Like many I didn't know what a doula was until after the birth of my son Joseph in 2005. Despite enjoying a positive birthing experience with him I found the lack of continuity in my care meant that I remained quite naive about my choices and rights so a lot of my decisions were based on very limited information and there was definitely a sense of something or someone being missing.

I believe that all families deserve the familiarity of a friendly face throughout their journey into parenthood and the opportunity to explore their birthing options without the constraint of time or policies. Unfortunately it's this kind of care that is very often missing in our society today due to the immense pressure exerted on our maternity services and the fact that so many women now live apart from their families. We have lost the sense of community that we might once have had when other womenfolk would be on hand for the new mother to guide by experience and help with the practicalities, this is especially true in big cities like London. Thankfully a doula can help to fill that void.

When I heard about doulas it just made sense and I knew that it was my primitive responsibility to take this path, what I didn't know was how much joy I'd get from taking it. I'll be forever grateful to all the beautiful people I've had the pleasure of meeting and learning from over the past few years and all of those I'm yet to meet and learn from in the years to come.

Birth is a natural involuntary process and I don't believe you need to be coached through it. After-all regardless of how many births I or anyone else may have experienced or witnessed we haven't experienced this one. Your baby has been perfectly designed by your body for your body, and your body perfectly designed o deliver your baby, therefore you are the expert. Having said that I do believe that in order to achieve the easiest most positive labour and birth you need to be able to tune in to your natural instincts and intuition and to do this you need to feel happy, safe, secure and supported, my job is to make sure that's exactly how you feel.