Ella Bailey Doula, Newport

02/02/2024

Imbolc yesterday was a quiet one but altar turn around today with a friend and it's all about the girls this spring.

11/12/2023

Witchy s**t with the Coven to release some stuff before the retrograde and hopefully see us through to the other side without too much collateral damage. Nobody levitated so we're just the right side of the kooky/unhinged line.

21/09/2023

Happy Mabon somehow doesn't feel quite right for this liminal time of the year. Cosy? Too trite. Safe Mabon, then; may this equinox find you warm, protected and thoughtful. Everyone in my life seems to be brooding at the moment, on the cusp on change but not ready to make great leaps just at this moment, instead reflecting on things that turned out not to be as shiny as they seemed on the surface and rooting out what needs to go in their life to make way for the seeds and bulbs - literal and figurative - we plant now to store up their energy for the burst of glory we hope for in the spring. This time of year is as important as the flashier points in the calendar.

I've been very quiet lately, but still busy. My focus has been on spell work, with friends bringing me requests that bring us together as muddy hippies over tea, tequila and roses. This is my working plan for the foreseeable. Not birth work, although it may occasionally find me despite my not looking, as it tends to do, but life work.

Autumn to me is a deeper cleanse than spring as I feel compelled to get my house in order ready to make it my almost exclusive habitat for the next five or six months. Bay, mugwort and rosemary sit with the fennel and lemon from a cleansing ritual done earlier in the year on my incense burner to chase away the unwanted shadows and welcome in those that might protect us and instead of my usual libations of wine or whiskey, seeds and dried fruit go into the cup and my own mouth and the ritual drags me out of the funk I woke up in.

Create your own magic, wherever you can.🤎🧡🖤

07/06/2023

Sometimes you don't book the client - not everyone who gets in touch is the right match and sometimes people realise they're just not in a position to use doula support right now. BUT frequently when this happens I've signposted to other resources or professionals and today I heard that a non-client had followed through and got in touch with my favourite IBCLC for some really specialist breastfeeding support and, knowing as I do from personal experience with her sorting out all three of my painful feeders, this genuinely makes me happier than getting a client booked in for myself. If I'm honest, I'm not that desperate to book as many clients as possible - I'm very happy getting by and value time over money, so maybe that's why I really don't mind when the right support turns out to be someone else.

PFA of my dog, Darcy, enjoying a relaxing snooze after a heavy day of doing not very much, because she is way more popular than me.

18/05/2023

New Moon cleanse ready for some fun stuff tomorrow. I'd apologise for the radio silence but those who know me know I wouldn't mean it. Who else is blowing the dust off their life this week?

06/04/2023

"If it sounds like bulls**t, it probably is bulls**t"

My client on the lies and waffle the NHS tells pregnant women to get them to be good and shut up.

26/03/2023

Playing catch up again because I just had to post this photo of me fangirling with Gemma from YES Matters UK along with two of the fantastic organisers and attendees at the workshop I attended this Friday. The work Gemma is doing could not be more important and relevant right now and if you are a parent, or professional working with kids and young people, feeling out of your depth and wondering just how great exactly the impact of s*xism and internet p**n culture is on our children in this online world that is so different to the one we grew up in you simply must follow her work.

Due to an overwhelming meltdown the previous night (for those who don't know, I am autistic) I was delayed in getting there but I am so glad I pushed myself to go. It was so worthwhile. The information was pretty terrifying, I'll be honest, but it's what's happening to our kids and we cannot turn away from that simply because it's painful to look at.

Alongside Gemma, every woman in the room was a veteran of women's s*x based rights and I could honestly have spent a week there and still not feel I had learnt all they had to teach me. As usual, I over shared and talked too much, but I was given such grace and understanding that I felt bouyed in a way only time with women can do. Heartfelt thanks to everyone I met that day.x

23/03/2023

Big babies aren't the terrifying, vag destroying horror they're usually made out to be in the media and it's fantastic to finally start seeing coverage catching up with this. In fact, big babies can often be easier to birth because they have gravity on their side!

This incredible woman and mother has not only smashed it out of the park by placing herself and her birth preferences squarely at the centre of experience, as they should be, but by sharing her story she is helping let other women know they too have the choice to give birth however they want. Full respect, Mama, this doula salutes you!

Ruth's six year old asked why mummy 'sounded like a cow' during labour

20/03/2023

I'm not good at posting in real time on 'days', because I'm generally busy doing stuff, so I'm catching up today.

I'm seeing a lot of posts from mothers still dealing with the fall out and anxiety from not feeling seen or appreciated on Mothering Sunday. I got a lie in and an apology because he didn't get me anything - our youngest was ill and it took up a lot of time and energy in the run up. I went out and got myself plants and Belgian buns while he painted the skirting boards in my boys' new room. I had a wonderful Mothering Sunday.

BUT this isn't me s**tting on other mother's for complaining about not getting spoilt on a day that's supposed to be about them. Consider this a shout out to the partners of those women, to whom I want to say this: if she's still upset you didn't spoil her on Mother's Day, it probably means you're not doing enough to show her she's important the rest of the time. Because here's the thing - I am a Queen in my house. No exaggeration; I'm left in no doubt that I am pretty much a supreme being in my husband's eyes on a daily basis. He's trained the kids to come and tell me I'm the most beautiful woman in the world and my youngest won't leave a supermarket without flowers for me. So I really don't give a s**t if he's too busy looking after us all to do the same thing on one particular day that he does the rest of the year.

If, however, you can't be bothered to put in that level of effort on a daily basis, and you have a woman you love and want to keep, I seriously suggest upping your game next birthday, Mother's Day etc. Don't let her feel like she's invisible to you. If she's pi**ed off, there's probably a reason. BUY HER SOME FU***NG FLOWERS! 🙄😾🤬