aya emery doula care
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Doula Services
Free Consultation
Would you like to prepare for your birth and early parenting journey with the support of a doula with years of experience as a midwife and educator?
Please contact me to book a no-obligation conversation where we will discuss your hopes for your birth
and postnatal time, and the support you would like to receive from me.
My Services
Antenatal preparation and planning
Birth is the greatest challenge many women will ever face, and it can also be the greatest triumph. Individually tailored antenatal preparation sessions will prepare you with practical information about what happens to your body and mind during labour, physically, emotionally and hormonally. Together with your birth partner, you will also explore your fears and consider their basis and how to move past them.
We will discuss ways to create and safeguard a birth sanctuary, and explore non-medical pain management options and ways your birth partner can support you during labour. If you have previous children, there will be an opportunity to process any negative experiences you may have had and move forward into this new experience. Finally, you will create a meaningful birth plan to help you navigate your birth experience wherever and however it happens.
Preparing for the first few months of your baby's life can be as important as preparing for the birth. We will discuss bonding, how your relationships may change and ways to maintain healthy postnatal relationships, as well as fatherhood and matrescence (becoming a mother). We will also look at newborn needs and routines in the early months and you will create a postnatal plan to support the whole family.
Your birth and new parenting preparation sessions will be tailored to your individual needs, with the aim of preparing you for an empowered birth and new parenting journey. Content and activities offered will be decided together based on your preferences.
Labour and birth support
I will be on call from 37 weeks until you give birth. I can come to your home in early labour to provide support, and once you are in established labour, I will come to your birth place (home, birth centre or hospital). Drawing on my experience as a doula, midwife and midwifery educator I will provide non-clinical emotional and practical support in line with your wishes and birth plan. I will also provide support and explanations to your partner and birth support team.
In a labour room, I am a warm, empathic and knowledgeable birth support, in tune with the mood of your labour room. I will offer practical and emotional support, massage, accupressure, heat therapy, rebozo, breath work, guidance with labour and birth positions, flower essences and homeopathy as discussed during our preparation sessions. With my years of experience as a clinical midwife, I work smoothly with other members of your birth team including midwives and doctors, and I am able to help translate any confusing clinical situations and medical language. I will stay with you until you have had the baby, and will support you with the first breastfeed and early bonding, including the breast crawl if desired.
Postnatal support
The first few months of a baby's life are often overlooked by pregnant women as they are understandably focussing on the birth. However this time, often called the fourth trimester, is enormously important for the whole family. Not only is the baby learning everything for the first time, from how to feed and sleep to how to communicate their needs, but the new parents are learning how to be parents! Both mum and dad undergo huge changes, hormonally, emotionally and cognitively, and this time can be very overwhelming, especially when you throw in sleep deprivation.
I will come to your home in the weeks after the birth of your baby to provide practical and emotional support including:
Baby care
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breastfeeding support
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settling, sleep, crying and daily rhythm support
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support and advice on baby care such as bathing, nappy changing, including cloth nappy advice if desired
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elimination communication education if desired
Relationship care
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advice and support on bonding with your new baby for the whole family
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advice on how to support older children to adjust to the new baby
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advice and support with nurturing your other relationships during the early months
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eduction around postnatal sexuality
Birth debrief
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birth debriefing and processing including referral to birth trauma support if necessary
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birth partner support and birth debrief
Mother Blessing Ceremony
The mother blessing ceremony is a wonderful way to honour the mother-to-be and her baby before the birth. As the facilitator of your mother blessing, I will plan and facilitate activities based on your preferences. These may include creative, fun, nourishing or ceremonial activities, or a combination of any or all of these. Please see mother blessings for more information.
Closing of the bones ceremony
The closing of the bones is a traditional Mexican ceremony which honours the new mother and the enormous transition she has undergone. It's an opportunity to process the birth experience in a deep way and thank her body for the new life she has brought into the world, and it provides a sense of completion to the birthing journey. Please see closing of the bones for more information.
Packages
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These packages are suggestions only. I am very open to increasing or decreasing the hours included depending on your needs.
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Payment plans are available. Please contact me to discuss.
Artemis
- 6 hours of antenatal preparation and planning
- Mother blessing ceremony
- Labour and birth support
- 3 hours of postnatal support
- Closing of the bones ceremony
$3000
Juno
- 6 hours of antenatal preparation and planning
- Labour and birth support
- 3 hours of postnatal support
$2400
Diana
- 6 hours of antenatal preparation and planning
- Mother blessing ceremony
- 3 hours of postnatal support
- Closing of the bones ceremony
$1550
Isis
- 6 hours of antenatal preparation and planning
- 3 hours of postnatal support
$900
Additional offerings
- Mother blessing: $300
- Closing of the bones ceremony: $350
- Additional antenatal sessions: $100 per hour (2 hour min)
- Additional postnatal session: $70 per hour (2 hour min)
What I don't do
Although I am a registered midwife, with all the skills and knowledge to work clinically, when I work as a doula I cannot perform any midwifery clinical skills, including giving clinical advice, performing clinical tasks, or making decisions about your care. What I will provide is skilled support and advice to help you make your own informed decisions, and referral to the appropriate care provider when you need clinical support.
Other things I will not do as your doula:
- Make decisions for you
- Judge your decisions
- Attend births without a registered midwife present