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.
Give yourself the best chance of a positive birth in a hospital setting. A new book by one of Australias leading doulas, Cheryl Sheriff.
Sharing wisdom from her 30 years experience as a midwife and doula, and her presence at over 1000 hospital births.
After reading this book you will have more direction, and feel confident, excited and less daunted by the experiences to come.
