Newcastle Baby 2023

“Asking
your husband
to be your sole guide
through labour is like asking
him to lead the way on a climb
of Mt. Everest. He may be smart
and trustworthy, and you may love
him, but in the Himalayas you’d
both be a lot better off with a
Sherpa!” - Pam
England
Photo credit @shanrosephotography
The Doula Sherpa (for your birth adventure)
Laying here with my dog, curled up on
our sofa, I cast my mind back a decade...
pregnant with our first child; a different
house, a different couch. I had no idea
what a ‘doula’ was then. My husband and I
engaged a private obstetrician (OB) under
the direction of my GP. At this time, I had not
considered my needs, outside of physical
safety, or what I wanted from my birth.
Simply by choosing the private hospital
(despite a low-risk pregnancy) I was now in
medically managed care and more likely to
receive interventions in labour and birth.
In hindsight, I chose a high-risk biomedical
expert not a physiological birth expert, as I
had been conditioned to believe birth was
a medical event. I had no concept of it as
a rite of passage. I simply could not grasp
that through the process of birthing, I would
be shedding my former skin and rebirthing
myself as a mother. And, that I would be so
enlivened by the experience, I would later
gestate a career allowing me to support and
empower other women in birth.
I check my phone for the tenth time this
hour. I am on-call for two women due this
month. I want to see if either is showing signs
that labour is near. “Stomach cramps and
a mild euphoric feeling” accompanied by
a vomit and butterfly emoji. Hmm, could
be soon. I need to get off the couch and
make dinner, scrambled eggs perhaps? My
children are hungry and asking if I will be
home to put them to bed. “Yes, if there’s no
birth” is my standard response.
My youngest enquires, “Are her waters
intact?”, I nod, smile and reach for the frying
pan.
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Newcastle Baby 3 outline.indd 8
21/10/22 12:30 pm