The Massage Doula

S1, EP9: Victoria’s birth story - homebirth and the power of a doula.

In this episode of The Massage Doula, Azeeta welcomes Victoria, who shares her journey through pregnancy and home birth.
Victoria delves into her decision to have a home birth, inspired by community midwives and fueled by her disassociation of hospitals as safe places due to past experiences. She embarked on a reading journey, gathering knowledge on home births, doulas, and the importance of a comfortable environment to support oxytocin release and labour progression. Encouraged by positive insights and her husband's support, she sought the assistance of a doula named Gail.
The episode takes listeners through Victoria's labour experience, sharing how breaking away from traditional norms allowed her to create a birth plan that worked best for her needs. With the support of her husband, a skilled doula, and understanding midwives, Victoria successfully had her baby in the comfort of her home, cherishing the empowering experience of bringing her child into the world on her own terms.

S1, EP8: Lauren’s birth story - endometriosis and an unplanned caesarean birth.

* Trigger warning* - Discussions around a sweep without consent.
In this episode of The Massage Doula, we sit down with Lauren as she recounts her pregnancy journey, filled with unexpected joys and challenges. Despite battling endometriosis, Lauren experienced her pregnancy as a time of energy and happiness, defying the usual discomfort often associated with it. She shares how her overdue period was met with joy, cherishing every kick until labour finally arrived.
Lauren walks us through the highs and lows of her labour experience, from enduring a 3.5-day labour journey to the unexpected surprise of a caesarean birth. She candidly discusses the emotional turmoil and eventual acceptance she faced during this critical period, shedding light on her thought process and the support from her husband Joe.
The episode captures Lauren's hospital experience, the moments leading to her daughter's birth, and the transformative power of seeing her newborn for the first time. It recounts the challenges of bringing her daughter home, navigating early motherhood, and the emotional acknowledgment of newfound unconditional love over time.
Join us for an intimate conversation that explores the resilience of mothers, the importance of self-advocacy in childbirth, and the profound journey from pregnancy to motherhood.
 
 

S1, EP 7: Tracy's birth - Two hospital births and a home birth.

Join Tracy as she delves into the lessons learnt through each of her three different birth journeys. 

S1,EP6: Abby’s birth story - Fertility struggles, hospital birth, Covid, home birth, “big baby” and Hypnobirthing.

Abby delves into her two birth stories from a hospital birth a week before the first Covid lockdown to a planned homebirth of a suspected “big baby”. If you would like to have a think about your place of birth here is a useful resource: 
 
 
https://birthrights.org.uk/factsheets/choice-of-place-of-birth/

S1, EP5: Claire's birth story - Induction, Ventouse delivery, Caesarean births and a post birth haemorrhage with a hysterectomy.

Trigger Warning:
Life saving emergency hysterectomy after birth and a haemorrhage. 
Join us on Claire’s three birth journeys with her three boys. We explore two different hospitals and their care, caesarean births, induction with an assisted delivery and a life saving emergency surgery after her third baby was born. 
This is an incredibly powerful and emotive journey for Claire and I am honoured to have heard her story. 
The stats(NHS):
“How often does it happen?Post-partum hysterectomies happen in 0.05-0.1% of all births (less than one out every 1000)and 0.5% of all caesarean births (one in 200 Caesarean births) At the RBH we do about fourhysterectomies a year immediately after childbirth. Although the procedure is not common, withincreased numbers of Caesarean births we are seeing the number of post-partumhysterectomies increase also as shown in the above statistics.”
For more information on a hysterectomy after birth this is a good document to have a read:
 
https://www.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/media/uxuajfak/hysterectomy-post-partum.pdf
 
 
 
 

S1, Ep4: Lois - Birth of Dexter - High risk and Low papp-a

Lois was a dream to talk to about her high risk pregnancy and birth with low Papp-A. An empowered labour and birth where Lois channelled her inner trust but also reflects on what could of been improved in her care. A great listen and I had the honour of teaching her NCT charity classes a few years ago.

S1, EP 1: An interview with my husband - a birth partner perspective

A wonderful chat with my husband reminiscing on the birth’s of our three boys. Talking about the NHS, private midwives, doula’s and how it felt for him.

S1, EP3: The birth of Fred and a student midwife perspective with Rachel

Rachel delves into her birth experience with her son Fred six years ago at Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow. From meconium in waters to the oxytocin drip and an empowering pushing stage where she listened to her inner self. Rachel is now a third year student midwife and fills us in on her thoughts and feelings and how she plans to be going forward in practice.