I come from a large family and have 4 children myself from tween to teen. I love camping & travelling and my favourite place for both is in Belfast, Northern Ireland where I grew up before moving to Canada at the age of 12. I am also a bit of a board game junkie.
As a small child, becoming a mother was my only goal. I spent my childhood being a mother to my dolls and the babies in the neighborhood. It was the most natural thing in the world to me. Fast forward over 20 years later and there I was with my own baby in my arms, learning how to feed my baby in real life and realizing that babies don’t sleep all night (but appear to sleep all day). I was finally living my life’s only dream with everything that I had hoped and wished for and yet I was second guessing myself, exhausted, learning to navigate moments I had not expected and trying to process the plethora of information that was being handed to me whether I asked for it or not. I felt as though I had the weight of the world on me, my baby’s world.
I was very fortunate to have the support of my own mother. My mother was my doula so to speak. She provided time for me to rest, made sure I was well nourished, held space for me while I processed everything that I was experiencing and supported me as I navigated decisions on how I wanted to do this, and all without judgement. The most valuable piece of my mother’s support was the confidence she gave me in that I was exactly where I needed to be and that we were all not just surviving but thriving. This made space for me & baby to bond and to truly have that time to be together in the beautiful moments that are easy to blink past while sleep deprived and trying to get through. She gave us all of this without judgement and without taking over our roles or choices as parents.
Since having my own children a new passion began to flicker; the desire to support families who do not have immediate support available or just not the right kind of support. I remember thinking there must be a name for this. It should be a job or something”. That is when I first heard the term Doula. After research and a big leap, I stepped out of the corporate world and stepped into a more intimate career that allows me to offer what I love to do, Doula new & growing families.
As a small child, becoming a mother was my only goal. I spent my childhood being a mother to my dolls and the babies in the neighborhood. It was the most natural thing in the world to me. Fast forward over 20 years later and there I was with my own baby in my arms, learning how to feed my baby in real life and realizing that babies don’t sleep all night (but appear to sleep all day). I was finally living my life’s only dream with everything that I had hoped and wished for and yet I was second guessing myself, exhausted, learning to navigate moments I had not expected and trying to process the plethora of information that was being handed to me whether I asked for it or not. I felt as though I had the weight of the world on me, my baby’s world.
I was very fortunate to have the support of my own mother. My mother was my doula so to speak. She provided time for me to rest, made sure I was well nourished, held space for me while I processed everything that I was experiencing and supported me as I navigated decisions on how I wanted to do this, and all without judgement. The most valuable piece of my mother’s support was the confidence she gave me in that I was exactly where I needed to be and that we were all not just surviving but thriving. This made space for me & baby to bond and to truly have that time to be together in the beautiful moments that are easy to blink past while sleep deprived and trying to get through. She gave us all of this without judgement and without taking over our roles or choices as parents.
Since having my own children a new passion began to flicker; the desire to support families who do not have immediate support available or just not the right kind of support. I remember thinking there must be a name for this. It should be a job or something”. That is when I first heard the term Doula. After research and a big leap, I stepped out of the corporate world and stepped into a more intimate career that allows me to offer what I love to do, Doula new & growing families.