Blog

Most parents have their sights set on baby's arrival, but postpartum presents its own challenges. As a postpartum doula I can help with many of these, but not all of them. I like to be upfront with my clients and let them know what my scope of expertise is, and if my skills can’t tick all their boxes, assist them in connecting with the right provider to address their unique concerns.

I began writing this document some time ago. It provides a list of, and links to, the types of services and prof…

This month has been BIG for birth and reproductive care reform in my home state of NSW, in other states and nationally too. Some of the news is good, some doesn’t go far enough and some is worrying, but all of it is important! Here’s my wrap up, in no particular order.

Note: This is not an update on birth-related research. If that’s what you’re looking for, I highly recommend joining Dr Sara Wickham’s mailing list.

The NSW Select Committee on Birth Trauma has now tabled its report to the NSW p…

This article was first published elsewhere in September 2023. 

Did you know that as well as my individual services, I also have a low cost online membership? It's hosted here on my own website and app, and includes a community forum where you can ask me and the collective brains' trust your questions, regular social, co-working and circle-style zoom calls, private blogs and an archive of some of my previous courses and resources. Feel free to check it out here.

How often have you as a Defa…

This article was first published elsewhere in September 2023. At the time I was using a user-pays subscription newsletter service, which quickly morphed into just another social media platform with many of the same pitfalls as advertiser-pays social media models. I have now left this platform too and started a low cost membership hosted here on my own website and app, which includes online community forum where you can ask me and the collective brains' trust your questions, regular social, co-wo…

This article was first published elsewhere in August 2023.

In case you hadn’t noticed, becoming a parent is a big deal. An assumption people often make when a second or subsequent baby (or babies, if you’re expecting multiples) comes along is that because you’ve done it before, you’ve got it covered and don’t need so much help. In some ways they’re right, but in many they’re very, very wrong.

Yes, you’ve parented a baby before, but you’ve never parented THIS baby.

If you’re the gestationa…

This article was first published elsewhere in August 2023.

What do you say when someone asks what it’s like having kids? I say “kids” purposefully because this is how the question is often raised with me, partly because I now have two children which makes “kids” the plural relevant, and partly because one child families are still treated as an unfortunate aberration rather than a valid family structure.

I’ve found those asking the question aren’t much interested in my analysis of sociolingui…

This article was first published elsewhere in June 2023.

There was a time in the distant pre-kids past when I was a gym junkie. With an exercise science degree under my belt, this was fraught with danger. Every time I stepped through the doors of a gym I was met with a wave of unqualified people giving their only slightly less experienced training buddies the shittest of shit advice, barely-teenage personal trainers cluelessly writing pelvic floor destructor programs for postnatal mot…

This article was first published elsewhere in June 2023.

What makes a Default Parent? Hint: it’s not your body parts.

Default Parents are the ones whose own lives are intertwined with their child(ren)’s to such depth it is impossible to prise them apart.

They are the ones who, if out for lunch on a weekend, are asked who’s looking after the kids.

They are the ones who know if their children’s school fees, vaccinations and dental checks …

This article was first published elsewhere in June 2023.

No matter how big or small, every business owner sometimes gets the urge to throw it all into the bin and get a “normal” job. While this happens only occasionally for me, I recently had the unsettling revelation that this option isn’t available to me right now. Not because of some virtuous reason of “serving families” or “doing my life’s work” but, depressingly, because my kids and I are sick too often for me to hold down a…

This article was first published elsewhere in May 2023.

My six month old has recently discovered screeching, and it is death to my nervous system.

Want mum? Screech. Want that food mum’s eating but can’t get to it? Screech! Sore tummy from eating mum’s food? Screeeeccchhhhh!!!

As I type a variety of earplugs, ear muffs and noise cancelling headphones dot our house in child, average adult and giant-man sizes. There are times we yell from a few steps away and others we communicate…