Working with you
Everyone is different, so everything is tailored to you and your situation. That's one of the benefits doulas can bring you. It can be helpful to have an idea of how things might work for you, though, so here's an outline;
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Want to chat to find out more? Get in touch and book an call by emailing me at: charlie@thegoodbirthpractice.co.uk
Birth doula support - FULLY BOOKED
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Monthly antenatal planning and preparation sessions (from 24 weeks)
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WhatsApp group throughout your pregnancy for you, your partner and me
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On-call for your birth from 39 weeks
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Attendance at your birth
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In-person post-natal visit
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7am-9pm WhatsApp support for the first fortnight after your baby arrives
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50% discount on personalised hypnobirthing (£262.50, discounted from £575)
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Continuity of care and personalised birth planning
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Credible resources and sign-posting to information and specialist support
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I may be the right doula for you if you’re looking for pragmatic, realistic support to help you to have the right birth for you on the day – A Good Birth, that you can look back on brimful of pride and happiness.
As an experienced doula and maternity researcher, I know how birth works, I know how the system works, and I know the factors that make birth ‘Good’, however it happens. I can support your birth preparation and planning with credible reading and resources, tactics and strategies. I’ll help you explore your options and preconceptions, aspirations and anxieties so you can create your own completely unique and personalised birth plan.
Most importantly, you get continuity of carer* from me all the way through your pregnancy, from the first inklings that labour may have begun through your birth, and in the first fortnight getting to know your new baby. This is something that many, many women say is important to them, but just isn’t available through the NHS. Continuity of carer* – or being supported by the same person through your pregnancy and birth – means that once we’ve begun our relationship you don’t have to repeat yourself and you don’t have to explain yourself. We develop a trusting relationship and move through your pregnancy and birth together, with a shared understanding of what matters to you and which options are appropriate for you.
To read testimonials from some of the women I’ve supported, click here
To contact me to arrange a Zoom call to find out more, click here
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* I am not a clinician or medically trained in any way, so I cannot undertake any assessment of your health or the health of your baby, and I cannot make recommendations or give medical advice.
Pocket doula
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Monthly antenatal planning and preparation sessions from 24 weeks (in-person or via Zoom)
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WhatsApp group throughout your pregnancy for you, your partner and me
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On-call for your birth from 39 weeks, and available to support you via WhatsApp and phone through your labour
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Post-natal visit (in-person or via Zoom)
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7am-9pm WhatsApp support for the first fortnight after your baby arrives
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50% discount on personalised hypnobirthing (£262.50, discounted from £575)
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Continuity of care and personalised birth planning
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Credible resources and sign-posting to information and specialist support
The personalised care and experience that doula’s can bring during pregnancy and the early days with your new baby can be invaluable. You may really want to access this, but feel that you don't want or need a doula present at your birth. In that case, the Pocket Doula option is for you.
Working in this way means you'll be supported through your pregnancy. We'll meet for at least three antenatal sessions for all your birth planning, hypnobirthing and to discuss contingency plans. I'll be 'on-call' for you 24hrs a day from your 39th week of pregnancy, and available via WhatsApp and phone throughout your labour. I'll also be available from 7am-9pm during the first two weeks as you settle in with and get to know your baby.
This option means I can support you if you are outside Kent.
To read testimonials from some of the women I’ve supported, click here
To contact me to arrange a Zoom call to find out more, click here
Private Hypnobirthing
£525
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9hours of hypnobirthing preparation, tailored to you (in-person or via Zoom)
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5 x Calm Birth School hypnobirthing MP3s
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Personalised birth planning
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Credible resources and sign-posting to information and specialist support
Hypnobirthing isn’t magic. It isn’t a silver bullet, or a guaranteed way to have a particularly type of birth in a particular place. However, it is a brilliant way to prepare for labour and an excellent coping skill. I can tell you this with confidence because I've seen it work beautifully at many births I've attended as a doula, and in my own 3 births! I used the Mongan Method when I was pregnant with my children, then trained with the Wise Hippo and now use the Calm Birth School materials.
In this, your own bespoke hypnobirthing course, you’ll receive the 5x Calm Birth School MP3s (I suggest you buy the Calm Birth Method book from Bookshop.org which means you can nominate an independent bookshop to receive the profits). In our sessions together we’ll take the time you need to consider the anxieties and aspirations that are important to you. We'll talk about how you can optimise the naturally occurring hormones in your body to ease the sensations of labour, and keep yourself (and your partner) calm and connected throughout. We'll talk about why these factors matter, and how you can adapt all this information to suit your own unique plans and circumstances. Drawing on my 10 years experience I can recommend practical ways to use these skills during your labour, however it progresses.
To read testimonials from some of the women I’ve supported, click here
To contact me to find out more, click here
Birth planning sessions
£180 per two hour session
£80 per follow up session
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Two-hour birth planning session in-person, or via Zoom
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Review of your birth plan and practical suggestions
You’ve done all the reading. You’ve attended NCT or Bump to Baby classes. You’ve been to the pregnancy yoga classes and you’re on first-name-terms with your hypnobirthing MP3s. Now how do you put that all together to make a sensible, realistic, and clear birth plan?
Or, perhaps this baby will be a sibling, and you’d like a ‘refresher’ and to reflect on what you’ve learnt during your ‘Childbirth Career’.
In this session (or sessions) we’ll talk about what birth planning is and how it’s different to a birth plan. We’ll review how birth plans came about in the first place, and what they are intended to achieve. We’ll look at your particular circumstances – including where you hope to have your baby, your aspirations and anxieties, and what’s going on in maternity around you – to knit together planning that reassures you and your partner, and write a birth plan that midwives and medics will understand and want to work with.
Sessions can take place in your home (within 30min drive of Sevenoaks), or via Zoom (wherever you are in the UK).
If things change for you in the final weeks and days of your pregnancy you can ‘bolt-on’ extra sessions to adapt your planning for £80 each (in-person or via Zoom).
To read testimonials from some of the women I’ve supported, click here
To contact me to arrange a Zoom call to find out more, click here
Caesarean birth planning
£180 per two hour session
£80 per follow up session
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Two-hour caesarean birth planning session in-person, or via Zoom
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Practical advice to make your baby’s Birth Day a special one
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Caesarean recovery advice
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Hypnobirthing for Caesarean birth
All birth days are special, and your caesarean birth is no different. In these sessions I’ll help you prepare confidently and positively for your caesarean birth. We’ll discuss what the day itself might be like and ways to put your and your baby right in the centre of it. I’ll help you to write your own Caesarean Birth Plan, and include hypnobirthing skills that keep you and your partner calm, centred and connected and bonded with your baby.
To read testimonials from some of the women I’ve supported, click here
To contact me to arrange a Zoom call to find out more, click here