Rebecca, Turei and baby Kymani

(Return to previous page)

When I found out I was pregnant with our first child, a girlfriend recommended I contact Cheryl for doula support. I’d never heard of a doula before, and knew of no-one else who’d used one with their pregnancies. After a little research I was intrigued to know more, because positive birth stories amongst our friends and family were rare and the idea that we wanted a drug free calm birth was most often laughed at.

Yet we believed different and felt that having continuity of care and someone to help us navigate through hospital policies (which we may not necessarily agree with) would be a major factor in us achieving the birth that we desired.

After the initial phone call to Cheryl I knew that a doula was exactly what we needed to support us on this journey. Cheryl is warm, calming and a wealth of knowledge, and I turned to her often for guidance when it came to hospital policies and reassurance for how I was coping with the pregnancy. She gave us invaluable resources which I eagerly read and appreciated including a lot of it in our birth plan and preparation.

When it came closer to our estimated due date we had a number of at home visits to go through our birth plan and labour techniques. I also wanted to make sure my husband’s needs were met, not just my own, and Cheryl provided that, we quickly realised how crucial a partners role is during labour and the techniques we learned gave him the confidence he needed.

Thanks to Cheryl and my amazing husband I had a wonderful drug free, intervention free water birth. It was the most intense and raw experience of my life, one that I will never forget.

We are blessed with the most calm, alert and curious soul and a so lucky our son chose us to be his parents.

We love telling people our birth story, and recommend Cheryl to everyone! Having a doula without a doubt was the best decision we made and will do it again with our next pregnancies.

Born December 2014