If you hadn’t known yet, I am not living in Singapore at the moment. From Sept this year, to Sept next year (2012), I will be in a lovely place known as Leeds in the UK. DH is pursuing his studies at the Uni. of Leeds and brought me and DS along. 😀

Settling down had been easy, Alhamdulillah, thanks to our previous experience in Aus and NZ. This time round we’re wiser; we didn’t bring the whole house with us. I’ve made a lot of lovely friends, mostly Malaysian postgrads also from the university, and they have been very kind in helping us get the hang of things in Leeds.

Work-wise: my doula work from Singapore came with me to the UK and I’m very happy to announce that not one, not two, not three, but *four* of my mothers had a great birth experience with me as their ‘remote doula’. Watsapp is an amazing invention! Now, I had actually recommended them to get a different doula who can support them in Sg, but they reported that they had more confidence in me even though I’ll be far away. Alhamdulillah! *big smile* (I don’t recommend this though, for a guaranteed better experience, it is recommended that you get a doula in your country who can come to you and give you back massages and see you face to face, etc).

I told my mothers that “for every inch of confidence that you have in me, you must place the same amount of confidence in your birthing body and allow your baby to birth with zero or minimal medical intervention”. They listened and laboured in the comforts of their home with their DHs till the very last moments and spent just a short time in the hospital before they birthed! One first time mother was even ready to push as soon as she reached the hospital doors! SubhanaAllah, when they later told me their birth stories, I couldn’t help feeling their joy and almost feeling like I was there with them. But no, all the hard work and 100% credits go to the mother and her DH, for she had faith and confidence, and trusted her body to give birth exactly as she willed. All I did was to add that extra push of confidence to empower her. And Alhamdulillah, job done!

So you see, you *can* overcome your labour contractions at home yourself (or with DH) if you would learn to trust that Allah has designed your body for this amazing thing called childbirth. If you have had a healthy pregnancy, there is no need to panic when labour starts… you will be prepared… *breathe deep*…. and you will know how to take them in stride… *move your hips*… one contractions at a time… *visualise your baby coming down the birth canal*… and before you know it, your baby will be in your hands!

I’ve started a facebook page because I like to post links from other gentle birth sites, so please click ‘like’ and join me there. At the same time, I will also try to post updates here from time to time.

So what do you think? Can a remote doula work as effectively as a personal doula who comes to you? My honest opinion is she can’t, a ‘live’ doula can do so much more, ie: give you massages, give your DH a break, remind you to hydrate yourself, remind you to breathe, relax, loosen, to drink, to pee, etc. But if all you need is a little ‘push’ or confidence booster via watsapp, then I’ll always be here to help!

Warmly,
The Sg doula in UK