intrusive. She paid attention to things such as keeping me and baby warm and took some lovely photos of those precious early moments.These were things I hadn’t anticipated in advance but were really welcome additions. I don’t know how I would have done it without her. She was wonderful. ”.
Birth
- From 38 weeks I will be on call until your labour starts. During this time my phone will be on 24/7.
- When your labour starts I will come to you when you are ready for me to join you. This can be at your home, hospital or we start at home and transfer together to your birthing centre/hospital
- I will support you all the way through your labour
- I will make sure that your environment is calm, not rushed or pressured, I will advocate for you where you are unable to and I will make sure your birth choices are heard and respected
- When your little bundle arrives I will stay with you for the first feed, until you are happy and settled
“Seema provided a fantastic service throughout. Very organised with the antenatal sessions, punctual, felt like she gave adequate time to go through things to the depth that was needed. Really helped myself and my wife understand potential pitfalls and how to anticipate/avoid them. Really useful debriefing on the previous labour from our first pregnancy. Excellent support through labour… called her initially to come to our home early hours of the morning and arrived within good time. Energetic throughout the labour, pre and during hospital. Helped take the pressure off myself to do other things (e.g. load car etc) feeling reassured that my wife was not left unattended/unsupported. Very flexible, did not feel at any stage that she allowed personal considerations to impact on the support that she provided us. I would be happy to recommend her to a friend and would be willing, if the situation arose, to consider taking her on again in the future’’.
Postnatal
- Postnatal sessions will include debriefing your birth, making sure you are managing ok, looking at your support network, any issues that you may have or signposting needed, that feeding and settling is going ok and anything else you wish to discuss.
“Seema has a very personable character and is very easy to talk to. She has a good knowledge of the things that are important to labour well and she was very respectful of our wishes. She is much more balanced in her views than some doulas I have come across in the past and in my view is a credit to the doula community’’.
I offer the following packages
YOUR BIRTH JOURNEY
£1650
- Two antenatal sessions
- Support to put together your birth plan
- Unlimited support WhatsApp, email or phone from the time you book until you give birth
- On-call 24/7 from 38 weeks pregnancy your new baby is in your arms!
- Continuous emotional, physical and informative support during labour and settling little bub when they arrive for their first feed
- One postnatal session
BIRTH AND BABY
£1950
- Two antenatal sessions
- Support to put together your birth plan
- Unlimited support via WhatsApp, email or phone from the time you book until you give birth
- On-call 24/7 from 38 weeks pregnancy your new baby is in your arms!
- Continuous emotional, physical and informative support during labour and settling little bub when they arrive for their first feed
- Two postnatal sessions
- Unlimited WhatsApp support for the first 3 weeks after birth including feeding, bathing and newborn care
BIRTH AND BEYOND
£2250
- Two antenatal sessions
- Support to put together your birth plan
- Unlimited support via WhatsApp, email or phone from the time you book until your baby is 3 weeks old; including feeing, newborn care, bathing, emotional suppor for you and your family
- On-call 24/7 from 38 weeks pregnancy your new baby is in your arms!
- Continuous emotional, physical and informative support during labour and newborn feeding
- Two postnatal sessions
- Newborn Sleep Shaping Package within the first 3 months of giving birth. Please see my page Sleep Training Packages for Newborn Sleep Shaping for full details.
How It Works
- Get in touch to book a Connection Meeting. This can take place over Zoom or Face to Face. This is a fantastic opportunity to see how a doula supports you, for you to ask any questions and to see if we are a good fit. Trust and comfort are an important part of a doula and mum relationship.
- If you decide that you would like me to be your doula you can then give me your due date and place of birth. A 50% deposit is required at this stage so I can confirm your booking.
- The remaining 50% payment is due one week before your 38 week on call period starts
- Once your booking is confirmed I am all yours!
** I offer payment plans. Please call me to discuss this.
My Story
As the proud mother of two wonderful girl’s, I’ve shared your dreams, hopes, fears and worries – and once I had time to reflect on my birth story, I realised that the one thing missing for me when I gave birth to Debyani, was the loving one to one emotional support, a voice between me and the doctors/nurses, my husbands confidence and power to speak up for us and we lacked knowledge to make informed decisions. We nodded our heads to everything, went along silently, did as we were told and had a horrific time. My birth didn’t go to plan, and the trauma and lack of control left me feeling like a failure… but my own story could have been so much different if I’d understood then the benefits of having a doula! The second time round I did things differently; my first step was to let go of the previous trauma so I worked with Alex Heath who is the founder of Traumatic Birth Recovery and she did the REWIND Therapy with me which I now offer: you can find more here. I then looked for a birth doula. My second birth was incredible because my doula believed in my ability to birth more then I ever did. She helped me find my voice, explore my options to make informed decisions, gave me and my family one to one emotional and practical support and was there unconditionally. Deveena’s birth was wild, raw and unimaginable and when she was born I so longed to do the whole thing again! While family, friends, doctors and midwives all play an essential part in your journey towards motherhood, the unparalleled assurance, support, encouragement and information provided by a birth doula can make all the difference to your experience, and the memories that you will hold forever in your heart. My professional knowledge with warmth and complete dedication will ensure that your needs are met at every level and at every stage of your pregnancy and labour. At such a precious and personal time, I’m here to make sure that your individual wishes are heard, respected and catered for. I’ve been lucky enough to train with Samara Tanner and Kate Woods from Conscious Birthing. This was a truly holistic and intimate experience with some amazing and beautiful women, and has given me the tools to guide you through this magical life change and ensure you’re relaxed, confident about your birth experience, and feel prepared to cope with any unexpected eventualities.