I'm a full-time mother of two girls, who were born at home. I have a background in feminist academia (my area of interest being women's reproductive health). I enjoy writing, particularly about women, birth, breastfeeding and motherhood and have been published in parenting magazines as well as academic journals. When I'm not nurturing my daughters with my partner, or writing, I also enjoy craft projects such as hand crafting greeting cards, ring slings and cloth menstrual and postpartum pads.
In 2008 I completed the Dial-a-Doula program with the International College of Spiritual Midwifery (ICSM). Underlying this training was the philosophy that the birth servant's primary role is: "mothering the mother."
The course involved foundational doula classes which included subjects such as: birth choices, preparing for birth, pregnancy support, doulas and fathers/partners, support strategies for pre, early and active labour, waterbirth, homebirth, pain relief, interventions, natural alternatives, caesarean surgery and unexpected outcomes, labour's 3rd stage and the placenta, lotus birth, the first gaze and the first hour, breastfeeding, life with a new baby, sleep, and post natal relationships and emotions.
This course also included: written assessments, completing level 1 of Shivam Rachana's Spiritual Midwifery course, childbirth preparation classes, early parenting discussion sessions, a five day women's retreat and individual healing sessions. Course coordinators emphasised that birth serving is "being with" the mother but that one "cannot 'be with' someone else until she can 'be with' herself". This is why ICSM includes individual sessions in their course and maintain a support network for their graduates. And in 2010 I completed Birth Hypnosis Practitioner Training with Anna Urbanski of Opening to Life.
I now enjoy serving families throughout pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. I have found that what services I provide are entirely dependent on what the individual woman and her family want. I have sewn heat packs with a birthing mother, made women laugh through contractions, hand crafted birth announcements for friends and family of the new baby, cared for siblings at homebirths, scooped poo out of the birth pool, taken birth photos, provided counter pressure to sore lower backs, to name just a few services I can think of. I believe the relationship between birth servant and those she serves will grow organically and as a need arises I meet it as best I can.
In 2009 I founded Peninsula Birth Support, a branch of Maternity Coalition. The group's aim is to provide information about pregnancy and childbirth to the community and facilitate open discussion in a mothers group style setting.
To read about my birth support work from the woman's point of view see:
Sunny's Birth Eloise's Birth
River's Birth
Read testimonials from women I have supported here.
Contact: sarah@ilithyiainspired.com
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| My family |
