Natus Doula Services

22/10/2024

Music is a fantastic tool as it acts through the central nervous system, redirecting our attention and reducing our perception of pain.
Music also helps regulate emotions, calms us down, helps deal with trauma…just to list a few great benefits.

Did you have music playing through your labour? What about the actual birth? Or even pregnancy?
Did you know there’s been studies of babies brain development enhanced when listening to classical music through the womb?

All my clients have access to my labour & birth playlists. DM me today for a chat!

02/10/2024

“For I know there plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “ Plans to prosper and not to harm, plans for a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

02/10/2024

“Birth is an experience that demonstrates that life is not merely function and utility, but form and beauty.”
~Christopher Largen

26/09/2024

Using a birthball (or gym ball) before & during pregnancy has many great benefits.
Not only is it better support for your back (if working at a desk for eg), but it helps balance your pelvis, your ligaments, & your fascia.
During pregnancy it’s a great way to help encourage your baby to settle into an anterior position as the seating position allows for your tummy to create a “hammock” for your baby.
Doing circles or hula-hoops and pelvic tilts on the ball in later pregnancy can also help baby to settle better onto your cervix in preparation for labour & birth.
Another bonus, it’s quite relieving doing bouncing on the ball between contractions!! Encouraging labour to further progress!

Every hospital usually have one, & it’s always a great idea to invest in one for at home. Make sure it’s pumped up firmly, and sit in a tripod position as shown!

And have fun!!! But be careful 🙂

25/09/2024

Did you know the trachea & vocal cords, and the va**na & pelvic floor, are often referred to as sisters!?
Have a look at the second photo- the structure and design of each mimics the other, made of the same type of tissue, both with similar functions (connecting the outside with the inside).
The vocal tract has a direct physical link to the va**na through the vagus nerve, which when stimulated through vibrations of the voice & massages from the diaphragm through breathing, can have a soothing and balancing effect on the entire nervous system, releasing tension & emotional issues that can interfere with our s*x life, conception, & most of all, childbirth.

If one is relaxed and open, so is the other. If one is tense & traumatised, this directly affects the other as well. And vice versa.

I will often encourage birthing mothers to sing, hum, or vocalise in low tones (regardless of the volume) during labor and birth.
This helps open the birth canal, relaxing the pelvic floor muscles to create an easier passage for baby to come earth side.
And because of the vibrations of sound through the body massaging the vagus nerve, can become a natural pain blocker.

So don’t worry about who can or cannot hear you-work those vocal cords & become the natural born singer you were meant to be, or simply let it ROAR!

20/09/2024

17/09/2024

Did you know that doing side lunges during pregnancy has a lot of benefits for maternal positioning?
Not only can it help create relief for tight hips, but can help condition your pelvic floor.
This is also a great technique to use during labor if there is a stall in the mid-pelvis as it creates room to help baby rotate and further descend into the pelvis.
In labor & want to help baby along? Try popping one foot on a higher platform and rock back and forth into the lunge between & during contractions.
This is one of the techniques I use to help my mums during their pregnancies & labor/birth.
Did you use the side lunge during your labor?

13/09/2024

Umbilical cord presentation, or cord prolapse, is when the umbilical cord presents itself before the baby, in a va**nal birth. This can be fatal, but the mortality rate is barely 3%, a lot of recent studies claim it to be only 1% due to the massive reduction of cord presentation in recent years.

But don’t fret! There is hope!

Cord prolapse occurs to only 0.11%-0.40% of births. That is 1 in 1000!

Majority of the time, a cord prolapse is more of a risk for after your waters have broken and the baby is high in the pelvis.
If you are at home, & you feel a pulsing sensation inside the birth canal, or can visibly see or feel (with your fingers) the cord, do the following:
❥Knees to chest, bum in the air
❥Call ambulance & inform them straight away of a possible cord presentation

If in hospital-immediately notify the midwife/doctor. You will then have the following events occur:
❥ Internal check to confirm prolapse
❥ Depending on stage of labour & presentation either
a) va**nal delivery immediately (with vigorous pushing) or
b) be rushed off for emergency caesarean

This might sound scary, but when you put things into perspective (its rare occurrence), and you are aware of your options & the procedures involved, it makes for better preparation & better outcomes.
Rather than be left in the dark and walk away not knowing what hit you & feeling traumatised by the whole ordeal!

But have faith, and have a knowledgeable birth team in place that honour your wishes & know what to do in these emergencies!

11/09/2024

Have you heard of the Fear-Tension-Pain cycle?
A term coined in the 1920’s by an obstetrician, Grantly Dick-Read, who observed women in labour and noticed a pattern.
There is so much fear around birth because of horror stories we hear from others who like to project their trauma, or doctors using phrases like “If you don’t…your baby will die!!!” I mean what happens to one happens to all right??? WRONG!

This fear of tearing, fear of pain, fear of pooping, fear of childbirth causes our bodies to tense up, which HURTS!
End result-your labour becomes painful and unbearable, which causes MORE fear, leading you to tense up even more, & before you know it you are begging for pain relief, which can lead to a massive cascade of intervention, & the doctors are racing to get you under the knife to ‘save’ you and the baby.
Only to leave you walking away with trauma! (Worst case scenario).

BUT

When we choose to embrace

❥Oxytocin
❥Calm
❥Surrender
❥Faith & Trust

in our birth, this helps us relax, which ultimately allows our bodies to do what it was designed to do. Sometimes even completely pain free! I’m not saying it won’t be intense, but you can walk away from that birth with a feeling of euphoria!
Some of us Doulas & even our clients LOVE giving birth because of this!
A doula’s job is to create a space where you can break the fear-tension-pain cycle.

Pregnant & haven’t booked a doula yet? DM or email me for a chat!