Introducing some of the newest members of our Ideal Birth family ...
Kelli, Jaime and baby Abigail April 2019
Cheryl was a great support throughout my pregnancy, during the birth and beyond.My partner and I both felt reassured with Cheryl by our side during the birth. She assisted my partner in supporting me, and provided support and advice to us throughout my labour. She reassured us and provided information about the decisions we made during the birth. We felt so supported throughout the whole process which has given us total peace of mind and comfort in the decisions we made to bring my beautiful baby girl into this world.
Jono, Kylie and baby Joshua July 2018
We had a great birth experience thanks to Cheryl's expert coaching! As new parents-to-be we weren't sure what to expect, but Cheryl talked us through several different scenarios and this put our mind at ease. On the day her support resulted in a intervention-free and timely birth of our first little one. Highly recommended.
Jasmine, Tim and baby Ethan November 2018
Cheryl was an integral part of our birth team for the birth of our son. We had known from early on in the pregnancy we wanted a doula for additional support for both myself and my husband. After meeting Cheryl we knew she was the perfect doula for us (and for everyone!). Every aspect of her service was fantastic - from the birth preparation education, advice on additional resources, the support and reassurance towards the end of the pregnancy, the birth itself and the postnatal check ins, not to mention the incredible lasagnes she brought us! I can't imagine having gone through it all without her, I felt truly supported to have a normal physiological birth. It was reassuring for both of us to have Cheryl to draw on both in birth prep and in labour for each progression, it empowered me to have the confidence in myself to give birth to our son without any pain relief and minimal interventions. For anyone seeking a supportive and experienced doula I would say Cheryl is really the only choice!
Thank you for everything Cheryl :)
Anna, Niklas and baby Finn February 2019
Cheryl was so amazing for us during the birth of our second child. We couldn't recommend her highly enough!
I had a difficult birth with our first child and so I wanted the second time around to be different. After meeting Cheryl, we knew she was the one to help us have the birth we wanted. We were so grateful for her advice and support before and during the birth. She enabled us to truly have an ideal birth and enjoy the miracle of bringing our baby into the world.
Written by a father, for fathers-to-be Ben, Stevie and baby Rose February 2019
My wife and I had such a great birthing experience with the help of Cheryl, that I felt obliged to share my
experience - and written by a father, for fathers-to-be.
Hiring Cheryl was the best decision we made with our pregnancy, as through her recommendations we had a
great experience, got some great care and people on our team. We also massively reduced our confusion,
anxiousness, and ‘fear’ around the pregnancy and birth - this peace of mind is just priceless.
Why we chose to use a Doula
My wife and I had always wanted a birth that was as ‘natural’ as possible - in our words, that was with as little
medical intervention (especially pain relief / drugs) as possible.
This is because we read and agreed that having these chemicals in my wife’s, and therefore the baby’s
bloodstream, doesn’t do them any benefit during their welcome into the world.
We knew this wouldn’t be easy to achieve given the physical requirements from my wife, and also the
preference and trends of births for more medical intervention and to unnecessarily control the timing of
everything through induction or surgery.
Reviewing our journey with Cheryl over the past 9 months, we’d have to say there was a number of things we
found of value to us:
Sounding Board
During the pregnancy, my wife and I both had access to questions if they popped up for Cheryl - related to the
pregnancy, or the birth.
This was great, as often we would receive or read conflicting advice on certain topics, and it was great asking
Cheryl, given her breadth of experience with births and pregnant mothers, along with keeping up to date with
research on what’s best for babies and mums.
It gave my wife great peace of mind having that non-emotionally involved sounding board to bounce those
questions off. This in turn gave me peace of mind, by knowing she was supported and not confused given such
conflicting, and often unrequested advice.
Planning the Birth
Cheryl met with us a number of times to discuss different birthing options, and also provide evidence and
research based recommendations and suggestions for what we needed to plan out.
She had some great templates for birth plans, and walked us through what to expect during labour, and the
birth.
Lauren, Adam and baby Richie January 2019
We were determined to have a different experience with our second baby but didn’t quite know how to navigate the hospital system to get an intervention free birth. Cheryl showed us how and with her support and expertise we literally had the dream birth I had only imagined could happen. We couldn’t be happier and certainly have Cheryl to thank.
