I was born in 1971 in Denmark, but have lived in Australia since 1998 with my Australian husband and our two precious children, who were both born here. I have always had a deep fascination with bellies and birth and thought many times about becoming a midwife, but in the end, I followed another passion of mine into textiles, design and environmental issues.
I had a very challenging birth experience in hospital when my son was born. This led to a very difficult start to mothering for me full of guilt feelings and fear. I couldn’t leave my son for even five minutes. After 9 months I got pregnant again and was determined to have a different experience this time. We hired a homebirth midwife and was thrilled by the personal relationship, respect and support we received.
By chance I one day saw a flyer for a Doula training course and was instantly drawn to it. So I started the Doula course without really having a clear idea about how I would like to use it, but thinking it would, at the very least, be good preparation for my upcoming birth.
Basically the Doula course was a real big eye opener for me. Other women there would talk about difficulties and post natal depression and I was kind of relieved that I wasn’t the only one in the world who had had a difficult experience. I worked very hard on all my feelings regarding birth and all the leftovers from the last time and I ended up having a wonderful homebirth even though I was very overdue and had enormous pressure to get induced.
So two years later and a big move from Sydney to the Sunshine coast where I have now been since 2003, I started to think about Doulas and birth again, and started the second Doula course which has led me to be a certified ‘Advanced Doula and Birth Educator’.
I so enjoy working with women and couples during pregnancy and birth. I feel blessed when I get a chance to attend a homebirth and I cherish the feeling of supporting women and making a difference at a hospital birth. But most of all I love seeing women walk into their birth experience, wherever it is, with confidence and acceptance of themselves even after just a little bit of nurturing, listening and respect.
Education & Experience
2004: Doula certificate – Birth Central Sydney
2006: Advanced Doula and childbirth education certificate – Birth Central Sydney
2007 - Ongoing: Co-facilitator of Birthing and Babies, a peer support group for pregnant women and new Mums. A program of The Maternity Coalition
2007: Presentation at the Queensland state midwifery conference at Surfers Paradise
2007: Bodywork workshop with Jenny Blyth
2008: Cranio Sacral 1 & 2 + one month face to face daily supervision
2008: Birth workshop with Jenny Blyth
2009: Birth workshop with Jenny Blyth
2009: Online birth art class with Birthing From Within
2009: Birthwork workshop. Creative Ways of Making Space for the Baby with Fiona Hallinan and Jenny Blyth
2010:Birthing From within mentoring introduction workshop with Pam England and Virginia Bobro
2011:Birthing from within Mentoring program on going……..
Birth Experience: Homebirths, hospital births, VBAC, VBA2C, active births, inductions, caesarean births, calm/hypno – births, water births, twin births, post date pregnancies, siblings at birth, VBA3C, posterior births