About me

My Philosophy

My Story

I'm a mother of three sons, all born at home (not that the first was planned that way). My first birth was long & challenging. It lead me to doing my doula training with Dr Michel Odent in 2010, which was utterly fascinating. My second birth completely surprised me by being quite blissful in places. I'm sure having an experienced doula present helped make the birth so much more manageable & positive.

 

I love supporting families through their pregnancy & birth journeys. Each family's needs are different, but all of them need loving care.

 

I love taking care of babies (& letting new mums sleep)! It's not just babies I love, it's women too. Postnatal help is not a luxury, it's essential.

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When I'm not doula-ing, I enjoy playing cello & mandolin, gardening, baking & larking about with the kids. My partner & I have a festival cafe (The Beloved's Arms) & are converting a horse truck, for future family adventures. I also have an unrelated Bsc Hons & like walking our cake-stealing Border Collie, Bramble. 

We all approach birth with a little trepidation; even after my ecstatic experience with my 2nd, I still didn't know what to expect with my 3rd.

 

The first step is to get yourself informed, read those positive birth stories, watch beautiful births on Youtube. Opt out of the dominant cultural conditioning of birth as drama & danger. Go to Birth Groups (I hold a free, monthly home birth meet-up in Lewes). Tell your friends & family: good birth stories only, my baby's listening.

 

Find yourself a doula you get on really well with. We come in a variety of shapes, sizes & costs. What a doula does depends on what you need. There is no way your partner will be elbowed out; on the contrary, they will be more able to be there for you. I often find myself wondering how people manage without a doula.

 

I have a passion about love hormones & endorphins. Oxytocin, the hormone of love & birth, cannot co-exist with hormones of the adrenoline family. In my group, we look at ways of amping up the love hormones, to make your birth as loving & straightforward as possible.

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I teach 'Spinning Babies' techniques for easier pregnancy and birth. I have had some astounding results with stuck labours and with avoiding c sections. I attend around 13 births a year, a lot of my bookings being for home births. Spinning Babies is pretty much unheard of outside of midwifery and doula circles, in fact I was the first person in the UK certified to teach it.

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I also love taking photos at births with my low light camera and capturing images to be treasured for a lifetime.

 

"Roma has a very relaxed but confident approach. She makes you feel at ease the moment you meet her. I could easily discuss my previous labour & no judgement was made. She understood what I wanted this time & helped me look at how I could achieve this. It helped us to have a third party at the birth who could help us get the birth we wanted." Kaye

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"We felt in safe hands with Roma & loved her humour, wisdom & respect for natural birth coupled with her understanding of our healthcare system and medical interventions. I liked that she didn't push any particular school of thought in birth, but was there with advice & options on the phone in late pregnancy as well as supporting us emotionally & practically through what turned out to be a difficult birth. Roma also helped after the birth, providing help around the house, cake & friendly grounding chats as I found my feet as a first time mum. I loved her 'Closing the Bones' massage which helped me 'close' the whole experience physically & mentally & come home to my body again. I highly recommend her as a brilliant doula and brilliant human, who gave us invaluable, grounded, wise, kind support and her irreverent sense of humour is amazing to lighten the mood at what can be a time of high drama." Kathy

My Training

Certified Birth Doula

Paramana Doula, Michel Odent & Liliana Lammers 2010

 

Member of Doula UK - recognised Birth & Postnatal doula

 

Doula Mentor for trainee doulas 2017

 

CRB checked

 

Trained as a Breast Feeding Peer Supporter 2011

 

Spinning Babies training with Gail Tully (techniques for optimal positioning/ easing stuck labours) 2013

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Spinning Babies with Rachel Shapiro 2018

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Spinning Babies Parent Educator Training 2018

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KGHypnobirthing Teacher Training 2020

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Advanced Biomechanics for Birth 2021

 

Talks attended: Dr Sarah Buckley, Ina May Gaskin, Michel Odent

 

Reiki: Following several experiences where poorly friends wouldn't let me take my hands off them, I got attuned by a Japanese friend in 1999. It's a practical thing. I don't do crystals, angels or woo!

 

Closing the Bones postnatal massage. Rocio Alarcon (Ecuadorian shaman, midwife & professor of ethnobotany) 2020 and Sophie Messager 2015.

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NLP/ introduction to Rewind technique for birth trauma - midwife Mark Harris 

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BSc Hons - unrelated but the science aspect helps.

 

My three home born children; my greatest teachers!

Recognised Postnatal Doula

 

Breastfeeding Peer Supporter

 

“I feel incredibly grateful for Roma's presence, she was an invaluable support to us. She helped us through the process with a warm clarity & kind awareness & made it all ok.”. Silvia

 

"Roma was a huge support, protecting me from unecessary medical 'speak' in the ambulance. She protected my birth plan requests & was very encouraging, letting me know when I was ready to give up that it was typical of transition. She was an angelic presence." Nancy

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"After a day of contractions & no dilation, Roma came and helped me do the Sidelying Release. She then rode in the back of the car with me to the hospital and my baby was born within an hour and a half of doing the manoeuvre. I told her to be careful with that magic!" Ellen